And Then I Found You by Patti Callahan Henry
Kate Vaughan is no stranger to tough choices.
She’s made them before. Now it’s time to do it again.
Kate has a secret, something tucked away in her past. And she’s getting on with her life. Her business is thriving. She has a strong relationship with her family, and a devoted boyfriend whom she wants to love with all her heart. If Kate had ever made a list, Rowan would fill the imagined boxes of a perfect mate. But she wants more than the perfect on paper relationship; she wants a real and imperfect love. That's why, when Kate discovers the small velvet box hidden in Rowan's drawer, she panics.
It always happens this way. Just when Kate thinks she can love, just when she believes she can conquer the fear, she’s filled with dread. And she wants more than anything to make this feeling go away. But how?
When the mistakes have been made and the running is over, it’s time to face the truth. Kate knows this. She understands that a woman can never undo what can never be undone. Yet, for the first time in her life she also knows that she won’t fully love until she confronts those from her past. It’s time to act.
Can she do it? Can she travel to the place where it all began, to the one who shares her secret? Can the lost ever become found?
And Then I Found You gives new life to the phrase “inspired by a true story.” By travelling back to a painful time in her own family’s history, the author explores the limits of courage, and the price of a selfless act.
And Then I Found You
By: Patti Callahan Henry
Release Date: April 9, 2013
Publiciation: St. Martin's Press
Reviewed: e-ARC
This is a very powerful story. I’m really glad that I had a chance to read it. This story is a work of fiction that was based off of a real situation. Even though I think this story had a happy ending, it still broke my heart. I was totally expecting a sad ending anyway, so I was pleasantly surprised that the book ended the way that it did.
I really like how the author went back and forth between the past and present and also between the characters views. The two views we get to see are Kate or Katie’s and Emily’s view. This story is how a mother gave up her child and one day her child found her.
Katie and Jack have a very complicated relationship. Jack decides that it is time to see other people and Katie doesn’t take him literally. When Katie comes home to see her boyfriend Jack, she wasn’t expecting him to be dating someone else. Even with the circumstances they were in, Jack and Katie slept with each other on that visit and then Katie went back to her job in another state. A few months later Katie gets a wedding invitation from a friend that Jack and his new girlfriend were married. Around this same time, Katie found out that she is pregnant with Jack’s child. Katie left her job and returned home to figure out what to do. She told Jack about the baby because she figured he had a right to now, even though he was married and she knew that he wouldn’t choose her.
Katie made the ultimate decision to give her baby up for adoption. She didn’t choose adoption because she didn’t love her child or her because she didn’t want to take care of her; she chose adoption so that her child could have a better life than the one that she could provide. After Luna was born Katie decided to go by the name Kate as she gave her baby away. 15 years later, Kate is engaged, Jack is divorced with a son, and Emily is in high school. Emily decides that she wants to try to find her birth mom. Even though Emily’s mom is reluctant to search for Emily’s birth parents, she helps Emily out anyway. That is when they find Kate’s sister on facebook. After Kate’s sister approves the friend request, Emily finds Kate and also requests to be her friend on facebook. This is when the real adventure begins. Eventually there is a face to face meeting between the families. Emily gets to find out her story. Jack and Kate have to learn how to be around each other again and whether or not they are still in love.
I thought this “And Then I Found You” by Patti Callahan was well written. This story is filled with so much emotion, I cried several times. I don’t cry very often when reading books. A child connecting with their birth parents to find out their story is an emotional process that is exciting at the same time. There is raw emotion written on the pages of this book and part of me wonders if that is because Callahan incorporated some of her real feelings into it because of the situation her family went through. It was really nice to see an adoption novel turn out good for once. Thank you Patti Callahan for sharing Kate’s story with us; I think you did an excellent job.
www.patticallahanhenry.com | twitter.com/pcalhenry
Reviewed: e-ARC
This is a very powerful story. I’m really glad that I had a chance to read it. This story is a work of fiction that was based off of a real situation. Even though I think this story had a happy ending, it still broke my heart. I was totally expecting a sad ending anyway, so I was pleasantly surprised that the book ended the way that it did.
I really like how the author went back and forth between the past and present and also between the characters views. The two views we get to see are Kate or Katie’s and Emily’s view. This story is how a mother gave up her child and one day her child found her.
Katie and Jack have a very complicated relationship. Jack decides that it is time to see other people and Katie doesn’t take him literally. When Katie comes home to see her boyfriend Jack, she wasn’t expecting him to be dating someone else. Even with the circumstances they were in, Jack and Katie slept with each other on that visit and then Katie went back to her job in another state. A few months later Katie gets a wedding invitation from a friend that Jack and his new girlfriend were married. Around this same time, Katie found out that she is pregnant with Jack’s child. Katie left her job and returned home to figure out what to do. She told Jack about the baby because she figured he had a right to now, even though he was married and she knew that he wouldn’t choose her.
Katie made the ultimate decision to give her baby up for adoption. She didn’t choose adoption because she didn’t love her child or her because she didn’t want to take care of her; she chose adoption so that her child could have a better life than the one that she could provide. After Luna was born Katie decided to go by the name Kate as she gave her baby away. 15 years later, Kate is engaged, Jack is divorced with a son, and Emily is in high school. Emily decides that she wants to try to find her birth mom. Even though Emily’s mom is reluctant to search for Emily’s birth parents, she helps Emily out anyway. That is when they find Kate’s sister on facebook. After Kate’s sister approves the friend request, Emily finds Kate and also requests to be her friend on facebook. This is when the real adventure begins. Eventually there is a face to face meeting between the families. Emily gets to find out her story. Jack and Kate have to learn how to be around each other again and whether or not they are still in love.
I thought this “And Then I Found You” by Patti Callahan was well written. This story is filled with so much emotion, I cried several times. I don’t cry very often when reading books. A child connecting with their birth parents to find out their story is an emotional process that is exciting at the same time. There is raw emotion written on the pages of this book and part of me wonders if that is because Callahan incorporated some of her real feelings into it because of the situation her family went through. It was really nice to see an adoption novel turn out good for once. Thank you Patti Callahan for sharing Kate’s story with us; I think you did an excellent job.
I give "And Then I Found You" four out of five bookshelves.
Author
Patti Callahan Henry is a New York Times Bestselling novelist. She has published nine novels (Losing the Moon, Where the River Runs, When Light Breaks, Betweeen the Tides, The Art of Keeping Secrets, and Driftwood Summer, The Perfect Love Song, Coming up for Air and the upcoming And Then I Found You --April 2013, St. Martins Press). Patti has been hailed as a fresh new voice in southern fiction, appearing in numerous magazines (Good Housekeeping; SKIRT; The South; Southern Living, etc..). She has been short-listed for the Townsend Prize for Fiction. She has been nominated four different times for the Southeastern Independent Booksellers Fiction Novel of the Year. Her work is published in five languages and all novels are on Brilliance Audio. Two of her novels were OKRA picks and Coming up For Air was an Indie Next choice. Patti is a a frequent speaker at fundraisers, library events and book festivals, discussing the importance of storytelling. Her next novel, AND THEN I FOUND YOU, will be released on April, 9th, 2013 by St. Martins Press. Patti Callahan Henry is a full time writer, wife and mother of three living in Mountain Brook, AL.
www.patticallahanhenry.com | twitter.com/pcalhenry
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Great review. Thanks for participating :)
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