And Then I Found You

by Patti Callahan Henry

Contemporary Fiction

Release Date: April 9, 2013

Book Description

 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. She wants the facts to move from her head toward her heart and settle in with deep love, something past admiration and comfort. But 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?

MY THOUGHTS: 4 OUT OF 5 FLEURS DE LIS

And Then I Found You: A Novel by Patti Callahan Henry

I was a little apprehensive about reading this novel at first, since I’m a mother and under no circumstances could I even imagine having to give up my child. However, I am glad I did read this, because it was a beautiful story even though things weren’t perfect.

Firstly, and I say this as a woman who was 23 years old and married when I had my first child, I thought Kate’s reasons for giving up Luna were not good enough. I know, this sounds very very judgmental of me. But I simply felt that there was no reason she couldn’t have given her daughter a good life. This is a fictional character, but there are plenty of girls younger than twenty and in worse situations that give birth to their kids and raise them nicely. I myself was born when my mother was only 16. Again, fiction and not real life, but this bothered me.

After I moved past that, I found myself truly enjoying the story. Kate is stuck in a relationship in which she is not truly fulfilled, because she never stopped loving Jack even though they’ve been apart for 13 years. Kate’s family has, for the most part, moved on from the fact that the gave up her daughter, but every now and then her parents throw up little barbs that still hurt.

The book is written from the third person point of view, and alternates between several characters, and different time periods. I liked that I had to watch the story of the past unfold slowly, rather than having it all told in one fell swoop.

Kate and Jack are good together, but man is this story full of some dysfunctional relationships. You can’t help but feel for the significant others they’ve each had, who have wasted years of their lives loving a person who didn’t fully love them back. Even when Kate and Jack reunite to talk about their daughter after so many years, they can’t get things right. I was never really sure if this book would have a happy ending.

I felt this was a nice read, and it did bring me to tears a few times. I may not have been able to personally relate to Kate’s decisions, but I connected with her as a woman and a mother. And I think other mothers will like this novel as well.

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