Monday, April 1, 2013

Double Review: And Then I Found You by Patti Callahan Henry



The She Reads April Book Club Selection

Reviewed by Charlotte Lynn



Kate Vaughn thinks she has fallen in love, but before she can take the next step with Rowan she has to put her past to rest and tell Rowan her secret.  She goes back to her first love Jack Adams to try to come to terms with the fact that on March 20, 1997 Kate gave birth to Luna and then gave her up for adoption.

By the very first chapter I was hooked.  I could not put this novel down.  The characters were so real.  I could feel Kate’s pain at loving her daughter so much  but yet knowing that she could not give her the life she deserved and having to give her away.  Jack’s fear at losing his life and his reputation in his small town because of his secret.  The fact that this novel told the history and the present gave me much insight into the characters, making the character seem like friends that I grew up with.

I was unsure of what I was hoping to happen.  Did I want Kate to be ok with her decisions and move forward with Rowan?  Can I see Kate and Jack getting back together?  Where did Luna fit, if at all, into her life?  I had no clue how this story would end, but am extremely happy with how Patti Callahan Henry finished this novel. 

I cried and smiled during this novel.  The fact that it was based on a true life story made me love it much more.  This love story is timeless and everyone should check it out. 

Purchase And Then I Found You by Patti Callahan Henry

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The books we review on this site (A NOVEL REVIEW) are sent to us by publishers, authors or downloaded from Netgalley. This is a very common practice.  We never take payments for these reviews and all the reviews on this site are our own thoughts and feelings and are not influenced.


Reviewed by Laura


At the age of thirteen Katie Vaughn feel in love with Jack Adams at the age of thirteen, the first day of spring. There will always be something special about the first day of spring for the couple. They grew up together believing they would be together forever. And they were for a very long long time. But life happens, choices are made and once some decisions are made they can't be undone. Something the young couple realized too late.

Fast forward thirteen years after their break-up. Kate has found a great life. She is close to her family, owns a successful shop, and has found a great guy, Rowan. What could possible be the problem? Kate finds an engagement ring. Almost in a cold sweat, Kate realizes she is going to need to totally open herself up to him--and she wants too. She believes the only way she can move forward is to deal with her unsettled past.

But can her past lead her to her future?

AND THEN I FOUND YOU, is a sweet soft spoken story of a young woman trying to make a life for herself after making a life changing decision. A decision she knew was right, but leaves her wondering of what could have been.

At first, I didn't really get Kate. I mean you could really feel Kate holding herself back from Rowan. It seemed sorta wrong, like she knew in her heart he wasn't the one for her. I didn't like it, he was putting so much in and it just didn't feel like she was. But honestly, this is how real life works. We have baggage that we carry, Kate had baggage. Kate wanted to not have baggage and it took her a very long time to realize it was time to own it and realize it was time to deal with it, she couldn't carry it forever--not alone. Once she started being honest with herself, I connected with her.

The novel is a love story, a story of lost love, a story of finding ones way home. Once Kate found herself, Kate found more than what she expected. A touching story. Highly recommend.


1 comment:

  1. How do I love Patti Callahan Henry and this book?
    Let me count the ways.

    This luminous tale is a fictionalized account of the Callahan family's true-life story. One often thinks about the mother who relinquishes a child, and the mother who raises that child, but this work delves deep into the anquish of the souls of the sister, birth grandparents, and the father of the child.

    I believe and sincerely hope that it will become required reading for any woman contemplating the supreme sacrifice, all mothers-in-waiting for their adopted children, the adopted children themselves, and all family members affected.

    For those children whose parents gave them up and never consent to be contacted, it is not uncommon for the child to wonder if they were completely unwanted and just walked away from. And Then I Found You offers just one scenario of the heart-rending choice one mother made, and the possibility of a happily ever after.

    The Callahans are to be commended for opening their hearts to let the world in on their soul-stirring story. Every time I read fiction, I always wonder how closely events and personal characteristics are to real life, Patti Callahan Henry satisfies this itch with her Kindle e-book, Friend Request. I highly recommend it as a companion to And Then I Found You.

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