Reviewer: Terry
I received a review copy
Summary:
A moving debut novel about two mothers—one biological and one adoptive—from a compelling new voice in Southern women’s fiction.
One baby girl.
Two strong Southern women.
And the most difficult decision they’ll ever make.
Frances “Khaki” Mason has it all: a thriving interior design career, a loving husband and son, homes in North Carolina and Manhattan—everything except the second child she has always wanted. Jodi, her husband’s nineteen-year-old cousin, is fresh out of rehab, pregnant, and alone. Although the two women couldn’t seem more different, they forge a lifelong connection as Khaki reaches out to Jodi, encouraging her to have her baby. But as Jodi struggles to be the mother she knows her daughter deserves, she will ask Khaki the ultimate favor…
Written to baby Carolina, by both her birth mother and her adoptive one, this is a story that proves that life circumstances shape us but don’t define us—and that families aren’t born, they’re made…
Review:
Dear Carolina is a very uniquely written book. It is written as letter’s to a little girl who ended up with two mom’s due to circumstances around her birth. Carolina is the little one they are writing too. Jodi the birth mom is a 19 year old girl struggling with addiction, an abusive boyfriend and all that comes with being a young girl who finds herself becoming a mom before she is ready. Khaki is married to Jodi’s cousin and finds herself struggling to become pregnant and expand the family she wants, knowing she is meant to have many children in her home. Khaki and her husband Graham both find themselves trying to help Jodi as she struggles with being a new mom on top of so many other troubles.
The book continues, each chapter being written from both women as the story tells how sweet little Carolina became the daughter of two Momma’s. It tells of their journey during Carolina’s early years and is a wonderful detailed story of not only how much the women loved this little girl, but how they supported each other during those years and the growth and change that occurred for both of them.
If only every mother spent this much time sharing with their babies how those years were, the stories they would have to share would be treasures that would ease the confusion that may come from all the trouble during the early parenting years.
Dear Carolina is an amazing story about a mother’s love that will touch your heart in a way that one rarely finds. I loved this story and the idea that this sweet girl would have these letter’s to treasure for years to come.
4.5 stars
I can’t tell you how much this gorgeous review means to me! Thank you so, so much for sharing Dear Carolina with your readers!