#BookReview: You Were There Too by Colleen Oakley

About the Book

Acclaimed author Colleen Oakley delivers a heart-wrenching and unforgettable love story about a woman who must choose between the man she loves and the man fate has chosen for her, in a novel that reminds us that the best life is one led by the heart.

Mia Graydon’s life looks picket-fence perfect; she has the house, her loving husband, and dreams of starting a family. But she has other dreams too—unexplained, recurring ones starring the same man. Still, she doesn’t think much of it, until a relocation to small-town Pennsylvania brings her face to face with the stranger she has been dreaming about for years. And this man harbors a jaw-dropping secret of his own—he’s been dreaming of her too. 

Determined to understand, Mia and this not-so-stranger search for answers. But when diving into their pasts begins to unravel her life in the present, Mia emerges with a single question—what if?

My Review

Well, cue my tears. Reading You Were There Too was an emotional journey, as I got to know Mia, her husband – and the man she dreams about. I appreciated the raw feel to this novel, as Mia bordered on making some terrible decisions, her husband was dealing with something incredibly traumatizing, and their inability to bring a child into this world gave us a very real glimpse into the lives of these characters. The twist of Mia meeting the man she has dreamt about for years – and learning he dreams about her – really had me curious as to how their story would play out. I will say some of the book read pretty slow for me, and if it wasn’t for the prologue, I don’t know if I could have stay hyper-vigilant in finishing it at a decent pace. Because of that opening scene I felt like I was just waiting for the big thing to happen, and once it finally started to take shape, it was hard for me to put the book down. Again, a lot of tears were shed, especially at the ending, but a really moving story that had me thinking about the characters after I shut off my Kindle.

4.5 stars