And Then I Found You - Patti Callahan Henry

Ali Mark
Dec 19, 2015
2 min read

When these junior-high-sweethearts embark on a back-and-forth journey of lost and found, they entertwine their lives with one another forever, until forever becomes too much to handle.

Goodreads readers ranked this book a 3.86 and I'd recommend it if you're into:

adoption
young love
hidden message
semi-factual story line

Pros: The book in general takes you on the journey of three things - 1) love as a whole, in all its opportunities; by family, by romance, by parenthood, by being selfless. Love is a key-theme, but it's done in a way that you don't feel like you're reading erotica or watching soft-core porn. It's done tastefully, but the passion is still felt for another person.

We're taken on a journey of (2) adoption, which as an adopted kid who wondered about her biological family for so long, I was brought back to this path, and if you aren't adopted, this does a good job of giving you the wonder and curiousity that everyone involved in the adoption process sees, feels, and expresses.

I was most surprised by the hidden message; almost like a Disney movie aims to teach young children a message of kindness or love or whatever else Disney tries to do. For me, the message was that we're only as sick as our secrets - and this book is built on secerts and lies (maybe omissions is a better choice-word, but when it boils down, they're practically the same thing) - and these secrets and lies are the core of what propels this story because we're always wondering when someone will drop the ball and own up to their life.

This book was a simple read - I wasn't challenged by the author's writing style, nor was the language used difficult to use. But, it wasn't required in this book. I was able to turn page-after-page because what I found was curious about where we were headed on this family's journey (and you didn't really get an idea of how things would end until the last, 30 pages or so). It's definitely one I would remember, and if not for the 'cons,' this could've been a 5-star read.

Cons: For a NY Times Best Selling Author, I was HIGHLY disappointed with the number of spelling errors and random phrases that made zero sense. It's frustrating that this will stand out in the future.