AND THEN I FOUND YOU (PATTI CALLAHAN HENRY)

Story Description: 

 

St. Martin’s Press|April 9, 2013|Hardcover|ISBN: 978-0-312-61076-0 

 

Kate Vaughn is no stranger to tough choices.  She’s made them before.  Now it’s time to do it again.  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.  But she wants more than the “perfect on paper” relationship she wants a real and imperfect love.  That’s why, 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? 

 

And Then I Found You gives new life to the phrase “inspired by a true story.”  By travelling back to a painful time in her own family’s history, the author explores the limits of courage, and the price of a selfless act. 

 

My Review:  

 

Kate Vaughn owned a successful boutique in Bluffton, South Carolina.  She has strong ties with her family and is in love with her boyfriend, Rowan but not as in love with him as she wants to be.  When Kate discovers a ring box in Rowan’s bedside table she panics and realizes then that she has to face the truth. 

 

In order to move forward, Kate must deal with her past.  Her past haunts her every day of her life as she remembers the child she gave up for adoption when she was a teenager.  She understands that she cannot fully love Rowan or even herself until she lets go of the past but that is easier said than done. 

 

Way back in her childhood, March 20^th was full of first things for, Kate and it was the day that started all the other days in her life, the beginning of everything that might come after.  She liked to show off for Jack Adams.  That day she’d gotten into trouble at school and was sent home.  Later in the day, Jack showed up at her house throwing stones at her bedroom window.  When he learned that Kate hadn’t been grounded by her parents for the trouble at school he asked her to come outside.  Together they walked hand-in-hand to the May River, Kate’s favourite, where they sat on a log and Jack kissed her not once, but twice.  Kate kissed Jack back for a third kiss.  Jack then declared that Katie was now his girlfriend which Katie quickly agreed too. 

 

Katie decided this was to be known as her day of “firsts” – her first kiss; first day of Spring; and her first promise which was to never have anyone but Jonathan Gray Adams – “my Jack”.  Absolutely nothing felt more important than this vow made on the first day of spring – one that couldn’t and wouldn’t be broken. 

 

Now at age thirty-five, Kate still holds the first day of spring as important to her and ensures she does something special on that day.  It was a definite ritual for her and Kate made sure she did something new, something she’d never done before.  Six years ago she opened her boutique; the year before she ran a marathon with her sister; and there was also a trip to California with her best friend, Norah; then a midnight swim in the darkest water with Rowan the first time he visited her in South Carolina. 

 

Kate must now reconcile her past and time is of the essence now that she has seen the ring box Rowan has for her.  She knows and feels that she can’t fully let go and love Rowan like he deserves to be loved because she is holding something back.  Kate has had a deep, passionate, sincere love for Jack from the time they were children and she knows it’s time to head to Birmingham, Alabama to see Jack.  What Kate doesn’t realize is that this will begin a chain reaction of events that will change her life in unexpected ways. 

 

And Then I Found You is a profoundly startling story that kept me glued to the edge of my seat.  Ms. Henry’s writing will tug at your heartstrings and stir emotions you didn’t know you still had.  Keep the box of Kleenex close by while reading.  I will most definitely be recommending this novel to family and friends.