Book Review: You Were There Too by Colleen Oakley

Pages: 320

Genre: Adult Fiction

Pub. Date: January 7, 2020

Publisher: Berkley

Source: Publisher for review

My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Goodreads says, "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 them, 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?."

Mia and her husband, Harrison, have moved from bustling Philadelphia to a small town in Pennsylvania.  Country living is just what they think they need and her husband, a surgeon, also needs a fresh perspective.  Also, the clean air, the gardening, and the slower pace is just what Mia needs to recover from her recurrent miscarriages.  However, there's something you should know about Mia.  For years, she has been having vivid dreams about a man whom she has never met.  One day at the grocery store, she sees this man.  Thinking it's some weird coincidence, she tries to erase it from her mind, but she sees him again when her husband performs surgery on this man's sister.  So, this guy, Oliver, isn't just some illusion; he is a real person! After getting to know Oliver, she comes to find that he has had dreams about her as well.  This is all very confusing for Mia and to complicate things further, her relationship with her husband has been rocky. After all they have been through, Harrison isn't sure he wants to continue trying for a baby and this guts Mia.  Do these dreams about Oliver mean he is the person she should be with?  You Were There Too by Colleen Oakley is a beautiful romance that had me swooning one minute and sobbing the next.

Mia is a complex character in You Were There Too. I didn't like that she was feeling an attraction to Oliver, because I think her husband is a good guy; however, after all these dreams for many, many years, you can't blame her curiosity, right?  What she went though with her husband really saddened me. Infertility is such a frustrating and heart wrenching issue and I think Oakley depicted the uncertainty and the heartbreak well.  

Also, I loved the aspect of the story where Mia tries to figure out why she is having dreams about Oliver and why he is having the same dreams too.  As they piece together the puzzle, the pace of the story quickens and it totally took me by surprise. There are some major twists and turns in You Were There Too.  Let's just say the last few chapters of the novel kept me turning the pages! 

You Were There Too isn't an easy romance. There are some major bumps in the road for Mia and Harrison, but I appreciated that aspect of the novel. I wasn't looking for a cutesy romance and one thing is for sure, this novel had me sobbing.  You Were There Too is a surprisingly heartfelt novel and one that shouldn't be missed this winter season, especially if you are a fan of complicated romances.