You Were There Too

I have been a fan of Colleen Oakley's ever since I read her first two books, Before I Go and Close Enough to Touch so I was thrilled to hear she had a new book coming out with a rather unique premise. You Were There Too is a story about two strangers who meet and discover they have been dreaming about each other for years. Say wha? Why are they dreaming of each other? I needed to find out.

Oakley answers this question with an evocative story which touches on several issues (marriage, loss, love, family) but it was her attention to her characters, who were believably flawed and wonderfully layered, that I enjoyed most of all. Their connections aren't simple and yet ... they are.

The story poses an interesting premise, but it took me a little time to warm up to the story and get my bearings with the dream interpretation aspect. And once the reason for the dreams is revealed, I suppose I was hoping for a different reason for their connection. Something a bit more 'out there'. But, I trust Oakley for a great read and as the story progressed, things came together, relationships changed, and the story became so much more than I had initially expected.

This is an interesting and emotional novel that gave my tear ducts a good workout. It features well-drawn characters, emotional scenes and touches of humour wrapped in an original plot that, if readers are patient, will come together for a heartwarming story about love, commitment, destiny versus choice, and ponders the question 'what if'?

My Rating: 4 stars

Book Details

Genre: Contemporary Fiction

Type: Trade Paperback (320 pages)

Source: Local Public Library

Publisher: Berkley

First Published: January 7, 2020

Book Description from GoodReads: 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?