You Were Always Mine

I was excited to see that writing duo Jo Piazza and Christine Pride had a new book coming out after I loved their debut We Are Not Like Them two years ago. Together they wrote a powerful and thought-provoking story that encompassed important issues.

Their new book You Were Always Mine asks the question: What would happen if a Black woman found an abandoned white baby and she wanted to adopt it? Cinnamon Haynes is a middle-aged Black married woman who works as a college counsellor and has a casual friendship with a young white woman named Daisy. Unbeknownst to Cinnamon, Daisy was pregnant, and she suddenly leaves her blonde-haired, blue-eyed newborn in a basket for Cinnamon to find with the request that Cinnamon to raise the child.

This book had all the fixin's for another great read by this duo - issues of race, discrimination, class, abuse, friendship, foster care and motherhood are some of the topics that are introduced. The story includes flashbacks to Daisy and Cinnamon's pasts and letters Daisy writes to her child. The topics are relevant and important, but I was disappointed that these complex and poignant issues were not handled with nearly enough depth or emotion. 

We skim over all these issues and are instead given a story that is very slow moving with many subplots that not only convolute the main plot but will require readers to suspend disbelief - particularly legal aspects. The plot soon loses steam, and I was frustrated by many of Cinnamon's decisions and disappointed that the big confrontation didn't happen until almost 80% into the book and wasn't the big conflict I was expecting. 

This book will give readers a lot to discuss regarding race, motherhood, secrets and trauma, but it was too farfetched, and I didn't feel connected to the plot or the characters and soon found myself skimming the pages. While this book wasn't for me, I loved their debut and look forward to reading more from this duo in the future.

Disclaimer: My sincere thanks to Atria Books for my advanced digital copy which was provided in exchange for my honest review.

My Rating: 2.75 stars

Authors: Christine Pride, Jo Piazza

Genre: Contemporary Fiction

Type and Source: eBook from publisher via NetGalley

Publisher: Atria Books (Simon and Schuster Canada)

First Published: June 13, 2023

Book Description from GoodReads: The acclaimed authors of the “emotional literary roller coaster” ( The Washington Post ) and Good Morning America book club pick We Are Not Like Them return with this moving and provocative novel about a Black woman who finds an abandoned white baby, sending her on a collision course with her past, her family, and a birth mother who doesn’t want to be found.

Cinnamon Haynes has fought hard for a life she never thought was possible—a good man by her side, a steady job as a career counselor at a local community college, and a cozy house in a quaint little beach town. It may not look like much, but it’s more than she ever dreamed of or what her difficult childhood promised. Her life’s mantra is to be good, quiet, grateful. Until something shifts and Cinnamon is suddenly haunted by a terrifying “Is this all there is?”

Daisy Dunlap has had her own share of problems in her nineteen years on earth—she also has her own big dreams for a life that’s barely begun. Her hopes for her future are threatened when she gets unexpectedly pregnant. Desperate, broke, and alone, she hides this development from everyone close to her and then makes a drastic decision with devastating consequences.

Daisy isn’t the only one with something to hide. When Cinnamon finds an abandoned baby in a park and takes the blonde-haired, blue-eyed newborn into her home, the ripple effects of this decision risk exposing the truth about Cinnamon’s own past, which she’s gone to great pains to portray as idyllic to everyone…even herself.

As Cinnamon struggles to contain old demons, navigate the fault lines that erupt in her marriage, and deal with the shocking judgments from friends and strangers alike about why a woman like her has a baby like this, her one goal is to do right by the child she grows more attached to with each passing day. It’s the exact same conviction that drives Daisy as she tries to outrun her heartache and reckon with her choices.

These two women, unlikely friends and kindred spirits must face down their secrets and trauma and unite for the sake of the baby they both love in their own unique way when Daisy’s grandparents, who would rather die than see one of their own raised by a Black woman, threaten to take custody.

Once again, these authors bring their “empathetic, riveting, and authentic” (Laura Dave, New York Times bestselling author) storytelling to an unforgettable novel that revolves around provocative and timely questions about race, class, and motherhood. Is being a mother a right, an obligation, or a privilege? Who gets to be a mother? And to whom? And what are we willing to sacrifice for the sake of marriage, friendship, and our dreams?