{Release Day Review} You Were There Too by Colleen Oakley (@OakleyColleen @BerkleyPub)

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 it, 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 should be happy. Or at least that’s how she feels. She’s happily married to a wonderful man and they’ve just bought their first home together in a small town aptly named Hope Springs.
 
But hope is all that Mia seems to have these days. Because what would make her world complete would be to have a child of her very own.  After several heartbreaking attempts, it seems that fate has other plans for her.
 
Strangely, her dreams are always haunted by a mysterious man that she’s certain that she should know but can’t seem to place.  Until the day when she comes face to face with him in the most unexpected place.

And I freeze. A cold electric current runs from the base of my skull down my spine. My heart thuds once and then stops.

Maybe forever.
​
It’s him. And then, as if I’ve willed him to do it, he looks up, eyes locking with mine.”

​Unlike his sister who settled in a small town, Oliver always refused to put down roots.  He travelled the world searching for something that he could never quite grasp. And then there was her.
 
The woman that came to him in his dreams is now flesh and blood.  The connection that they share is undeniable but only one of them is free. The more that they delve into each strange coincidence, the more questions that they uncover.  
 
Do soul mates really exist? Is fate written in stone? And does love really last forever?

That’s love. For all the great mysteries in the world, perhaps it’s the most mysterious of them all.

In You Were There Too, Colleen Oakley leads you on a poignant exploration of love in all its forms.  Her writing is lush and introspective. It makes the unexpected twists of the story that much more astonishing. 
 
Each of the characters shine brightly even as they fight their own inner battles.  The choices that they make are guided by their strength.  Everything then culminates in an ending that left me both stunned and hopeful all at the same time.
 
This is a book that had me devouring every word until the wee hours of the night. And I'll always remember the mark it made on my heart...

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