I chose this audiobook based solely on the narrator. I fell in love with Khristine Hvam when I first listened to her narration of Daughter and Smoke and Bone a few years ago and this might be the 5th or 6th book I’ve bought just to listen to her narrate. She makes me enjoy just about any type of book I listen to and I’ve never been disappointed yet! But this book was even better – a happy surprise where the plot was great and surprising at every turn. Combined with Hvam’s narration it made for a wonderful overall experience.

Adrienne is desperate to become a mother and the book starts out with she and her husband Gabe filling out their adoption profiles for yet another time.  Gabe comes off as pretty ambivalent from the beginning about becoming a father, while Adrienne is pretty convinced that she is excited enough about parenthood for the both of them. When Adrienne comes across Leah she becomes convinced that she is the answer to everything they’ve been looking for but Leah comes with her own baggage, secrets, and plans.

Since I grabbed this one based on the narrator only I had no idea what to expect. But this books was really suspenseful and kept me wondering what was going on right away. It kept hinting at multiple secrets that Leah and Adrienne had in their pasts that made me wonder how that was going to effect their intertwined futures. Adrienne had been burned by a potential birth mother and it was obviously traumatizing for them and it overshadowed everything in the book and made me want to scream – in a good way – what happened with Patty!?

There are little elements throughout the book that you realize later were important and the author did a wonderful job of weaving that all together. The 3 key characters of Adrienne, Leah, and Gabe are very well fleshed out. While none of them are very likable, I don’t find that necessary for me to enjoy a book. Each of their motivations are slowly revealed over the course of the book and it’s fascinating.

For me Khristine Hvam’s narration just makes this book even better. She remains one of my favorite narrators and one of the only ones that I search out books she narrates to buy just for that reason!

Rating: 4 Stars

Reviewer: Melinda

Author: Holly Brown

Narrator: Khristine Hvam

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