Review: An adoption gone awry?
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 11 13, 2012
Although Rebecca Gillespie and her daughter survived a fatal car accident that took her husband's life, Rebecca had remained in a long-term coma with little hope of recovery.  Her estranged mother-in-law, who was suffering from cancer, had power of attorney.  Since she was unable to care for the little girl, she put her up for adoption in Mills Land, where Rebecca lived.  Once recovered, Rebecca searched for years to find her daughter, to no avail.Cole and Leah Seibert adopted an infant girl after she miscarried twice. However, a genetic heart condition took Leah's life at an early age, leaving Cole to raise their daughter, Kimmy, alone.Kimmy missed the kindergarten cut-off date by just days, so Cole needed to register her at a preschool.  The one he chose was Precious Miracles, run by none other than Rebecca Gillespie. Prior to the registration, Cole was clueless that Rebecca had been looking for her adopted daughter.Mary's take on Rebecca's initial conversation with Cole through the intercom was hilarious, mainly because he was late and she was hungry. The author then takes us into the wild world of flirtatious bantering between Rebecca and Cole, though they'd never admit it at the time.  Instead of registering, their bantering and reminiscing about their old skating pasts lasted almost the whole time; he was in hockey, and she skated at Mills Land's arena.  Though they both secretly had colossal crushes on each other in high school, neither had spoken up.  They later dated and married different people.Since they spent too much time reminiscing, Cole took the registration papers home to bring back in the morning when he brought Kimmy to preschool, because he needed to order a birthday cake for Kimmy's birthday before 7:00 p.m.The next morning, Cole arrived so early with Kimmy that only Rebecca was there.  Again she listened to them talking over the intercom. Only this time, she was taken aback by Kimmy's resemblance to herself and their father/daughter talk.  She finally let them in.This is where the hard stuff starts.  Mary nailed it with the conversations that followed as to whether Kimmy was Rebecca's daughter.  The pain and agony were sweltering off the pages of the book, causing me to empathize with how each parent felt along with their not knowing what to do next.  It was hard enough to know Rebecca had been looking for her daughter, but to think she found her and her old crush had her was painfully and tensely depicted. Neither wanted to hurt the other or cause stress for Kimmy, but they both wanted her.What a wonderfully written novel of the grief, pain, and agony of a non-consented adoption coupled with the loss of their spouses. Yet you can feel the author revel with us in their love and faith that epitomizes the rest of the story's unwinding.  Mary's book really touched my heart deeply because of the subject matter and how well she handled it.This PDF book copy was provided free by the author in exchange for my honest review.  No monetary compensation was received.