I couldn’t put You Were There Too by Colleen Oakley down this weekend. I’m completely drawn to the idea of prophetic dreams or telepathic dreams, having experienced some unexplainable ones myself. It was interesting to see the author’s take on it, which gave this story a bit of a magical realism feel. I’ve been anxious to read this book for months! I was denied for it on Netgalley and have been pining for the story ever since.
BLURB:
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?
I will admit, I was slightly worried this would be a cheating novel based on the dream dynamic in the synopsis, but I still wanted to give the story a chance. As the story gets rolling, I was still unsure of how things would progress. The story kept me glued to the pages practically all day Saturday and early Sunday, just to answer the question, “will she or won’t she cheat?”
Instead, as I became more immersed in the story, I found it wasn’t the kind of novel I was expecting at all. Colleen Oakley’s writing and storytelling created a unique experience for me. I was hanging on every word, waiting for a big moment, dying to see how a few secondary characters’ perspectives would come into play. I was worried the ending might be anticlimactic after what felt like an hours-long drumroll. Then BAM! Everything I’d been waiting for suddenly made sense in a true mix of magic and misery. I was crossing my fingers and toes for the characters, hoping things could be resolved in the best possible way.
I truly appreciated everything Colleen Oakley did with this novel. It covered the dreaming aspect in a way that was both informative and intriguing, almost making the whole story feel like a dream in itself. I loved the dynamics of Mia, our main character’s marriage, with her husband, Harrison. It felt like a realistic picture of what marriage is like, rather than a fluffy or deeply depressing depiction as we see in many novels. It towed the in-between, showing the ups and downs couples face in real life. In the end, this story moved me tears and makes my heart flutter thinking about it now. It wasn’t the perfect read I was expecting, but it was definitely a story I was glad to get lost in. I will certainly be reading more of Colleen Oakley’s books in the future.
Rating: 4 stars
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I loved this one too !
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