You Were There Too
By: Colleen Oakley
Published Year: 2020
Publisher: Berkley
Pages: 320
I was sent a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This in no way shape or form influenced my opinion of this book.
Summary (Provided by Goodreads): 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?
First Impressions
Colleen Oakley initially impressed me with her debut novel, Before I Go. It is still one of my favorite novels. She just manages to write these heartbreaking novels that even though you want to hate them because they break your heart you just can’t. So, between the author and the summary of a dream ma that really exists I was hooked. I go back and forth about my feelings on the cover. I like the gold and the purple, but I wish there was just something more and I can’t figure out what.
What I thought
I have been in a bit of a reading rut the past few months. For some reason I just haven’t been finding books that make me want to pick them up and read them over watching TV. This one finally did it. I finished it in 3 days which, lately, feels like a record.
Mia is married to Harrison and they have just moved to the small town of Hope Springs. But since high school she has been dreaming of a different man. One day at the grocery store she spots this dream man in real life. When the finally meet, she discovers that he’s been dreaming of her too. Mia starts to question everything she thought she knew about love and who she is as well as where she is in life.
Like I said, this book caught me from the beginning. I was immediately sucked in and found myself thinking about these characters when I wasn’t reading. I have always been a bit of a sucker when it comes to dreams. I love to believe that there could be some psychic elements to them, so the idea that you could dream of someone before meeting them appealed to me.
Oakley did an amazing job of balancing the characters. I felt like I was able to understand Harrison and Mia as separate people and when they had their disagreements, I didn’t dislike either of them because I was able to see and understand both of their sides.
Without giving too much away, I was also surprisingly ok with how the story turned out. It’s one of those stories where I feel like you’re never going to be happy necessarily with the ending. Like, if Mia ends up with her dream guy, that means she has to leave her husband. But if she stays with her husband, that means she’s not with her dream guy! But this ending left me content. It didn’t play out in a way I expected but it fit and just felt right.
I have already passed this book on to one of my friends. The love story, the characters, the pacing, the supernatural elements. Everything just worked so well. I could see this book working well as a book club book so if you are looking for one early this year, I would recommend grabbing this one. Otherwise, if you’re just looking for a good love story with a bit of a twist, I would recommend this as well. Oakley’s writing is still solid and I look forward to continuing to read her works.