Book Review: The Me I Used To Be

Author: Jennifer Archer
Title: The Me I Used To Be
Publisher: Harlequin Next
Publish Date: Oct 2005
Buy:Amazon
Blurb: That Was Then

Me, Allyson Cole. Age sixteen. Living in the world of endless summers, of going wherever you wanted. And yes, my parents may have worried that I was riding into trouble -- but I was young and in love, and growing up was something I had to do....

And This Is Now

Me, again. Allyson Cole. This time, age fifty-one. I have everything I always wanted -- almost. I don't have him...and I don't have me. Now's the time to find what I lost. To do that, I have to hit the road, and find the father of my child. And start a journey I never could have anticipated....

Review: Jennifer Archer paints a vivid picture of a mother who gave up a child for adoption and how it comes back to haunt her in a good way.

The characters in The Me I Used To Be are very complex and very human. But aren't all people that way. Allyson goes to Woodstock with her bad boy boyfriend and when it is over she's left alone and then later finds out she's pregnant.

Flash forward 30 some years and a teenage boy shows up telling her he's her grandson and that the daughter she gave up has died of cancer.

Wow!

Pass the Kleenex!

Through this meeting, we watch Allyson finally grow up and come to terms with her past. She makes peace with the man/boy she loved first and finds herself able to commit to the man she loves now.

It may be a lot to pack into about 290 pages, but Jennifer Archer does it well and she even inserts some humor as well. Life isn't all about the serious stuff. It was hard not to laugh when Allyson and Nick are climbing over a fence at the carnival to get away from a Pitbull and to get in to the carnival for free. And then there was the fight with the biker over a dog, that landed them in jail for a few hours. It was moments like that really leave you smiling.

There are a lot of moments when you will cry while reading this. Daughter Sarah's journals will definitely do that, but all in all this is a beautiful book about a second chance to make things right.

Rating: 5 flowers