What Was Mine: A Book Club Recommendation!

I think, as a parent, that all parents imagine what we would do if one of our children disappeared. Taken, lost...the nightmare and tragedy would be overwhelming.

Author Ross has written a book that roused all kinds of emotions in me. I was sick to my stomach, I cried - this story was so affecting.

The book is written in short chapters, each written from the point-of-view of different characters in the book. The action moves quickly and the emotions brought out are realistic and volcanic.

It takes quite an author that gets me to feeling even a smidgen of sympathy for a woman that wantonly kidnapped someone else's child. And I did...a little.

But mostly I identified with the mother and father that had their child kidnapped. This book did literally give me nightmares with its "what ifs".

The book was well written. The only thing I didn't like was the abrupt ending. It worked but I guess I just wasn't ready to stop reading about all these intertwining characters.

I received this book from Gallery Books through Net Galley in exchange for my honest review.

Not sure if it's the author's fault, or if the editors just took a lot of days off. Why write about a geographic area you know nothing about? San Mateo is not "a long drive from the San Francisco airport". Very few houses in San Mateo, or California, for that matter, have basements where a potter might have a studio with a kiln. Clorox was never headquartered in San Francisco; it was in Oakland during the 1990s. I could go on. There were likely discrepancies with the east coast details as well. The New Jersey/Ikea scenes were a mess. Where is this author even from? Does she even know?

The reviewers who "didn't like" Lucy -- is that the point? Surely she was written as some sort of sympathetic, barren, crazy character, but who really cares if you "like" her or not. She's not your camp counselor; get over it.

Overall, it was just plain lazy. The book could have been much better had some real thought and editing gone into it.

A special thank you to Gallery Books and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Helen Klein Ross delivers a “stand-out” emotionally charged tale, a top must read for 2016--- WHAT WAS MINE —A character-driven, compelling exploration—a slow unraveling of lives, motherhood, a downward spiral of events affecting two families, and many lives. An abduction. A Kidnapping.

I loved everything about this book!

What happens in a split-second; a decision, based upon desperation, need, want, and obsession. Two women. Both professionals. A distraction. One baby. Someone loses. Someone gains.

However, a thought-provoking question: For one woman: Are you prepared to live with your choices? For another woman: Can you truly get ever back What Was Mine and Lost? A baby. A daughter. Caught in the middle of two worlds.

Lucy is married, a successful career in the ad world, and wants a baby. After unsuccessful attempts, infertility drugs, and years of trying, nothing seems to be working. Her husband is tired of her obsession and leaves. She wants a baby. So she tries visualizing, by setting up an entire nursery.

She goes to her local IKEA NJ store and sees a baby in a cart. A four-month-old beautiful baby. It seems to be unattended. This may be a sign. A baby for her to rescue. She will pick it up just for a moment. However, the one moment turns into, walking out the door with a baby. In the car, she is overwhelmed with what she has just done.

Too late to take back the baby, she falls in love. She will keep the baby for her own. She gets away with it for twenty years, changing the name, watching the news over the years, and even finding out the identity of the real mother. She keeps to herself and tells everyone she has adopted the baby. She hires a wonderful nanny from China to help take care of daughter, Mia which has a big impact on her life through adulthood. (clever tie in here)

As a single professional, Lucy offers her daughter, Mia the best of art, education, and culture. She does not date or have friends—her world revolves around her daughter.

The biological mother (Marilyn) is guilt ridden, having walked away from the cart on a phone call for work for a minute. Her marriage is destroyed, and she will never get over losing her daughter. Even when she moves, remarries and has another family.

This story is told from the alternating perspectives of Lucy Wakefield (the woman who raises someone else's baby as her own), Mia (the former baby), Mia’s birth mother, Marilyn.

Now, the juicy part (which I thought was a brilliant and clever twist by the author). Lucy is a ghost writer for a book, and wants more. She wants her name on the book with the co-author. Greed gets in the way of her perfect life. It turns out to be devastating for her in the end. At the book signing, I was on pins and needles--suspense, intensity.

Author’s lives are not so private, especially when a thriller book is written about a baby snatching, and the real mother reads it. The biological mother reads all books about baby kidnapping, trying to find out why this happened to her. Of course, there is social media and Facebook.

From this part on readers will be glued to this page-turner! All the secrets come out in the open, leaving behind a pile of devastation.

We hear from different perspectives: Lucy, the biological mother, Marilyn, and later from the daughter when she is grown. A twist with China, the nanny, and the ending was perfect. I could almost see a sequel, to continue with Lucy, Mia, and Marilyn. (especially Lucy)

The author does an outstanding job with keeping things neutral, allowing readers to form their own opinions. You almost feel sympathy for Lucy at times, as well as Mia, and of course Marilyn. Two different women at the end; however, early on, they were similar in many ways. How different Mia's life would have been if raised by the biological mother.

What makes WHAT WAS MINE so spectacular:
• Presentation/Marketing: Ross’ website. I wish every publisher/author would set up a similar page! Perfect. You become invested in the story and its characters, and ideal for book clubs and further discussions.
• Q&A
• What Reviews/Readers Say
• About the Characters (summary of each)
• Places in the Book (summary & photos)
• Research Links
• For Book Clubs

Perfect pacing- the author does not get bogged down or take off in a different direction. Even flow keeping you glued to the pages. I could not put it down. Lots of surprises, mystery, twists, and intriguing psychological suspense. Loved the tie in with China, Wendy Ma, and the thriller book.

Fans of Sarah Pekkanen, Amy Hatvany, and Patti Callahan Henry will enjoy this contemporary fiction, today's career woman, motherhood, and a "not so ordinary " baby kidnapping.

When I requested WHAT WAS MINE, I had no idea what was in store. Highly recommend. An author I will be following! You can tell the author is in the media business --it shows.

As a parent, the thought of one of my children being kidnapped is inconceivable. I don't think that is something I could come back from. So, being a parent, I expected so much more from this book. Before I explain myself, let me say this is a good book. It's just not the profound and moving book I was expecting.

This story is told in more of an interview stlye. It reads like someone is recounting the events in their life. Which, really is happening. Lucy kidnaps baby. The parents are devistated and have a hard time moving forward. Years down the road Mia, the baby who was kidnapped, finds out who she really is. This is where I really expected to get a gripping story. However, I didn't. Things were so matter of fact.

I had hoped for a huge climax in this story. I expected to be heartbroken. I expected to feel all sorts of emotions. None of these never really came. This story had no true emotion to it. It fell kind of flat for me. Like I said, it is a good book, but not a great and profound book. This kind of story calls for great and profound. If you are looking for a story you can sit and get lost in without too much emotional turmoil, this is definitely a story for you.

I listened to the audiobook of this story and I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. I was expecting a frothy, quick read, but got so much more.

I was impressed by Ross's ability to completely engross me in the story and create a high level of suspense given that I already knew essentially the entire story from the blurb. The story of an abducted baby hits close to my mother nerves and Ross captured perfectly the terror and guilt and sheer awfulness of the situation. She also managed to make the abductor somewhat sympathetic with her back story of infertility and desperateness. It was not a sympathy that could be maintained for the entirety of the story and in some ways her efforts to do so backfired (more on that later) but it was skillfully handled at the outset.

I found the comparisons to Tom Perotta apt - Ross sees clearly and writes shrewdly on American life - both in the early nineties and now. I think she captured the young Mia's voice perfectly - she got the fluidity of thought of that age group as Mia worked through her new life. Ross's writing style is clear and keen and a little wry. It was good.

The book fell down for me when I felt like she was trying to justify Lucy's actions with comparisons to the actions of others like Wendy. I think we all make hard choices in the best interests of our children. We do a lot for them to keep them safe an because we love them. There was/is no justification for Lucy's decision to take and keep the baby. By the end of the book I had little to no sympathy for her, but I did have more of a appreciation for the complexity of our lives and how we are all doing the best we can with what we are given.

The ending seemed like a sudden drop off with not enough resolution and at first I was disappointed. But then I realized that there can be no resolution, no neat bow on it happy ending to this story. The story worked in large part because of the writing. 3.5 reaching toward a 4.

Some fiction is simply effortless…to read, that is. To write it takes all the effort in the world, I know. This is one case in point: What Was Mine was, for me, an effortless, enthralling read from its first, compelling premise to its gripping opening pages and all the way through to its satisfying conclusion.

Pithy chapters, taut pacing, and alternating points of view kept me speeding through the pages. (When a chapter is just a few pages long, or even less, it’s so very easy to say yes to reading one more–and then another, and just one more.) The author employs a technique I’ve not seen in a while, that of using whichever character best moves the story forward, including several one-offs. I found this refreshing, while it also serves to heighten the tension.

Part of what makes this story so fascinating is being allowed inside the kidnapper’s head. She’s a sociopath, and yet…I was made to care, even if I couldn’t condone.

The other part, and what makes it so gripping, is the point-in-time perspective from which the story is told. From the start, the reader knows the baby (or young woman, as she becomes) will be found, and her welfare is never in question. We do not know, however, exactly when she will be found, or how, or what the consequences will be. And when this unfolds, the ramifications for all characters is just as fascinating as what came before. This, to me, is the genius of this particular novel–which is helped by an ending that I found to be both realistic and unexpected.

What Was Mine is a She Reads Winter Book Club Selection. Thanks to She Reads and Gallery Books for providing me a free copy to review. All opinions are mine.

Book Review: WHAT WAS MINE by Helen Klein Ross

American women who were born in the 1950's and early 1960's--the Baby Boomers--had an abundance of choices and opportunities when we were in our twenties in the 1980's. Many of us obtained college educations, and graduate degrees, more than any previous generation of women ever had. We wanted, and expected, to have the same career opportunities that men had. We weren't naive. We knew we had to work smarter, harder, and longer hours than our male counterparts in order to be considered for promotions. We also learned that we generally received less money than men did with those promotions. So we continued to work smarter, harder and longer. We knew how to succeed. We met our husbands back in school or through work, and married. We deferred having children because we wanted to save up money to buy a house in the suburbs or a two-bedroom apartment in Brooklyn. There was one obstacle which we hadn't considered: our biological clock. As I said to a woman friend who is a Millennial, "You don't get two '20's' and turn 40." No matter how goal-oriented a woman may be, she cannot control biology. For many women, the postponement of children meant there would be no children. Many couples used fertility and reproductive technology so that the woman could get pregnant. Sometimes this worked. Sometimes it didn't. Women realized we couldn't have it all. But what if you were a woman who would do anything to have a child?

Helen Ross Klein's psychological thriller WHAT WAS MINE poses that very question. Lucy Wakefield was born in 1954. She attended the Ivy League university Cornell, and met Warren there, and they marry in 1979. They live in Manhattan, where Lucy works in advertising writing copy, and Warren is a consultant. They get caught up in their careers. When Lucy and Warren turn thirty, his father dies. The couple jump-start their plans to have a family. They purchase a home in the New Jersey suburbs, and start fertility treatments. Lucy decorates and stocks a nursery that is completely prepared for arrival of the baby she is sure they will have. The treatments don't work. Warren won't adopt. Warren meets a younger woman. Warren leaves Lucy when they are thirty-five in 1989.
"When Warren left me, I was thirty-five, the age grandmothers died in the Middle Ages."
Lucy focuses her energy on her career. Her advertising firm wants to land IKEA as an account. The second Ikea store in the country had opened in Elizabeth, New Jersey, not far from Lucy's home. She's gone there to do research in May 1990. Lucy continues to go back to IKEA every Friday. It's the perfect place for a woman to fantasize about every day family life, and for her to watch children playing in the store's Ball Room. Three months later, on Friday, August 10, 1990, Lucy returns to IKEA. She's looking for candles but, instead, Lucy finds a baby girl on her own in the plastic infant carrier of a cart. Lucy finds "her" baby. She names the baby "Mia," a name which means "mine."

WHAT WAS MINE is an amazing and provocative thriller, and Helen Klein Ross is a brilliant writer. She has a true gift for making the reader examine moral complexities and feel a range of emotions, all while providing a highly entertaining read. She provides a very informed and modern tale based on the one of the most primal and ancient desires: to be a mother. The action--and the chaos--occurs in the homes, offices and hearts of working women, and what is at stake is a child, and the direction of many people's lives. Helen Klein Ross's novel encompasses and explains women's issues from a generation ago, matters with which women still grapple. The story unfolds from the point-of-view of multiple characters, major and minor. Her characters are quite real, believable and nuanced. One has a certain amount of sympathy for the baby's birth mother Marilyn. But it is very hard not to root for Lucy. She is a kidnapper, and she carries a great deal of guilt over what she has done. Lucy makes a lot of sacrifices to be a good mother, working hard to provide Mia with a good life, a first-rate education and other privileges. Eventually, Lucy has to face the music. Being a mother involves great pain along with great joy. There are some complicated but plausible plot twists and Ross pulls them off with panache and talent.

{Thank you, Gallery Books, for providing me with a digital copy of this novel through NetGalley.}

Many women agonize over the empty womb syndrome, live with the knowledge that they will never ever be able to do what is supposed to be the normal course of action for any woman. It doesn’t always work out that way.
I was totally on board with the author at the outset of author’s complete and compassionate native of Paula a divorcee who wants above all things is to have a baby of her own. But when Paula sees a baby in a super market cart unattended and takes the baby I was on immediate alert. As she walked away, her conscious plagues her and she contemplates places where she can put the baby where she will be found. But she soon finds herself home and the baby is hers.
Watching the news each day as the mother of the stolen infant causes her pain, but the “she can have other babies” rationale seals her decision and lives with sadness, and dread for the next 21 years. Looking into the face of a child every day and know what she does not know, and that she is stolen.

The author elicits the emotion from Lucy’s POV that she is remorseful but powerless to do anything about it. Every day that goes by makes it more and more difficult as the baby—like any baby becomes more and more dependent and accepts the love that it is shown.
I wasn’t fond of the back and forth, but I appreciated the fact that when the child is finally grown and reunited with her REAL family, that there are issues, especially with the young son. It’s hard to accept someone into your life that you don’t know and expected to love.
I enjoyed this book and like the movie LEGENDS OF THE FALL (that I often mention in my reviews) I can relate.

What Was Mine could have been a 4 had the author written with a different voice for each character and didn't rush through the second half of the story. The chapters alternate between the kidnapper, Lucy; the birth mother, Marilyn; the child, Mia; and more than a half dozen other characters, some given just a few paragraphs in which to get their perspective. The only speech pattern that stood out from all the others was that of Wendy's, the Chinese nanny. It's a good thing Ross labeled each chapter with the speaker's name, because it would have been nearly impossible to discern who was speaking; they sounded that much alike in tone, vocabulary, and speech pattern.

That aside, the first half is fast paced and done very well. It is told mainly from Lucy's and Marilyn's points of view so the reader gets the perspective of the woman having taken the child and the woman whose child is stolen from her. It's believable that Lucy, having lost a child by miscarriage and then never being able to become pregnant again, would have this strong desire for a baby. When the opportunity presents itself, in an aisle in a brand-new IKEA store in the early '90s when Marilyn, on a primitive cell phone trying to find better reception in order to field an important call from work, walks away, it seems logical for Lucy to pick up and then exit the store with the child. (How she found her way out of an IKEA on one of her first few visits there is another story.) Her guilt and the grief she feels for the birth mother nearly make Lucy turn back, but her twisted logic confirms to her that there is no way returning the child could happen without a bad ending for herself. So having in the past already outfitted a room in her house for a potential child while trying to visualize the possibility of a baby in her future in that new-agey "if you build it, it will come" thought process, Lucy fits Mia into her life immediately. Frankly, I felt that Lucy was a bit too intelligent and logical and well-to-do to not have found another way to acquire a child legally, but one must suspend disbelief when reading fiction at times.

The next chapters deal with Marilyn and her husband Tom's pain after the loss (I didn't 100 percent feel their pain probably because the characters lacked depth) and Mia's upbringing, which is that of a doted-upon only child in Manhattan who is often looked after by a Chinese national nanny, given the Anglo name "Wendy" by Lucy. A lot is skipped over in Mia's early life, however, but the reader gets the sense that it was pretty perfect until Mia is a young adult and discovers the truth behind what she had been told was her adoption.

From there, as a reader, I had to again suspend my doubts, doubts about how Mia felt at this moment (she immediately turns her back on Lucy, which seemed out of character, having been given such a good life); doubts about how easy it is for Lucy to go into hiding; and doubts about how easily Marilyn assumes the role of mom to Mia again. We get a few glimpses of Mia's loyalty to the woman who raised her, though these come too late in the drama to be believable; reasoning for how Lucy can manage to stay away in another country without being brought back to the United States, which is a bit too contrived for me; and episodes of the difficulty of Mia's assimilating into her new family's life, a life that's too pedantic for a girl raised in Manhattan and attending a private New England university.

I agree with the others who didn't care for the ending. It was a bit too tidy after how Mia behaved for the bulk of the book after the big secret's reveal. And it leaves a lot of loose ends flailing in the wind.

Overall, What Was Mine is a quick read, contains a compelling subject matter and, with a little more editing, could have been an exceptional book.

“During Baby Bingo, one of the guests en route to the bathroom mistakenly opened the door to the nursery and soon the entire party was gathered at its threshold, faces agog, silent, and I saw myself as they did: a woman stocking up for a baby I’d never have. For the first time, I realized, as they did, as Warren had tried to convince me—I wasn’t ever going to have a baby. I just wasn’t.”

One of the most devastating realities that a woman can face, has come to life in this novel. Ross’ story lays out the perfect husband and wife, right before your eyes—with one imperfection, the inability to conceive a child. Several marriages fail because both individuals thrive for what they don’t have—failure becomes a manifestation will the power of crippling the mind and tipping the hormonal balance. This story is gripping, emotional and psychologically intrepid. By delving into the minds and personalities of the characters as they live out their life, Ross engages the reader with exceptional persistence and creativity that are absolutely riveting.

Lucy is a married woman who doesn’t think about consequences, not at first—until becoming pregnant. Upon revelation, she is hesitant about what is growing inside of her. She has a new career, financial instability and a thriving marriage that is not yet ready to move on to a new chapter. All of these reasons come crashing down and begin to weigh on Lucy—she feels that the time is just not right and she must make a choice. After deciding to abort the baby, Lucy understands that she will be unable to part with it if she waits until birth to give the baby up for adoption. As if Lucy willed for another way, she is overcome with emotional distraught and relief when she has a miscarriage. She prays for the baby to come back in a few years when they are ready. After years pass and various failed attempts burden both Lucy and her husband, the emotional turmoil has grown to insurmountable discomfort—a discomfort that pushes him away. Lucy becomes withdrawn, unattached, unforgiving and essentially a shell of herself—until one day in a huge furniture store, she is drawn to a four-month-old baby alone in a cart. Though this thought process is highly irrational, Lucy feels justified, suddenly thinking that this is the baby that she had prayed for—that this is the one she had asked to come back into her life.

Lucy’s character, becoming withdrawn and systematic, points toward Post-Traumatic Stress. She weeps for the baby that she had lost, the baby that she would never give birth to. As everything begins shutting down, it is apparent that Lucy is not capable of criminal activity—much less kidnapping an innocent child. The way that she carries herself and her distraught sense of logic are signs of mental illness, but her composure and commonality is what deters those around her from seeing a clear picture of what could have actually transpired.
The author does a superb job with character development and credibility. As this story unfolds, so many factors come to play into these character’s lives. It is not difficult to sympathize with the victim in stories such as this, but even more striking than that—it is also not difficult to sympathize with the kidnapper. With such emotional conflict, making practicality and reason confusing at best—Ross has a compelling novel that will leave readers with awe. If you are a reader of women’s fiction or literary fiction, you may want to pick this up—but, fair warning…it may not be easy to put down.

A free copy was exchanged for an honest review of this fictional piece.

In her new book, What Was Mine, author Helen Klein Ross brings a parental nightmare - having your child stolen from you - to the forefront in this exciting read. And while this book had no violence to speak of, this blogging mother of three found it to be quite emotional and even creepy as it brings to light one of motherhood's biggest fears.

At the heart of this book is emotion. Klein Ross brings up so many conflicting feelings in her characters. Giving the story a more personal feel is the addition of numerous points of view - including Lucy, Marilyn, Mia and even very tertiary characters. Despite of, or maybe because of, the ever-changing POVs the pace of the book (at least the first half) was quite fast, it flowed remarkably well and the addition of the other opinions gave the story a very well-rounded feel.

I will admit that I enjoyed the first half of the book a lot more. It focuses on Lucy (the kidnapper) and how she raises Natalie/Mia on her own. The reader gets to see Lucy's rationale for taking the baby, her constant fear of being caught and ultimately her love and devotion for this girl. Did she intend to inflict years of torment on others when she took the baby or was she filled with such an ache for a child of her own that she rationalized her actions to the point where they became her truth? Does the fact that Lucy raises Mia in a loving home negate the fact that she stole her? Lucy builds a new life with 'her' daughter that is built on lies and the reader knows that eventually this house of cards will come crashing down upon them all.

Even though the reader knows how things are going pan out it doesn't make the ride any less interesting. My only negatives about the book stem from the ending (quite abrupt and not very satisfying) and the second half of the book when Lucy moves on which lacked the tension of the first half of the book. I suppose I wanted more emotion and conflict between the parties involved. Instead the second half of the book focuses on Lucy's new life and Marilyn and Mia's budding relationship.

I enjoyed that emotional and ethical issues were raised and I was surprised when I found myself changing my allegiances as I read. No one character was without fault. There was emotion all over the place -- betrayal, loss, grief, devotion, love ... and yet the issues aren't black and white. No one comes out of this incident and its aftermath unscathed.

The fact that certain characters didn't have the reactions I was expecting and that things aren't always cut and dry made the book have a very realistic tone. Neither mother was perfect. Each had her own strengths and faults. I was quite surprised at how much I liked Lucy despite her issues and her egregious mistake. I thought Marilyn would be the character I'd be drawn to but unfortunately I found her to be too over the top and cliched.

Klein Ross gives an interesting take on a delicate and emotional situation by showing the inner thoughts of both mothers. This was a very easy read (I read it in a little over one day) and the cover picture is beautifully chilling. There are wonderfully complex relationships that would make for amazing book club discussions (FYI - there are questions in the back of the book to get book club discussions started).

What Was Mine is a well written book about betrayal, loss and the bond between mother and daughter. It's about the nature vs nurture issue and the ferocity, complexity and depth of love a mother has for her child.

My Rating: 4/5 stars

Disclaimer: My sincere thanks to Gallery Books and NetGalley for providing me with a complimentary e-book copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This was one creepy book. I think it was even more creepy than a grisly murder book. The thoughts that the woman had while taking another woman's child. They were so real. The writing was great. I really felt like I was in that woman's head and was experiencing everything with her and with the mother that had lost her child. I kept wondering throughout the book, was this a real story? I had requested the book a while back and hadn't read the blurb right before starting to read it. The way it read, I could not tell.

At first, I felt no empathy for the kidnapper at all. But my feelings changed as the book went on. I can't explain how or why.

I just know that this was an excellent books that brought out a lot of mixed feelings for me at the end. I thought it was great story, well written with great characters. I took off a star because I think the ending was kind of just dropped off the cliff. It was like the word quota was met and the words "The End" was put into place. However, don't let that stop you from reading this book. It will definitely touch you as a mother. I just wish there was more there.

Thanks Gallery, Pocket, Threshold and Net Galley for providing a free e-galley in exchange for an honest review.

Lucy Wakefield has accomplished everything she had wanted by her thirties except for one thing: Being a mother. She has tried everything and failed. Her husband doesn't want to adopt and soon after he leaves her for a younger woman who of course gives him kids. One day at IKEA, Lucy finds herself watching a baby girl alone in a cart with no signs of her mother. That day, Lucy commits a terrible crime. She takes the baby with her and for over two decades, she dedicates her life to her. To her dismay, secrets have a tendency to resurface and her daughter Mia learns about her deception and is devastated. Lucy runs to China when her world collapses, leaving everything behind and losing all hope.

This story is powerful, intriguing and compelling. A few times while reading it, I found myself asking: What is wrong with me that I feel myself aligning towards the kidnapper and not that mom who loses her baby in the blink of an eye? I wanted Lucy to end up keeping Mia in her life.
Marilyn didn't do anything wrong except losing sight of her child for just a few minutes, something I think almost every parent has experienced when their child is not in their sight for a few seconds and the worst thing comes to mind.

There is not a specific reason why I leaned towards Lucy instead of Marilyn. Maybe it was knowing how much Lucy wanted a kid or the lack of friends or love she gave up in order not to attract unwanted attention to them. She feared getting caught most of the time. Her vulnerability was something I could relate to.

I can recommend this book without doubts and I know I want to read more books by this author.

Cliffhanger: No

4/5 Fangs

I was not sure I could read this book. A child being kidnapped is a parent’s worst nightmare. Yet, I could not stop reading What Was Mine. It started innocently enough and then Lucy takes Mia. I had a hard time accepting Lucy’s justification. She talked herself into it being okay that she took another person’s baby just because she could not have one herself. The one thing that redeemed Lucy to me, just a little, was that she took amazing care of Mia and raised her to be a wonderful young lady. Lucy keeps Marilyn in her thoughts constantly, always thinking about the hell she must be going through in the lost of a her daughter.

While the book is not easy, I could not put it down. When I had to stop reading to go on with life I continued to think about the story. I found myself sneaking and reading just one more chapter, page, or paragraph. I liked that the paragraphs were labeled with who was telling their side of the story and that the chapters were usually short and easy to read through. It was also interesting that so many people told their story. There was no part of the story left untold.

I have to say the ending surprised me. I am not sure what I expected but that was not it. It is a satisfying ending, just not an expected ending.

I recommend checking this book out. It is not a story for everyone but it is a story that will stay with you long after you are finished reading it.

Gallery, Threshold, Pocket Books and NetGalley provided me with an electronic copy of this book, in exchange for an honest review.

After having tried for years to have her own child, the strain on Lucy's marriage to Warren was too great. As her attempts to adopt failed, Lucy became more and more despondent over being childless. Then, Lucy Wakefield does the unthinkable - takes a baby from a seemingly abandoned shopping cart and raises her for 21 years before detection. When Mia discovers the truth, she attempts to put together her shattered life by connecting with her birth mother. The biggest question is: will Mia's birth parents pursue justice against the only mother that Mia has ever known or will they just be happy to have their daughter back?

Told in alternating perspectives, What Was Mine reads more like a true crime novel. Although I am not usually a fan of this style of writing, it is an effective way of giving realism to this fictional story. The author has successfully woven a powerful story, taking the reader on a journey with Lucy that culminates in the eventual detection of her crime. When Mia and Marilyn's story takes over, emotions that I did not expect to feel surfaced. After all, Marilyn's crime was neglect, while Lucy's was a misguided sense of love. The feeling that she could not figure out how to right the wrong came through clearly and even though she was in the wrong, one cannot help but understand Lucy's side. Well written and moving, I would recommend What Was Mine and hope to read more by author Helen Klein Ross in the future.

In What Was Mine Lucy Wakefield, desperate to have a baby, steals one from an Ikea. Twenty-one years later, she is finally discovered. This book is written in flash back, kind of, so at the beginning the reader knows that Lucy has been caught but then gets the story from her perspective and others – including her ex-husband, the baby’s mother, and the baby herself.

This book was an easy read, and I enjoyed it, but it’s nothing amazing. I think a big part of that was that the ending was known. The interesting part of this book was hearing each character’s version of the story. I found myself sympathizing with both Lucy and the birth mother (Meredith? I want to say). Of course the true victim of the whole thing is the baby – Mia. I enjoyed reading about her reconnecting with her original family.

If you like emotional family dramas, you may enjoy this one. I wanted to like it more, and there wasn’t really anything bad about it, but it just didn’t blow me away.

Blog: Opinionated Book Lover

Every parent’s worst nightmare is having one’s child abducted. What would you do if you were at the store, turned your attention from your child in the shopping cart for moments, only to find that the child was taken during that time?

In an impulsive decision, Lucy spies a child left unattended in a shopping cart and snatches the child when no one is looking. She renames the four month old baby Mia and raises her as her own for twenty one years. Telling people that she adopted the baby and even hires a nanny from China to help care for her. Taken place in the 1990s, the story alternates between several people who were affected by the incident. It’s told from the current day with flashbacks to the time of the abduction and years proceeding it.

For the most part, Lucy justifies her decision to take Marilyn’s baby. She feels that she is a good mother, who did a great job raising Mia. At times she thinks back to her actions and how it must have impacted the birth mother. For Marilyn, her life is in shambles. She tries her best to pick herself up and move on. In time their lives cross and what happens from there will change both of their lives forever.

Talk about giving you chills. This book literally had me on the edge of my seat with each page I read. If you’re looking for an impossible to put down thriller, you won’t want to miss this book. You will be thinking about it long after you turned the last page!