Book Recommendation - Before I Called You Mine

 One of the things I love about authors that I follow and help is that they lead me to other fantastic authors. Such was the case with my discovery of Nicole Deese. Another author that I follow and was helping with a launch put out a plea for fans of hers to help launch Nicole's latest, Before I Called You Mine. I read the cover blurb, saw it was about adoption (which is so close to my heart) and knew I wanted to read this one! So, I signed up for the launch team, and the rest is history. I SO totally loved this book. It is easily one of my favorites for 2020. There was a lot of laughter and more than a few tears. Those are the proofs of a good book!

Here's the synopsis:
Lauren Bailey may be a romantic at heart, but after a decade of matchmaking schemes gone wrong, there’s only one match she’s committed to now—the one that will make her a mother. Lauren is a dedicated first grade teacher in Idaho, and her love for children has led her to the path of international adoption. To satisfy her adoption agency’s requirements, she gladly agreed to remain single for the foreseeable future; however, just as her long wait comes to an end, Lauren is blindsided by a complication she never saw coming: Joshua Avery.

Joshua may be a substitute teacher by day, but Lauren finds his passion for creating educational technology as fascinating as his antics in the classroom. Though she does her best to downplay the undeniable connection between them, his relentless pursuit of her heart puts her commitment to stay unattached to the test and causes her once-firm conviction to waver.

With an impossible decision looming, Lauren might very well find herself choosing between the two deepest desires of her heart . . . even if saying yes to one means letting go of the other.
Being part of the launch team, I was made aware of the "story behind the story":
In the summer of 2017, my little family of four - my husband of 16 years and our two pre-teen sons - became a family of five when we adopted a six-and-a-half-year-old girl from an orphanage in Beijing, China. Our lives, and our daughter's life, was forever changed that day. Over the next year, as I took time off from writing deadlines and publishing contracts to bond with our daughter, Lucy Mei, God began to weave a new storyline in my writer's heart.

While we'd been in China, I met several single mothers who'd made the incredible trek overseas to adopt their son or daughter during the same time we adopted our Lucy Mei. Their journeys were not only courageous, but their obedience to pursue a life-altering call despite the cost, stigma, and sacrifice, left me teary-eyed and inspired. The rules are clear - you can either adopt as a woman who has been married for two years or longer, or as a single, unattached woman. No exceptions. Basically, if you start the process to adopt as a single woman, get matched with your future child, and then accidentally meet and fall in love with Mr. Right during that same timeline.... you are going to have some hard decisions to make.

It was this rule that began a series of "what if" questions in my writer brain: What if there's a single woman in her thirties who loves children and feels called to adopt an orphan overseas? What if that same woman is "matched" to a child with a real face and a real history? What if only a short while after she's matched with her future child, she meets the man she's prayed for all her life? And what if she's forced to make an impossible decision between the two deepest desires of her heart, even when walking through one door will mean closing the other?

"Before I Called You Mine" is a contemporary romance that colors outside the lines of a traditional romantic fairytale but highlights the undeniable connection of two hearts meant to beat as one. While there are many playful interactions and humorous scenes throughout Lauren and Joshua's story, there are also raw and vulnerable moments that I pray will stir your soul and paint a lasting, more vibrant picture of all that love can be with the turn of every page.

Since Nicole is new to my blog, here's a little bit more about her:
Nicole Deese’s eight humorous, heartfelt, and hope-filled novels include the 2017 Carol Award Winning A Season to Love. Her 2018 release, A New Shade of Summer, was a finalist in the RITA Awards, Carol Awards, and Inspy Awards. Both these books are from her best-selling Love in Lenox Series. Her newest contemporary romance, Before I Called You Mine, from Bethany House Publishers has recently received a starred review from Booklist.

When Nicole’s not sorting out characters and plots of her own, she can usually be found reading near a window overlooking the inspiring beauty of the Pacific Northwest (most often while sipping on a sparkling water). She lives in small-town, Idaho with her happily-ever-after hubby, two towering-over-her teen sons, and her princess daughter with the heart of a warrior.


You can find out more about her here:


Please check out my full 5 star review of this one!
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3188144846?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1

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