Book review- To Know You by Shannon Ethridge and Kathryn Mackel

I received the book To Know You by Shannon Ethridge and Kathryn Mackel through the booksneeze program in exchange for an honest review.

To Know You explores the path to redemption and forgiveness as it follows the story of one woman who, in past years, gave up two daughters for adoption. Now, her son is sick and needs a liver transplant so Julia searches out her daughters whom she has never met. Will they forgive her? Can she forgive herself?

At first I didn’t think I’d like this book, as it is more emotionally heavy than most books I read for entertainment. I was so wrong, I became immediately engrossed in the story. Probably because I could have been Julia, I really related to the ‘mom’ aspect of things. The authors do a GREAT job of keeping you on the edge of your seat waiting to see if Julia’s son will get the help he needs. They also do a wonderful job of being honest about the emotions of the people involved. They were descriptive in their scenes and were great about taking different story threads through their individual arcs. What I found most fascinating is that the story is not about a woman who is asking the daughters she gave up and has never met for help. It is about learning to love even in the face of what might appear to be betrayal and rejection. It is about a woman who goes on a mission for one thing and discovers something entirely different. I would give this a 4 out of 5 stars.