Most days it’s manageable. No more than a quiet wondering around the edges of her mind. What has become of the baby she left behind? Smiling through the pain and suffering in silence, Leslie Laudon marches forward. Embracing the life skillfully designed by her husband Paul. Living right could be penance for an impossible choice made with an uneasy heart. Dutiful and anchoring, Leslie poured … poured herself into her other children. Nurturing them through infancy, protecting them as toddlers, guiding them as teens. As her youngest child heads off to college with her suitcases and coordinating dorm room accessories, so goes Leslie’s identity. The chaotic life of a busy working mother threatens to become dangerously quiet. Quiet enough to hear the voices she’s tried to silence for decades.
Gwen Fox was adopted by two perfect people. Noel and Millie have always treated her the same as their two biological sons. Her parents love is strong and unwavering, yet a soul-deep ache still lingers. Plagued by an unnamed, hard to explain, longing Gwen could never shake. Riddled with doubt and dragged down by the undertow of unanswered questions, Leslie and Gwen both find their lives suddenly upended. One seeks the truth about the day she was born. The other seeks herself, the woman she was before motherhood. Before she made a choice to leave a piece of her heart lying asleep in the hospital nursery.
In this complex journey for answers, blame is abundant. Guilt is thick enough to choke on. Marriages are brought to the brink of disaster. As the ripples of the past vibrate through their lives, Gwen and Leslie realize there is no turning back. What they have put into motion cannot be stopped. The road toward the truth will be littered with casualties.
“You will not be disappointed if you take a journey around The Bend in Redwood Road. You will hang on every word wondering if resolution will be possible” Michele, 5 stars
“Stewart has a knack for creating rich, complicated characters. One standout is Leslie’s daughter, Kerry, who is defiantly vocal about the issues within her family and laudably supportive of her mother. The author treads carefully around the subject of adoption, respectfully noting systematic issues while preserving the emotional complexities of Gwen’s experience. Another intriguing feature is the romantic subplot” – Kirkus Reviews
more
The Bend in Redwood Road was well-written and had strong characters in strong families. I like the way there are friends and family members who truly care around both the main characters. When the secrets and poor choices of the past bleed into the present, neither one of them has to deal with it entirely on her own.
I love the way the story measures the strength of relationships by how well they can handle the difficulties of life.
Sweet and a bit romantic, this well-written story also manages to be fairly intense–I definitely stayed up too late reading it. And though the ending had a bit less closure than I typically prefer, it had enough that I’m reasonably satisfied.
A superb impressive story!
This book was very well written, I felt all Gwen and Leslie’s emotions, so can’t wait for the next book in the series to Be released… thank you for a great read Danielle Stewart
It kept my interest and was an easy read.
This is a powerful look at both sides of adoption.
20+ years later, how does a mom feel about the baby she gave up to adoption in a very twisted way? How does the now young woman feel about being adopted? What does she wonder about the woman who gave her up? This is the story of these two women. How their lives took a ‘bend’ at her birth. How they left questions for both of them. The adoptee has awesome parents and upbringing, but still questions.
I enjoyed both their story of adoption impact and the love stories each is currently experiencing.
Adopted as an infant by Millie and Noel, Gwen is now twenty-six years old. She sent a DNA test kit in, had a panic attack, ended up in the hospital, and moved back to her family’s house for a couple of weeks. Several hours away, Leslie and Paul’s marriage is in trouble. Most chalk that up to the fact that their youngest child, Kerry, will soon be leaving for college. Older brothers Nick and Dave are already finished with college and living away. In reality, part of Leslie’s trauma is that she gave up a baby for adoption (Gwen) The book alternates chapters between Gwen’s narrative and Leslie’s, a very effective technique here. Everything comes to a head when Kerry hears from the DNA website that she has a match for a half-sibling. This book is a realistic, if optimistic, look at what can happen as adoptees search for their birth families. It was a book worth reading.
I loved the characters in this book! The story involved many layers and just when I thought I had it figured out, a new layer or bend in the road happened. I loved getting to know each family in this story. One very loving and forgiving and the other family ruled by a control freak. I enjoyed every page of this book and definitely recommend it!
It took way too long for me to feel I needed to read this book. I persisted to the end but feel in many ways that my time could have been spent in better way. It was an okay read but nothing new or exciting happening here. I really didn’t care about the characters.
As genealogy information becomes more widespread, many lives will become irrevocably changed by what they discover as a result. This is a readable fictional riff on that whose female characters come into their own.
What keeps me from giving this book 5 stars is that it’s part of a series. The end of each book leaves you with a cliffhanger that is incomplete until you read the next one. I read the second book, and found myself on yet another cliffhanger. Will that cliffhanger end with the third book? Not sure if I’ll invest in answering that question.
I especially liked how the details of this unique adoption, of giving up a baby was so heart-wrenching for the Mom but also caused difficulty for the daughter to know the health backgrounds of her parents. This is a charming story of lives that are torn apart and yet came together again.
THIS IS A GREAT SERIES BY A FAVORITE AUTHOR
Very unusual plot. Well done.
I loved this book.
Absolutely loved it!
This book was more than I was expecting. I found the characters to be so real. It was as if they were friends. I loved the way Danielle Stewart wrote the part of Leslie and Paul. The way their marriage unfolds and is described is well done. So often people don’t realize that abuse can be happening without physical evidence. Leslie is an intelligent caring woman and yet she is in this relationship. Well written Danielle!
A beautiful story… kept awake late into the night …to finish reading…
Very interesting, many sided take on the subject of adoption. From the adoptee, the adoptive family & the one who gave up the child. All the emotions & reactions from the various family members & their underlying reasons for them. I couldn’t put it down. Also having adopted children of my own, one of which has already found her birth family I found it very realistic.
I really enjoyed this book. The characters are wonderful and story very believable. Hard to put down, waiting to see what comes next.
This book connected to my own family. I had to buy the rest of them to find out what happened!
Ended too soon,