A USA TODAY BESTSELLER“A surprising and incredibly satisfying story of chance and fate.”—New York Times bestselling author Taylor Jenkins Reid “I read it in one long gulp and didn’t want it to end.”—New York Times bestselling author Jill SantopoloAcclaimed author Colleen Oakley delivers a heart-wrenching and unforgettable love story about a woman who must choose between the man she loves and the … who must choose between the man she loves and the man fate has chosen for her, in a novel that reminds us that the best life is one led by the heart.
Mia Graydon’s life looks picket-fence perfect; she has the house, her loving husband, and dreams of starting a family. But she has other dreams too—unexplained, recurring ones starring the same man. Still, she doesn’t think much of it, until a relocation to small-town Pennsylvania brings her face to face with the stranger she has been dreaming about for years. And this man harbors a jaw-dropping secret of his own—he’s been dreaming of her too.
Determined to understand, Mia and this not-so-stranger search for answers. But when diving into their pasts begins to unravel her life in the present, Mia emerges with a single question—what if?
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You Were There Too is a surprising and incredibly satisfying story of chance and fate. From the book’s enticing first pages to its startling and electrifying conclusion, Colleen Oakley knocks it out of the park.
A rare gem of a novel. Colleen Oakley checks all the boxes with this one: exquisite, careful writing, beautifully drawn three-dimensional characters, and a twisty plot that defies premonition. This is a book about connections, and discovering that why we are connected to each other is a lot less important than the fact that we are. I couldn’t wait to find out what happened next, while at the same time hated for this lovely book to end. This is the kind of book we all long for, one to read and savor, and then read again.
The big question of What If . . . Wow, what an emotional surprise this book packed. It’s hard to review it without spoilers, other than to say it’s lovely, deep, and written with authenticity and grace.
A hypnotic, slow burn of a book about what our lives are and what we might want them to be, and how those two ideas clash. Deep emotional insight, no easy answers and beautiful writing made it a fast and delicious read.
This lovely novel tricks you into thinking it’s a simple story about a woman who has reoccurring dreams about a man she’s never met, only to meet him and discover that he’s dreaming of her. However, this book is so much more than that, and I don’t want to say too much, because the ending of this book is so emotional and so perfect, and I don’t dare say anything that could spoil it.
The characters are well developed, and I appreciate how everyone is flawed (including the main character Mia), but there are no “bad guys.” These are real people grappling with fertility issues, coping with difficult issues (Mia’s miscarriages; Harrison works as a surgeon), identity (Mia, an artist, is having a hard time making her career work). It’s not clear who we should be rooting Mia will end up with: her husband Harrison or the dream man Oliver.
Really enjoyed this read. Thanks to Netgalley for the advanced copy.
A truly absorbing examination of the tricky nature of love and what happens when your commitment to those you care for most are tested by a powerful connection that approaches destiny. I loved reading about Mia, Oliver, and Harrison and couldn’t wait to find out what happened next as their lives intertwined through episodes of hope, tragedy, and, ultimately, genuine love.
This was a fantastic read – heartfelt and surprising, never going where I expected it to. Every little detail mattered, woven in subtly until the reader could see that it all had meaning. It was a celebration of love, marriage, endurance, curiosity, and life. Kudos to Oakley for a great story – I’ll look forward to more.
I have been a fan of Oakley since her debut novel, but with this book, she has risen to a new level. You Were There Too took me through the gamut of emotions–confusion, anticipation, grief, hope. Oakley’s writing is taut, fresh and doesn’t waste a single word. I devoured this novel in three sittings but I will be thinking about it for much, much longer. A slam dunk bestseller for sure.
I can count on one hand how many books have made me cry. I feel sadness and sorrow but to actually bring tears to my eyes it’s rare. This book brought many emotions to me, I found it to be sweet, romantic, funny, and very sad, and yes I cried. It shows you something my mother always told me “life is not fair”. This book was so good on so many levels, I really enjoyed it so very much.
Pensive, fresh, and absolutely heart-wrenching!
You Were There Too is a moving, mysterious tale that takes us into the life of Mia Graydon, a young, married woman struggling with the recent move to a small-town, a marriage strained by multiple miscarriages and stressful careers, secrets, depression, and the sudden real-life appearance of the man of her dreams.
The prose is heartfelt and immersive. The characters are flawed, troubled, and genuine. And the multi-layered, unpredictable plot is an absorbing tale about life, loss, love, grief, friendship, relationship dynamics, forgiveness, hope, happiness, and romance all interwoven with a thread of the paranormal.
Overall, You Were There Too is a compelling, heartbreaking, thought-provoking novel that reminds us that life is complicated and messy, the choices we make often have far-reaching consequences, and sometimes, perhaps, things are truly just destined to happen.
A beautifully woven story of love, grief, and the power we do and don’t have to choose our fate, You Were There Too brought me to tears. I read it in one long gulp and didn’t want it to end.
I absolutely loved this book – 100% recommend!
I wonder about young authors today and how they seem to be SO wise. Colleen Oakley has done a wonderful job with “You were there too”. I wasn’t sure where this one was going but when I finished I was so very satisfied! I would recommend this heartfelt, intense work to anyone!
You Were There Too – Colleen Oakley
June 23, 2021
4/5 Stars
“Maybe all that matters is that love is a circle. Infinite. Eternal. Present, even when the person you want to be there most is absent.”
Mia Graydon life seems picture perfect. She has the house of her dreams and the husband of her dreams, but there’s other dreams in her life that don’t quite fit. Artist Mia and her husband, Harrison, relocated to a small town in Pennsylvania to start fresh. While Harrison’s always working, Mia’s having trouble landing a solid job. She’s having a hard time finding anything solid in her life to grasp onto, and her dreams of the handsome stranger she’s befriended in her sleep for years haven’t left her alone. In this dreamy novel by Colleen Oakley, we follow Mia as she navigates her way through her struggles with her husband, with starting a family, with finding a successful career path. And when the stranger from her dreams shows up in real life, Mia starts to think, maybe, she’s got it all wrong.
Without spoiling the exciting and jaw-dropping details of You Were There Too, here’s what I thought.
This novel captivated me straight from the beginning. All of Oakley’s characters jumped off the page, and I felt like I was in the book right with them (which is something I love when reading a good book). As we learned more about the different men in this book, I had a hard time choosing the one I loved the most, and wasn’t necessarily surprised with the decision from the main character. In the end, though, the book left me surprised and wishing I had more to read. I didn’t expect the way things turned out in the end, and it left a bittersweet taste right along with it.
This book made me feel things. I might’ve cried, and that’s saying a lot. Similarly to Mia’s husband, I rarely cry. This book definitely had me crying.
I would strongly recommend this book to anyone who’s a fan of Colleen Hoover books. Oakley has a way with words and stories that capture your heart and leave you missing the characters long after you’ve finished reading. As I tweeted directly to Colleen Oakley earlier this year, I would pretty much read anything she wrote after reading this year. Even if it was a to-do list, grocery list… a bunch of gibberish thrown to scrap paper. I’d read it all. She’s that good.
If you’ve read You Were There Too by Colleen Oakley, leave a comment below and let me know what you thought! If you haven’t, is it on your TBR list?
A great read. Read in 3 days, but the ending really sucked! Dreamed about a man that she ended up meeting and they had almost crossed paths several times.
Loved this book. Great writing craft. I dropped right into the story and was held in The Fictive Dream. I would rate the character voice above average, even superior. It’s written in first person present tense which adds to the immediacy of the story. I also have to admit I’m a sucker for a great premise and this one has it. Two people who don’t know each other dream about each other in different scenarios and eventually meet. The main character Mia is happily married to Harrison a wonderfully drawn husband. Mia has a perfect life, a perfect marriage (with one exception which I won’t reveal here) when she runs into Oliver the man who is having dreams with Mia in them.
In writing there is MAR, motivation action reaction, and the author here walks a razor-sharp line but pulls if off wonderfully. Since Harrison is motivated so well as being the perfect husband, Mia can’t step over the line and go after Oliver without the reader disliking Mia. I walked that line with the author and was stunned how she pulled it off. She juggled the motivation so well it becomes the main part of the tension, truly amazing writing. I was pulled along to not only to find out what was going to happen to the characters but also to watch the motivation, watch the tight rope act the author performed right under my nose. This is a five start that I highly recommend to those who like their romance novels with a literary edge.
David Putnam author of the Bruno Johnson series
This book was a little confusing yet I couldn’t put it down.
I loved the book because I didn’t find it to be just another cutter formula story. Once I got into it, it was quite the page turner. Very original/unusual for me. I found the ending to be was she to be with the one she loved or let fate decide? Quite the real tearjerker for me. I don’t usually attach to characters this much. I will recommend this books to my friends.
One of the most moving, heartfelt stories I have ever read
Loved it