NEW RELEASE


The Life Intended - Kristin Harmel (2014)

"I knew before I met you, that I was meant to be yours." That was what Patrick always told Kate. They knew they were meant to be together forever. But, forever is cut short one day when Patrick is in a car accident. Fast forward to twelve years later. Kate is now a successful music therapist and has a new boyfriend called Dan. Her friends and family think that Dan is exactly who Kate needs to finally move on from Patrick. But when Dan proposes marriage, Kate starts to have dreams about Patrick. Only, they're more than dreams. They're really vivid, and somehow she knows details about this other life (the life she was intended to have) that she couldn't possibly know. The discoveries she makes in these "dreams" cause Kate to take sign language classes and learn more about the New York foster system (a move that Dan doesn't completely understand or support). As she learns more about the life that could've been, Kate starts to question the real world, and whether she's living a life with intent, or just floating along. I really enjoyed most of this book. But for some reason, the last few chapters didn't grip me like the beginning did. I felt like there were also some conflicting messages about parenting. Kate used music therapy to work with children. Kate would sometimes have a very understanding attitude toward parents who had struggled with substance abuse, while other times she was very judgmental. I suppose that's human nature (no one is perfect), but I was especially surprised that she was so judgmental of Candice at the end of the book, when she has been trying to hard to get Allie to have compassion and understanding for her mother's drug use. Seemed odd to me that Kate would take such different stances, and I felt like it made her character inconsistent. Overall, this is an interesting book, well worth a read. (CK)



Kristin Harmel's latest novel The Life Intended asks: what does it take to move forward in life without forgetting the past? The summary says: "After her husband's sudden death over ten years ago, Kate Waithman never expected to be lucky enough to find another love of her life. But now she's planning her second walk down the aisle to a perfectly nice man. So why isn't she more excited? At first, Kate blames her lack of sleep on stress. But when she starts seeing Patrick, her late husband, in her dreams, she begins to wonder if she's really ready to move on. Is Patrick trying to tell her something? Attempting to navigate between dreams and reality, Kate must uncover her husband's hidden message. Her quest leads her to a sign language class and into the New York City foster system, where she finds rewards greater than she could have imagined." The Life Intended is out in December 2014.

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