What a great book about the depth of a mother’s love and just how far we would go to protect that love. Beautifully developed characters with a storyline that just kept me reading. I did not want to put it down!
A test of love, loyalties and the boundaries we may cross to maintain that love.
Highly recommend

There are a few books coming out which take place during the 70’s and I can’t get enough of them! In Emily, Gone by Bette Lee Crosby, the story starts in 1971 durng a music festival and that’s pretty much all I needed to be hooked on this novel. If you want to spend a whole day curled up on the couch reading, this is an excellent book to have in your hands. Settle in and prepare to read for the entire day.

When a music festival rolls through the sleepy town of Hesterville, Georgia, the Dixon family’s lives are forever changed. On the final night, a storm muffles the sound of the blaring music, and Rachel tucks her baby into bed before falling into a deep sleep. So deep, she doesn’t hear the kitchen door opening. When she and her husband wake up in the morning, the crib is empty. Emily is gone.

Vicki Robart is one of the thousands at the festival, but she’s not feeling the music. She’s feeling the emptiness over the loss of her own baby several months before. When she leaves the festival and is faced with an opportunity to fill that void, she is driven to an act of desperation that will forever bind the lives of three women.

When the truth of what actually happened that fateful night is finally exposed, shattering the lives they’ve built, will they be able to pick up the pieces to put their families back together again?

A little suspense, some emotion, heartbreak, love, and forgiveness…its all here! Don’t miss this one.

April 30.

It's hard not to judge Vicki for what she did. She took Emily from her bed and kept her, leaving her mom Rachel bewildered and grieving for years. When Lara appears, Rachel begins to wonder if Lara is really her daughter. The plot is not entirely surprising but the characters are so carefully done that you feel their pain. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Well written and heartfelt, this is a good read.

"A missing child sets the lives of three women on a collision course in this powerful and compelling novel by USA Today bestselling author Bette Lee Crosby."
A very moving, hard to put down, look at what happens with the unimaginable does happen.

This is a well written novel about a tragic loss. The author uses beautiful descriptions in her writing style. The story is heartwarming at times but I found the story to be more of a tearjearker.

A mother's worst nightmare...to lose her child.

Desolate and empty after suffering the loss of her child, Vicki makes a fateful choice: She steals away little Emily Dixon. In her eyes, God and fate have answered her prayers, and her daughter has been restored to her. But where she has gained, another mother is faced with the unthinkable: Her baby is missing, with few clues as to what happened.

Rachel awakens to silence after days of non-stop music that threatened her sanity. She assumes that her 6 month old daughter Emily must be enjoying the silence also, and sleeping in. But when she goes to wake her baby, she only finds an empty crib. This begins a nightmare that threatens to destroy the Dixon family. But in the midst of pain, love can sometimes forge new and stronger bonds.

Meanwhile, Vicki, desperate to find a safe haven in which to hide away with her baby, calls upon her estranged sister Angela for help. Angela takes the pair in, not knowing that Vicki's baby isn't Vicki's at all. Captivated by "Lara", Angela doesn't ask questions, until fate intervenes, and the web of lies is torn down.

I was blown away by this book. The plot line, the character development, the dialogue (you KNOW I am picky about dialogue!). It was all masterfully crafted and edited. The story captured both my heart and mind. I wept with Vicki over the loss of her infant daughter. I felt Rachel's heartbreak, guilt, and anger at Emily's disappearance. And I felt Angela's fear when she realized everything she thought she knew was a lie.

Since this hasn't been released yet, I don't want to give too much away. The book is a wonderful story of love, loss and forgiveness which was something that I needed to read. I've never read a Bette Lee Crosby book before but wow, she has this wonderful ability to pull you into her story.

I read this within 2 days on my commute to work and wound up tearing up while on the subway reading it (not a good look, so make sure you have tissues on hand!)

Thank you to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for the ARC

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. I lost count how many times I did the ugly cry. What an incredible story of faith, strength, and true forgiveness. Rachel wakes up to find her baby girl, Lara gone. The kidnapping goes unsolved for years. Watching Rachel rebuild her life was so moving. This is a must read for everyone! Unputdownable!

There is a big rock music festival being held in a field just outside of Hesterville. The Dixon's live next to where the festival and had not been ab!e to sleep for two nights because of the loud music. Their 6 month old daughter, Emily couldn't sleep either so when the rain came in on Sunday night. and blocked out most of the noise the Dixon's slept good that night all three of them. But when they got up Monday morning Emily was gone. What's happened to Emily?? Will they ever see her again?? This was a good book that I will recommend to friends. Rachel Dixon was hard to like at first but as the story progressed she became more relatable. This was a hard book to put down wanted to read just a little bit more. I want to thank Netgalley for the chance to read this book for an unbiased opinion.

It's 1971 and there's a big music festival happening on a farm outside the small town of Hesterville, GA. Lots of "hippies" invade the town and there's loud vibrating music all weekend. The townsfolk complain but there's nothing the local sheriff can do since it's outside the town.

The Dixons live not far from the festival. Tired from not getting a lot of sleep all weekend, the rain comes masking the sound of music and Rachel and George finally get a good night sleep. When they wake up the next morning, they discover their baby, Emily, is missing. The sheriff investigates, posters are put up, a reward is collected and ads are placed in newspapers but Emily is never found. Hoping for the best, it takes years for Rachel and George to move on and they pray that Emily is being raised in a loving home.

Vicki and Murph are at the festival. Stoned and hungry on the last night of the festival, Vicki convinces Murph to stop at a dark house so she can ask for food. The door is unlocked and Vicki walks in. Instead of taking food, she discovers Emily asleep in bed. Vicki had given birth to a stillborn whom she named Lara a few months earlier and thinks God is replacing Lara with Emily ... and Emily grows up as Lara.

I thought this book was okay. I loved the concept of the story ... a baby is taken, the girl grows up and discovers she was kidnapped at birth. I was interested to know how it was discovered and what were the repercussions. Then the "how" happened. Up until that point, the book was a solid 4/5 as I was enjoying the story and the writing style (it's written in third perspective). When the "how" was revealed, I thought "SERIOUSLY?" It was way too coincidental and I wasn't buying it. The happy ending was nice but it was too neat. It dropped to a 3/5 for me.

If you are looking for a nice clean wholesome story, you will like it. I've read many of this author's books and this is her style. Though I am not religious, the characters in this book are.

A baby has been kidnapped. No clues, no ransomed note...Emily is just gone. The family’s grief is unbearable, but with not even a whisper of her whereabouts as the years pass, they try to move on with their lives. But for her mother, Rachel, her grief and love for her child is not forgotten; but tucked deeply in her heart. She prays every night that her daughter is safe and that whoever took Emily loves her and is taking good care of her. Rachel also fervently prays that one day Emily will be returned to them.
This is a book of heart rendering grief, ups and downs of feelings and hopes dashed. And finally how a mother’s love really never ends and sometimes forgiveness can be just as strong.
Thank you to the Author, Bette Crosby and Netgalley for providing an early copy of this book for my honest review.

What a powerful book! I think the author took great care in building up and humanizing the characters. I spent a lot of time feeling the heartache of the story while also feeling touched by those really precious moments shared in the story. It was heartwarming and heartbreaking at the same time.

All the feels! Emily Gone, by Bette Lee Crosby, weaves the tale of one tiny baby and the three women who love her more than anything. When a baby goes missing after a loud raucous music festival in small town Georgia, the sheriff and parents are baffled. The years pass and and baby Emily is I never found. Who would steal a baby? The lives of three women, all mothers to the same daughter entertained in a heartbreaking, yet heartwarming story of loss, love and forgiveness. A triumph for Ms. Crosby!

Wow!Imagine someone coming into your house and taking your baby?Not knowing who or why?This is that story..We follow the desperate parents and also what happened through the years.We find out how one action taken can affect so many different lives.This was so compelling that I could not put this book down.It was beautifully written and I just loved it.

Bette Lee Crosby has done it again. A wonderful story! Three woman affected by one horrific incident. She has a knack of developing her characters so that you feel all their emotions when confronted with grief. I can never say enough about this authors wonderful stories, each and everyone of them!

A heartbreaking story of a mother's worst nightmare. How do you go on in life when your child was taken from your own home?! My heart broke for Rachel. As much as I wanted to hate Vicki, I also felt bad for her and what she endured. As a mother, this story made me feel so many emotions.

Emily, Gone is a tale about the enduring spirit of mothers. A story of deep sorrow, tragic loss, and overcoming heartbreaking bouts of hopelessness. And finally a story of rebuilding lives full of hope and forgiveness.

This was a book by one of my favorite authors and she did not disappoint with her new book, Emily, Gone. Vicky, a hungry young woman looking for food, breaks into the home of a young couple in the middle of the night and happens upon their 6-month old daughter, Emily. Traumatized from the loss of her own stillborn child months before, Vicky kidnaps the baby and talks her boyfriend into letting her keep the baby (at least temporarily). As the story progresses, you will see how the lives of Emily's parents are affected by her disappearance, as well as how Vicky becomes a "mother" to Emily, and how the choices they all make through the lives they connect with, come full circle. Be sure to have some Kleenex nearby! I really loved this book. Thanks for another great read, Bette Lee Crosby!

This book has a lot of heartache, love, hope and forgiveness. Emily's parents put her down for the night and are exhausted. They finally doze off and sleep. While they are sleeping a couple at a local concert stop by their home. The young woman in the car wants something to eat but leaves with a lot more. She has lost a baby and this sweet baby fills a void for her. As Emily's parents try everything to find her, the young couple are living as a family. The young woman decides to go and stay with her sister. She leaves with no forwarding address or why she left. She stays with her sister and her husband until she passes away. Leaving not information on her father or his where he may be. As years go by her sister and her husband are relocating. While driving to their new home. The Aunt and child have to stop in a small town in Georgia because her car breaks down. While staying at a small inn they find out Emily/ Lara may belong to the Inn keeper. The baby that was taken while she slept. With some questions answered some they move one to see if this their sweet Emily.

Emmy is kidnapped from her crib when she is a few months old by a woman desperate for a baby. The book follows Emmy’s parents as they fight for their baby and deal with life AFTER. It also tells the story of Emmy and her life. It is a heartbreaking story. I gave the book 3 stars because while the book drew you in, there were parts of the story that were not believable. Overall it is a good read if you ignore these areas.