1971 was the year that everything changed for Rachel Dixon and her family. The last night of a music festival that had rolled into the sleepy town of Hertsville Ga that has kept everyone up from the loud music and it’s been drowned out by a storm that has rolled in. Rachel put Emily down for the night in her crib and fell into a deep sleep that she never heard the intruder that came into the house, only for her and her husband to wake up to find an empty crib.....Emily is gone. Vicki Robert was the one who entered the house that night to get out of the storm in search for food &
she saw Emily in the crib, and she thought she found the answer to her grief of loosing her own child, in her own desperation she took Emily. Now
three wemans lives are bound together, can they put the pieces of theirs lives back together and heal their families. Bette Lee never disappoints her stories tackle uncomfortable situations but through tragedies life blossoms.

I usually do not read books with a main character with my name but after reading the description I knew I had to read this book. Emily, Gone is the parallel story of Emily’s biological mother, Rachel, and the life Emily lives after she is kidnapped at six months old out of her crib. Despite the crime, this is no thriller or mystery. Right away you know the kidnapper is a disturbed young woman named Vicki. She had lost her child, Lara, due to her being stillborn. She has just finished attending a music festival down the road with her boyfriend, Murphy. She approaches the house for food and finds baby Emily instead and decides she is her lost baby.

What happens next is the story. Rachel trying to come to terms with her life after Emily and Emily being unaware of who she really is growing up. It is a story rich in emotion & relationships. In many ways, the people and the plot feels real and even with the very few points of convenience, it feels more like fate than forced. Bette Lee Crosby painted a beautiful story with words that I suggest everyone should read Emily, Gone.

I love to read. I love curling up all cozy and warm with a book in hand, whether it be a traditional hard cover book or convenient ebook on my phone or tablet. I love the anticipation as I read the first few pages and become engrossed in a new story. I love when I finish a book for the first time and have to take a moment to gather my thoughts and emotions about what I just read, and know that this story will stay with me for a long time. That is what happened with Emily, Gone.

Emily, Gone is one of those books that you start reading and don’t want to stop. Bette Lee Crosby created such a heart-wrenching yet beautiful story with characters so brilliantly portrayed and words so artfully written. I loved the opening scene and am impressed with all of the detailed descriptions of not only the scene of the music festival, but of the quaint town itself where it was held, and of all of the towns and scenes throughout the book. I could picture each of them in my mind easily and probably accurately. She wrote about topics that are so real, so intimate, and so painful, and then tied them together with her incredibly realistic characters in such a way that emotions were masterfully tugged at and played with. I was in tears quite a few times.

I felt such compassion for the characters, especially Rachel and even Vicki. I can’t imagine having to deal with the cruel circumstances they both had to face with their babies, and their actions accurately portray their sadness, longing, and pain. My heart ached for them. In turn, my heart swelled with happiness and love when reading about Rachel’s and Lara’s relationships and family lives. I don’t want to give anything away so I won’t go into other monumental moments or scenes, but just know that so much happens in this book that you don’t expect, yet it all comes together beautifully.

Thanks Netgalley for this ARC for my honest review.
I can honestly say this book was an easy, captivating read. As a mother myself, reading any storyline involving kidnapping difficult. This is every mom’s nightmare. I could feel the pain radiating through the author’s words. I’m sure that every single reader hand fingers crossed for a happy ending. ♥️
After reading this book, I’d definitely read other books by this author.

EMILY, GONE by Bette Lee Crosby is a beautifully-written and heart-rending story of love, family, loss and forgiveness. The book begins in 1971 in the small town of Hesterville, GA as a rowdy music festival is being held on the outskirts of town. On a stormy night, as the festival winds down, Rachel and George Dixon put their baby, Emily to bed and drop into an exhausted sleep themselves. When they awake the next day, Emily is gone from her crib. What follows is a heart-wrenching story of this family’s anguish and grief at the devastating loss of their child. The timeline of the book covers the next 18 years as the Dixon family tries to move on and Emily grows up with the only family she has ever known. The characters are so well-written that I felt like I knew them personally. The book delves into the importance of family, faith and community in times of hardship. I truly enjoyed this moving story of love, hope and forgiveness and I highly recommend it. Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the chance to read an early copy.

Emily, Gone is an amazing book! I have read many of Bette Lee Crosby's books, all of them are poignant stories of families dealing with situations we all can relate to!

This is a story of a family in a small town whose infant daughter is stolen out of her crib in the middle of the night. There aren't any clues that can help find her.

The woman who took the infant believes God has led her to this child as a replacement for the stillborn daughter she lost. Her boyfriend is uncomfortable with the kidnapping, but doesn't want to turn her in to the police.. He believes she will come to her senses and return the child.

As time passes, each person deals with grief, regret and how to move on with their lives.

This story will grab you from page one, and keep you hooked until the very last sentence.

Bette has a way of tapping in to our emotions, our heartstrings and you feel you are part of the story. As in real life, I found myself wanting the story to be different, to turn out the way I want it to be, but it doesn't. Instead, this story is REAL LIFE.. Even in grief and sadness, we can become happy and experience love and kindness.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for this ARC for my honest review.

Bette Lee Crosby is another one of those authors who's books I will grab up in a second! She knows how to weave a well written heart grabbing story every time!
Emily, Gone is no exception. It's a no put-down marathon read.
Six month old Emily, asleep in her crib, is taken from her home....and just when you think you know where the story is going a surprised is weaved in, making for a jaw dropping, rip out your heart read!

EMILY, GONE is another of Bette Lee Crosby’s superb “can’t put down, don’t want it to end” books. Written so beautifully in her Southern voice, the author evokes all the emotions, tears, and emptiness that the Dixon’s felt when they discovered their baby was kidnapped from her crib during the night. EMILY, GONE is a story that will tug at your heartstrings.
Ms. Crosby’s characters are true-to-life and could easily be your neighbor, your friend, your family, and even a stranger who sneaks into your home at night. I love when I have a visual of the main characters, but when I can also picture the supporting characters so clearly, you can buy into the story and better understand why the story took the turns that it did. So often a great number of characters can confuse the reader, but that was not the case in EMILY, GONE. Each character, so brilliantly developed, stood on his/her own.
The storyline is well chronicled and was told by numerous points of view throughout.
As always, I enjoyed another delightful book by Bette Lee Crosby, who is undoubtedly one of my favorite authors. I recommend EMILY, GONE to anyone who enjoys reading women’s fiction, historical fiction, mysteries, tearjerkers, realistic stories, inspirational stories, and diverse characters. EMILY, GONE positively deserves 5-stars!
My thanks to the Bette Lee Crosby and Netgalley for this ARC. All thoughts and praise for this book are my own.

A baby is missing from her crib, when her parents wake in the morning. Three families lives are impacted by the loss. A story of heartbreak, unresolved grief, and impossible attempts to rebuild their lives. We see the kindness of family and friends that struggle to support the parents in their loss, and the endless search for this child.
This is a heart wrenching story, beautifully written by Bette Lee Crosby. Her characters are well developed and human, as we get to know them and their own stories. A page turner that had me thinking about the outcome, long after I finished that last chapter. My thanks to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for this ARC for my honest review. I hope I did justice to this wonderful book.

The setting of this book is in a small town in Georgia. Its 1971, and there is a music festival in a field, (reminded me of Woodstock) . Rachel Dixon lives near by, and puts her 6 month old baby girl Emily to bed. At the music festival is another woman, Vicki, who had lost her baby only months before. She finds her way to the home of The Dixons in search of food, but when she sees the baby, she takes her. Rachel awakes and finds her baby gone, and their lives are torn apart.
The book was so well written, full of suspense and yes, tears. I found myself unable to put this book down!! Its a book that will stay with you after you read it. Thanks so much at Netgalley and Bette Lee Crosby for this wonderful read!
I will leave my review on Goodreads (S.L Reads) on Twitter (booked_up22@StefaniReads) Instagram (Booked-up22) Bookbub (sreads@bookingitup and on Amazon (S.R)

From the moment you start reading this Amazing emotional story ,your heart will go through many emotions Anger, Hope, Empthany, understanding overall the feeling of overwhelming love pouring from each character. Great story that will stay with you long after you have read it .

This is a heart wrenching story of loss for a family and coincidence that makes things happen down the line. I was hooked from the time I started until the last page. I cried a few tears in the middle and again at the end. Loved thus book and highly recommend it!

In the small town of Hesterville, Georgia in the year 1971, Emily Dickson, a tiny six-month old baby, is stolen from her crib one stormy night, leaving behind her two distraught parents. It nearly destroys her mother Rachel. Emily is always in her mind It’s not only the craving to nurse her precious daughter but also the uncertainty of not knowing whether she is in a loving caring home that breaks her heart, leaving her on edge and thinking every blue eyed blonde haired little girl may be theirs. The town sheriff and his team search exhaustively, covering miles to follow up new leads, but all too often they return deflated, having been on a wild goose chase. Emily believes her daughter is alive and tortures herself wondering where she is. She prays for her. After four years she has twins and George, her husband, buys a dog for protection and builds an impenetrable fence around his property, trying to still his wife’s fears that she may lose one or both of the near identical twins, a boy and a girl.
Vicki Robart and her partner Murphy move into a new neighbourhood with their new arrival, a daughter. They have previously suffered the tragic loss of their treasured firstborn who was sadly stillborn. Vicki has grand plans, including getting married and living in a home of their own with a garden for their daughter to play in. Their future will be brighter with a new baby to love and nurture. But there is a longstanding difference of opinion that they cannot resolve. Although Vicki loves Murphy she makes the tough decision to leave him. She knows he will never change his mind and she is determined to have her own way. One day, when Murphy goes out she collects her belongings and she leaves him. She has been in contact with her sister who assures her that she can move in with her and that her husband is happy about the arrangement. So their new life begins, a very different life than she had once envisaged. She is happy but misses Murphy increasingly, so she writes him a letter.
Angela and Kenny are trying for a family so when her younger sister dies suddenly of a heart attack they decide to take on her young daughter. They already love her and are having trouble conceiving their own child, so it is a done deal that they will raise Lara as their own, filling her in on the circumstances of her birth mother when she is old enough. Lara grows up to be an outgoing, kind and thoughtful young lady, ready to set off to take up a place at university. She’s beautiful, clever and has everything to look forward to. Her parents are moving to the East Coast and she will be able to have her friends come to stay, something she is very happy about. But life is about to throw a curveball into her court and when that happens her life will change forever.
I absolutely loved this heart-warming novel about love, loss and forgiveness. The storytelling is amazing and filled with a roller-coaster of emotions. As the author said she ‘had to delve into a treasure trove of emotions hidden beneath the surface’ and with great success. Her story is alive, vivid and full of kindness and empathy. Her characters are brilliantly created and developed in great detail throughout the story so that the reader comes to know them intimately and really cares about what happens to them. Best of all I loved the ending. It was a satisfying reward after the tears I shed.
I received a complimentary copy of this novel from Lake Union Publishing through my membership of NetGalley. Thank you so much for my copy. These are my own honest opinions without any outside influences. It’s an exceptionally good read and an all-round 5* review from me. It is unmissable Women’s Fiction with a real heartbeat.

This was one outstanding story. Once I started there was no stopping Totally gripping. This was one of many I’ve read from this author

I absolutely loved this book. Sad for the parents who lost their child to a kidnapper in the night when she was an infant. Sad for the woman who wanted her dead baby to have lived so badly that she was willing to steal someone elses child to make up for it. And also sad that the original parents had no idea what happened to their baby for 18 years. When the woman who kidnapped the baby died early on with her secret held close to her heart. But the story had a happy ending. I want to read more from this talented author. She knows how to craft a plot and make her characters come to life.

I loved this book. I loved the story. I loved the characters. I love this author. All of the characters are believable and very important to the story. The storyline is well developed and believable. Yes, about 2/3 of the way through the book, I kinda knew what was going to happen but, I didn’t know how it was going to happen. And I’m so glad that I kept reading. I laughed and cried while reading but no matter what emotion the story brought, it kept me interested. I definitely will recommend this book. Thank you to NetGalley and Lake Union for allowing me to read an advance copy for my honest review.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I highly recommend it! There’s laughter, heartbreak, joy, and sorrow woven in and out of this story.

This book is so captivating. I literally felt like I was in the book.. this could happen to anyone and I hope it never does... I have never read a book like this one and Bette did not disappoint me , this book deserves to be on the number 1 reading list and I hope she writes more like this.

Emily Gone by Bette Lee Crosby is a book whose story will stay with you long after you’ve finished the last page. It is the haunting unfolding of a mother’s love for her child and the complications and heartache that follow when a child disappears. Ms. Crosby’s style of storytelling is compelling, encouraging you to linger on each page as the voices of the characters speak to you. A must read!

Beautiful yet heart wrenching....
A happy, young couple with a baby girl live quietly in the country, until the long weekend of a rock concert. Exhausted, sleepless and at their wits’ end from the weather and the raucous noise until all hours of the night, the young family finally falls into a worn out sleep.
But another young couple that attended the rock fest is cold, wet and hungry, and miles from a bed and a warm meal. Until they stumble upon a house sitting by itself - a place certain to have food for the taking. But this couple takes more than just food from the house.....
The reader is privy to both sides of what happened that night, and the heartbreak and emotion of both families. Thank you, Bette Lee Crosby, for this story! Highly recommended!