The premise had me intrigued, excited to read
An artist moves to Hope Springs from Philly, PA with hubby

What if? ...

The prologue-- picked me up, grabbed me, hurry turn the page!!

Some dreams feel like reality
Some reality feels like dreams

I truly enjoyed this book
I read entire book in 1 sitting, I had to know conclusion

Now, I am yearning for a sequel

This was a romantic novel with a supernatural element. It also has a twist at the end. The characters were well developed and the plot was unusual. I would recommend that my public library purchase it.

Review | to be published on my account, Amazon, and goodreads 1 week before the publication date (first week of Jan)

💕You Were There Too by Colleen Oakley | for release on January 7, 2020

Mia is seemingly living a perfect life with her husband Harrison, trying to start a family in their new home. However, she is plagued by reoccurring dreams about a man she has never met. And one day, she meets him in real life. The strange part? He has dreamed of her too. This book explores Mia’s internal conflict with the idea of fate and destiny. Is she living the life she is supposed to be living? Or is she meant to be with Oliver? Its a universal struggle we all face. Are we on the right path? Can we choose what we really want? Or is our destiny already chosen for us?

This book is the definition of an emotional roller coaster. It is my first book by Oakley, so I had no idea what to expect. If you loved The Light We Lost by Jill Santipolo, you will love this one. But I will warn you, don’t read if you’re looking for something super light hearted and rom-com-esque.

The writing was beautiful, flowing, and offered a mix of philosophical, scientific and a bit of mystical. I felt like I was on the journey with Mia through the pain of her miscarriages, the confusion between her dreams and encounters with Oliver, and the emotional dynamic with her husband. There aren’t a lot of romance books that explore the ups and downs of marriage in such a raw and poignant way, reminding the reader that it isn’t all magic and unicorns. Some days are hard, and there are bumps along the way.

This love triangle isn’t your average dynamic. It’s delicately handled and does not play out like you’d expect. Usually these stories set you up to root for one person, but I was torn between Oliver and Harrison. Even though you would assume the premise sets Oliver up to be the favourite, Mia’s past with Harrison is sprinkled in so richly that it truly gives you the feels for their history and love for each other. This just further illustrates the complexity Oakley brought to each character. They each have flaws and honestly felt very real.

The only thing I felt was lacking is a bit more of a connection with Oliver (which I guess was intentional on Mia’s part). I understood that they had a strong attraction and connection with each other, but it didn’t pull me in as much as I would have liked. I didn’t feel they truly knew each other enough by the end.

The conclusion was completely unexpected and absolutely gut wrenching. Believe me when I say I cried a lot of ugly tears. It’s a beautiful ending, full of hope and promise despite everything.

This book is an absolute must read. ❤️

I received a copy of this book from netgalley in return for my honest review. This book was so good. The Author had such a beautiful way with their words. It kept my attention and made me want more and more! Thank you so much!

Wow. I literally just finished this book and I am so emotional right now. I loved this book. I did not want to put it down. Just when I would think that the story was going in one direction, it would veer another way. It was well-written and I felt that all the characters were real and relatable, especially Mia. I highly recommend this book and cannot wait for it to be published. I will be sure to get a copy for my library and I will recommend it to friends and patrons. Thank you to NetGalley for the free ARC of this book.

This was an interesting book written by one of my favorite authors. The storyline is different than your typical novels about married life and kept me eagerly reading to see what life had in store for them. The highs and lows of the main characters are deeply felt by the author’s writing style. The ending was unexpected but it tied together a lot of loose ties but not necessarily the way you wanted it to end. The author does a great job making you feel for the characters and leaves you contemplating the ending. #youweretheretoo #netgalley

Oh my goodness!!! I stayed up way too late last night to finish it and then fell asleep bawling. I loved the mystery, the characters, how my heart got so involved. I will definitely recommend to patrons and hope to highlight it next year in our library. .

I stayed up half the night and into the morning to finish this book. It was incredible. I loved the themes in this story. I loved the concept of dreams and fate. Are Mia and Oliver destined to be together? What role do they play in each other's lives? Can you be with the love of your life and love another? The story was an absolute page-turner. I would love to see what happens after the end of the story. It was engaging, romantic, and heartbreaking. I will definitely be reading the author's backlist after this. I will be posting a full review to my #bookstagram a week before publishing. My page is instagram.com/messybunsandpaperbacks. Thank you so much to Colleen for giving me the opportunity to read You Were There Too. It's definitely the best book I've read all year! I can't wait to buy this book in January!

Pennsylvania – Present Day

Mia is an artist married to Harrison, a surgeon. They have just moved from Philadelphia to the small town of Hope Springs, PA, and Mia is trying to get one of the art galleries in town to show her work. But her modern paintings don’t seem to inspire any of the gallery owners. Harrison is supportive, however he has a busy practice at the local hospital, and Mia is feeling unsettled and unproductive. On top of that, she just had her second miscarriage.

Settling into her new house, Mia decides to resurrect the failing garden where the tomato plants are dying. She goes to the local garden store, gets help from one of the employees who sends her to the grocery store for Epsom salts, and, as she’s heading out the door, there he is! The “he” is the very man she has seen in her dreams for years. He appears in various scenarios, but it’s always the same guy. Stunned, Mia shakes it off and leaves.

When Mia has another miscarriage, she notices a change in Harrison. He has not spoken to her much about an eight year old boy who died during a routine surgery Harrison performed. But now it becomes apparent that the most recent miscarriage has triggered something in Harrison’s mind. As they sit in the OB/GYN office to discuss the future, though, there is that guy again, the man in her dreams. Ironically, he is with a woman whose life Harrison saved. His name is Oliver, he is a freelance writer, and he seems to know Mia too.

YOU WERE THERE TOO is a really intriguing and very different story. Mia and Oliver soon set out to discover how and why they know each other. Mia is skeptical about what a psychic tells her, but her dreams seem to be telling her something. As Harrison withdraws emotionally, Mia is even more determined to find answers, even if the final result is not what she wants.
A shocking conclusion left me drained, which told me just how beautifully written this tale is. Start the year off with YOU WERE THERE TOO, you won’t regret it.

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!! What an amazing book! I’m going to use far too many exclamation points in this review.... I love Mia and Harrison! What a sweet story of love and loss and magic. I love that even though Mia is so totally attracted to Oliver, she doesn’t jump into bed with him. I love how her marriage seems so believable and many women can relate to the baby struggles/loss they face. The writing just flows into a story that I don’t want to end. Now I have to see what else this author has out. I’ve already recommended this to all my fellow librarians and book lovers. Would be perfect for book clubs! This was so lovely to read after being disappointed with my last few reads! PERFECTION! 😘😘😘😘😘😘😘

You Were There Too by Colleen Oakley. Very sad and emotional read. While the author has a good writing style and the ability to wrest out emotions, the ending was a disappointment.

Thank you to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for the opportunity to preview the book.

Wow. WOW. This book is AMAZING. Colleen Oakley's storytelling ability is extraordinary.

Perhaps it was that I had just covered miscarriage on my podcast this week but I read this book in two nights before bed...I couldn't put it down. Mia has had dreams about a mysterious man, always in exhilarating situations and full of love, for most of her life but she's married to Harrison--a perfect husband and her soul mate. Then she meets his man...right when she and Harrison are going through a hard time.

Colleen Oakley weaves the storytelling of Mia and Oliver flawlessly with the chemistry between Mia and Harrison. I don't think I've ever read a book where I have actually been stuck on who is right for her, but in this one, I was...and the implications about soul mates, dreams, fate, connections and the "supposed to" make a reader think. It struck home for me and made me think while reading it, and getting lost in the beauty of the story.

I'm also from PA, and grew up 40 miles from an amusement park significant to the plotline so the book touched a soft spot there too. Overall...YES, full recommendation on this book.

Ugh, what a read! I finished it in one night. I just had to know how it ended, and boy did it not disappoint. It was an emotional roller coaster (which I normally am not a huge fan of), but Colleen Oakley really is an incredible writer. Her characters are so well written, and I felt connected to Mia from the beginning. Please read this book now if you are a fan of anything Colleen Oakley has written, or if you enjoy a good cry every now and then.

I actually very rarely read contemporary, but Colleen Oakley books are the exception to the rule. Her writing style is very straight forward wich makes it easier to read. I liked how gut-wrenching this book was.

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.

Wow! That was a really good book. My first time reading this author. It is a very good love story with a twist I didn’t see coming. I highly recommend this book.

First time reading this author and I really enjoyed it. I liked her portrayal of the ups & downs of marriage and how you can become distracted with the "what ifs". Heart wrenching at times - I did shed a tear (or two). She also raised interesting talking points about the psychology of dreams.

Three my heart broke into tiny pieces, my emotions everywhere but all the angst and sadness are for nothing, I ache for the characters so much stars!

This is the first in my life that I got confused what I felt about a book and went back and forth between giving five or three stars. It’s like black and white but there were no grey areas about this book. But then I decided to give three stars.

This is not about writing. Actually the author so giftedly touched my soul, heart, mind at the same time. But then she ripped everything and tossed them to the garbage. I felt like somebody slapped me so hard after finishing this book and wanted to climb to the highest mountain and started screaming `WHHHHHHHHY! WHHHHY DID YOU DO THAT! WHY YOU WERE SO MERCILESS TO YOUR CHARACTERS!` Since J.K. Rowling killed Dumbledore or David E. Kelly killed Billy on “Ally McBeal series”, I haven’t want to yell at an author/screenwriter for so long!( Okay, I also wanted to yell at GOT’s writers, but for another reasons. I think yelling is not gonna enough for them!)

As soon as I read the blurb about Mia’s dreaming about a man she’s never seen before made me think I was going to read a book like Taylor Jenkins Reid’s “ Maybe Another Time” or Kristin Harmel’s `Life Intended”. I thought it’s a romance about two people reach each other by dreams and fight against the all obstacles to find their HEAs.

But this is all different. Firstly; our two heroes, husband Harrison and dream guy Oliver are amazing! At some parts they’re even greater than Mia who is suffering from three miscarriages and about to lose her mind because every time she closes her eyes, she sees Oliver. They coincidentally meet at the market. Then they saw each other at the hospital where Mia’ s husband works. Oliver’s sister is also the patient of Harrison.

Mia gets shocked as soon as she finds out, Oliver also sees her in his dreams, too and he tries to save her life but he cannot achieve that in any of them!

In the meantime Harrison fights with his inner demons because of the guilt he carries so long after he lost his patient. He blames himself for deciding a risky operation which affects his relationship with his wife, Mia. They start to drift apart. Mia wants to try having a baby but Harrison is not ready, he still deals with the loss of his patient and suffers from depression. Their problems and vivid dreams bring Mia and Oliver closer each day.

Even though she has questions about her marriage and undeniable attraction to Olive, Mia does the right thing and always chooses her husband over him. When she finds out, Oliver and she spent time in same circles and common friends, the day she met her husband, she could have also meet with Oliver but he got stuck at his work place, she still stayed strong, restrained her feelings for him.
Then she realizes no matter what she always chooses her husband over him! So I thought `Okay great so we got our closure! Nope, not so fast! Don’t jump to the conclusions because there are more to come. And they’re all HEAVY, NASTY, NERVE BENDING, TEAR JERKER STUFF!`

The thing about telling the story for several different POVs (we already have three main characters but as soon as I see the POVS of Caroline and Whitney, I got confused but finally I realized the author did it purposely for the ominous part of the book! Yessss, there is a bloody, nail biter, `OHHHH NOOO WHAT DID YOU DOOO!” part close to the ending!)

Let’s talk about ending! I hate it! Because any alternative universe options for these three characters will bring us more and more ugly cries, more screams like “ OH come onnn, there must be a solution to fix it”!

Mia is honest, noble, lost but at least finally she knows what she wants in her life. But no matter what she wants, her heart is going to be broken!

I’m sorry for Mia! Sorry for Harrison, also so sorry about Oliver!

I was expecting a book about our different choices end with different consequences, finding your soul-mate, learning more about the secret world of dreams but instead of that, I got frustration, depression, deathly consequences, broken hearts!

Nope, the author might be so talented to feel so passionately for those characters but I never ever forgive the writer for being cruel to them! At least some of them need their HEAs!



Nope, the author might be so talented to feel so passionately for those characters but I never ever forgive the writer for being cruel to them! At least some of them need their HEAs!

Wow. This book tore me apart and put me back together so many times. These characters felt so, so relatable. Their stories intertwined beautifully.

Happily married, Mia is living an envious life. An artist who is free to pursue her career passions, married to a doctor who adores her, and recently moved to an idyllic small town, she seems to have it all. Except she desperately wants a child. And she also keeps having inconvenient dreams about a stranger. A stranger who she happens to meet through her husband... and he has been dreaming of her, too.

The author takes us on a beautiful emotional roller coaster with this one. I loved how she explored the role of fate versus that of choice. How much power does fate have over us? Only as much as we allow it to?

The characters are nuanced and believable, and the writing is beautiful. The plot was highly original and extremely well-executed. I really enjoyed this one, and think it will appeal to fans of Jodi piccoult and Diane chamberlain.