Chrissy’s Review: Everything We Left Behind by Kerry Lonsdale

Everything We Left Behind
written by Kerry Lonsdale
published by Lake Union Publishing, 2017

find it here: (affiliate links) Barnes & Noble, Amazon, iBooks, Target, Walmart, Book Depository, Goodreads

Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Did I enjoy this book? Not as much as I had hoped. I read it, and I’m glad I did, but I was a bit disappointed.

Okay, here’s the point where I need to warn you . . . if you haven’t read the first book, Everything We Keep, then you probably want to stop reading here. This review may spoil the first book for you. However, if you have read Everything We Keep, then please proceed. 🙂

I really enjoyed the first book, Everything We Keep, and I couldn’t wait to read this one. I wanted to learn what happened to James and how he ended up with a different identity and two sons. I wanted to know what happened with Phil. I just wanted to know what happened. I did learn a lot about his life as Carlos and as current James, but I didn’t really get any answers. I was surprised by a few things (Señora Carla and Natalya), but not enough to keep me glued to the book. Honestly, I was kind of bored. There was no tension between James and Aimee, just a lot of flashbacks and James figuring out what to do now. I did enjoy watching him be a devoted father as Carlos and learning to be a father as James. His growing/changing relationship with his sons, especially Julian, was my favorite part.

With that said, I have heard that there will be a third book, Everything We Give, and I can’t wait to read it. I have a feeling it will pull everything together.

 

Would I recommend it? I definitely recommend the first book, Everything We Keep, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to recommend this one. However, if you read the first book, Everything We Keep, then you should read this book to see what happened to James Donato.

 

About the book – from Goodreads: From the Wall Street Journal bestselling author of Everything We Keep comes the highly anticipated sequel. Told from one man’s two perspectives, Everything We Left Behind effortlessly blends suspense, mystery, and romance in an exploration of loss, resilience, and the compelling need to protect the ones we love at all cost.

Two months before his wedding, financial executive James Donato chased his trade-laundering brother Phil to Mexico, only to be lost at sea and presumed dead. Six and a half years later, he emerges from a dissociative fugue state to find he’s been living in Oaxaca as artist Carlos Dominguez, widower and father of two sons, with his sister-in-law Natalya Hayes, a retired professional surfer, helping to keep his life afloat. But his fiancée, Aimee Tierney, the love of his life, has moved on. She’s married and has a child of her own.

Devastated, James and his sons return to California. But Phil is scheduled for release from prison, and he’s determined to find James, who witnessed something in Mexico that could land Phil back in confinement. Under mounting family pressure, James flees with his sons to Kauai, seeking refuge with Natalya. As James begins to unravel the mystery of his fractured identity, danger is never far behind, and Natalya may be the only person he can trust.

(This book is the sequel to Everything We Keep.)