Caroline's Journal

by Katherine Stone

For more than six years Seattle architect Caroline Wynn and her attorney husband, Jeffrey, have been trying to have a baby. Now, finally, Caroline is pregnant. Both Caroline and Jeffrey are thrilled. And, wanting a lasting memory of the happiness she feels, Caroline decides to keep a pregnancy journal, writing to the baby she already loves.

Caroline's pregnancy coincides with the trial of Jeffrey's career, the murder of a pregnant woman by her celebrity fiancé. For father-to-be Jeffrey, a man murdering his unborn child is as incomprehensible as it is painful.

But there are other dangers for pregnant women and their babies, perils that lurk in silence amid the joy. For Caroline, such perils are medical. Her pregnancy is placing her health — and even her life — in jeopardy. But when it comes to a choice between her own life and her baby's, there's never, for Caroline, the slightest doubt.

It's a decision of love — for the baby she cherishes and the husband who loves Caroline more than she believed any man ever could. A man who deserves the chance to become the father he was meant to be.

Genres: Romance, Fiction

272 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 2006

About the author

Katherine Stone is the New York Times bestselling author of twenty-two novels, including her new Christmas novel, SLEIGH BELLS RING.

Katherine's books have been translated into twenty languages and are sold worldwide. A physician who now writes full-time, she lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband, physician and novelist Jack Chase (Fatal Analysis, Mortality Rate, The Magruder Transplant.

Katherine's website is www.katherinestone.com.

Jack's website is www.medicalthriller.com.

Reviews

[Amy Webster-Bo · Rating 3 out of 5]

it was ok story, with a happy ending, but it was kinda boring

[Tina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Caroline keeps a pregnancy journal while her husband is the prosecutor on a case of a murdered pregnant woman. Will he get the conviction? Will Caroline safely deliver her baby? This was a beautifully told story I would recommend to others.

[Lorraine · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fast read. The beginning was slow but it got more interesting. Just an ok read.

[Katy | KD's Bookish Ways · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quite the emotional read. Full of sentimentality that wasn't overdone. I enjoyed the storytelling in which there were journal entries thrown in, but it wasn't unencumbered with them.

[Emily Moses · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5

Super easy read. When you give me romance with a little crime/mystery in it, you know I’ll enjoy it to some degree but this was too painfully corny.

[Nath · Rating 4 out of 5]

4/5 (B)

So it's pretty much Caroline's last possible pregnancy as she is 36 years old and she already miscarried 3 or 4 times. Jeffrey, her husband, has caught a case in which the father-to-be has killed his pregnant fiancée and he finds it difficult, not only because the victim was pregnant, but also because the murder occured almost at the same time as Caroline's miscarriage. Meanwhile, Caroline and Meg's relationship has suffered a lot after their parents' marriage. Meg has turned to drinking and Caroline thinks she did a poor job at providing a motherly figure to Meg; but both are trying hard to mend their relationship.

I really liked the story but somewhat, I felt cheated: the book wasn't long enough and I thought there was not enough detail. It was a nice change that the main characters were in love with each other, but I'd had like for Caroline to recount how she met Jeffrey and fell in love with him. I'd had like a bit more storyline too, like a bit more things happening. Aside from that, it's a classic Katherine Stone - you have relationships that need mending, conflicts, love and a medical condition. The characters were all nice, no TSTL heroine, no annoying characters. It is probably a bit weak compared to Pearl Moon, but it is a very nice relax read, a true Katherine Stone classic and it was much better than the Cinderella Hour which restore my confidence in Katherine Stone's books to come.

[Kerrie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book. It was a fast read and I found it very emotional at times and I was very interested. My main complaint with this book is that there were so many issues addressed. It was about infertility, addiction, family relationships, a criminal trial, romantic relationships, and a marriage. It was just too much to address in one short book for me.

[Julie Mink · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a beautiful story with a small mystery tucked inside. Caroline begins writing a journal when she has the last embryo implant after numerous miscarriages with previous implants. She feels an immediate connection with this baby. While she is writing the journal and sharing her love she is also supporting her husband who is prosecuting a famous sport star and television commentator who killed his pregnant girlfriend and his own child. Jeffery can not fathom a man killing his won child when he and Caroline want a child so desperately. The journal is a conversation between the mother and her unborn child and it is beautiful and moving.

[Marcia Haskell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable read. The novel is supposed to be a journal Caroline is writing for her baby during the time of her pregnancy. Since,she, her husband, and her sister are individually and collectively going through soul-searching, life changing events through this period the book is interesting and a fun read. A little formulaic but that did not detract from the slowly growing relationships, including the one each of the main characters had with the baby, prebirth.

[BookAddict ✒ La Crimson Femme · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a heart tearing book as it explores the love and desire to have a child yet failing to have one over and over. Now with a hope of another chance to have a baby, Caroline's husband works on a case where another parent killed their child. Ms. Stone did a good job of exploring how life is unfair and there's nothing we can do about it except how we choose to respond.

[Pam · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story of a woman who desperately wants to have a child paired with the husband who has to try a man in court for the killing of a woman and her unborn child. Add in a medical problem that could cost Caroline her life and the life of her child. told in diary form.

[Lorrie brooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful story of family and love. This author has many great books one of my favorite authors

[Fiction Junkie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great author. Love this book.

[Allie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Totally fluffy, feel-good, never-quicken-your-heartbeat, not believable book. But sometimes that's what you want!

[Tracie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was hard to get lost in, and a bit predictable...

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written by a former woman doctor, Caroline's Journal is interesting and informative. Caroline chronicles her nine-month pregnancy from an in-vitro attempt to third-trimester eclampsia along with an account of her husband's prosecution of a high profile murderer of a woman and her unborn child.