Finding Clara

by Jannie Lund

Eve Quinn goes missing. Twenty-seven years later Clara Christensen is found. On her quest to find out who she is and where she comes from, Clara finds a new family and an old love. Trying to combine Clara and Eve, as well as living up to everyone’s expectations of who she should be is difficult. The new family doesn’t help. But the old love does.

Duncan Cantwell has never been able to forget the woman who stole his heart, but he never expected her to stroll back into his life as the long lost daughter of the family who gave him a home when he was a boy.

In the most unexpected way, Clara and Duncan find each other again. They are not just lovers torn apart by circumstance, however. They are in the middle of a family struggling to come to terms with reality. Love has a hard time flourishing, but Clara and Duncan have beaten the odds before.

150 pages, Paperback

First published August 6, 2015

About the author

Jannie Lund has been writing for as long as she can remember. She wrote on and off for periods until 2008 when she started to take it seriously and had her first short story published. It was the first one she ever submitted to a publisher, and it took just a few hours to write. That gave her the impression that it was easy. And it's not. It's really, really not. But it's fun and challenging and she loves it.

When she doesn't write, she spends time with her family and friends. She reads, she crochets, she photographs, she paints, she scrapbooks, she cooks, she bakes...see the pattern? Most of her time is spent creating something one way or the other. She just can't help herself.

Jannie is from Denmark and has lived there all her life save for a short stint in Ireland, where she lost her heart to Dublin.

Reviews

[Nadia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Clara is adopted. Of course that’s not all there is to her, but as you can imagine, the search for her true, biological identity does become central when a dying man admits his crimes. So on she goes, looking for the truth that was denied to her, and although she finds it, dealing with it simply can’t be easy.

What I liked the most about this book is the realistic treatment of Clara’s emotions regarding the truths she uncovers along the way. While many, many writers would give their main character a fairy tale-like life where everything makes sense as every piece falls into place, what Jannie does here is to throw some pieces askew for Clara, and then she has her settling them into place on her own one by one. And that, if you ask me, if the best way to create an interesting character and an interesting story.

Is everything easy for Clara when she leaves Denmark and goes to America to meet her biological family? Well… no, not really. It’s not hell either, but the author manages to balance the good and the bad, the happy and the sad, the joy and the confusion in a way that is realistic, which is the best word to describe Clara’s inner journey. What do you do when the parents you never knew you had wish to shower you with love as they deserve, but also want you to forget 20+ years of your life as if they had never taken place? How do you make them understand that said love can also be a little overbearing? That a person used to being alone needs time to recover from a huge family where everything wants a piece of you? Clara could easily turn bitter or pretend there’s nothing wrong and put a smile on her face, but would any of these sound remotely real to you? They wouldn’t to me! The author, however, juggles both options wonderfully, giving you characters you can relate to, and that you can root for. In my opinion, this novel has a powerful message every one of us can relate to: love your family, but above all, treasure yourself.

All in all, this is the perfect novel for this holiday season, wherever you live. It’s got a main character you root for because you can see -and above all- understand her struggles, a hero that’s always there supporting her and that’s not willing to allow Clara to forget their shared past (even though she does resist his charm at first) and, above all, a flowing story that will warm your heart in these cold days or that will make the perfect beach company if you, like myself, happen to live in the Southern Hemisphere. ;)

[Caroline · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eve Quinn was kidnapped. 27 years later, Clara Christensen discovers she is really Eve – a victim of a ‘white laundering kidnapping’ scheme. Her adoptive parents, now dead, had no clue their daughter was procured illegally. Now, Clara finds herself in a foreign country on the doorstep of her birth parents, preparing to meet the family she never knew—the family who has spent 27 long years waiting for her return.

In a twist of fate, the Quinn’s had taken in (though not officially adopted) a young man named Duncan. A man who would go on to meet and fall in love with a Danish woman named Clara while on vacation, only to find the phone number she gave him illegible.

This was my first book by Jannie Lund and it will not be my last. She has a way of making the characters real and come to life.

This is a sweet, clean romance. It’s also Clara’s story of discovering who she really is, learning to adapt to a large family who remembers her as a baby, and her parents having to realize that the Eve they lost will never return, and having to learn to accept Clara as she is.

And, as far-fetched as it is that the Duncan Clara met on vacation would just happen to be the same man her biological parents took in as a boy it’s easily overlooked. This is a feel good story I didn’t want to end.

Should you read Finding Clara? YES! If you enjoy sweet contemporary romances I think you’ll love this story.

Disclaimer: I work for the company that released this book, however I receive no monetary compensation for any sales of this book. My employment with the company in no way changes my opinions or rating of the book.

[M.A. Stacie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I always enjoy reading this author's words.

The characters make this book so colourful! They burst off the page and bring the whole plot to life. The reader is thrown right into the middle of Clara's story, and what a story it is! I loved the added twist of exactly how she knew Duncan too.

More than a few times the author had me giggling at random conversations, and obviously, I adored that both Clara and Duncan run! The little added gem for me, was Duncan's rather random telephone relationship with Gertrud. That was a nice addition and whenever Duncan spoke to her I found myself smiling.

Another brilliant read from a great author.

[Stacie L · Rating 5 out of 5]

*ARC read