While I Was Gone

Lost and Found #1

by Amanda Steel

Kayla Marshall is a young woman who was kidnapped at the age of six while playing with her twin sister in a park. Her family had given up on ever seeing her again. Fifteen years later she is reunited with her real family, after she was brought up by a couple who raised her as their own daughter. Now she has to adapt to her new life, figure out where she belongs and get to know her real family, while dealing with the lies told to her for so many years by the people she believed were her parents. Kayla's father crowds her as he tries too hard to welcome her back into the family. She struggles to come to terms with the deaths of her real mum and tin sister who both died while she was gone. Her younger sister acts like she wished Kayla had never come back. Her brother is the only one she can talk to, but he has a secret and Kayla might lose him too. She meets Nathan and falls in love, but can she really find happiness?

Kindle Edition

Published April 6, 2018

About the author

Not the Amanda Steel who writes erotic werewolf novels.

Also, I have some publications under my married name of Amanda Nicholson, but there is another author with the same name and Goodreads keep crediting my books to her.

These include:
Death to All Men
Nobody Left Behind: A Printed Word Anthology (editor)
Summer Bludgeon (contributor)
Nobody Left Behind| (editor)
Summer Bludgeon (contributor)

Reviews

[Ana Meyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

A mystery but more of a story of family strife. I enjoyed reading this book. It is just the right length for a story of its kind. I think it if would have been any longer I would have lost interest. It isn't filled with action or drama but more of family conflict and stress over who Kayla is and who she is going to be. It is a book for those who enjoy an emotional read that doesn't drag on pointlessly. Good length good book grab one. :)

[Carrie Westmoreland Kurtz · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was pretty excited to read While I Was Gone when I received the review request. The synopsis sounded extremely interesting. I had so many books in line in front of this ones so it took a while before I was able to get to it.

When it was finally time to get started on it, I jumped right in! That was when I realized that the story jumps right in as well. I had poed to read about when Kayla was first reunited with her family. Instead, the story starts with her already back living with her father. That was fine, I guess I just had hopes for more.

The story had several high points and low points. I would start to enjoy it and then, for me, it would sort of go flat. And then there were times when things would happen so fast that it didn't seem natural. I don't know, the book just had too many things that made it less believable.

While I Was Gone ended on a major cliffhanger. I suppose that's how books in a series are supposed to be but I just wanted a bit more closure on some of the issues that Kayla was going through. Part of me wants to know what is going to happen next but I not sure that I want it enough to finish this series.

*Note: I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Pamela Kelley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cliffhanger ending for cozy romance.

Storyline doesn’t quite explain the initial kidnapping. The trial and return of Kayla is never explained. The kidnappers just get dumped in a chapter when the man rings the doorbell. How do you not get prison time for kidnapping a child for 15 years? Also, lots of editing mistakes throughout book. The book just doesn’t flow smoothly. Cliffhangers are my biggest pet peeve.