Someone Like You: A Novel

The Baxters #30

by Karen Kingsbury

Science raises questions only love can answer in this moving and thought-provoking novel from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of “heart-tugging and emotional” (Romantic Times Book Reviews) life-changing fiction.

One frozen embryo. Two families with life-long secrets. And a guy who never planned to fall in love again.

Maddie Baxter West is shaken to the core when she finds out everything she believed about her life was a lie. Her parents had always planned to tell her the truth about her past: that she was adopted as an embryo. But somehow the right moment never happened. Then a total stranger confronts Maddie with the truth and tells her something else that rocks her world—Maddie had a sister she never knew about. Betrayed, angry, and confused, Maddie leaves her new job and fiancé, rejects her family’s requests for forgiveness, and moves to Portland to find out who she really is.

Dawson Gage’s life was destroyed when London Quinn, his best friend and the only girl he ever loved, is killed. In the hospital waiting room, London’s mother reveals that London might have had a sibling. The frozen embryo she and her husband donated decades ago. When Dawson finds Maddie and brings her to Portland, the Quinns—her biological parents—welcome her into their lives and hearts. Maddie is comforted by the Quinns’ love and intrigued by their memories of London, who was so much like her. Is this the family and the life she was really meant to have?

Now it will take the love of Dawson Gage to help Maddie know who she is...and to help her find her way home.

Genres: Christian Fiction, Fiction, Romance, Christian, Christian Romance, Contemporary, Audiobook

ebook

First published May 5, 2020

About the author

Karen Kingsbury, #1 New York Times bestselling novelist, is America’s favorite inspirational storyteller, with more than twenty-five million copies of her award-winning books in print. Her last dozen titles have topped bestseller lists and many of her novels are under development with Hallmark Films and as major motion pictures. Her Baxter Family books are being developed into a TV series slated for major network viewing sometime in the next year. Karen is also an adjunct professor of writing at Liberty University. In 2001 she and her husband, Don, adopted three boys from Haiti, doubling their family in a matter of months. Today the couple has joined the ranks of empty nesters, living in Tennessee near five of their adult children.

See more at: http://authors.simonandschuster.com/K...

Reviews

[Sheyla ✎ · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

So I was scrolling through my feed and saw that a movie based on this book was coming out.
I downloaded the audio but had no clue this book is the 30th in this series! I know I probably missed a lot since I don't know the rest of the characters well.

The second thing, I didn't know was that it was a Christian book.

Anyway, back to the story.

Maddie West is excited to start her new job at the zoo after graduating college. She also is about to get married. Her fiancee seems to be a really sweet guy.

Then, Dawson Gage finds Maddie at the zoo and tells her that she is adopted and that London, her biological sister, and her parents live in Portland.

At first, Maddie believes he is a liar but after one conversation with her parents, she realizes he was telling her the truth.

Maddie decides to leave it all and go to Portland to find out more about her sister and her biological parents.

I ended up liking the book but did have some issues with Maddie's decisions.

First, leaving her job, her parents, and her fiancee abruptly without a good conversation felt wrong to me. Second, I'm not sure what new job will let you leave it for an unknown period of time just after your first day and they will hold it for you. Third, the way she refused to talk to her adoptive family despite all that they had done for her felt very childish. Lastly, the big decision she made in Portland that will affect her for the rest of her life felt very rushed. I'm not saying it was not the right one, but she didn't discuss it with the people who cared about her. She just informed them about her decision.

Cliffhanger: No

3.5/5 Fangs

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[Tracy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Here's my spoiler....KLEENEX, you are going to need ALL the kleenex!!!!

Beautiful and heartwrenching story, lovingly told.

[Rebecca Frederick · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really like Karen Kingsbury's older works. While I still read/listen on audiobook to her newest releases, they don't grip me in the same way. That being said, this book was interesting enough for me to want to keep listening to find out what happened. Even when it was clear where the storyline was going, I was curious how it would play out to get to that obvious ending. The story broached a very interesting and little addressed- at least in contemporary Christian fiction- topic of embryo adoption and I thought it was a great subject to be explored. Props to Kingsbury for tackling this topic! I also really appreciate faith being woven into a story and am thankful Kinsgbury does include faith and spirituality in her stories.

Though this book kept me interested, there were some things in this story that bugged me, but they are common Kingsbury occurrences. First, the concept of the fatalistic romance. In this story, like many of her others, characters are drawn together by "chemistry" or "electricity" and there's nothing they can do but be together. Kingsbury is especially fond of a man wanting a woman "more than his next breath." Regardless of whatever else is going on in life, EVERYTHING falls into place because they were meant to be together. In Kingsbury's defense, this is fiction and not everything has to be completely realistic. Many may enjoy this idyllic storyline. I just found it odd that with all the upheaval and baggage in her life, Maddie felt like it was the right time to start a new relationship so soon after ending her engagement. Considering her sudden and fairly extreme response to learning she was adopted, I really wanted her to get some counseling.

The other thing that bugged me was Dawson's relationship to London. I really wanted that guy to instill some boundaries in their relationship. She let him know she wasn't willing to date him and maintained that stance for 10 years, but his love for her kept him from being interested in anyone else. Furthermore, though he knew she was dating other men, they had an odd friendship and apparently she preferred to spend time with him rather than her boyfriends, she made flirtatious comments to him and Dawson never addressed it and said she needed to figure out what she wanted, and she and Dawson would even hold hands at times. London was stringing him along, Dawson let her do it, and it wasn't a healthy friendship. Maybe it's because I'm a social worker, but I didn't view their relationship as romantic or an amazing bond; I viewed it as extremely unhealthy and inappropriate.

There were other things that seemed unrealistic, such as how did Maddie afford a plane ticket to Portland and a hotel there when she had just graduated from college and worked at her job for about a week before taking a leave of absence? And would someone in her situation really be more interested in spending most of her time with the friend of her biological family instead of her actual biological family as she did with Dawson during most of her time in Portland?

Again, the story was interesting enough that I kept listening to the audio book and in fact, looked forward to hearing more of the story. It was an entertaining book, but definitely shouldn't be the road map for healthy relationships. I also will say that in some ways I can defend Kingsbury's seemingly rushed storyline. Dawson flying out to Indiana with hardly any evidence Maddie was the person he was looking for, Maddie flying out suddenly to meet her birth parents, etc., seemed sudden and impulsive, but to actually play out the realistic emotions and the process of those events would have made for a very long novel and would have had too many storyline directions.

Overall, I'd say this book is worth a read for entertainment and to dive into the topic of embryo adoption. I still am a Karen Kingsbury fan, but definitely prefer her older works to her newer ones.

[Gabrielle Stoller · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sigh. If you want a book that feels like a subpar Hallmark movie, this is it. I know. That sounds harsh. But I really, really, REALLY struggled with "Someone Like You."

1.) Everything felt incredibly rushed. I kept reading and noticing the Kindle telling me I was almost done with the book. Which meant everything for our characters would get rushed. AND I really felt we missed some important storylines. For instance, Maddy's decision to give her kidney.........we didn't get any scenes in the hospital. We hardly felt understanding. The decision for Dawson to love to Indianapolis. Well, we all saw that happening.

2.) Characters felt totally different representations of themselves. I can't help but feel like Karen Kingsbury has screwed with the Flanigan family. Think about it, Bailey was all set to be with Cody.....and then that changed. Now we get Connor out of his "happy ending" with the Baxter's. In fact, the entire book I felt like Karen made the scenes between Maddy and Connor intentionally terrible. Again. Harsh. But still.

3.) This was a book where I didn't like any of the characters. Maddy was a bitch to her parents and readers were deprived of the restoration. I get it. She had no idea that she was an embryo adoption. She was hurt. She didn't know how to move on. Still.....I wanted to see her transformation arc and not "Dawson told me to forgive you." Yeah. The Baxter's took a backseat. Brooke and Peter finally got some "screen time" but I wanted more.

4.) A little thing. But the scenes that took place in Portland: the descriptions were off. Karen has lived in the Pacific Northwest! She should know that Portland really smells of pee and weed and NOT pine trees. Granted, Multnomah Falls is beautiful. And I loved a scene set there. Still

So if you can't tell, Karen Kingsbury is getting on my last nerve. I love her as a person. But her novels are feeling like a money maker. She's dialing it in....which makes me sad.

[Marianne · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars
I love how books can be my exposure to the outside world.
It was my first time hearing about embryo adoption. Before this book, I didn’t even know something like that existed.
It’s amazing how the story depicted every problem, misunderstanding and consequence that might accompany the process of something like that.

I’m not gonna lie, at times I found myself cringing a little at the writing style. It was way too perfect, if that make sense.
Plus, I think the story was lacking candour. I mean through all this grief, I felt like the characters were getting by just fine. Replacing what was missing with whatever comes their way. Even when it was said differently in the book, I didn’t feel it! It was way to easy and to good to be true. What happened to the five stages of grief!? Where's the pain.

Nonetheless the grief depiction at the beginning was spot on. There was a part talking about denial and it made me realize how after experiencing something as tragic as death you come to “gaining new skills” to survive.
One of them is how we excel at believing the most irrational, unreal thoughts just so we can protect ourselves! Keep living the delusion we made up!

I think making peace with the idea that people will die someday is the most generous, unselfish act because we come to understand that it’s not about us but more about the other person.
But usually, we tend to accept their pain over ours. Maybe it’s humain nature because we all want to be protected from the pain, but what if death will end their suffering, wouldn’t that be better for them?

P.s: I’ll watch the movie and keep you updated on what I think.

[Dana · Rating 1 out of 5]

WHYYYYYYYYY did I waste the few hours it took to read this book? I am slapping myself silly for reading beyond page 10. I was interested in the concept of embryo transplants, which is the only reason I can give. First, and foremost, this novel should NOT be listed as mainstream women's fiction in reviews. It is meant for people with a sixth grade reading ability who are evangelicals, who spend their days talking to their God or Jesus instead of to human beings in their midst. There were no more than 2 or 3 paragraphs per page without some religious preaching. The book belongs in a "Christian" church library, not as one marketed to women looking for good, catchy, interesting, sophisticated writing with vocabulary beyond what a 12 year old would know. I am not about slutty books at all, but this was so G rated that there were only one for two very chaste kisses towards the end. These were adults. Nothing about it was realistic or believable.
I was fuming that the author kept having the main character, Maddie, refer to her parents as her adoptive parents. My husband and I have three children, all adopted in infancy. They are our CHILDREN, not our adopted children. We are their PARENTS, period!
I was also quite angry that these parents who were infertile, or so they thought, thus they did embryo transplant, failed to mention that their daughter was not biologically theirs. Maddie was 22 years old, and they still had not bothered to mention it! Who does that??????? Two of my children are Chinese, (we are caucasian). Over the years, there were always those idiots who would ask, "Do they know they are adopted?" I would say, "No. I am telling YOU, a total stranger, but not them." OF COURSE THEY KNEW. I also added each time, "We DO have mirrors in our house, and clearly we are NOT Chinese!" The level of ignorance astounded me then, and angers me now. In this waste of time novel, Maddie (of course) finds out about the circumstances of her birth, feels totally betrayed, and rightly so. The plot was so far fetched and ridiculous that it defied credulity.
If you like to read for pleasure and to expand your knowledge, look elsewhere. If you want to have someone preach to you about Jesus and miracles, and quite unbelievable scenarios, and if you never got beyond 6th grade, this is the book for you. UGH!

[Cassaundra Soto · Rating 4 out of 5]

I started reading Someone Like You not fully realizing it was a Christian book, it is not my usual genre but i enjoyed reading about Maddie and Dawson and the things they went through. The religious aspect of this book was done very well, I've found that quite often religious books can be overly preachy and focus more on God and less on the actual storyline. Karen Kingsbury managed to flawlessly weave God and Faith into the storyline without it being pushy or sounding false and that truly helped me to enjoy the read much more than I initially expected. Now about the story, i literally has tears brought to my eyes at the beginning of this book and was genuinely happy for all of the characters upon conclusion. It takes you on an interesting ride through the ups and downs of two families and a man who lost so much. The religious aspect may not be for everyone but if you're someone willing to read a Christian book I'd urge you to give this author a try.

[Kristin · Rating 2 out of 5]

“You don’t lie to someone you love. And you don’t love someone you lie to.”

I read this for an in person book club. Maddie West has just graduated college and gets engaged to her boyfriend. She also lands a job she really wants. Life is good for her. Then she finds out that she was adopted as an embryo and her whole life is turned upside down. The worst part? She learns about from a stranger rather than her parents. That stranger is Dawson Gage. He loved Maddie’s sister, London who passed away. Dawson invites Maddie to come to Portland, Oregon to meet her biological parents and learn about her sister. Maddie tries to figure out where she belongs.

The premise of this book sounded great. And that part of the story line was really good. I understood Maddie’s reaction when she found out she was adopted. I liked the topic, I especially loved the scenes at the zoo! I want to go on a walkthrough with kangaroos.

My issue with the book is this: there is SOOOO much talk about religion, God, Jesus, praying and the Bible. Honestly, it was like every other line or paragraph one of the above was mentioned somehow. Now, I wouldn’t have had a problem with this IF this was in the description of the book. But it wasn’t. The amount of religion and religious talk in this book was OVERKILL to the max.

This was my first time reading this author, but with all of the religion in this book, I doubt I’ll read another one by this author.

[Dale Harcombe · Rating 5 out of 5]

When, as an adult, Maddie West learns she is the result of an embyo adoption, it throws her world into a spin. Trying to figure out who she is, Maddie moves away from the only family and home she has ever known. She moves to where her birth parents are from, wanting to get to know them, but also Dawson Gage who told her the truth. Dawson is mourning the loss of his love of many years and best friend, London Quinn. Maddie reminds Dawson of London in many ways, but in other ways she is so different from London. London was the sister Maddie never knew. How will Maddie cope with the changes life has thrust upon her?
From the outset I was emotionally involved in this story. Hard not to empathise with Maddie and the way she feels after learning of her beginning. It is a long time since I have read a Karen Kingsbury book, a long while before I joined a Goodreads, so I had an idea what to expect. I knew she writes Christian centred fiction. However, if you just picked up the book and read the blurb there is no indication of this Christian aspect. So as a reader it depends how comfortable you are with that, as it is overtly Christian in content. For me it was not an issue. I was right in tune with it. The characters acted, I felt, in line with their beliefs. The story drew me effortlessly in and held me throughout. Perhaps a bit predictable and neatly tied up at the end but I still loved it. Be prepared to keep the tissues handy as there are some tissue worthy moments throughout. Just the type of book dealing with faith, life choices and hope that I needed to read at the moment. I highly recommend it.

[Kathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed listening to SOMEONE LIKE YOU by Karen Kingsbury and read by January LaVoy and Kirby Heyborne. The narrators were splendid!
Karen Kingsbury has written thirty books about the Baxter family, and like most of them, this book can be read as a standalone.
Brooke and Peter haven't told Mandy Baxter West that she was an embryo baby. She is engaged to be married and still does not know that her mother and father are not her biological parents even though Brooke gave birth to her.
When will Mandy's parents tell her?
How will Mandy respond to hearing the truth about her existence?
Dawson Gage is one of my favourite characters in the story. He seems to be steady, kind, intelligent, caring and understanding.
3.5 stars

[AdopTeaBookNerd · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read Karen Kingsbury’s Truly, Madly, Deeply, which I thought was poorly written, but it mentioned Maddie and Dawson’s story, and I wanted to see how Kingsbury treated the subject of embryo adoption.

Someone Like You tells of Maddie, whose parents, Peter and Brooke, had her through an embryo adoption. She’s graduating college, and they’ve kept this information from her because, well, life got in the way. Yes, life happens, but how can you keep this from your child? And they lied to her, making her think she’s their biological daughter. But that Brooke didn’t believe in God or prayer back then seems like an acceptable excuse not to tell anyone the truth. I don’t care if you’re atheist, Christian, Muslim. Tell your adopted child about his/her roots from day one.

The other plot line involves London, who’s mother had a difficult first pregnancy, so she donated her other embryos. London’s boyfriend, Dawson, is a believer, and she occasionally mocks him for his faith. London is hit by a truck, and her parents want to tell her in the hospital that she has a sibling, but she suddenly tells them she knows this and has a death bed conversion, which I know can happen, but London suddenly knowing about Maddie was unconvincing. Kingsbury tends to make important things suddenly happen in her book to drive the plot instead of fleshing out the situation to make it believable. The descriptions of London’s accident and injuries were unrealistic, and the writing was amateur.

Dawson learns of Maddie’s existence and goes out to find her in Indiana. For some reason, her new job at the zoo was newsworthy enough to have an article written about it, which is how Dawson tracks her down. He tells her about her adoption. Maddie confronts her parents and travels to Oregon to meet her birthparents with Dawson’s help. I thought her anger toward her parents was the most well-written dramatic scene in the whole book. Maddie doesn’t know Dawson from Adam, but it’s okay to trust him.

As the story goes on, Maddie and Dawson develop a quick friendship. Dawson constantly compares and contrasts her to London, which is shallow. And Maddie’s doubt about her fiancé, Connor, is growing stronger. The way Connor spoke to Maddie was emotionally abusive sometimes. Earlier in the book, he doesn’t think her adoption is a big deal. This upsets her, and she wants to leave, but Connor says she can’t, because he’s her ride. (Take an Uber.) And when Maddie calls him from Oregon, their conversation is strained, and he demands she call him earlier next time. Maddie’s dealing with discovering her real identity and meeting her birthparents, and this is how he treats her. Maddie never brings these incidents up, but they could have been used for a reason why she breaks off their engagement.

Maddie is somehow allowed to take a bulk of time off from her new job to stay with her birthparents for a while, and she and Dawson quickly fall in love. They don’t want to have a long distance relationship, and Maddie returns to Indiana.

I won’t reveal the ending, but this book was a sloppy story with Bible verses and preaching woven in. I once heard that Christian fiction is supposed to tell a story of how having faith in God transforms and changes characters’ lives throughout the plot, and sadly, Kingsbury doesn’t seem to know how to do this. I understand this is a light read, but too much happened too quickly. Kingsbury also writes…like this…and puts ellipses where it doesn’t…make sense. Or like this. Chopping up sentences. In random places. It’s a distraction, and I don’t know why her publisher thinks this is quality writing.

And a final note about the author’s letter to the reader: she describes the inspiration for Someone Like You, and states that implantation is quick, often painless, and cheaper than other forms of adoption. I’m a transnational adoptee, and her word choice makes children sound like objects for sale. I don’t usually write reviews, but as an adoptee and a Christian, this book troubled me, and I don’t plan on reading anything else by this author.

[Susan · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book mistakenly had a "mystery" sticker in my library, so I picked it up, even though I knew the author specialized in religious romances. Maybe she was venturing out of her comfort zone; I would venture out of mine. But the label lied: this had no mystery, except the mystery of why I finished it. One of the junior members of the extended, successful, devout Baxter family has a crisis that makes her doubt her engagement, her family, her very identity, but never her faith (Maddie is not that kind of girl!). She falls in love with a (handsome, successful, devout) man from Portland, OR but they both know it never came be--Maddie belongs in Indiana and Dawson's job, and father, are in Oregon. (Book of Ruth, anyone?) To quote Abraham Lincoln, if you like this kind of thing, this is the kind of thing you'll like.

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Round of applause to Karen Kingsbury for tackling the novel topic of embryo adoption in her new novel Someone Like You! I listened to the Audible edition and loved the alternating voices of January LaVoy and Kirby Heyborne. I appreciated Kingsbury’s grappling with the question of when/if to disclose the details of conception and the ramifications of those choices.

However, true to form, Kingsbury condenses a complex topic into a saccharine superficiality, in which death and deception are wrapped up into a simplistic novella tied with a bow of Christianity and a happily ever after ending. Kingsbury misappropriates the privacy of keeping information among family as secrecy withholding information from everyone including family. The biological mother berates herself for giving up her three embryos and condemns herself as selfish for not implanting them herself, even though her IVF pregnancy with London was risky and she may have lost all three of the embryos had she undergone another round of IVF. She never acknowledges the gift of hope and a family that she offered to Maddie’s adoptive family, who would not have had the privilege of being parents at all had they not received the donated embryos.

After her death, London’s love interest Dawson is quick to redirect his undying affection for London to her newly discovered biological sister Madison (also quaintly named after a city), who in turn rejects her current fiance for an instinctual undercurrent of attraction for Dawson that she is powerless to control. Although initially hurt, Maddie’s fiance Connor quickly acquiesces and accepts that he will always love Maddie but they were probably never meant to be. He’ll probably find true love in Kingsbury’s upcoming novel Truly, Madly, Deeply due out at the end of the year. (Doesn’t Savage Garden hold the copyright on that title?!!) When Maddie discovers her origins and flees to find her “real parents” in Portland, OR, the reader is left to wonder what did she do about her new zoo job that she so badly wanted?

In a conversation with her (adopted) parents, she later references that her supervisor offered her a leave with a return in the fall. I was disappointed that Kingsbury did not develop this conversation between Maddie and her supervisor. Kingsbury had no trouble stereotyping Maddie’s boss Ms. Barber (a thinly veiled symbol of her butch/barbarous character) in a cursory introduction as a single, forty something, no nonsense feminist. She initially warns Maddie about the importance of taking her time before getting married and enjoying her independence, but her advice is portrayed as bitter, cynical and selfish. By imagining the conversation between Maddie and Ms. Barber when Maddie requests a leave of absence and explains that she is questioning her engagement and needs to find her identity, Kingsbury could have redeemed their relationship into that of a mentorship versus vilifying singles as two dimensional selfish, bitter spinsters.

All in all, I can offer Kingsbury two stars for effort.

[Megan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Honestly, this was super predictable and quite boring. Everything that happened was something you could see coming from many chapters back. Not impressed with this one at all. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Brooke and Peter West had always planned to tell their daughter Maddie that her birth originated from an adopted frozen embryo. The guilt of not telling Maddie has haunted Brooke, but she was always putting off telling her, waiting for a "better time". Maddie is now graduating from college and Brooke knows she must tell Maddie the truth. But before she is able, Maddie is confronted by Dawson Gage. Dawson is seeking the biological sister of his best friend, London Quinn, who had recently died from a tragic accident. Maddie was devastated by the revelation and when she tells her parents, they are forced to reveal the truth. Angry and lost Maddie heads to Portland to meet her biological parents who had released the embryos to Brooke and Peter. As Maddie spends time with the Quinn's and with Dawson, she is able to reflect on the true meaning of family and find peace and the ability to forgive. A special relationship forms between Maddie and Dawson as they spend time together, Dawson sharing his bond with London and the depth of her loss.
While I always enjoy spending time with the Baxter family, I felt there was a predictability to the story.
3.5 stars.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one hovered between 2 and 3 stars most of the way through, so I'm giving it 2.5. I've never rated a KK book that low before, and tbh, it kinda made me sad.
I did not like the way Maddie was portrayed in this novel. Yes, I understand that she'd had a very important piece of her history withheld from her. I 'get' that she would have been hurt and upset by that fact. But, for her to fly off the handle and state that she didn't belong to the Baxter/West family flies in the face of her own extended family story. What? Because Malin and Johnny were adopted, does that mean THEY don't belong in the Baxter family? And Erin and Sam had 4 adopted daughters. Adoption is not a new concept in the extended Baxter story, and for Maddie to reject her heritage like that just made me mad.
Add to that her relationship with Dawson. Girl, do the words 'guard your heart' mean NOTHING to you? You were engaged, for goodness' sake! And, as far as that goes, Dawson is far from innocent in all that himself.
So, all in all, wholly unimpressed with the main character in the book, even if the ending did redeem it somewhat.

[Karin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have read most, if not all, of Karen Kingsbury's books and enjoyed them for the most part. However, at some point she really started advertising in her books and that irritates me. In this book, she names restaurants, colleges, a gym, a theme park, car brands, and some others, as well as personal advertising. It feels like she is just writing for the money now. This book ended at 83% on Kindle and all the rest was acknowledgements, top fans, personal advertising, etc. The actual storyline was shallow, not well developed and ended rather abruptly. It was also very predictable. I would recommend reading some of the excellent historical fiction available over this book.

[Jennifer Cutler · Rating 1 out of 5]

Should I be embarrassed I read this? Or just incredulous that she has fans? Maybe I should just accept my own naivety in not realizing how religious people really are. I just can't with this book. Every other line was a Bible verse. Seriously. Besides the absolute ridiculousness of the plot everyone was somehow transformed by reciting Bible verses.

[Rissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Someone like you⭐️
Maddie‘s parents aren’t her parents they’ve been lying to her her whole life so she picks up and leaves to try and find some security in her once stable world.
She leaves her family her job fiancé to meet her sister.
She feels betrayed that they lied to her and needs something secure.
But when she gets to her ‘real family’ a socking surprise awaits. She meets Dawson her new sisters best friend and he shows her how to love again and what her sister was like. Giving her an unforgettable friendship.
This is about finding family and trusting the family you already have, forgiving them.

[Beth Roger aka Katiebella_Reads · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5⭐️

" You deserve better. Someone like me... but with your faith and goodness. "

My Thoughts

I feel like I just read a Hallmark movie, written by a very sheltered 12-year-old girl. 🙄 Clearly, this book was written for someone with a 6th grade reading ability, if even that. I couldn't even get behind the premise of the book. The whole thing felt flat and unbelievable.

The girl who doesn't believe gets hit by a car. She cries out for Jesus! And just like that, she is saved! 🙄 because of course she can't die unsaved, it's a Christian book!
Then, if that isn't cliche enough, the doctors tell her family that she has hrs, maybe, to live and she wakes up?!?! WHAT?! Just long enough to say I love yous and she found Jesus, and oh wait, God told her she has a sister!!! Asinine. Pure and simple, it's ludicrous, ridiculous, absurdity.
At this point, I wanted to chuck the book and howl in frustration of bad writing.

But this brings us to Maddy......
Maddy, as a character, is insufferable. She is everything I dislike in an FMC. So she found out she was adopted as an embryo. So what? Lots of kids are adopted. For her, it made her turn on her parents?
" They aren't exactly my parents, you know? They're my adoptive parents."
BULL. They gave birth to her. They raised her. They loved her. They are her parents.
No she up and leaves cross country to stay with her bio parents. Leaves her fiancé to spend time with her dead "sister" love interest. Jumping right into her life. Not for a day, not for a week, but months😒 ( Did I mention she also left her dream job that she had wanted and worked for her whole life? A job she had only had a few weeks! SMH)

The naivety and selfishness was off the wall. I couldn't stand any of the characters. Maddy, for just leaving her family and fiance to go off and meet her BIO family. She doesn't know them. Knows nothing about them. Barely know their names but hops on a plane and Flys cross country to stay with them because some handsome guy shows up and tells her she is adopted? Thank goodness this is a Christian book because that's how bad stuff happens to people.
The Quinns and Dawson are portrayed to be these good loving people.... but who looses their daughter/love and just welcomes in a look alike replacement. They give her their daughters' room, job, and car. Basically, try to replace London with Maddy.
Yeah, they tell her to go home to her family but not very forcefully. They don't bother to call her mom and dad and let them know she is safe, even though they KNOW she isn't calling them herself. The toxic Christianity drove me insane. Just because you believe in God does NOT make you a good person.

Dawson, our MC, is the "good guy" meme personified. He's not actually the good guy the author is trying desperately to make us believe. What kind of person turns another's world upside-down because they are hurting and want their lost love back in the form of a look-a-like human?
He spends so much time comparing Maddy to London that it's almost like he is falling in love with her for her similarities, not her uniqueness. It's even in the title of the book. SOMEONE LIKE YOU. Someone like London, only Christian.

The writing is subpar and repetitive. Every chapter seems to spout the same information over and over again. Grammatically correct trite. I felt unable and unwilling to connect with any of the characters. They all felt shallow and bland. No soul in the writing of them.

I'm a Christian myself, but the amount of Bible and Jesus talk in this book is over the top. Not so much as a paragraph goes by without mentioning Christianity in some way, shape, or form. If I wanted the gospel, I'd go to the gospel, and I do. I wanted more story and less sermon.

[Carrie Walker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Karen Kingsbury is one of my favorite authors, and this book won't change that.

What did I love? I always love seeing the Baxters. John Baxter, every scene that man is in he nails. I loved the new character of Dawson. Such a good guy, depth... I'd love to see more of him.

But I did find it lacking in some areas. There might be a few spoilers below, if that's a concern.

1. Considering Karen is an adoptive mother and the Baxters are a deeply invested adoptive family (many of the adult children have adopted children, adopted cousins have grown up together etc.), setting this book in the heart of the Baxter family I expected a lot better language surrounding the struggle with Maddie's embryo adoption. Sure I can understand deep feelings of deceit at the lie... but to have so many of the characers using logic reasoning she might not be a Baxter or a West, they weren't her "real" family, brooke and peter weren't her "parents" and even the people who claimed she was used only the logic that she grew within Brooke... big dissappointment!

2. The middle of the book was missing. We didn't get to see whatever magic Dawson worked to bring Maddie to conversion in her mindset. We didn't get to see that change in her, just told it happened. We didn't get to see her decision/louise reaction to the donation. We didn't get to see the depth of growth between Dawson/Maddie... just told it happened. We had one city tour, then bam i t was 3 months later and all the important changes had happened.

The end was heart warming, but it would've been so much more powerful if we'd seen the change.

[Diana Mack · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ah...another Kingsbury book! I am a person of faith and love her books. This one took me a bit. Started a little too "everyone talking Jesus and just LOVING each other every moment of every day". A little unrealistic. In my world anyway
Maddie West, daughter of Brooke and Peter, finds out she was adopted as an embryo. Goes apeshit, abandons her family and meets up with her "real" family. Soul searching ensues, heart to hearts with Jesus.
I found this one to very predictable. As each character was introduced I could see how it would play out. How the relationship would be. I found Maddie's thoughts to be unrealistic . I also found the ending jarring. She does a complete 180 and it ends.
Kingsbury's Redemption series was my favorite out of her books. I found thd dilemma here presented interesting but her take on it in this story was predictable

[Jen Brodehl · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF- I didn’t realize this was a Christian book when I started and I just wasn’t into it. I picked it up since it has one of my favorite audio narrators. Next...

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 STARS

Karen Kingsbury never lets me down (even if I read the books out of order lol) - always sweet, loving and faithful characters who cherish the good in their lives.

[Susan Thuvanuti · Rating 3 out of 5]

Do not usually read “Christian” books but once I started this, I had to continue to see how everything turned out. Romance fans would enjoy it.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Christian fiction is hard for me because I am not a fan of the preachy, christian-ese talking books, I prefer the ones with just good messages and godly values and some prayer and church. I want my Christian fiction characters to act like real people—the kind of Christians we really know. The good, the bad, and the ugly, sure. But real people like in any other genre. And in my opinion, Karen Kingsbury doesn't do that. Her Christian characters are super Christians. Always praying. Always quoting scriptures, always evangelizing. Maybe that's how she is, but I don't know a lot of children and teenagers and young adults who talk like that and I've grown up in church, been in ministry and am married to a man in ministry. Its just not realistic to me. The little girl who talks to her on the phone sister for the first time in weeks and says, "I asked Jesus to have you call me." I mean, really? Many other examples too, just that’s one I really remember.
Also, some of the time/date confused stuff me. The girl is getting married but asks her mother if she's heard junior bridesmaids? Those existed when I got married 20 years ago. Of course her heard of them mom's heard of them . Also the whole idea of the embryo in vitro didn’t seem weird to me. The plot makes such a big deal about it, like it is completely unheard of, but I’ve heard of it…often. And I just don’t think people would exact the way everyone did about it. I can’t imagine people being surprised or confused, but not appalled that they didn’t say anything for this long. It’s their business. I don’t know, that was the big gotcha moment and climax and it just didn’t seem all that much of a twist. Like I saw it coming a mile away…within maybe the first chapter or so.
Lastly, this is the second KK book I’ve read recently, and both of them alluded to and angel showing up as a earl person. This is the exactly the kind of thing that annoys me about Christian fiction. I have very rarely—in 39 years of being a Christian and in ministry—heard of someone believing a person that showed up in their life was an angel. And yet that seems to be a common theme in her books. Proven or not.
All in all, solid book, if you like this of thing.

[Beka Metz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book! I’m looking forward to reading more about the Baxter family.

[Neil Carter · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is my first Karen Kingsbury book, and I must say, I was disappointed. She seems like a passionate author with great intentions, and criticizing her seems mean, almost like criticizing my grandmother. But I had a lot of problems with this book.

My biggest objection was the character of Maddie. I found her to be a mostly unlikable, selfish brat. Her reaction to the big reveal that she was an adopted embryo was over-the-top. So, she just disses the parents who lovingly raised her and goes off to connect with the bio parents she never met? I wanted to slap her upside the head and yell at her, "You selfish, ungrateful jerk! Your parents gave their whole hearts and souls to raising you for 22 years. If they hadn't adopted you, you'd still be an embryo in a refrigerator somewhere! Most people would kill to have parents as good as yours. And now, because they made the one mistake of not telling you that you're adopted, you're not even going to speak to them any more? What a narcissist you are!" Other than the fact that she was gorgeous and that she resembled his dead girlfriend London, I don't see why a good guy like Dawson would even want to be with a girl like that.

Likewise, I really hated the reaction of Maddie's parents to the whole situation. What they did was wrong, but it wasn't that wrong. The whole time, they just played the hand-wringing, self-flagellating martyrs and didn't stand up for themselves. I wish they had told her, "Not telling you that you're adopted was wrong and we're sorry for it. But we're not sorry for adopting you. We love you and we've given our lives to raise you. We feel like God brought you into our lives and that you were meant to be our daughter. You're supposed to be a Christian, so you should honor your mother and father. You owe us that much respect".

Kingsbury writes some very emotional chapters in this book, but for the most part, I found the emotion to be too exaggerated, maybe even melodramatic. I really wish she had pruned down some of these chapters. She spent way too long, for example, describing London's death and everyone's reaction to it. She could have taken at least one less chapter to do this. Once you get to the level of success that Kingsbury has, it seems like your writing becomes sloppy. Less is better, usually, and your books should be leaner and more concise, but the opposite happens, because everyone around the successful author seems to be afraid to tell them to edit the fat out of their books.

The other thing I didn't like about this book were the numerous items that I call cringe elements. For example, Dawson going to Indiana literally days after his love London died, and stalking her bio-sister Maddie because he was apparently looking for some kind of replacement for London. Or Maddie quasi dating Dawson, even though she's engaged to Connor, just because Dawson is hot. I'm disappointed that a Christian author like Kingsbury is so willing to condone cheating. Usually in these kinds of stories, the other guy is clearly not right for the protagonist, but there is nothing wrong with Connor. He is also good-looking, and is every bit as grounded in his faith as Dawson is, plus he's successful in his career. There was no good explanation given why Maddie should have dumped him so quickly for Dawson, especially since she was his childhood sweetheart, who she claimed to love. A much more satisfying ending would have been for Maddie to go back to Connor and realize that Dawson was just a fling, and for Dawson to realize that the main reason he was even attracted to Maddie was because she reminded him of London.

I also thought it was stupid that there was this big drama about Dawson and Maddie never being able to be together again because she had to go back to Indiana. She's a grown woman, for crying out loud! She doesn't have to live with her parents forever. How many women marry men and move halfway across the country to be with them, leaving their families? Or, if you prefer, why couldn't Dawson move to be with her, if he loved her so much? Couples who truly love each other sacrifice and make it work, regardless of geography. The ultimate resolution, where he moves to Indiana because his dad's firm is opening a new office there, seemed really forced and unrealistic. Truth be told, the main reason that Maddie and Dawson had to be together in Indiana instead of Portland or somewhere else, is because Kingsbury needed to have them there for her subsequent Baxter family books.

Kingsbury is obviously a very talented author. But I fear that the pressures of having to crank out a new book to beat a deadline have caused her to produce books with weak storylines, such as this one. If she had just spent a little more time polishing this book and coming up with more realistic story elements, it would have been tons better.

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a story that used to be in the news a good bit. A young woman finds her parents got a frozen embryo and never told her she wasn't their biological daughter. Maddie is surprised when she is confronted by a man, Quinn, who claims he was engaged to her sister. Hurt by the news, she quits her job, shuns her family and heads to Portland where Quinn introduces her to her biological parents. They accept her with open arms. Now she and Quinn are in love but she has to reconcile with both her families and her dead sister. Karen Kingsbury is a Christian author but this book is a good read with only mild references to God, prayer and religion. Anyone will enjoy this story. I received a copy of this ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

[Karah Carpenter · Rating 2 out of 5]

In defense of this book, I am not an avid Christian fiction fan. So that could have something to do with what I’m about to say.

I strongly disliked this book. It felt out of touch with reality. It felt like it was attempting to be deep but just came across as vapid. The characters seemed shallow and poorly developed and I guessed the ending in the first third of the book. The spirituality lacked substance and seemed very unrealistic.

Overall, not my cup of tea. But this easily could have been a qualm with the genre as a whole. And not this specific book.