Before I Called You Mine by Nicole Deese

Before I Called You Mine is my first Nicole Deese book--but it won't be my last. I so enjoyed this book.

Lauren Bailey is a first-grade teacher in Idaho. She is in her early 30s and has given up on men and decided to adopt a child from China because she wants to be a mom. Then Joshua Avery shows up at her school as a substitute teacher and Lauren finds him fascinating, unlike so many men in her past. How will she make a difficult decision to choose between the two?

Oh my goodness! All the feels for this book! I so loved Joshua Avery. I love Lauren too but for different reasons. :) Deese's writing of this story left me laughing out loud in a few places as I delighted in some of Joshua's antics. I also teared up as the character's made some difficult decisions. One of the other aspects I especially liked about this book is that it felt so realistic throughout much of the book. Lauren's family wasn't very nice and I didn't care for those characters to start with but they grew on me a little more as the book went on. Unfortunately, I think many people can relate to some of the dysfunction. I think Deese also showed some of the challenges with adopting in a realistic light from what I have known through those who have adopted internationally. I liked the spiritual element that continued through the book as the character's each had to wrestle with what God was teaching them. I think it portrayed the Christian life fairly accurately for many people. Before I Called You Mine moved along fairly fast for me and was a good read all the way through. I could see this book being made in to a movie.

I received a copy of this book courtesy of the publisher and the author. All opinions in this review are my own.

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