Editorial Content for Find Me in California
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
Kerry Lonsdale’s FIND ME IN CALIFORNIA brims with star-crossed lovers, poor decisions, loss, abandonment and numerous secrets. Julia Hope and Matt Gatlin had vastly different experiences growing up with their grandmothers. Julia was loved and pampered by hers after her mother abandoned her, while Matt was ignored and isolated by his after the death of his parents, who loved him deeply.
As circumstances cause their paths to cross, Julia and Matt feel a connection. While their stories and backgrounds differ, they find that there is much that connects them. And thanks to a diary that Julia finds, we are privy to events that provide details of just how their pasts are intertwined.
"[D]espite the heartbreaking losses that these characters suffer, the theme that emerges is uplifting and hopeful."
Lonsdale cleverly presents one grandmother as "good" and the other as "evil." But as we come to find out, generalizations and first impressions can be misleading. Long-held secrets can greatly damage families and relationships; even those held with the best of intentions are harmful. And Lonsdale doesn't stop there. Julia and Matt suffer from what appears to be an attachment disorder. They believed that they were abandoned by their mothers and have felt the sting of that loss ever since. Both fear falling in love because of the real possibility that it might not last, resulting in yet another abandonment.
Between the present-day chapters, which are clearly labeled as being from either Julia or Matt's point of view, and the diary entries from the ’70s, we are able to piece together bits from the past and present to gain a complete picture of how their families crossed paths with tragic results. There's a bit of mystery as well, as Matt spends a weekend with an ethereal creature who might be real, a figure from the past or even a figment of his imagination.
Yet, despite the heartbreaking losses that these characters suffer, the theme that emerges is uplifting and hopeful. This touching novel is about opening up to love and facing not just the past but the future with an open mind and heart. It's about forgiveness and letting go of past grievances, but it's also about finding connections and making the most of missed opportunities.
Teaser
Raised by her fiercely passionate and free-spirited grandmother, Julia Hope has never gone without love. But as she tends to her only living relative during her final days, Julia struggles to overcome her fear of being alone. A thousand miles away, Matt Gatlin has managed to avoid the coldhearted grandmother with whom he once lived. But after 12 years of her being blessedly out of sight, she needs him. His resentments still raw, Matt packs up his car and reluctantly heads to California to confront a bitter past he thought was long gone. Over the next six days, Julia’s and Matt’s fates intersect. An old diary exposes the tragedy of a long-lost love. A history of secrets in two families comes to light. And on a lonely back road, Matt picks up an unusual yet captivating hitchhiker with a secret of her own.
Promo
Raised by her fiercely passionate and free-spirited grandmother, Julia Hope has never gone without love. But as she tends to her only living relative during her final days, Julia struggles to overcome her fear of being alone. A thousand miles away, Matt Gatlin has managed to avoid the coldhearted grandmother with whom he once lived. But after 12 years of her being blessedly out of sight, she needs him. His resentments still raw, Matt packs up his car and reluctantly heads to California to confront a bitter past he thought was long gone. Over the next six days, Julia’s and Matt’s fates intersect. An old diary exposes the tragedy of a long-lost love. A history of secrets in two families comes to light. And on a lonely back road, Matt picks up an unusual yet captivating hitchhiker with a secret of her own.
About the Book
An achingly romantic novel about chance meetings, buried secrets, and the multiple facets of love and family bonds by Wall Street Journal bestselling author Kerry Lonsdale.
Raised by her fiercely passionate and free-spirited grandmother, Julia Hope has never gone without love. But as she tends to her only living relative during her final days, Julia struggles to overcome her fear of being alone.
A thousand miles away, Matt Gatlin has managed to avoid the coldhearted grandmother with whom he once lived. But after 12 years of her being blessedly out of sight, she needs him. His resentments still raw, Matt packs up his car and reluctantly heads to California to confront a bitter past he thought was long gone.
Over the next six days, Julia’s and Matt’s fates intersect. An old diary exposes the tragedy of a long-lost love. A history of secrets in two families comes to light. And on a lonely back road, Matt picks up an unusual yet captivating hitchhiker with a secret of her own.
For Julia and Matt, something heartbreaking and heartwarming, mysterious and beautiful, will touch their lives --- with neither of them realizing that maybe they’re destined for each other.
Audiobook available, read by Amanda Leigh Cobb
