Review: A Mother Like Mine (Hartley-by-the-Sea #3) by Kate Hewitt

 Welcome to England's beautiful Lake District, where a reluctant reunion forges a new bond between a daughter and her wayward mother.... Abby Rhodes is just starting to get her life on track. After her fiance's unexpected death, she returned with her young son to the small village where she grew up and threw herself into helping her ailing grandmother run the town's beach cafe. Then one evening, her mother, Laura, shows up in Hartley-by-the-Sea and announces her plan to stay. After twenty years away, she now wants to focus on the future--and has no intention, it seems, of revisiting the painful past.

Laura Rhodes has made a lot of mistakes, and many of them concern her daughter. But as Abby gets little glimpses into her mother's life, she begins to realize there are depths to Laura she never knew. Slowly, Abby and Laura start making tentative steps toward each other, only to have life become even more complicated when an unexpected tragedy arises. Together, the two women will discover truths both sad and surprising that draw them closer to a new understanding of what it means to truly forgive someone you love.

Amazon Marketplace Paperback, 384 pages 

Published August 8th 2017 

by Berkley Books

****

Laura and Abby, mother and daughter, similar yet vastly different. After many years separated (by Laura's choice) when thrust together when Laura decides its time. A Mother Like Mine is booked 3 in the Hartley-by-the Sea Series, I had no issues at all with the fact that I have not read any of the previous books, definitely works as a standalone.

Both of these women had babies while single and young. Laura leaves when Abby is only two years old and the interaction between the years is minimal at best, there is no real relationship here to speak of. Their stories unfold over this almost 400 page book.

It was an interesting read as I found myself wondering how a mother could abandon her child like that even if she was only a teen. The author has written a poignant story as these two attempt to build a relationship and come to terms with the past. It is well written and has the genuine feel of a small village environment. Even though I struggled a little bit in the first few chapters it wasn't long before I found myself curious and seeing what happened in the past.

 A Mother Like Mine is a book about family, or more specifically relationships,in this case between mother / daughter, forgiveness and second chances.  Thank you to TLC Tours for the opportunity to be part of this tour and introducing me to a new author.

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Kate Hewitt is the USA Today bestselling author of more than fifty books, including the Hartley-by-the-Sea novels Rainy Day Sisters and Now and Then Friends, and more recently, the Willoughby Close series. A former New Yorker, she now lives in Wales with her husband five children.

She also writes as Katharine Swartz.

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