I really enjoyed this book, and I think a lot of readers can relate to it as well.

Parenting is hard and even more so if you don’t have a good supposes system. As the saying goes, “It takes a village to raise a child.” Beth is a single mother who loves her son Dylan, but due to his emotional issues, she  struggles with raising him in a normal fashion and is often a bit overprotective. After a misunderstanding, Dylan is put into foster care while Beth is required to prove she is a git mother.

Ally welcomes Dylan into her home  with loving arms but soon learns his issues are more involved than she had expected, and with her own family’s problems, she has more on her plate than she asked for. Both Ally and Beth are determined to do what is best for Dylan, but is returning Dylan to his biological mother really the answer? Or would he thrive under the care of a new mother?

This book really opened my eyes to what it’s like for parents struggling to raise their children and how a simple misunderstanding can explode into a parenting nightmare. The foster care system isn’t perfect, but in this case, Dylan lucked out when he was placed with Ally and her family. I think what I loved most about it was the camaraderie that developed between Ally and Beth, and how having Dylan in Ally’s home not only helped Beth get her life together, but it in turn helped Ally’s family grow closer as well.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and highly recommend it!

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3537518110

Such a sweet heartfelt book. The story drew me in and had my heart breaking. Beautifully written. A beautiful heart rending read that will tug at your heartstrings long after you have read it!

“Life is not easy, No matter how charmed someone’s life looks on the outside, on the inside everyone  is messy and uncertain and afraid. Everyone needs help. Everyone holds possibility”.

This book ripped my heart out and then put it back together. A wonderfully written book with such insight.   
This book is about mother and son, mother and daughter, parents, fathers, friendships and all relationships and the reality that not everything is what it seems.  
This is my first book by this author and it won’t be my last, she will forever be on my TBR list !

Wow this book was amazing I was in tears reading it and loved it so much.
This story is such a good read and I recommend everyone read it



With thanks to Netgalley & Bookouture for the arc of this book in exchange for this review.

Lots to digest in this book but an overwhelming message of love and the lengths a mother will go to for the sake of her child. Being a single parent is difficult, but being a single parent of a child with behavioral issues is even harder. That is the case with Beth and her 7 year old son, Dylan. When well-meaning child protective services enters the picture and places Dylan in foster care, Beth has to prove herself worthy of having her son returned to her care. Beth’s life and abilities are strictly scrutinized but the foster family also has many problems despite the appearance of being a wholesome family. The book alternates between the voices of Beth and Ally (foster mom) and explores the dynamics of love, family, and sacrifice. Overall, a good and heartbreaking read. 

Many thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.

This an emotional and heartbreaking story about the pain and struggles of motherhood. The book drew me in right from the start, and characters and situations were very realistic. I loved this book, and I look forward to reading more of Ms Hewitt’s books. Most women would enjoy this story. I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley and Bookouture. All opinions expressed are my own.

When You Were Mine is a riveting story that I couldn't put down.  Beth, is a single mom, who is devoted to her 7 year old son Dylan. Dylan is a challenging child who often melts down and rarely speaks.  Beth has catered her life to helping Dylan avoid the meltdowns, which is isolated the two of them from everyone.  After Dylan's outburst at a store, child protection removes him from Beth where he goes to live with Ally Fielding and her family.  The story follows Beth and Ally in alternating chapters.  Beth doing whatever she can to get her son back and Ally learning that her perfect family might not be so perfect after all.

This author just gets better and better, a great read which I just loved from the very first page until the last.  The stories about Beth and Ally were so sensitively written and I was just involved with their struggles and their families.

I can thoroughly recommend this book and I look forward to reading more from Kate.

Thank you to Netgalley and Bookouture for giving me the opportunity to read this brilliant book.

I loved this book! It focuses on Beth and her struggles with her child. Her son, Dylan, is taken by child protective services and placed with Ally and her family. Beth will do anything to get her son back and Ally wants to help but finds struggles in her own life.

This book was so good I finished it in one day. I loved the fight in Beth for her son and felt with her as she wondered if she’s a good enough mom. I was intrigued by this book to the very end!

A good book is one which keeps me reading into the night and keeps me thinking about the characters when I have to put the book down. 

This novel achieved both of these. 

Brilliant characters, fantastic storyline. Very real feeling. Highly recommended.

Beth is a single mother with a seven year old son who has behavioral problems.
She is struggling to cope and after complaints from worried neighbours her son Dylan is taken into care and put in a foster home. 
The foster mother does her best with Dylan but is getting little help from her family.
Beth was someone who was hard to like. She was dismissive of advice and critical of others who tried to steer her in the right direction to get her son back. 
I had mixed emotions with this book and found some of it hard to read.
Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for my e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture for allowing me to read this Arc.
A beautiful and heart rending story about a mother's love for her child. Some parts are bitter sweet. But it tells of the truth, love and sacrifices often felt in most families.

Rating: 5/5
Genre: Domestic Fiction
Plot: 
“Dylan…” I croak, but my little boy doesn’t even look at me. “Dylan,” I say again, my voice breaking now, and the social worker gives me a reproving look. I’m not helping, but I don’t care. “Dylan!” My voice is louder now, and my gaze stays locked with my son’s as she pulls away from the curb and drives away, taking my very life with her.
Single mother Beth loves her seven-year-old son Dylan with all her heart. He’s her world. But life with Dylan isn’t easy—and his emotional issues push Beth to her very limit. When a misunderstanding leads Dylan to be taken into foster care, she is determined to do whatever she can to get him back.
Mother of two, Ally has always dreamed of fostering—it feels like her chance to give back when she has been so lucky in life. But when Dylan joins their family, Ally finds herself struggling to balance his needs with those of her own children and husband—something Beth can’t help but witness when she visits.
Beth wants nothing more than to find a way to bring her beloved child home. But where is the right home for Dylan? Is it with the mother he was born to? Or is a new mother the greatest gift Beth could give her son?
My verdict: Firstly thank you to Netgalley for letting me read this prior release and I must say with this heartwarming and at times heart wrenching drama Katie is hot on the heels of the likes of Jodi Picoult and Kelly Rimmer. Not only does this book deals with a child with special educational needs but how stretched the American Foster system is and the social workers advocating for these children and in some cases the parents.
I have to say, I found that I wanted to shake Beth and scream that helicopter parenting doesn’t work but once we slowly discovered her backstory I sympathised a lot with anxieties.
I did like how in Ally’s POV with her children it shows that not all family’s are perfect behind closed doors - it made me like her more.
The novel also shows this from Ally’s perspective that even though your children may be grown-up and have left home it’s still important to maintain an emotional connection with them them and caring for Dylan makes All realise it’s importance and that honour roll and Ivy League colleges don’t matter. On the other hand, it is a relief when Beth realises that she’s projecting her anxiety on her son and especially once she comes to the conclusion that perhaps her and Dylan’s relationship is too intense and maybe setting boundaries and letting go of anxiety is a good thing. When you combine both women’s good points and bad points they create a fantastic support system for Dylan. In this books case it wasn’t a case of good parenting/ bad parenting but a mixture of both on either side, both sides showed me how competitive parenting is even when it’s done subtly and how self doubt is leathal.
Finally, This novel deals with many issues such as abandonment, mental health, drugs, childhood trauma and domestic abuse, the fall out of high parental expectations, educational stress, the lack of support in CFD. In conclusion, how there’s no such thing as a perfect parent and that some parents need some more help and support than others but, that doesn’t necessarily mean your a bad parent.
Overall Kate’s writing is emotive, when the scenes don’t translate the emotion to you, the inner a monologues of the characters certainly do with plenty of metaphors and similes. A fantastic addition to my bookshelf. Katie Hewitt is one to watch with her passionate and terjerking narratives and could easily give Diane Chamberlaine and Jill Childs a run for their money.

Click the image to be taken to Amazon so you may buy your copy

To say this story is a five-star read is an understatement. There are not enough stars in the world to show how much this book has touched me. It is sad, thrilling, gripping and completely pulls on your heart strings. Beautifully written.

Such a sweet heartfelt book. The story drew me in and had my heart breaking. Beautifully  written. 


Thanks to the author, the publisher and Net Galley for an early release of this book.

A beautiful heart rending read that will tug at your heartstrings long after you have read it!
The power and intensity of a mothers love for her son, so well meaning  but so stifling, the process of losing your only child and having to prove yourself worthy of getting him back through undertaking counselling, courses and being observed whilst he lives with another family, that seemingly on the outside look to be respectable, upstanding and suitable to foster but behind closed doors things are far from perfect!
The sacrifices and love shown by a parent to prove themselves are humbling and heartbreaking at the same time, a really emotional read that I would highly recommend.
Thank you net galley for this early read.

eceived an ARC of this book from the publisher in exchange for as honest review.

I have to admit, I did not have high hopes for this book.  I couldn’t figure out how this could be the “heart warming” story that it was promised to be.  It turns out that it was a beautiful story of love and sacrifice.