This debut novel by Kendra Broekhuis was a delight to read. Her ability to put you inside the main character of Leona is amazing. Through Leona, you feel the highs and lows of her relationships, her internal struggles of classism, and the grief she has after losing her daughter. This book would also make a great book club discussion. Sharing ideas on what reality you would choose and why as well as how each reader would react to the relationships portrayed throughout the book. Bravo!

Between You and Us is a debut novel, but one would not know that as a reader. The story takes the reader to great depths of feelings.
Leona meets her husband at a fancy restaurant, that they really cannot afford, to meet her husband for their anniversary dinner. When they meet, she realizes that while it’s her spouse’s physical body, it’s not the man whom she loves. When they head home, it’s a mansion and not her life at all. But there is a surprise in her new life-her baby is still alive. Leona needs to decide to go back to a life where they are poor, but her husband loves her or stay in their wealthy life where she has her baby back, but a loveless marriage.
I do not usually read books that seem to be “time travel” or science fiction and I thought this might be, but it is not those themes. It is a story of who would one choose if forced between child and husband, a great women’s literature. I recommend this book for a great story. I am looking forward to more from the author Kendra Broekhuis.
I received a complimentary copy of this book thanks to Waterbrook Publishing through NetGalley, but all opinions are my own.

A beautiful, heartbreaking, hopeful story! The characters feel real and so relatable. Kendra does an amazing job of paying attention to detail and painting a picture of both the wonderful and hard things of living in a complex city and being a complex human existing in it. I look forward to reading the next book she writes!

This was an engaging read for the debut novel from this author.

I was intrigued by the premise of the book and enjoyed the dual time aspect of the story woven through to help fit the pieces of David and Leona's past together.

The story was well written and emotional and the characters were brought to life really well.

Thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for the ARC.

I loved this book from the get go. I couldn't wait to find out what happened next in each of the past and present story lines. I read this book faster than I normally read books, it was that good. I don't have the luxury of reading non-stop as I work, but I read it in less than a week. I highly recommend this book.

Between You and Us really hit home for me as a person experienced with the loss of two children. Kendra's ability to balance that delicate topic and weave into this beautiful story is brilliant. This is the third book of Kendra's I've read and her work just keeps getting better and better.

This is an extraordinary debut novel. Although, not my usual go-to genre, which I would call women's fiction, meets fantasy. This book held my interest and kept me turning the pages. The characters and the storyline were original and unique. This is a very creative and intriguing book. My heart and emotions wouldn't let me stop reading until I knew the outcome. The ending was happy and very satisfying. This author has a bright future, and I look forward to more stories from her.
* I was given a copy of this book by the publisher and this is my honest.

A heartwarming and heart wrenching story of choices, love, grief and overcoming odds. The characters stretch off the page to pull you into their life. A must read.

Between You and Us is a spectacular debut novel that makes you realize that just because things could have been different, that doesn't mean they would have been better. I read this book in one sitting because I could not put it down. It would create some great book club discussions!

On her 10th wedding anniversary, Leona walks into a restaurant to meet her husband David. When she finds him, she realizes that while he is her husband, at the same time he is not her husband. She soon meets their fifteen month old daughter, who had died the previous year. Lucky for Leona, her husband David and her friend Eden are both scientists, so it was easy for them to accept the quantum multiverse theory. (As an Episcopalian, I'd like to give a shout out to the author for writing Christian scientists! Even though we are outnumbered by Evangelicals, Christians who believe in science do exist!)

We learn about David #1 & Leona #1 and David #2 & Leona #2 through alternating chapters between present day and the past. We learn how one decision 10 years prior split their lives into the multiverse, where their lives took very different paths. As Leona navigates her "other" life, she learns things about her family, friends, and herself. Once she figures out "the door" to her original life, she must choose whether to stay in this alternate life where her daughter is alive and well, or whether to go back to David #1 where she came from.

I loved David and Leona's relationship, with their easy going banter and how deeply they loved one another. I absolutely fell in love with Vera #2. She is such a joy! She is the same age as my granddaughter is now, which made it easy to picture her toddling around her big world exploring all the new things she was discovering. I sobbed for several chapters when we learned of the death of Vera #1, the funeral, the wretched grandmothers, and the subsequent grief. There was some pretty heavy stuff, but those topics were written with such great care.

This debut earned 5 stars and an easy spot on my favorites shelf.

Thanks to NetGalley and WaterBrook & Multnomah for the advanced copy of this book which will be released on March 12, 2024.

Thanks to NetGalley for an advanced in exchange for my honest review.

This was an engaging fiction debut from the author. It was easy to feel a connection with the two main characters and to want the best possible ending for them.

The magical realism was a bit hard to follow sometimes but was an overall interesting twist. The details about the setting of Milwaukee were a nice touch too. I look forward to reading more from this author!

What a stunning debut with a curious time altering aspect.
This was a unique blend of heartache, humanity, humor and the unexpected.
Leona is thrust into an alternative life after she tragically loses her 4 month old daughter, Vera. The author provides an authentic picture of the grief over the death of a child and the yearning for what might have been. It took me back to my own experiences of birthing my children and my miscarriages.
I loved the scenes with toddler Vera, they were endearing. My favorite character was husband David who gave so much love in a distressing time. In both time periods he clearly loved Leona and wanted the best for them. The scenes of their courtship and early marriage was fulll of fun and easy banter, providing a relief from the angst. But it was the struggle that Leona went through that was so arresting. She was forced to confront her relationships with her friends and family members.
This was an exceptional story that was part women’s fiction, part romance and part speculative fiction. It had a faint faith thread and was a clean read.
* A complimentary copy of this book was provided by Multinomah through NetGalley. All opinions are mine alone.*

Told in a past and present day timeline, this is the story of Leona and David who are madly in love and have a bright future ahead of them. All is well in their little family until it isn’t. Their precious baby daughter is taken from them in a terrible tragedy.

Leona is swimming in a haze of grief after the crippling loss but prays her wedding anniversary dinner can help her and David focus on something else for just a little while. This is when she realizes something is very wrong. Leona finds herself in a different version of her own life. Her baby daughter still alive.. but she is in a cold and crumbling marriage to David and living a lifestyle she would never choose otherwise.

Leona must examine which life she ultimately wants. One with her soulmate or one with her daughter. As she navigates old memories from her past and new experiences in her “alternate” world, Leona must come to terms with her heart.

This story explores grief and how it affects every aspect of our choices and who we are after it touches us. It examines love and the tender hold it has over us. Faith and hope are woven throughout.

If you enjoy magical realism, unique storylines and emotional reads- I think you will enjoy this. It was thought provoking, moving, and the characters’ introspection was very convincing.

The authors note is not to be missed as she has experienced her own personal loss. The grief portrayed in the story was very emotional and genuine, written only by someone who has experienced it firsthand.

Content: anxiety attacks, loss of an infant, closed door

Thank you to @netgalley, @waterbrookmultnomah and @kendrabroekhuis for an advanced readers copy of the book!

I really enjoyed this book, right from the first page! It was such a well written story about life, love, and loss. I don’t want to give too much of the story away, but do yourself a favor and give it a read!

What a thought/emotional provoking read! Leonora is struggling with grief after losing her infant daughter. The story is told in several timelines. The past, the present #1 and #2. In an alternate universe, (#2) Leonora is (un)happily married but her daughter is alive. She struggles between choosing to live in this alternate universe or go back to her life of pain and grief.

I really enjoyed this read, some parts were so heartbreaking!

I love the premise of this book and the idea of what life could look like if you made a different choice -- what radically different directions that choice could send you in. With the first chapter of this book, I was immediately drawn to the main character, Leona. She was real and relatable, and in just a handful of pages, the writer draws the reader into her story. Unfortunately, that investment in the characters wasn't sustainable. As the writer shifts back and forth from a present time that is completely new to Leona, to the past, where we get her backstory with future husband, David, the draw that the story has begins to fade. Past Leona is far more immature than she should be at her age and creates problems for herself that were avoidable and frustrating to read. While the writer was trying to paint her naiveite as a byproduct of her upbringing, it came across as inauthentic and cliché; more contrived than developing a believable character. Present-day Leona's interactions with her new world and quotes about Leona's mother-in-law that read like this: "Using the power of her toned calves, Delaney pushed herself to a standing position..." it became more difficult to remain invested in the characters or their stories. Though I feel there was some meandering that detracted from the story, I feel like the end justified the journey and the author did right by the characters by the conclusion of the story.

I really enjoyed "Between You and Us" - I finished it in a day! Being from Milwaukee, I appreciated the local references. The author does a beautiful job of setting the scene and telling Leona’s heartfelt and thought-provoking story.. I found myself weighing her choices and contemplating the decision if I had been in her shoes. The characters were well-developed, and I enjoyed how everything wrapped up in the end.

I appreciated how the author delves into the themes grief and relationship - marriage, family, friendship. She explores the beauty and the messiness of human connection and the ways in which we navigate loss and healing. I’d recommend to anyone looking for a compelling story about love, loss, and the bonds that hold us together.

Thanks to Waterbrook & Multnomah and NetGalley for the ARC.

Engaging Debut!

Between You and Us is part Women's Fiction and part Magical Realism.

After the loss of her infant daughter, Leona struggles to breath, struggles to carry on. In an effort to re calibrate their marriage, Leona and husband David plan to celebrate their 10th wedding anniversary at an expensive restaurant.

When Leona arrives at the restaurant, she discovers she has landed in a different version of her life. She and her husband are different people and not ones she likes very much. However, the daughter she lost is not lost, but a toddler.

The novel plays out with two threads..current day in the alternate future and the second thread which starts back when David and Leona began dating in college.

Pages were turning. This novel is recommended for fans of Women's Fiction. Unique story and unique cover.

Between You and Us by Kendra Broekhuis is an interesting story about grief, motherhood, and marriage. I thought it was a touching tale. It is told in alternating chapters between the past and present. The reverse timeline was confusing at times. We are immediately plunged into the alternate life at the beginning of Between You and Us. We join Leona to learn about the past and how she ended up in the alternate world. Leona will need to make a choice at the end of her self-discovery journey. Of course, Leona needs to learn how she ended in this unfamiliar life and, if she desires, how to get back to her own life. Leona faces difficult challenges in both worlds plus she learns some valuable lessons. We do not know what choice Leona will make until it is revealed. I do wish the pacing had been a little livelier. I liked Leona’s husband, David (in both worlds), but I was unable to connect with Leona. The chapters on grief are moving (have a box of tissues nearby). Between You and Us is a complex, thought provoking story.

I fell in love with this book right away and couldn’t put it down. It pulled at all my heart strings. As a momma who has experienced the loss of a child through miscarriage I can relate to Leona who lost herself after the death of her daughter. I think any of us who have experienced loss of any kind have thought of how life might look differently without that loss. To read through a book that plays to life with or without your loss was beautiful. Also, the most beautiful part of the entire book was the part about the bear hunt! Hopefully I’ve said enough to make you want to read this and left enough unsaid to make you enjoy every page.

Leona travels to a fancy restaurant for an anniversary dinner with her husband and finds him, but not him. She’s entered an alternative world where their baby daughter is still alive. She must determine how to find her way back to “her” David in their penny-pinching bungalow or whether to stay here with baby Vera in a wealthy home.
Interesting multiverse story, first I’ve read. I did have a hard time warming up to Leona, who had a lot of anger issues, but David 1 sparkles. Even David 2 is fascinating as he tries to figure out what happened to his wife.