From the very first pages, this book ensnared my literary heart and refused to let go. Its pacing? A masterpiece of avoiding those slow-slog moments and instead, a seductive dance of engagement. Unraveling its pages is like opening a treasure chest – inside, a trove of themes awaits. Sacrifice and pain intermingle with healing and audacious decisions, all while the notion of family is unraveled and rewoven. Oh, and don't even get me started on souls recognizing souls – it's like a celestial meet-and-greet.

Rowan, our protagonist, is running from an abusive relationship. And just when you think that's enough backbone for one story, she stumbles upon a mistreated young boy and decides to do some heroic meddling. Thus unfolds their shared journey, a symphony of courage and a brushstroke of hope. My heart? Let's just say it's brimming, bubbling, and positively bursting after this read. If there were a way to give a book a standing ovation, this one would deserve an encore.

This book right here kicks you in all the feels as it dives into the stories of 2 trauma ridden, broken individuals and how they come out the other side just this beautiful little family. I really enjoyed this book, it gave me such Jodi Picoult vibes!! It does have some very sensitive issues, so please check trigger warnings before diving into this one! The author really handled them well though!! Thank you so much to @bookmarked & @brookebeyfuss for sharing this remarkable book with me!

I give Before you found me by Brooke Beyfuss ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

"Before You Found Me" is an excellent novel about courage in the face of extreme trauma, love, family, and healing. Author Brooke Beyfuss tells us a great story.

Rowen meets Gabriel when she borrows her best friend’s house to hide from her very abusive fiancé. Gabriel is living in the basement of the house next door and she discovers the father is mortally abusive to the young boy. Rowen decides to run away with the boy 10 years younger than her and go to somewhere no one can find them. She knows this is wrong but also knows his father will kill him if she leaves him behind. The entire story is an emotional rollercoaster as the main characters bond to form a family. When I started reading this book I did not expect it to be so powerful but I found I could not wait to get back to reading it and find out where it was going. This will be a marvelous read for any bookclub and the discussions will be amazing. I did not love the topic but I loved, loved the book and highly recommend it.

I look forward to her next book. Brooke is an amazing author.

Rowan and Gabriel are both abused. These two make a life for themselves together. Each one of them has to overcome the abuse.
Thanks to Sourcebooks Landmark and NetGalley for the ARC.

Rowan, twenty-two, has left her abusive fiancé after having nearly died at his hands. Her best friend in Massachusetts is allowing her to stay in her rental house as she is flying to Japan to visit her parents. This will give Rowan the time she needs before moving to Oklahoma where her deceased parents have left her and her older sister their home. Hopefully it will be far enough away that Ethan can no longer find her.

One day, as she's puttering around the yard, she see's a face in the basement window of the neighboring house. A child. When she approaches they disappear. The next day she tries again and here she begins a friendship with 11 year old Gabriel. Rowan can see something of herself in this little boy. The fearful glances and darting eyes. The bruising on his face and body. Gabriel finally admits that his father locked him the basement three years ago and he has never left since. His father blames him for the death of his wife and Gabriel's mother.

Rowan can not believe that this sweet little boy is being held captive and abused so she hatches a plan to abduct Gabriel when she leaves for Oklahoma. Will they succeed in their plan to escape? You'll have to read this to find out.

That's all I'm willing to say. Brook Beyfuss to me on an emotional roller-coaster ride and my chin was quivering nearly the entire time I was reading this book. Oh, how my heart hurt for these two. As the story rolls along we are introduced to other characters and all of them were wonderful. Celia, Rowan's straight laced sister, worked well against Rowan's more impulsive nature, showing us how truly different they are to one another. Watching their journey was almost as rewarding as watching Gabriel's. I truly came to love this family. While this story is dark and disturbing Beyfuss infuses glimpses of hope, love, and even laughter. Is this the most realistic story? No, not really, but I didn't care in the least bit. I was far too invested with these characters and their outcome that all rational thought no longer mattered to me. According to other reviewers her debut was just as great, some claimed even better than this, so you know I'll be getting my hands on that one soon. Simply outstanding! 4 stars!

Thank you to NetGalley and SOURCEBOOKS Landmark for my complimentary copy.

This book is well written and I was really immersed in it. Rowan is a well-defined character but some of her responses and actions irked me. She could be downright nasty and hurtful at times and doesn't hesitate to stand up for Gabriel no matter what. Their relationship is a little weird and bordered on obsessive if you ask me. They could probably both benefit from some counselling but this story doesn't go there. In her Author's Notes, the author makes mention of the fact that she read a lot about emotional incest while she was writing the book which helps to explain why I felt uncomfortable at times. As another reviewer mentioned, there were jumps in conversations and in the timeline that interfered slightly with my enjoyment of the book and hopefully the published version differentiates somehow that we're in another conversation or that we've travelled forward many months. Again, the author explains that the book was originally 2-1/2 times longer than it ended up so that could account for the jumps. In spite of these minor quibbles I recommend the book but be sure to read the author's trigger warnings at the beginning. Love that cover! 4.5 stars rounded down.

I hope to get my hands on a copy of After We Were Stolen by this author and will also be on the watch for whatever comes next.

Thank you to Sourcebooks Landmark via Netgalley for making it possible for me to read an ARC of this novel. All opinions expressed are my own.
Publication Date: August 1, 2023

Author Brooke Beyfuss's sophomore novel BEFORE YOU FOUND ME is the highly emotional follow-up to her astounding debut AFTER WE WERE STOLEN and destined to be just as popular with readers. A heartfelt domestic suspense novel, this story is brilliantly crafted and delivered. While the story is dark and heavy, a message of light and hope shines through.

Rowan McNamara flees a physical and mentally abusive relationship with her boyfriend after his latest assault lands her in the hospital. While determined to press charges this time, she escapes to a friend's vacant home in a small New England town for safe harbor until she can make her way to her estranged sister's home in Oklahoma. Orphaned at an early age, Rowan was separated from her sister and grew up in the foster system leaving her no one else to turn to for help. While recovering at her friend's house, Rowan meets next door neighbor Lee who appears friendly albeit wary. Not long after, she meets Lee's eleven-year-old, battered and bruised son Gabriel - an obvious victim of child abuse who's been locked in their basement ever since his mother's death three years prior. Rowan and Gabriel communicate through a basement window when his father is not home forming a friendship based on mutual need. When Rowan finds Gabriel bloody and in extreme pain from yet another brutal beating, she's outraged and quickly forms a plan to disappear with Gabriel to Oklahoma. The story that ensues follows Rowan and Gabriel as they begin settling into a new life while learning to live, love and trust again. With one eye on a brighter future and another on the danger they know is coming from their past, they deal with the repercussions of their trauma while living with the ever-present fear of being hunted down by their abusers. It's soon crystal clear their battle for freedom has only just begun.

BEFORE YOU FOUND ME is an intense, gut-wrenching and heartfelt story about two wounded souls, both victims of traumatic abuse, who become survivors and allies in a fight for the future they richly deserve. Beyfuss has a gift for creating characters that speak directly to readers' hearts by earning their empathy and respect - the kind of characters that linger long after the final page has been read. While this story isn't always easy to read, it delivers a powerful message about the ability of humans to survive and flourish in the aftermath of pain, confusion and fear that comes from being horribly betrayed by someone in a position of power and trust. The author sets an escalating pace that rises as the danger and threat of being tracked down escalates. I enjoyed the secondary story of the broken, strained relationship between Rowan and her sister as they work to mend burned bridges between them, eventually coming to an understanding. The importance and meaning of family, whether chosen or by blood, is emphasized as are the implications and long-term effects of domestic violence and child abuse on survivors as the author explores these themes with grace and respect. As one might imagine, BEFORE YOU FOUND ME is a dark, disturbing read; however, through it all the author focuses on the light at the end of the tunnel - the hope, love and kindness that comes with healing and daring to trust again.

BEFORE YOU FOUND ME is a beautifully rendered, highly engaging and compelling story about the bond formed between two survivors of abuse who are charged with learning and accepting the true meaning of compassion, love and family as they reveal just how far they'll go to protect those they love. While this book is dark, the author does a fantastic job of balancing the darkness with the light that comes with hope. Fans of domestic suspense novels and stories that tug at the heartstrings are going to enjoy this story.

While not as great as her debut novel, I still really enjoyed this book by Beyfuss. I did have to suspend my belief quite a bit, but overall enjoyed the relationship between Rowan and Gabe.

When Rowan McNamara’s abusive fiance Ethan throws her through a plate glass window, it’s the impetus she needs to finally leave him. Though he’s arrested for this latest act of battery, she knows that physical distance is key for her recovery, both physically and emotionally. This is no small task, as he’s not the kind of person who’ll relinquish his control over her that easily.

As she waits for her estranged older sister Celia to ready their childhood home for her to move into all the way out in Oklahoma, she drives hours away from where she’d previously lived on the East Coast to take refuge in the New England home of Laine Mae, her oldest, and perhaps her only, friend. Ethan had made sure to isolate Rowan from any form of support system as soon as he could, so in addition to having no friends, the twenty-two year-old has no job and no education beyond her high school diploma. Laine, at least, has done her best to stay in touch. When she learns that Rowan needs help, she readily offers her house, sitting vacant while she visits her grandparents overseas.

At first, Laine’s place is everything Rowan could ask for: a quiet, secure refuge where Ethan won’t be able to find her. But when she makes the acquaintance of the child “grounded” in the basement next door, a new set of complications arise:

QUOTE
Gabriel had pulled back from the window, partially shrouded in darkness. But there was enough light to see something was off; he was fidgety, constantly moving, like he didn’t want her to get a good look at him. His face was just as smudged as it had been a few days ago, but now it didn’t look like dirt. Her mind kept clicking, flashing memories of her own face, her old face, welts and bruises, one after another, until the picture was whole, and she realized exactly what was in front of her.
END QUOTE

Rowan has no intention of letting the abused eleven year-old continue to live in the same house as his deranged father, but she’s reluctant to call in the authorities. Gabriel’s experience with them has been disappointing at best. Rowan herself knows firsthand that growing up in the foster system is incredibly difficult. So she decides to take the extreme measure of orchestrating his escape and taking him with her to Oklahoma. In the strict legal definition of the word, she kidnaps him.

Their first few months together are fraught, not because of any friction between the two but because of their constant fear of being found out. Rowan is forced to throw herself on Celia’s mercy, but the nurse practitioner rises to the occasion, if not with the greatest grace. Alas that not everyone else recognizes or understands the bond between the two. When Dell, an emergency medical technician, enters their lives following a horrific disaster, Gabriel develops a hatred for him based on Dell’s refusal to let him see Rowan when she was injured. As Gabriel explains to Rowan, who’s started dating Dell:

QUOTE
“I mean I’m nothing to you. [...] Maybe if I said I was your brother or your kid or someone important, he would have let me see you.”

“Who cares what Dell or anyone else thinks we are? <i>We</i> know. And no matter what happens, he will never be as important to me as you are. Never.”

“What good is that if we can’t tell anyone? You’re not my mom, and I’m not your kid–we’re nothing. It’ll always be like that. You barely know Dell, but you can already call him something people will understand.” Gabriel wiped his face with the hem of his shirt. “I hate him for that.”
END QUOTE

Society’s refusal to take found families seriously is only one of the thoughtful topics broached in Brooke Beyfuss’ sophomore published novel. As always, she tackles the difficult subjects of abuse and emotional recovery with sensitivity, creating sympathetic characters whose motivations you can always understand. I loved, too, how in her afterword she explains how she was very careful to ensure that Rowan never treated Gabriel as an adult: after all he’d gone through, it was important to Rowan that Gabriel got to be a kid.

Never has a criminal act and the subsequent evasion of authority been depicted as so justified and necessary as this. Both moving and thought-provoking, this tear-jerker of a novel will resonate with anyone who has even an ounce of empathy and compassion, and who understands that love isn’t just about giving indiscriminately. As Before You Found Me masterfully shows, love requires an active, on-going partnership of communication and care, even against all odds.

𝐁𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐅𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐌𝐞
𝐁𝐲 𝐁𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐞 𝐁𝐞𝐲𝐟𝐮𝐬𝐬
𝐏𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐫: 𝐒𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐬 𝐋𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤
𝐏𝐮𝐛 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐞: 𝟖.𝟖.𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟑 𝒪𝓊𝓉 𝒩𝑜𝓌!

Thank you @bookmarked for the gifted book.

Whew! I will warn you this one may make you uncomfortable, it may make you mad, you may cry, but you won’t forget Rowan and Gabriel anytime soon.

Rowan, only in her early twenties, is trying to deal with her own trauma and scars from childhood and horrible abuse from her ex-husband. When she stumbles across her neighbor boy, Gabriel who has been locked in the basement, full of bruises for over three years by his cruel father, she knows she can’t just do nothing.

Rowan makes a decision that will change the course of their lives. She tells Gabriel, that they are leaving and never coming back. Is it kidnapping? Legally yes, but she will do anything to save Gabriel.

Now they run to her childhood home, left to her, hoping that Gabriel’s father and Rowan’s soon-to-be released-from-prison ex don’t hunt them down.

I was so afraid for Rowan and Gabriel. Every time Rowan would meet someone, I was sure they’d turn them in - it was nerve-racking. I loved the relationship that formed between Rowan and Gabe. Although they were close in age, they still developed a mother-and-son relationship. I also loved how Rowan’s relationship with her sister Celia developed and healed as the story progressed.

The narrative quietly asks the tough question - was Rowan wrong in kidnapping Gabriel? But the power of healing, forgiveness, and love shines strong. A suspenseful, but beautiful story of what family truly is.

Pub date: 8/1/23
Genre: contemporary fiction, family drama
Quick summary: Rowan flees to a small town to escape her abusive fiance, but she finds more trouble - a boy being kept in her neighbor's basement. She rescues him and they head to Oklahoma - will she always be looking over her shoulder, or can they become a family?

I loved Beyfuss' first novel, so I had to pick this one up. I had read the description, but I wasn't quite prepared for how dark this one would be. The violence and abuse at the beginning of the book felt very shocking to me. I also don't know how plausible the abduction storyline would be in real life.

That being said, I really liked Rowan's character and how she gained Gabriel's trust and worked to rebuild both their lives. I also enjoyed seeing Rowan and Celia open up to each other to repair their relationship. If you like stories of hardship and redemption, this is a great pick! The ending gave me all the feels.

Thank you to Sourcebooks Landmark for providing an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I received a digital ARC from Sourcebooks Landmark through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

The author includes a note to the reader at the beginning of the novel going over possible difficult content and trigger warnings. Make sure to look at that before reading the novel.

I appreciated the family aspects of this novel. It showed that found family can mean just as much, if not more, than family that is related by blood. Parts of this novel were difficult to read, and seemed far-fetched. However, I loved how everything came together. Brooke Beyfuss has become one of my favorite authors. Her writing style is raw, and honest. I will read anything she writes.

Thank You to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for the free digital ARC.

The description of the book was interesting and made me want to read it. It covered trauma, abuse, family relationships, drama, Oklahoma, and how far you would go to save a family member. A heard topic to hear and and read about.

The book cover was lovely. I loved the colors and the silhouettes. I know you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but it is beautiful.

I enjoyed the book. It was a quick, easy read. I liked the characters and cheered for them. The story was pretty predictable and I knew what was going to happen. The story did not feel believable at times, but then it is a work of fiction. I would read something else by this author, but probably would not reread this particular title.

I absolutely devoured this book. It is an incredibly powerful and poignant story of survival, redemption, love, and family. There are some very heavy topics - including abuse, child neglect, foster care, assault/child assault. The author did an amazing job addressing these issues in a way that was emotional, sensitive, and accurate. I was hooked right from the start. If I had to classify it into a genre - it read like a literary suspense. The theme of running away from danger and hiding was prevalent throughout the book. You will fall in love with the main characters and you will question your own morality at times.

The only reason this was not a 5 star read for me was the fact that I felt somewhat disconnected from the characters in the last 15% or so. When the focus of the story moved away from the relationship between Rowan and Gabe to Rowan and Cecilia's love lives - the story lost a tiny bit of its power for me. It is perfect, however, for readers who need all loose ends tied up and full closure on each characters' storylines.

I cannot wait to read more from this author and will be certainly reading her current backlist.

Thank you so much for the opportunity to read and review this book. It was truly fantastic.

Brooke Beyfuss returns following her debut, After We Were Stolen, with BEFORE YOU FOUND ME —a beautifully written, compelling, and heart-stirring tale of hope, fear, survival, trauma, courage, healing, forgiveness, unconditional love, redemption, and the true meaning of family.

An unlikely bond between two abuse survivors as they create a family of love they made —unlike any they have known. I LOVED this book. Top Books of 2023!

GRIPPING, HIGHLY EMOTIONAL, COMPELLING, SUSPENSEFUL!

Rowan McNamara, age 24, has not had an easy life with the death of her parents. She and her sister are separated from one group and foster home to another. She blames her sister Celia for continuing her education to be a nurse and leaving her.

Rowan runs after yet another round with her abusive and controlling fiancé, Ethan. She takes nothing, hospitalized days earlier with glass embedded in her back, on the receiving end of horrific physical and mental abuse over the past two years. He would kill her if she left. The scars on her back will remain with her for the rest of her life. She would never be the same from the trauma.

Rowan escapes to her friend Lelia's house while she is away in New England until her parent's home that she and her sister inherited is vacant back in Oklahoma. Rowan was fierce and protective, and Laine was gentle and calming. They had not seen one another in a few years since Ethan had severed all her relationships.

Behind its weathered picket fence, this house would be her temporary home, a haven until she could escape to Oklahoma. Little did she know how her life would change.

Next door to Liane's house lives a man named Lee Emerson. He seems friendly enough, offering to help her out. But behind closed doors, he is a monster. She knows about sociopaths, and they are not easy to trick.

She discovers the boy, Gabriel, age eleven, who has been beaten, tortured, and held captive in the basement. It has been three years since they moved into the home, and he has not been allowed to leave the confines of the dark, damp, cold basement with little food and beaten.

Lee, the father, hates him because years ago, his mother was killed in an accident while she walked her son to the bus stop, and the dad blames him for her death because he asked her to go along. Of course, it was not his fault. He was only a child, but his father has punished him daily since.

How will he ever escape?

He is afraid, and Roman wants to help him and brings him food through the window. She wants to go to the authorities to report this, but then she knows he will be placed in foster homes like she experienced, and that is not what she wants for him.

She visits him daily while his father is away. Her heart goes out to this little boy. She wants to protect him from evil. She knows she will leave soon and cannot leave this boy here. She devises a plan. She will kidnap him and worry about the rest later. The important thing is to get him to safety.

But they cannot leave at the same time. So she plans to leave so Lee will think she is gone, and then a few days later, she will come for him. She takes photos and videos for evidence and interviews Gabe so she will have documentation she did not have with her abusive situation.

However, when she returns, she is shocked. He has been beaten so badly that she has to carry him out and quickly grabs the things he needs, wrapping the blood-filled barbeque fork in plastic with the dad's fingerprints.

She is afraid to take him to a hospital, and they escape spending nights on the road in motels while she takes care of him. Finally, back home in Oklahoma, she has to confide in Celia since she is a nurse and hopes she will not turn them in.

From here on out, it is heart-pounding INTENSE suspense (the tornado was spine-chilling). Highly emotional, these two bond and are very protective of one another. In the process, Gabe brings Celia and Rowan closer together. Rowan and Gabe work together to overcome their trauma while worrying about the monsters who want to destroy them and facing them.

The author keeps you on the edge of your seat to see how this nightmare will unfold.

BEFORE YOU FOUND ME is a beautifully conceived and masterfully executed domestic suspense about good people doing their best to survive with an essential takeaway message. I loved Rowan and Gabe! A mix of coming-of-age, women's domestic, rural and small-town, literary, and a psychological suspense thriller.

The author is a master at uncovering the emotional depths of her characters and bringing them out the other side. These characters will linger long after the book ends.

These well-developed characters have suffered significant loss and fear on the road to happiness, and you will root for a satisfying conclusion. Thanks to the author who persevered and brought this story to life! I also appreciated her taking the time to give us a happy ending and unrushed. As the author mentions in her Author's Note BEFORE YOU FOUND ME is, at its core, a love story.

An ideal book club selection and prime for the big or small screen.

Triggers: Domestic violence, child abuse, abandonment, traumatic injury, death, grief, and emotional distress; however, they are balanced out with positives.

For fans of authors Catherine Ryan Hyde Just a Regular Boy (among others by this author), Heather Gudenkauf, Fredrik Backman, and Elizabeth Berg (my favs). Highly recommend and cannot wait to see what comes next from this multi-talented author! She has been added to my favorite author list.

Thanks to Sourcebooks Landmark for a gifted ARC via NetGalley for my honest opinion.

Blog Review posted @
JudithDCollins.com
@JudithDCollins | #JDCMustReadBooks
Pub Date: Aug 1, 2023
My Rating: 5 Stars +
Aug 2023 Must-Read Books

Rowan McNamara is in an abusive relationship. After a life-threatening injury from her fiancé, she decides to leave him and moves to New England.

There she meets Gabriel, the eleven year old boy next door. However, Gabriel only talks to her at night and only from the basement window. Rowan discovers that Gabriel is being abused by his father and decides to take him and run.

From there they go to Rowan’s family home in Oklahoma for a new start.

Overall, I liked this book. It was intriguing from the start and kept my attention. There was enough drama to keep it interesting, but I did feel it was a little long. It spans multiple years and there are some time jumps but there was also a lot of detailing what they did every single day for some years.

I also was a little uncomfortable with the kidnapping aspect.
*SPOILERS*
It felt like it glorified kidnapping to an extent. Like, “oh here’s an abused child. I think I’ll take him and we can live happily ever after.” She didn’t get any law enforcement or child services involved and she got off scot-free.seemed a little strange to me.

Before You Found Me is an emotional, heartbreaking, hopeful novel. I would rate it 4.5 stars. Rowan is the victim of domestic abuse and Gabriel is a victim of child abuse. Rowan tries to save Gabriel from his abusive father. She also tries to come to terms with her own abuse.

This would have been a 5 start read if not for some issues. I believe some of the things that happen in the book could not have happened. It is nice that the situations worked out but at the expense of an authentic story. It is still an exceptional read and I would recommend the book.

Thank you to #NetGalley, #BrookBeyfuss and #SourcebooksLandmark for a copy of this book.
#BeforeYouFoundMe

Before You Found Me is a book that is both heavy and light, dark and bright, heartbreaking and joyous. It is all of these things and more.

I thought this book had a unique concept and plotline, and that is what initially caught my interest. Even though there were heavy topics throughout, the book felt easy to read and hard to put down. I found myself really invested in the characters and their stories, and as someone who has been in a reading slump for the past few months, it was great to finally have a book that I wanted to constantly be reading.

Rowan and Gabriel and both characters that you want to root for. They are both flawed, but I think those flaws make them real. At one point, I was frustrated with Rowan and her treatment of a specific character; but in looking back, that just makes her more real. Because in real life, we don't always treat everyone as they should be treated. Or there might be people in our lives that we don't have the patience for, and that comes out in how we respond to them. So I think Rowan's interactions with this character actually made her even more real to me.

Both Rowan and Gabriel have been through serious hardships in their lives and I love that they are able to work through those hardships and lean on each other. I really loved the way their relationship grew and changed over time. I thought both of these characters matured over the course of the book and I thoroughly appreciated and enjoyed their character arcs.

I also really enjoyed the supporting characters. In some books, those characters can be sort of throwaway, but each of the supporting characters in this book played an important role and had their own interesting and unique stories. I think that made the book more enjoyable, as I was invested all the way through (as opposed to some books where you are distinctly more interested in one storyline over the others).

I will say that this book does require some suspension of disbelief, at least in my opinion. The fact that Rowan is wildly wealthy definitely made things easier. There are also things that I don't think would have worked out so smoothly in real life, whether it be actual plot points, legalities, or just how the characters responded to certain situations. But as the author mentioned in her author's note, she had to drastically cut this book down from what it was; so I suspect that some of those points where characters might've taken a lot longer to emotionally heal or get from point A to point B were the things that had to be cut to make the book a reasonable length.

If the synopsis of this book appeals to you, I think you will really enjoy it. It's well written, engaging, and you cannot help but root for the main characters. This was my experience with Brooke Beyfuss' work, but it won't be my last.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for the e-arc of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Happy pub week to the talented @brookebeyfuss 🎉 And a huge thanks to #partner @bookmarked for my #gifted ARCs & finished copy.

𝗕𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗙𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗠𝗲
𝗕𝗿𝗼𝗼𝗸𝗲 𝗕𝗲𝘆𝗳𝘂𝘀𝘀
𝟴/𝟭/𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟯 - 𝗢𝘂𝘁 𝗻𝗼𝘄!

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

📖 Two abuse survivors form an unlikely friendship as they outrun their abusers in this emotional, suspenseful, heartrending novel of resilience and found family.

💭 I really enjoyed Beyfuss's debut 𝘼𝙛𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙒𝙚 𝙒𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙎𝙩𝙤𝙡𝙚𝙣 last year, so I jumped at the chance to read her sophomore novel! Y'all, I loved this one even more! It's a genre-bending mash-up of drama, contemporary fiction, and suspense. There's even some light romance. But at its core, it's a non-romantic love story between a child and the woman who saves him. Beyfuss's character development is phenomenal, and her writing is gorgeous and fluid. She just brings the reader right into the lives of the characters, ripping their heart out and putting it back together again. This one had me in its grips from the first page to the last.

I read this along with the audiobook, narrated by the talented Jeremy Carlisle Parker. Parker does a wonderful job and I equally enjoyed this format.☺️

Highly recommend!

⚠️ Please check TWs!!!
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When the going gets tough, Rowan McNamara gets tougher. A foster child who survived the system, she’s seen her fair share of heartache. When the story opens, Rowan is starting over again, fleeing an abusive relationship. So she hides out in her old friends house as she figures out her next course of action.

It’s there that she meets the suspiciously helpful Lee and his young son, Gabriel. Only Rowan quickly realizes she never sees the two of them together. Knowing how to look for the signs, Rowan presses until Gabriel reveals the unthinkable- his father has kept him in the basement after his mother passed tragically a few years prior. Her passing is also something Gabriel’s father has never come to terms with and is still punishing his son for.

Knowing she has to move on, but unable to leave Gabriel in his current situation, Rowan devises a plan. Together the two will leave and start over, far away from the men who hurt them so much. But as they navigate their new day to day in a faraway place, they see many of their old hardships have been replaced with new ones. The difference this time though is they have each other to hold onto.

Before You Found Me is a moving story about the family you make. With references to abuse, both physical and verbal, it’s not an easy read, but a powerful one if don’t find the story to be triggering. It’s my first book by author @brookebeyfuss, so I was shocked to see she’s not only from home state, but that we know at least one person in common. This reminded me how connections sometimes can come from the most unlikely places, just like the underlying message of this brilliant novel.