Review: He Belongs to Me by: Theresa Rizzo

He Belongs to Me by: Theresa Rizzo (2013)

392 pages

Genre: General Fiction/Romance

Source: I received a free copy from the author for my honest review.

Purchase: Barnes and Noble | The Book Depository | Amazon

Goodreads Summary: He Belongs to Me is a love story . . . a tale of betrayal and deception and of a young mother's determination to recover what belongs to her.

Forced to leave her baby and tricked into relinquishing her parental rights, four years later Catherine Boyd is back and she'll do anything to regain custody of her son--even reconcile with the husband falsely accused of killing their son's twin.

All in the name of love for a little boy, generations of pain and tragedy are exposed in a courtroom drama.

My Review

He Belongs to Me will pull on your heart strings and make you boil with rage (in a good way), it’s a well written novel about family hardships and a mother who will do anything in her power to be reunited with her son once and for all. This is a strong first novel by Theresa Rizzo.

When I first started reading He Belongs to Me I was a tiny bit nervous, the plot just seemed to be really unbelievable. What woman would be dumb enough to accidentally sign away her parental rights to her child? Luckily, this question gets answered and actually made the story more unique than many other family drama novels that I've read. It works itself out just fine as the story progresses and makes more sense. 

There are so many family secrets and issues that pop up throughout the novel between both Catherine and Thomas, the parents of Drew, the boy who everyone is trying to get custody of, and Catherine's grandparents, the ones fighting them for custody. Although I could fill in some of the missing puzzle pieces of these secrets on my own while reading, there were many that I just couldn't put my finger on until later in the book when they were revealed. This made me curious and more invested in the novel.

Catherine and Thomas are great characters. They both have their flaws, but Rizzo brought them to life. Their story is hard, romantic, crazy and everything in-between. I really loved reading about their reconciliation, it was hard for them but still playful, and some of the scenes were so sweet and funny. They were super cute. The romance aspect of this book was done really well, along with the family dynamics. As for Catherine's grandparent’s, they are perfectly evil but semi-misunderstood villains. And the little boy Drew is darling, a real heart-breaker.

The part of the novel that took place in the courtroom was awesome. I don’t have a lot to compare it to, but this book did an amazing job at the back and forth questioning between the lawyers and their clients. I was on the edge of my seat.

This is a well written novel that you should not overlook. It touches on a lot of sticky subjects so you may need to be in a certain mood to read it, but when you get there you will be glad you did.

** A big thanks to the author for giving me a free copy of this book! This in no way hindered my honest review.

ARC Review: Family Pictures by: Jane Green

Family Pictures by: Jane Green (March 19, 2013)

Publisher: St. Martin’s Press

344 pages

Genre: Fiction/Family/Friendships/Secrets

goodreads Summary: New York Times bestseller Jane Green delivers a riveting novel about two women whose lives intersect when a shocking secret is revealed.

From the author of Another Piece of My Heart comes the gripping story of two women who live on opposite coasts but whose lives are connected in ways they never could have imagined. Both women are wives and mothers to children who are about to leave the nest for school. They're both in their forties and have husbands who travel more than either of them would like. They are both feeling an emptiness neither had expected. But when a shocking secret is exposed, their lives are blown apart. As dark truths from the past reveal themselves, will these two women be able to learn to forgive, for the sake of their children, if not for themselves?

My Review

I was not a fan of the first quarter of the book. It just didn’t do anything for me. I was kind of bored and nothing major was really happening with the plot. Sure we got to find out a little bit more about the characters, but I don’t think we needed such a long character introduction. To put it simply, nothing was happening and that is why it took me about a week to read this one book. However, when it got good... it got really good. Well, that was about the only thing negative I have to say about this book so let’s move on and I’ll tell you about its awesomeness.

This book is told from multiple view points, the mothers and children.  Although I’m not a huge fan of this strategy I felt that in this case it was done really well. The only times it became frustrating of course was when there was something big happening with one character, but then the next chapter was the view point of a completely different character, making small somewhat infuriating cliffhangers inside of the book. Yet, it kept me on my toes.

The two main women and their children were overall really interesting characters. You really felt for them, they seemed so real thanks to Green’s skills as a writer. One of the women was a little stuck up in an unbearable way, but she changes. When dealing with such a big life changing event (you must read the book to find out what this is!) the author did a wonderful job at showing the character's growth in a believable way.

I also want to congratulate Green on making the plot twists, for the most part, come out of nowhere. I love when I’m reading a book and something so dramatic happens that I must stop for a minute, ask myself “Did that just happen?” and re-read a couple of pages to make sure that it in fact did just happen before I can move on. There was a moment like this in the book and I think it was done exceptionally well. Who doesn’t love a good shocking revelation? Just a heads up: I know some of the other reviews of this book said the exact opposite, they said they knew what the plot twist was right at the beginning, but I believe that the reason I didn't see it coming was because I don’t read a lot of books in this genre.

I know my review seems a little vague but I don’t want to give any of the plot twists away. So basically I’m telling you that you should read it. You may struggle a little at first, but you will be rewarded if you stick with it. For fans of a well written story about family and friendship and the hardships they face will really enjoy this book.

Rating: 3.5/5   BUY Family Pictures

*I received this free ARC for review from goodreads First Reads, it in no way impacted my honest review, and I received no compensation. Thanks goodreads and Jane Green!