When I Was You by Amber Garza

When I Was You by Amber Garza

Published by MIRA Books ISBN 9780778361046

Trade paperback, $17.99, 368 pages

If you like reading psychological thrillers that leave you breadcrumbs along the way to try and figure out what is going on, Amber Garza's new novel, When I Was You, is your next good read.

Kelly Medina is a empty nester, with her son Aaron off to college ten long hours away. Her husband Rafael is a professor at a college two hours away, and he lives there during the week, returning home on weekends.

Things don't seem good between Kelly and Rafael, Kelly talks about how he was very hard on Aaron growing up, and not always kind to his wife either. Kelly is lonely, has no job, and only a few friends with whom she goes to yoga class and lunch.

She gets a call one day from Aaron's pediatrician reminding her of a well baby appointment the next day. Knowing it can't be for her, she tells the receptionist who discovers there is another Kelly Medina in town, and apologizes for the mixup.

Curious, the next day Kelly drives to the doctor's office and waits in the parking lot. She sees a young woman struggling to get her baby out of the car, and when the baby loses a sock, Kelly jumps in to the rescue. She introduces herself, and the younger Kelly is surprised to find out they have the same name.

Older Kelly befriends the younger Kelly. She is drawn to baby Sullivan, and wants to help the new mom out. She is shocked at the home they are renting; it is in dirty disarray and there is no crib, high chair or furniture. Kelly goes on a major shopping spree for the new mom and baby boy. The young mom is grateful, but wary of this insistent older woman.

We're given clues that something happened to Kelly, and it involved a child not her own. Her friend Christine is very concerned about her well-being, and becomes worried when Kelly tells her that she has befriended the new mom. Rafael is concerned as well, on the rare occasions he talks to his wife. We know that Kelly sees a therapist, but we don't know why.

Along with the aforementioned breadcrumbs along the way, there is a big twist at the end that I didn't see coming, and it is a shocker. (Although there seems to be one plot point I couldn't quite wrap my head around.)  If you are a fan of the Lifetime movies, When I Was You would make a perfect addition to their collection. 

Thanks to Harlequin for putting me on their Summer Mystery & Thrillers Tour. 

The Woman Before Wallis by Bryn Turnbull

The Woman Before Wallis by Brynn Turnbull
Published by MIRA ISBN 9780778388197
Hardcover, $28.99, 416 pages

Brynn Turnbull's debut novel, The Woman Before Wallis, gives us a fictional take on a fascinating real woman- Thelma Morgan, who became embroiled in not one, but two tabloid-worthy scandals. in the 1930s.

Thelma's first marriage was to an abusive man, and she divorced at a young age. She moved from New York to England where she caught the eye of Lord Marmaduke (Duke) Furness, and they soon married. While they had a loving relationship, Duke had a wandering eye, which Thelma was told she must just accept.

This bothered Thelma, but soon she gave birth to their son Tony and hoped that Duke would change his ways. His adult children from his first marriage came to respect Thelma, and Averill, the daughter, would seek out Thelma's advice.

When Thelma was introduced to David, the Prince of Wales and future King of Great Britain, David was captivated by her. She soon began spending time with him, and after awhile they began an affair. She believed if Duke could have affairs, she could as well.

Her relationship with David grew to love. She spent much of her free time with him, and when David showed up announced at Duke's home on Christmas Day, Duke became angered, and it was clear that Thelma and Duke's marriage was over.

David said that he wanted to marry Thelma, even though she was once divorced and now remarried, and an American citizen. Although Thelma knew marriage was impossible, she still loved David and wanted to believe in a future together.

Wallis and Ernest Simpson enter the picture at this point. They are Americans living in London, and Wallis befriends Thelma and her sister Gloria. The Simpsons are frequent guests of Thelma and David's, and when Thelma must go travel to America to help her sister in a custody battle for her young daughter, Thelma turns to Wallis to keep an eye on David while she is gone.

(We all know what happened next- David becomes enamored of Wallis, and gives up his throne as King of England to marry her, a twice divorced American. He and Wallis live out their years in exile.)

Thelma goes to America to help her twin sister Gloria in a nasty custody battle over her young daughter, Gloria Vanderbilt (future fashion jean designer and mother of Anderson Cooper). Gloria's former sister-in-law, Grace Vanderbilt Whitney, an uber-wealthy heiress, has petitioned for full custody of her niece, and Gloria and Thelma's mother has turned against her own daughter to side with Whitney (and the money).

They turned the young girl against her mother, and the custody trial became a grandstand event, with onlookers flocking to the courthouse to see the spectacle of rich people fighting over a young girl. (Many of us are familiar with the book Little Gloria, Happy At Last by Barbara Goldsmith about the court battle.)

I confess to not having known anything about Thelma Morgan, and I found her story and her proximity to two scandals fascinating. Rich people sure are different from the rest of us, and and their relationships to their young children differ greatly from today's helicopter parents.

If you are missing Netflix's The Crown like me, you will definitely want to read The Woman Before Wallis, and I would pair it with Beatriz Williams' novel, The Golden Hour, which takes place in Bermuda just before WWII where David and Wallis were sent to live. They'd make a great fictional double-feature about British royalty.


Thanks to Harlequin for putting me on their Summer Reads Blog Tour- Historical Fiction.