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An Accidental Mother (2011)

by Katherine Anne Kindred(Favorite Author)

3.29 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

1609530586 (ISBN13: 9781609530587)

languge

English

genre

Memoir & Autobiography

publisher

Unbridled Books

review 1: This beautiful memoir details an aspect of blended families that I hadn't ever considered before - what happens to a step-parent following the break up of the blended family. Kate Kindred had given up on relationships after a failed marriage when she unexpectedly met and fell in love with Jim. Jim had custody of a young son, Michael, from his own previous marriage. Kate hadn't planned on children, but fell in love with Michael as well and the family spent six years living together, with Kate raising Michael like her own child. When Jim and Kate's relationship ended, however, Jim denied Kate all contact with Michael. Even though Kate had raised Michael, she had no legal recourse and no options for enforcing any visitation.WritingThe writing is exactly what I look for i... moren a memoir - nothing too heavy or detail-y, like you'd expect from a biography, but with a large focus on the author's emotions surrounding this portion of her life. Kindred did an amazing job of conveying those emotions in a way that is both a beautiful portrait of the choices she made to be a mother of a child that was not hers biologically and heartbreaking in their depiction of her loss.Entertainment ValueI'm not sure how many times I can say heartbreaking in a review, but there you have it. The book is short and hard to put down. I read it over the course of an hour or two one night. Easy to get through, but touching and have I mentioned heartbreaking yet? Because it is. I can't imagine what it would be like to lose a child you had raised from a very young age and have absolutely no options regarding even the basic visitation of that child. As I mentioned earlier, I had never given any thought to this possibility, but I can only imagine how many parents face this kind of thing. I highly recommend picking this one up - especially if you're in any kind of blended family situation, but also if you like the memoir genre or if you're any other kind of non-traditional parent. This is a beautiful story of motherhood and that love and connection that transcends biological parenthood.
review 2: This was a very enjoyable book and so easy to read. I feel like every mother I know has this type of book within her. You can tell how much she loved Michael in the way she tells the stories and you feel a connection between her and Michael. My only qualm was that the summary implies that the story covers more of the post-break-up feelings and that you will follow her through her journey of coping with the loss, but instead it is a compendium of happy memories (and there's nothing wrong with that). It is a beautiful book but the back cover summary is misleading so you go in expecting (and bracing yourself) for one type of book and come out with another. I do know that many mothers (I am not one) will cry while reading this book. I look forward to sharing it with some of them!***I received this book for free from GoodReads First Reads*** less

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