The Life Intended

Twelve years after losing her husband Patrick in a drunk-driving accident, Kate Waithman is ready to move on and get remarried. Or is she? She still feels stuck in the past and the feeling worsens as she begins to have realistic dreams of the life she would be living if her husband hadn't died. At first Kate is obsessed with the dreams, which scares both herself and her friends and family. Eventually she admits the visions are just her imagination even though the connections to reality are hard to ignore. These connections lead her to believe the reveries are messages from Patrick. Trying to decipher her dreams as she searches for a better life, Kate learns sign language, helps kids in the foster-care system, and explores adoption. These radical changes compel her to stop looking back and start moving forward. Harmel (The Sweetness of Forgetting) hooks the reader from the start with this evocative novel and creates a believable world and despite some predictability, offers enough unexpected events to build to a satisfying conclusion.