REVIEW: The Life Intended by Kristin Harmel

In The Life Intended by Kristin Harmel, Kate Waithman lost the love of her life twelve years ago when her husband Patrick was killed in a car accident. She’s spent so much time trying to figure out why he was taken from her that she didn’t think she’d ever be able to move forward in her life. But that changed when Kate met Dan. He’s quite different from her late husband, but Dan loves her and makes her happy. So when he proposes in an over-the-top romantic way, Kate knows she should be elated and ready to start planning the wedding. Instead she feels confused and unsure that she’s making the right decision by accepting his proposal.

“So you can’t compare the present with the past, not really, because you’re a different person than you were when Patrick was alive. You have to look forward, at the things you want, not back at the things you once had.”

Kate begins to suffer from dreams featuring Patrick that are so real, so vivid, that she’s almost convinced they’re not a dream at all, but him trying to connect with her again. Bits of her present life creep into the dreams to the point that Kate can’t tell what has already happened, and what is false. Friends and family start to worry that the big changes going on in her life are bringing up feelings of grief again. When the dreams point Kate in the direction of learning sign language, she meets Andrew who asks her to utilize her abilities as a music therapist to work with hard of hearing foster children. Her work soon becomes an important way to not only connect with the children, but to learn the truth about what it will take to finally make her happy again.

‘What if the dreams are trying to give me some sort of a message, and I’m ignoring it? What if I’m meant to be following the clues the dreams are laying out for me? I know it sounds nuts, but there’s nothing about this that’s normal.’

The Life Intended is a novel that has to be read to be fully understood. This was a very intricate, thought-provoking story that had me shedding a few tears as well as laughing in triumph along with Kate.

‘This is the life I was intended to have all along. It just took me a little longer to find my way here.’

This is the type of Chick Lit novel that asks the hard questions we all face in life. ‘What If this had happened instead of that?’, ‘Does everything really happen for a reason?’, ‘Why do bad things happen to good people?’ Sometimes this premise can make for a very tough, arduous read. But not with this story. Author Kristin Harmel did a fantastic job including enough of the sweet moments to offset the bittersweet moments, keeping the overall tone of the book from getting too dark. There were obviously a lot of deep, intense issues to get through. But even though this had some real tearjerker scenes, I loved that there was always a sense of hope in Kate’s life. She knew there had to be a purpose for what she endured and that is what drove her to make the changes needed to finally be happy again.

The plot itself was amazingly unique. I really enjoyed the dream sequences, trying to figure out if what Kate was going through was actually real or if it was all in her head. The work that she did as a musical therapist with special needs children really spoke to me as well. Some of those scenes were the most touching and special of the whole book. I loved that she used music as a way to communicate with the kids, and how well they adapted to her techniques. Andrew being a part of the therapy with the foster children seemed realistic to me, too, bringing in another person who Kate could relate to and discuss her struggles with in a healthy way.

I think fans of heartfelt women’s fiction are going to wholeheartedly embrace Kate’s emotional journey. Her struggle with grief is universal and something we can all understand. A highly recommended read.

Book Info:

Published December 30th 2014 by Gallery Books

From the author of the international bestseller The Sweetness of Forgetting, named one of the Best Books of Summer 2012 by Marie Claire magazine, comes a captivating novel about the struggle to overcome the past when our memories refuse to be forgotten.

In this richly told story where Sliding Doors meets P.S. I Love You, Kristin Harmel weaves a heart-wrenching tale that asks: what does it take to move forward in life without forgetting the past?

After her husband’s sudden death over ten years ago, Kate Waithman never expected to be lucky enough to find another love of her life. But now she’s planning her second walk down the aisle to a perfectly nice man. So why isn’t she more excited?

At first, Kate blames her lack of sleep on stress. But when she starts seeing Patrick, her late husband, in her dreams, she begins to wonder if she’s really ready to move on. Is Patrick trying to tell her something? Attempting to navigate between dreams and reality, Kate must uncover her husband’s hidden message. Her quest leads her to a sign language class and into the New York City foster system, where she finds rewards greater than she could have imagined.