My first thought when I finished this book was NO! How could the author end this book leaving me wanting more? I really did not want the story to end. The novel is the story of Jess, who is an adopted twin who has had a difficult time dealing with her father's death and her relationship with her adopted mother and twin. We follow her story as she leaves her family and moves to Florida and tries to find herself. She asks her father's best friend who is an attorney to help her find her birth mother, and they travel together with her best friend to meet her birth mother. The novel is really the story of a young woman who is trying to find herself, as she makes her way through young adulthood, Learning to trust new relationships and how she fits into this world, learning to deal with expectations vs. reality as she integrates what she has learned from her birth mother and adoptive mother and how it all fits the giant puzzle of her life. I found myself drawn to Jess and rooting for her to propel herself forward in life and succeed. The irony of the fact that she found herself young, pregnant and unmarried at the end of the story was not lost on me, and left me wanting to know what her decision would be and how would her life develop. I really enjoyed reading this author's novel.

I really enjoyed this book and would give it 4 1/2 stars! It was hard to put down.

who who is in her early twenties and has recently left home and is trying to come to grips with the challenges of adult life.
From the beginning it is clear she is not in good shape emotionally at all. We are given plenty of clues why that might be: her adoptive father has died and her relationship with her adoptive mother and twin sister is far from ideal. She asks a good friend of her father's, a lawyer, to help her fnd her biological mother - and perhaps herself.

The friend of the Father has challenges too - that of dealing with the disillusionment that can accommodate middle age. What he has actually achieved in life seems so shabby compared to his earlier dreams of greatness. But he is willing to reach out and help Jess.

This novel reminded me of a certain kind of gritty and naturalistic 70's TV drama, in which life starts out messy and can end in messy ways too, amidst the occasional moment of new insight and understanding. At the tale, Jess seems to be finding her feet on the one hand and encountering new troubles at the same time.

What works most for me in this novel is that there is the recognition of just how tough early and untried adulthood can be. More individuals may well find themselves incredibly lost and can fall down incredibly hard at this time more than any other. Neither may middle age prove to be a time of massive complacency.

Because I had To is certainly recommended for those who enjoy this kind of realist 'find Yourself' novel.
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