When You Were Mine

Emma-Claire's first book, This Child of Mine, was one of my favourite 2023 reads. It was absolutely gorgeous and I've been waiting to see how she follows it up, so I'm very excited about this one.

There's a character called Victoria which I am totally going to believe was written for me :)

Generally speaking, I am not a fan of books that talk about the pandemic and lockdown, because I feel I've had to live it, I don't want to read about it too. But in the context of this book, it is much needed as it shows the catalyst for everything else that happens, and I'm not sure how easy it would have been to get to that without talking about the struggles the characters felt during that time.

I don't have children of my own, but there are 7 children under the age of 12 in my family and so I do know a small bit about raising them. And from my limited experience, Emma-Claire has expertly explored how parenthood - specifically motherhood - can, whilst being amazing, can be tiring, exhausting, emotional, angry, draining, annoying, and I suppose at times, even if we whisper it to ourselves at times, not worth it. Especially if the other half of the parenting couple is less interested. She's put that front and centre so we can immediately get the feeling as to how our characters are feeling in themselves and to one another.

We follow two families: Victoria and Mark who are expats in Spain, and Nicole and Andy in Scotland. And their respective children. They're both fabulous families, each with their own personalities and characteristics, some good and some not so good. They're very natural and familiar. A lot of readers will identify with them greatly. They complement each other perfectly, and work great as a team. The children are gorgeous and I love this sense of innocence Emma-Claire has infused in it. This innocence that we lose as we become adults and have to focus on things like houses, jobs, money, and illness.

It shouldn't be surprising when I say that there are some difficult topics in this book, including parenthood, surprise pregnancies, lockdown, physical illness, childbirth complications, post-natal depression, relationship difficulties, affairs, long-distance friendships, emigration, the truths and lies of social media, fostering, family differences, hate, anger.

At first I didn't think it was going to be as heart-breaking as her first one, and I was glad for that because my emotions are already up and down without adding this into the mix, but I spoke too soon. The second half in particular, there's something I did not expect! I won't say why or who or what or how, but yes, it gave me what I have already come to expect from Emma-Claire's books, even if there's only been two of them.

She has a beautiful way of composing sentences, a sense of place and people, and setting (I would choose the scenes set in Scotland over the scenes in Spain any day). I just love her ability to write about tough and upsetting situations but infuse them with so much kindness and tenderness and empathy. She's a magical storyteller and I'm already excited about what she comes up with next.

I read it in a day. It's not the easiest book to read, there are uncomfortable and upsetting topics and scenes. But it's infused with so much hope that I couldn't part with it, and even after finishing it, it is lingering in my mind.

✨ 𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐖𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐞 - 𝐄𝐦𝐦𝐚-𝐂𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐖𝐢𝐥𝐬𝐨𝐧 ✨

My life is a mess. My marriage is falling apart, and I’d hoped the arrival of our baby girl would bring us closer together. Yet, as she grows, I see less of a resemblance to my husband, stirring unsettling questions …
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Firstly I want to say a huge thankyou to Avon, Emma-Claire and NetGalley for giving me this early access to your second novel! After reading This Child of Mine last year, when I received an email offering me early access to your second novel I was very excited and it was highly anticipated!

I don’t want to step by step what this book is about as for me that would just take away the experience as a first time reader and so this review will be more about my thoughts and feelings during my read.

Emma-Claire’s writing I could tell from her first novel was elegant and beautiful. This followed right through to When You Were Mine and I had no doubt this would be the case. This read for me was real, heartfelt and emotional.

When You Were Mine focuses on friendship, motherhood and family. Asking the question I’m sure many of us had asked ourselves before: Does family necessarily mean blood? What does ‘family’ mean to you?

Reading about to separate lives of friends and seeing this come to gather not only made this a page turner for me but I didn’t want it to end. The suspense in the second half of the book made the 2/2 unputdownable and I quickly devoured it in a night.

I can’t say I enjoy much when the dreaded ‘C’ word gets brought up in reads and hate that our today focuses on this pandemic topic but I guess I have to accept it happen and it is now a historical event that I’m sure will pop up in reads from time to time. I must say Emma-Claire handled the topic very well and did not over- indulge in the area.

I found myself relating to this novel in areas and again will be pre-order for this to be on my shelf for a reread in the future.

- Check Trigger Warnings -

Want an emotional novel. It has it all..motherhood,friendship and family.
It’s based around 2 women brought together by trauma.its a great read by Emma Claire Wilson.

An emotional, original read that gripped me from the start with the spot on observations of the stresses of motherhood, covid and tricky relationships.
Two different women, in different countries form a close relationship via social media and it was a joy to see this played out. Having experienced the closeness friendships can bring it was nice to see this intensity on the page. Each women's voice spoke truth of motherhood, marriage and family.
With unexpected twists, and the author's ability to take you on an emotional roller coaster while also making you question your own life and ethics, this is ideal for book club discussions. Hankies are needed.

Was not sure what to expect but was pleasantly surprised this is not my usual genre

Kept me immersed to the end. Thank you for the opportunity to review

Although the main theme of this book has been portrayed in many ways before, this had a unique and beautiful ending. It was a very endearing story and the relationship between the two families was simply adorable. The bond of the two main characters Victoria and Nicole was extraordinary, everyone should have a friendship like that. It was a wonderful story about love, friendship and family. It was the first book i’ve read by this author and I can’t wait to try more. It was well written, extremely engaging and devoured in 2 days.

Thanks to Avon Book UK and NetGalley for allowing me an advanced copy to read in exchange for my open and honest review. As always, my reviews will also be posted on Amazon, Goodreads and Waterstones and interaction on Facebook and instagram where possible.

Focusing on parenthood, friendship and the changing faces of family when the worst things happen this book is a great example of the genre.
The characters are well written and the families are going through normal family stuff following the pandemic.
A friendship born out of coincidence carries Vic and Nicole through the tough times, via zoom and with wine in hand but all is not as it seems and as the truth comes out the dynamics change and change again.
A great read.

A heartbreaking, emotional read, well written with great characters that kept me involved in the storyline from the beginning until the end.

Thank you to Netgalley and Avon Books for this ARC which I can thoroughly recommend.

Friends are the family you choose for yourself is a great quote and one worthy of this novel. 2 women brought together in traumatic circumstances remain friends despite living miles apart. They meet up via zoom chats while their children are in bed, discussing everything that's happened since they last spoke
Victoria travels from Spain to Scotland to visit her family estranged from her "ghastly" husband and meets up with Nicole. But Nicole has a family drama of her own when her son Ben is admitted to hospital. What follows would be a nightmare for any family.
Without giving too much away this novel serves up plenty of moral dilemmas, it's shocking to think what happened in the novel possibly happens in real life and how parents would deal with such issues.
Its a great read and I loved the interaction and closeness between Victoria's family.

A lot of themes in this story which all help reflect the complex mixes that make up families and which bring us together. A tricky unraveling and a big jump at the end but all help to show the breadth of what is family and that we all find our place in these families in the end.1

Read and reviewed in exchange for a free copy from NetGalley. This was an engaging read with an interesting storyline. I raced through it but felt too much time was devoted to scene-setting in the first half, leaving the various revelations and meat of the book rushed. However, I was invested in the characters, and Wilson created some excellent supporting characters.

Having read Emma's previous book I was really looking forward to reading When you were mine and it didn't disappoint. The story line is interesting and unusual although I felt that some aspects felt a little forced and over emphasised. I'm sure it would make a good book club read as there are some interesting themes to discuss but for me it lacked some of the depth and development that I really enjoy in a book but that's my personal preference. I look forward to sharing this with others to see their reaction.