You Were There Too by Colleen Oakley (Review by Taylor Bridgeforth)

4 stars

I can’t remember the last book where I was emotionally invested—headache, tears, the works! Starting ‘You Were There Too’ by Colleen Oakley, when we finally got to the meat of the story (i.e. Mia meeting the man of her dreams—LITERALLY and PHYSICALLY the man of her dreams) I was getting whiplash with her inner monologue of Harrison or Oliver. I stayed Team Harrison because he was her husband and I felt the love they shared and gained over the years; rather than some random in her subconscious.

This was the slowest story of all time: Harrison or Oliver, Harrison or Oliver, Harrison or Oliver. Harrison, DUH! We got to read and be within their love story as husband and wife and all the trials and tribulations before and during. Harrison’s love jumped from the page and circled my head to hold onto—and I did. Oliver was as random in her dream as he was in real life; he lacked substance—I don’t know if Oakley wrote him that way on purpose or that was solely my interpretation.

Mia wasn’t even my favorite character—again was that on purpose…my inner monologue while reading Mia’s monologue: where is Harrison at all times? She told the majority of the story but all I cared about, no matter how the story ended, was that Harrison was happy (with or without Mia was irrelevant).

I honestly would have given this book five stars if it wasn’t for how Colleen pulled the most heinous 360, that quite literally had me on the verge of tears. I was thoroughly impressed with how the story ended because I was convinced it was just another love story with a woman having to choose but it did grow to exceed my expectations.