BLOGTOUR, BOOK REVIEW - The Adoption by Jenna Kernan

 

When we are first introduced to our main character and narrator of this emotionally charged story, Dani Sutton, she is in the process of having a consultation with her psychiatrist Dr Virginia Allen. Dani is being prepared for her release from Windwood Psychiatric Unit into the care of her husband Judge Tate Sutton. We discover that Dani has spent the last six months in the unit after she and her sister Shelby has been involved in a car accident. In the aftermath of the accident, both of the sisters had been left with life altering injuries, Shelby was now severely disabled and relied on a wheelchair to get around whilst Dani had been left with a brain injury and a condition called acquired Prosopagnosia which had resulted in her sinking into a deep depression. Dani had mixed feelings about leaving the unit,she had grown to view the place as home of sorts and felt safe and secure within its walls. Obviously she wanted to go home with her handsome, loving husband but leaving the unit meant confronting so many unknowns, a situation which was made so much more daunting by her inability to recognise faces. To begin with, Tate appeared to be a devoted husband but from the minute that they arrived at their luxurious house which was situated within a exclusive gated community and had views of the boats chugging up and down the canal, I couldn't shake off the suspicious feeling that there was something not very trustworthy about his character. As Dani struggled to settle into her new home and adapt to the subsequent changes to the routine that she had grown accustomed too whilst she was in the unit, she often found herself overwhelmed by conflicting emotions.

I have read that some other reviewers have felt that the author's descriptions of Dani's struggles with her feelings and mental health issues came across as repetetive. But as a person who actually suffers from mental health issues, I personally thought that Dani's thought processes and her daily battles with the never ending cycle of guilt, doubt, anxiety and paranoia came across as authentic and relatable. Some days, no matter how hard you try to block out the feelings, they are always lurking somewhere in the back of your mind, patiently waiting the perfect opportunity to mess with your thoughts again. Dani's anxieties weren't help by the fact that Tate kept finding various reasons to leave her on her own within the new and unfamiliar surroundings of a house that was decorated and furnished more to suit his lavish tastes than her own. She also had unanswered questions about the accident which had devastated both her own and Shelby's live's, why did she remember feeling so angry before the crash? Why was she with Shelby when her sister was due to spend Christmas with Dani and Tate? Why had Dani been driving so fast in the lead up to the accident?

The first 30% of the story is quite slow but the pace ramps up a gear or two once baby Willow enters Dani's life. Dani had always wanted to be a mother and not long after her release from the unit, Tate informs her that they had been accepted by a adoption agency and were now the proud parents of a gorgeous baby girl. Initially, Dani was overjoyed at finally being a mother but as time passed, she began to have doubts about the legality of the adoption. It had all happened so fast, had Tate used his political connections to bend a few rules and get them a baby? Was Dani mentally capable of taking care of a vulnerable young child? Then Dani suddenly started being stalked and harassed by a mysterious woman but Tate refused to believe anything that she tried to tell him. As the story unfolded, it even appeared that Dr Allen was conspiring against Dani and struggling to know who she could truly trust, Dani's life and sanity began to spiral out of control and she found herself being gradually pushed closer and closer to the edge of the abyss. Could Dani be saved before the twisted puppet master severed the strings and sent her whirling into mental oblivion?

The Adoption is a emotionally charged,domestic drama/thriller with a plot that has some unexpected twists, turns and revelations during the second half of the story. The cast of characters were realistic and believable and I felt that the author had written about Dani's various mental health issues with care, understanding and sensitivity causing me to feel a lot of sympathy and empathy for the author's main character. I do admit that it took a while for this story to hook me in due to the long length of the chapters but I did enjoy this journey through the trial's and tribulations of the characters lives and I would gladly read more of this author's books in the future.

                                                                       AUTHOR INFO

Bestselling author Jenna Kernan writes gripping domestic thrillers. Her 2021 release, A Killer’s Daughter, won the bronze medal from the Florida Book Awards in the popular fiction category and her next release, The Adoption, arrives in May 2022 and features a couple whose adoption goes from blissful to terrifying when a dark secret and menacing stranger threaten the baby. Visit Jenna at www.jennakernan.com.

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PUBLICATION DATE: 11th May 2022

Buy Link:

Amazon: https://geni.us/B09V3B7LZPsocial

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