Reunited: Everything We Lost (The Hamilton Series Book 1), by Kate Smith

Publication: Kate Smith; 1 edition (December 12, 2016)

reunited About the book:

Some memories are lost forever…

Savannah has always felt a piece was missing from her life. After the devastating loss of her mother, she longs for answers about the couple who gave her away. When presented with the opportunity, she pursues her dream, but the reality is far from what she’d imagined.

Life for Aiden has never been easy. Plagued by secrets and regrets, he is unable to imagine the future. When a chance encounter brings his past rushing in, he’s forced to confront his family, take action, and break the silence.

A chain of events set these two individuals on a path that will forever change their worlds.

Life is full of unexpected moments…
Sometimes fate intervenes…
A story about a second chance that changes everything…
Forever…

My Review:

Wow, get ready for a roller-coaster of emotions while reading Kate Smith’s debut novel, Reunited: Everything we Lost! I’ve been dying to get to this one since Kate contacted me, and now you need to prepare yourselves for many more reviews of Kate’s novels as I have huge plans of continuing on with this series!

This novel tells the incredible story of fourteen-year-old Savannah, who was adopted by a wonderful couple as a baby but has longed to learn about her biological parents, especially since the death of her adoptive mother. Dr. Aiden Hamilton is a successful ER resident at a Chicago hospital. Aiden has not had a warm, fuzzy family life being shuffled to boarding schools or living with his grandparents, having had an almost non-existent relationship with his parents. Even worse, painful events from his past weigh heavily on his soul and have made him reluctant about romantic relationships. When Savannah travels from Portland to Chicago on a school trip, an unexpected accident brings her face to face with Aiden, leading to a series of life-changing events for Savannah and Aiden both.

I loved Savannah and found her to be a very well-adjusted, happy, creative, and unique girl. At times, I felt as if she was very immature for being fourteen-years-old, but think it was probably more innocence and the overwhelming emotions she kept experiencing rather than immaturity. This child was raised by a wonderful adoptive family, but she has always longed to learn about her parents. After meeting Aiden, this child goes through numerous wonderful and happy moments but also experiences some excruciating moments involving loss and rejection. Author Kate Smith did not sugar coat Savannah’s experiences, making my heart ache and tears fall several times while reading. Wonderful things would happen, then she would face rejection, then more positive things, then unimaginable losses and pain. This poor girl is put through the wringer in this novel, but it was all relevant and just deepened the emotional connection between her and Aiden.

And speaking of Aiden… Where can I get one just like him? Handsome, wealthy, talented and caring doctor…. But his best quality throughout the novel is the absolutely amazing way he is with Savannah. This man completely steps up to immerse her in his life, while also building and developing a relationship with her adoptive father Ross. He makes up for lost time while also respecting Ross’ feelings, recognizes appropriate boundaries as to not over-shadow Ross and his relationship with Savannah, and truthfully, ends up finding a father figure of his own within the wonderful man that raised Savannah.

Now, I must mention Emily. The beautiful colleague that turns into a girlfriend and a confidant to Savannah. I loved Aiden and Emily’s relationship and especially the relationship she built with Savannah. But as the novel progressed, my feelings changed. I’m not saying I disliked her character, but she will have some kissing up to do in the next installment in order for me to love her again!

Overall, Reunited is a very well-written and thoughtful novel that honestly portrays the emotions and experiences of a teenager gaining and losing so much in such a short time. Not only with Savannah, but also with Aiden, Tiffany, and many more, Smith went deep down into those inner, dark places and brought their feelings to the surface in an exceptional way. Regardless if a character was a good person or bad, she revealed them in ways that left no doubt about what they were really thinking or feeling. Although I wish things would not have been left so questionable, I am so incredibly glad to have read this novel and cannot wait to learn what happens next. Be on the lookout for my reviews of the follow-up books in the series very soon!

*Many thanks to the author for providing this review copy in exchange for my honest review!