Billie Campbell, a Massachusetts adoption specialist grappling with fertility issues, dreams of adopting a baby, but not just any baby—her pregnant client’s baby. While her longing threatens to send her down a dark path, her husband, Tyler, is keeping he’s full of doubts about becoming a father, and he’s also trying to figure out who is sending him upsetting anonymous texts and photos. On the other side of town, Anne, a woman scarred by childhood abuse, obsesses with a second chance at becoming a family with the two people she regrets ever having let go the baby she gave up for adoption twenty years ago and the man of her dreams.
Their lives become entangled when the client’s newborn is abducted, and Billie becomes a prime suspect.
Amid the chaos unleashed by the abduction, Tyler uncovers a link between the person tormenting him and the abduction—but now Billie has disappeared too. The race to find both her and the baby is on; but will they find them before it’s too late? (Synopsis courtesy of Goodreads)
Not Yours to Keep contained a lot of little shocks and twists and turns that continually kept me on my toes. The story begins with Anne and her reflections, then Billie and a welcome surprise, which later turns into devastation, and Tyler, who wants to be a support for Billie, but he is dealing with his own hidden secret. The way the three characters are so intricately connected was a joy to experience, but it was also a chilling revelation.
Billie has wanted nothing more than to be a parent. It’s a major reason she wanted to work with families who want that same thing, and with her own fertility issues, it brings that eventuality even more into the forefront. The longing she has for her client’s baby goes deeper than just a fleeting connection, feeling as if she’s known her client from somewhere before. Anne also becomes obsessed with Billie’s client, and Billie, too. There are moments that felt very Single White Female–with Anne replicating the way Billie dresses and wears her hair, all in an effort to attract Tyler’s attention. She wants to recall the past in a way that will bring it to life in the present, but there’s just one problem: Tyler has no idea who Anne is.
The more Tyler keeps things from Billie, the more she spirals. And the more unsolicited texts and messages Tyler receives, he wants to protect Billie from the drama of it, even though he’s feeling more and more incapable of dealing with it all. As the chapters progress, the reader gets the feeling that the stakes are rising higher and higher, not knowing what will happen next. Is Billie safe? Is Tyler? And what does the dated baby photo that Tyler received have to do with any of them?
When it all comes crashing down, I didn’t know what would happen next, or how the characters would handle all of the revelations. It felt very much like watching a Dateline episode, where you just can’t believe something like that could ever happen in real life, but the truth is, it very well could, and that is the most terrifying aspect of it all. I felt emotional towards the end of the characters’ stories, particularly after the eventual fallout, when everyone is working towards coming back to some sort of normalcy. At the heart of everyone’s motivating factor, despite it all, is love, and that was a beautiful thing indeed. I enjoyed the suspense within Not Yours to Keep, making this a well-deserved five-star read.
Thanks to BookSparks for the book in exchange for an honest review.
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