The Mother's Day Garden by Kimberly Cates

# of book read so far this year: 27
Title: The Mother's Day Garden
Author: Kimberly Cates
Date Finished: 4/29/08
Genre: Contemporary Fiction/Romance
# of pages: 406
Series: n/a
blurb: Hannah always wanted a houseful of children, but ended up only having 1 daughter named Becca, who recently went off to college. Hannah has also been sick and had a hysterectomy, which means she'll never have anymore children. Since she's been sick, her and her busband, Sam, have slowly started to drift apart. One day, Hannah finds a baby on her back porch. There is a note from the baby's mother saying she wanted Hannah to raise her baby and that she knew Hannah would take good care of her. The baby is also named after Hannah's grandmother, which leads Hannah to believe one of Becca's friends is the mother of this baby. Sam is totally against trying to get custody of the baby, but eventually gives in pretty soon, gets attached to Ellie. Hannah's friend Josie, who's a social worker, tries to help them get custody of Ellie. She unknowingly asks Tony Blake to be Ellie's Guardian Ad Litem. This stirs up all kinds of emotions up for Hannah. Tony Blake was her boyfriend back in highschool, and he got her pregnant. Then he left her. She had a baby girl that she put up for adoption. When she went to check on the baby 3 months after putting it up for adoption, she found out the baby had died of SIDS. Hannah had never told her Sam about Tony, or about how she'd had a baby and gave it up for adoption. The reason WHY she never told him was because she thought he'd hate her, since his own mother abandoned him when he was a child. So, Hannah and Sam keep baby Ellie for about a month. They tell Becca about this baby, and at first Becca is not happy at all, and acts very cold toward Hannah, and toward the baby. Then, she too starts to form a special connection with Ellie. Then, one day Rachel Johnson, one of Becca's friends, steps forward and admits that Ellie is her baby, and that she wants her back. So, they finally agree to give Rachel her baby back. They help her get custody of her baby back. Through all of this, Hannah tells Sam the truth and they try to make a fresh start to their relationship and move on and try to bridge the distance between them.
personal thoughts/opinions: I thought it was a good book. I really thought Becca was the mother at first, then when I started reading about Rachel's mom, Margo, and how perfect and proper she was, I knew it had to be Rachel. I'm glad they agreed to give Rachel the baby back. I could see where it could've turned into to this huge custody battle, which would've made an interesting twist to the story. I didn't like Tony Blake at all, and at times, I thought Becca was a spoiled Brat. I felt sorry for Hannah in the beginning, and could understand why she didn't want to tell Sam the truth, but felt so relieved for her when she finally did tell him the truth. I did think the ending was a little bit unrealistic, but other than that it was a great story.
What did you like best about the book? It definitely kept my attention, didn't seem to drag on at all. There were a few surprises, and when you thought you knew how things would end up, the book would take an unexpected turn.
What didn’t you like about the book? probably the way Becca acted at times, even the way Sam acted toward the baby at first. And I didn't like the ending.
why you read it? One of my goals this year was to try some new authors, and this was a new author for me.
Was this book recommended to you or did you find it on your own? I found it on my own by researching this author
Would you recommend it to others? yeah I think I would
Do you want to read more books by this author? yes I bought a couple of her books that I haven't read yet.
Does it remind you of other books you’ve already read? yeah I've read a couple stories about adoption before, and it reminds me of a Jacquelyn Mitchard book, Theory of Relativity.
Did you find it hard to stay interested in this book? no
Was this book what you expected?What book are you planning to read next? I want to finish up The Trouble With Angels by Debbie Macomber