And Then You Loved Me

By Inglath Cooper

ISBN# 9780991499724

Author’s Website:  https://www.inglathcooper.com/

Brought to you by OBS reviewer Heidi

Becca and Emmy grew up in a religious home.  Their family was a part of the Old Order Brethren Church.  Their lifestyle made them outcasts in society with their old style of clothing that made them stick out like a sore thumb.  To say nothing of their views on life.

As teenagers, both girls were in love.  On one hand, Emmy loved everything about their lifestyle and worried that her sister and brother were going down the wrong path in life.  However, Emmy was planning to marry her boyfriend, John, behind their families’ backs.  John’s family was also part of their church and the couple figured their families would forgive them in time.  They just wanted to start their lives together as soon as possible.

On the other hand, Becca was in love with Matt, who was not a member of the church.  Matt was a star baseball player that had worked over the summer on their farm, his sentence from the judge for his DUI.  His friends were popular, loud, and looked down on the families of the Order, and were very vocal about it!  It’s a match Becca’s family would never approve of.

Both couples’ lives were changed forever in one tragic night.  One horrible accident left John dead.  It also left Emmy inside a prison of her own making.  Becca did what she had to for her sister, even though it meant giving up the life she had planned with the man she loved.

Eighteen years later,  Matt’s grandmother has died, and he’s come back to town to put her to rest.  But when Matt and Becca see each other, all their old feelings come back to them.  Can they close the lid on their past once again or is the temptation too much to resist?

I really wanted to like this book, but I just didn’t.  I found the first half of the novel to be incredibly slow.  There was also constant flashbacks and changing points of view that made it hard to really immerse myself in the story and the characters themselves.  I think the author could have easily cut out Emmy and Martha’s points of views after the prologue to help the flow of the story.  Also, I was expecting the book to be from Emmy so it took time for me to adjust to the story being more about Becca.

The book did improve as it went along.  I actually really did enjoy Matt and Becca’s romance once we finally got to spend any time with them.  They made me smile at times and were the bright spot of the book.  I found Matt to be very sweet and understanding throughout everything.  However, their scenes were always short and filled with trepidation and guilt. 

Some of the turns in the story were predictable especially where Abby was concerned.  And I wanted to see more of an ending with Becca instead of learning what happened through a letter written to her.  I wanted to see it for myself, not read it from someone else’s perspective.  All-in-all I just wanted more from this story.