Tracy’s review of I Found You by Jane Lark

Tomorrow is for regrets. Tonight is for being together.

On a cold winter night, Rachel and Jason’s lives collide on Manhattan Bridge. She’s running from life, he’s running toward it. But compassion urges him to help her.

His offer of a place to stay leads to friendship and trouble. There’s his fiancée back home in Oregon and a family who just don’t trust this girl from the wrong side of the tracks.

But when the connection between them is so electric, so right… everyone else must be wrong. And as the snow begins to settle on the Hudson, there’s nothing but the possibility of what could be – of this, right here, right now. Them.

Jason moved to New York from a small town in Oregon. His parents aren’t happy about it as they thought he would be taking over the family hardware store. His fiancé certainly isn’t happy about it either as she believes he’s screwing up their lives by pursuing his dream of starting a magazine. He’s been working at a magazine in NYC but he hates it. He is little more than a lackey getting coffee for his asshole boss and he just doesn’t really feel like he fits in. He’s not happy with many things in his life, including his fiancé, so he runs to get his mind in order.

It’s on his nightly run that he sees a person on the Manhattan Bridge. When he sees the person climbing as if they’re going to jump he hurries over and talks the person down. The woman, Rachel, is obviously in a bad place. When Jason asks if she has anywhere to go and she responds with a no, he takes her home and takes care of her.

Rachel is a woman with a bit of a sordid past. She has learned not to care about herself and that has caused her to do things she regrets. Meeting Jason, having him take her in, and seeing what a nice guy he is, makes Rachel want to be a better person. She is attracted to Jason but knows he has a girlfriend and won’t infringe on his relationship.

Being with Rachel makes Jason happy. The more time he spends with her the happier he is. He loves being with her – her humor, her love of life and the different way she looks at things puts a smile on his face. Within a couple of weeks Jason has seen the light when it comes to his fiancé. He’s figures out he’s been living his life to please Lindy (except for the move across country) and he’s done with that. He breaks up with her and he and Rachel immediately get together. Then Rachel finds out she’s pregnant – not with Jason’s baby. When Rachel decides to keep the baby it creates a whole slew of problems that they now have to deal with, including Jason having to figure out if staying with Rachel is what he really wants. Add in Jason’s ex-fiancé trying to get him back, the hatred directed at Rachel from his parents and residents of his home town and the fact that Rachel reveals that she’s bipolar; it makes for a very emotional story.

I Found You is different from the NA books I’ve read lately. It was definitely more emotional but also darker than what I’m used to and was expecting. When I read in the blurb that she was running for her life and that they met on the bridge my mind certainly wasn’t thinking that Rachel is trying to off herself. I have to admit I might not have read the book had I known that was the case.

Despite the possible suicide attempt right at the beginning of the book the story started taking a more positive turn. Yes, Jason was having issues with his fiance, but his friendship with Rachel was making him so happy I couldn’t feel bad at the end of the relationship with Lindy. Jason was the epitome of the nice guy. He was kind, considerate and loving. The romance between Jason and Rachel was very sweet at times. Something about Rachel fed what was missing in Jason and vice versa.

Rachel, I must admit, was pretty messed up. What she had been through in her childhood was horrible and when she ran away from home she made bad choices just to keep a roof over her head. Her last boyfriend was the A #1 jerk and I was happy she was away from him.

I did have a few issues with the story…1) I thought that the relationship went extraordinarily fast and could see why his parents were concerned – I would have been too. I’m not sure why the author had it move so quickly as I thought it only would have made the relationship between the two grow stronger if it had taken more time. 2) The ending of the story was good if maybe a little too tightly and neatly wrapped up. 3) The story took place in American cities, with American character, but there was a ton of British terminology in the book that an American never would have said and that bothered me. (That last one is just a personal peeve and may not bother anyone else reading the story.) As with any issue in any book you’d have to read the book to decide for yourself if any of these issues would bother you.

Overall I liked the story and was happy that Rachel and Jason got their HEA.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

You can read more from Tracy at Tracy’s Place.

This title is available from HarperImpulse. You can buy it here or here in e-format. This book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.