Parents will do just about anything for their kids. There are exceptions, of course. We’ve all heard horror stories and seen things on social media with a comment of “WTF is wrong with people?!” But for the most part, moms and dads will do just about anything for their kids.

I have said before that I love kids. I was a babysitter, a Girl Scout leader, a Sunday School teacher, a camp counselor and director, a youth group chaperone. After my daughter started school, I chaperoned every field trip I possibly could. I do my best to treat other people’s children the same way I treat my own because I would want them to do the same for me. That said, even though you can love someone else’s kid, there’s nothing like the love you have for your own.

Every person I have shared this sentiment with has agreed: You don’t truly know your capacity to love another human being until you have a child of your own. You may think you do, but until you hold that baby in your arms and know that you would do anything to protect them, you really have no idea.

I have never doubted how much my parents love me. I am the middle child in my family. I have an older sister and a younger brother, and my mother has always called me her baby girl. It doesn’t matter that I’m in my 50s. To her, I am still “baby girl,” and no matter how old I get, she still wants to take care of me.

When I was 29 and had to have my tonsils removed, I lived alone in a one-bedroom apartment about 45 minutes away from my parents. They drove me to the hospital for the procedure, and my mother signed the papers agreeing that she wouldn’t leave me alone for the first 48 hours because, apparently, adults are at much higher risk for complications. When they got me home, we opened up my sleeper sofa in the living room so that I wouldn’t be cooped up in the bedroom. Mom had packed an overnight bag so she could stay with me. As we were getting ready for bed, Mom laid some blankets and a pillow on the floor at the foot of the bed. I told her that she should just sleep in my room so she could be comfortable, but she refused…because if I needed anything, I wouldn’t be able to call for her.

She spent several nights on my floor, with my three cats using her as a jungle gym 🐈🙀😹. She made meatloaf and mashed potatoes for me. My dad brought me more rice pudding than I have ever had in my life. Mom and I played endless games of Scrabble and Backgammon (although she won’t play against me anymore because I play to win and not for fun lol). And she cried outside a grocery store when she left to go to church and to pick up some things to bring back for me because she felt guilty leaving me alone.

And their love has certainly trickled down to their grandkids. Where they were strict with us, my mom and dad are pushovers for their grandkids. I can’t even count the number of stuffed animals our daughter has because my dad seems to be an expert at the claw game. When we got our daughter the dog she had been begging for since she was little and had to give her up because my husband went through a whole inhaler in a week and a half, my mom and dad did not hesitate to take the dog in. They assured our daughter that Koda would always be her dog, but she would just be living somewhere else. So the dog who used to wake me up at 5:30 a.m. because she had to go out for a walk now nudges my mom when it’s time to go to bed because she wants to snuggle…and stays in bed until my mom gets up in the morning.

Somehow I don’t think them taking in our dog was much of a sacrifice. 🤣

The latest book by Amanda Prowse delves a lot into what a mother (and a grandmother) would sacrifice for a child.

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Book Review

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
5 Stars for The Day She Came Back by Amanda Prowse

317 pages
Publisher: Lake Union Publishing
Publication Date: July 7, 2020
I received an advance copy of this title from NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing.

Publisher’s Description

When her loving, free-spirited grandmother Primrose passes away, Victoria is bereft, yet resilient—she has survived tragedy before. But even her strength is tested when a mysterious woman attends Prim’s funeral and claims to be the mother Victoria thought was dead.

As the two women get to know each other and Victoria begins to learn more about her past, it becomes clear that her beloved grandmother had been keeping life-changing secrets from her. Desperate for answers, she still struggles to trust anyone to tell her the truth.

To live a full and happy life, Victoria knows she must not only uncover the truth, but find a way to forgive her family. But after so many years, is trusting them even possible?

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Main Characters:

• Victoria – 18 years old, raised by her grandmother, has finished school and decided to spend some time traveling with her best friend instead of going to university
• Prim – Victoria’s grandmother who raised her from infancy, has always mourned the loss of her daughter from a drug overdose when Victoria was a baby
• Daksha – Victoria’s best friend who plans to travel with her before heading off to university
• Flynn – Victoria’s crush
• Gerald – Prim’s boyfriend/companion
• Sarah – the woman who claims to be Victoria’s mother, lives in Oslo with her husband Jens

From the first time I read Amanda Prowse, I was hooked. I find myself completely enthralled with her descriptions and her characters and the way she tells her stories, and The Day She Came Back is no exception.

When I read the description for this book, I was expecting it to be about the development of the relationship between Victoria and Sarah. While we get some of that, it is so much more, and the book is better for it.

Victoria is 18 years old, so just out of school, just starting to figure out her way in the world, when Prim passes away. All of her life, Victoria has mourned her mother, who Prim and Victoria’s grandfather had told her had died from a drug addiction right after Victoria was born. Now Victoria is facing the world alone, without the grandmother who raised her. When Sarah shows up at the funeral claiming to be Victoria’s mother…let’s just say all hell breaks loose.

Amanda Prowse is a master at making her readers feel every emotion. Victoria is devastated, betrayed, angry, sad, rebellious, wanting to know everything but fearing the truth. She lashes out, she falls apart, she doubts everyone and pushes away her closest friends, she falls apart some more, and then we get to watch her put the pieces of her life back together, with a little help from her friends who she could never really push away. What Victoria realizes is that she is not alone, and that is the most important thing.

I loved the story development, the picturesque descriptions of Prim’s garden and where Sarah lives in Oslo. The characters feel like people I would know and love. While this story is centered around Victoria and Sarah, the supporting characters really perfect it.

Gerald is described by Victoria as being Prim’s 74-year-old boy toy. He’s fun-loving, caring, loyal, and treats Victoria as if she is his own granddaughter. Even after Prim dies, he tells Victoria that she can count on him, and he doesn’t disappoint. I can picture him as this dapper gentleman with a bit of a wicked side. At one point in the story he tells Victoria, “…don’t tell a soul, but it was one of the best evenings I have had in an age! One minute I am in my pyjamas with an Agatha Christie in my palms, and the next I am toting a pistol at a rave! How many members of the bowls club can say the same thing?” And he never ever turns his back on Victoria.

Daksha is that ride-or-die friend who knows all your flaws and loves you anyway. I have one of those—honest to a fault, will tell me when I’m being dumb, and supports me no matter what. And I love the way Daksha and Victoria interact: “You were an arsehole….And I have to ask, are you now cured of this arseholeness, do you think?”

I won’t give away how the book ends, but know that this is more about the journey than the ending, and it is about the unconditional love we find from the people who truly matter to us.

Amanda Prowse, cheers to another 5-star read (and another Kindle book I’m going to have to send to my mom. 😉)

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