Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ

THE LOVE WE FOUND
BY: JILL SANTOPOLO

UPDATE: I read "THE LIGHT WE LOST," immediately after reading, "THE LOVE WE FOUND," because I LOVED THIS ONE SO MUCH! They're both Powerful and I didn't need to read the first one to love this one, but they both are UNFORGETTABLE! I flew through both of them at lightning speed as they both have short chapters and right from the first page I was drawn in all the way through to the endings. "THE LIGHT WE LOST," was more intense, but they both are excellent in their own way. I knew what was going to happen from what I read in the sequel, but I still think they are top favorite reading experiences. They both have so much GREAT STORYTELLING!

This sequel to Author, Jill Santopolo's bestselling and popular first novel in this series, "THE LIGHT WE LOST," is on my Kindle, and I plan to read it next since this sequel felt like a big warm hug. "THE LOVE WE FOUND," is the second book or sequel and the one I'm reviewing. I like Women's Fiction and I loved the main character, Lucy who is speaking to Gabriel and the reader pouring out her heart in the first person narrative. I think this was self explanatory from what I read that I got the gist of the first book which I'm dying to read. I loved the wisdom of the philosophical musings many which are quotable in this book, since Lucy's character was expertly developed enough to know Jill Santopolo knows a lot about life and it shows in this sequel.

Lucy is seemingly talking to Gabriel who is deceased and was a photojournalist and from what I gathered he was killed in Gaza. Lucy is a writer and producer of children's television shows that have garnered her success, but that aspect of her former life in the first book is not explored in this sequel except in mentioning infrequently. The book opens and she is telling Gabriel that she just got a call almost ten years later from his Editor, Eric Weiss. Lucy is at work and she can't imagine why he is calling. She answers and he tells her he's sure he doesn't have to remind her that the ten year anniversary of Gabe's death is approaching to which she answers to Gabe, July twenty-fifth is tattooed on her heart. Eric tells Lucy the Associated Press would like to do an exhibition or compilation showing Gabe's work as an artist to give their readers an update on how the places he photographed are doing now.

Eric tells Lucy that he took the liberty of calling Gabe's publisher of his book called, "Defiant," and they'd like to update the book with some never-before-seen photographs, and possibly an afterward which he would write. He said of course, we wanted to check with her first. Lucy is happy but sad at Gabe's death but its bittersweet to her that Eric is also thinking of Gabe, and not just her. Eric tells Lucy she'll need to go through his photographs and find a number of files for the original images. He tells her he's going to email her the list and asks her if she thinks she can find them? She tells him she'll do it as she imagines three boxes of his sitting in her closet behind her long dresses with one that is open.

After she hangs up she remembers getting a call from Eric that Gabe had been injured and that he was in a hospital in Jerusalem and he didn't think Gabe would recover. She is saying this to Gabe and she's informing the reader how the whoosh of machines keep him alive, while she placed his hand on her stomach so he could feel his son Samuel inside her. This becomes a bone of contention to her now divorced husband Darren who they alternate custody every week of their three children. They had told everybody that Samuel, who is nine that Darren was his father. Lucy feels that it's time to tell everyone the truth which Darren remarried to an empathetic woman named Courtney that agrees with Lucy. Darren won't return Lucy's calls or texts and her three children tell her that the atmosphere between Darren and his wife is tense. Lucy feels bad that her decision that she feels strongly about telling the truth about Gabriel being her youngest child Samuel's biological father is long overdue. It has come between her relationship with her brother Jay and her parents relationships with Lucy.

Before that becomes one of the overriding theme in this novel which totally immersed me, and I flew through it because it's addictive reading worthy of my five star rating, while looking through Gabe's boxes she finds an address on an envelope in Italy where she is so preoccupied with curiosity she impulsively books a flight there, to find out who lives at that address for which she goes there. She meets a young man named Bashir who knew Gabriel, which he inspired to become a photographer himself. Lucy really likes Bashir when they go for coffee he tells her how meaningful Gabriel was to him which steals Lucy's heart.

Lucy writes to Eric that she found the photos on Gabe's flash drives which she had saved his computer and phone and his camera which one day she'll give the camera to Sam. Lucy asks Eric if Gabriel had any assignments in Italy and she sees dots of him writing and the dots disappearing meaning he is hesitant to explain to Lucy for which he finally writes her a paragraph saying that Gabe did work on a powerful story of the Syrian refugees coming through Lampedusa not long before he died. He tells her that Gabe got a World Press photo award for one of the photos he took there, and that Gabe might have flown in and out of Rome to get to Lampedusa. Lucy also met a doctor working for the NGO named Dax Armstrong , and they have a much too graphic for me sexual experience one night in her hotel. This romance is not a huge theme of this wonderful meditation on family, divorce, custody swaps with Darren, the importance of telling the truth since Sam finds a picture of Gabriel and his mother Lucy left out and he asks her why he looks just like Gabriel. She really has the urge to tell Samuel that that's his biological father since they both are artistic.

This is mostly a love letter to Gabriel for most of the book as she hasn't had a second date in seven years and she is finding that she has feelings for Dax. My review sounds really dry compared to how beautifully written this novel is with short chapters. It is about as realistic a portrait of a blended family that I've read with feel good vibes throughout. It feels deeply intimate since Lucy's narrating I felt like she was speaking directly to me about the depths of her thoughts. I really loved it, otherwise I wouldn't be starting, "THE LIGHT WE LOST," today after I get back from grocery shopping. Other reviewers said that I must read that novel first, which has piqued my curiosity so I'll come back and update this review after if my thoughts change, but I doubt they will since I got enough background with reading this enough that she will always love Gabe, but it's time to let love in again since she's found it with Dax. She puts the needs of her children first so after Dax returns she introduced him to her children on a day in Central Park which the two children from Darren make it clear that they aren't interested in any of his planned activities. Not even ice cream after. His young son and only child is deceased which Lucy helps him through his mourning on the anniversary of his son's death. He was taking her three to do the activities that his son enjoyed and it goes poorly with her children.
This causes Lucy to break up with Dax, since she and her children need to heal from the fallout of them discovering that the two oldest children are angry at her when they accuse her of cheating on Darren, their Dad.

This book which gets into the depths of what's important in relationships I can't recommend highly enough. It's heavy dialogue laden which makes it read quickly and you really feel the emotional side of the multi-themed novel. As I said with Lucy narrating you get an intimate reading experience and through Jill Santopolo's character development of Lucy being so masterfully done there are so many universal truths that we read directly from Lucy. This is an author that has a great grasp on life and it's sadness and growth with the realistic display of Darren's indifference to telling everyone that Sam has in fact, two fathers' Darren is never pushed out of Samuel's life as his father who cared for him along with Lucy. You might find yourself thinking why tell Sam about Gabriel. It's outcome is fraught at first between Lucy's two older children Violet and Liam, but the truth as we all know is paramount and important even though that takes up a big portion of this novel. It's both heavy and lighthearted at the same time, and this was excellent and deserves to reach as wide of an audience as possible. I highly, highly recommend it and will be talking about it to everyone who is a reader who enjoys a domestic family drama with many other themes. It is MULTIFACETED & UNFORGETTABLE!

Publication Date: March 18, 2025

Thank you to Net Galley, the talented Jill Santopolo, and PENGUIN GROUP Putnam--G P Putnam's Sons for generously providing me with my fantastic ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

#TheLoveWeFound #JillSantopolo #PenguinGroupPutnamGPPutnamsSons #NetGalley