Before We Were Us by Denise Hunter is the newest standalone novel by one of my favorite authors and is sure to tug at your heart strings. If you’ve read the blurb, you may be thinking, “Hasn’t she done a story about someone having amnesia before?” The answer is yes. The Goodbye Bride also features a heroine with amnesia but that’s pretty much where the similarities end.

What I Liked About Before We Were Us by Denise Hunter

The hero makes this book. Jonah Landry is a guy in love with a woman who can’t remember that she loved him. All he wants is for Lauren Wentworth to remember. He has one of the best scenes of all time on a basketball court. If you’re heart doesn’t break for him during this scene, there is something wrong with you.

While the hero makes the book, the heroine after her accident is harder to like. Thankfully, we have the beginning of the book to show us that she was a nice person; otherwise, I’m not sure anyone would ever want her to be with Jonah. But we do have the beginning and I was able to empathize with her confusion. If I couldn’t remember loving someone that I started out disliking, then I might react like Lauren, too.

I liked the Landry family. They were supportive and loving to a person who didn’t remember them and wasn’t always likable. Readers who have been or currently are caregivers to someone with a traumatic brain injury or other cognitive impairment will no doubt be able to relate to this family.

What You’ll Like About Before We Were Us

If you’re a Denise Hunter fan, you’ll like this book. She is such a good storyteller, and her writing is as fabulous as ever.

Fans of family stories will find Before We Were Us satisfying. If there is a theme in the story, it’s about belonging. Both Lauren and Jonah struggle with the emotion of not belonging. But in the end, they find what they are looking for with their families and with each other.

Final Thoughts

Hunter is one of the authors that gets an automatic pre-order the moment I hear she has a new book available. Even though I was able to read the story in advance thanks to Thomas Nelson, I’m looking forward to placing the paperback in my personal library as soon as it releases.

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