Finding You by Amy Clipston Review

 Happy Monday Sweet Friends :)

I pray today finds you all doing well, and I'm so thankful you've taken the time to drop on by The Preppy Book Princess today for another book review.

In the midst of all the craziness and chaos in our daily lives, I love getting to take a step back and immerse myself in fictional worlds, and then spend some time getting to share all about these wonderful stories with you all.

I especially love when fiction is clean, and honors our Heavenly Father.

I've been reading Amy Clipston's books for a lot of years, and I always look forward to her new releases.

If I'm being honest, there are certain parts of being a book blogger that can start to feel a little tedious and frustrating at times, but one thing that has never changed for me is how excited I still get over the opportunity to advance read and review stories by my all time favorite authors.

It's such a blessing, and I'm thankful that our Heavenly Father so graciously opened a door to this opportunity for me.

Now long winded intro aside, let's dive right into today's review.

I hope you'll all keep reading down below to hear more about this lovely, upcoming release.

Finding You by Amy Clipston:

Source: Publisher via NetGalley

Publisher: Thomas Nelson

Publication Date: July 9th, 2024

Genre: Contemporary/Clean Romance/Christian Fiction

Synopsis:

She thought love was lost to her until a stranger with a secret connection to her former fiancé opens her heart to a second chance at love in this uplifting contemporary romance from Amy Clipston.

It's been eighteen months since Darcy Larsen's fiancé, Jace, was killed in a car accident on his way to pick up Darcy's medicine from the pharmacy. Eighteen months of missing him and struggling to overcome her heartache, grief, and guilt. Unwilling to open up her heart to more hurt, Darcy is sure her one chance at a Happily Ever After is gone, until a random encounter with a handsome stranger changes everything.

Carter Donovan has a new lease on life. An emergency kidney transplant saved his life, but while he's eternally thankful to the anonymous donor, he can't help but feel like a burden to his family. Forced to move in with his sister and her family, he's ready to move forward--past his broken engagement and his former illness and embrace his second chance at life and love.

When Darcy's car breaks down and Carter rushes to the rescue, these two souls are thrown together in an unexpected way. As they start to date, Darcy feels herself coming back to life, and Carter begins to believe in the future again. But as they grow closer and open up more about their hopes, fears, and pasts, an explosive secret threatens to break down the gentle romance they've built. Carter's transplant isn't as anonymous as he'd first thought, and its connection to Darcy--and her fiancé Jace--could shatter everything they've built.

(synopsis from goodreads)

My Review:

Amy Clipston's Amish fiction titles remain some of my all time favorites, but I haven't felt quite the same about most of her contemporary titles. While they've all been good, none of them have connected with me on the level that her beautiful Amish titles have. However, that's all changed after picking up Finding You. This heart wrenching but beautiful story was everything I could have ever wanted in a clean romance, and I ended up reading the majority of it one sitting.

It's often obvious to the reader when a certain situation is personal to the author, as it truly feels that they put their heart and soul into that particular story. Amy Clipston is no stranger to kidney donation, and that shines through in this wonderful story that tells of two people falling in love while navigating the ups and downs of kidney disease and successful transplants. I'm not usually a fan of rich, girl boss main characters, and yet Darcy won me over instantly. She has such a big heart for the world around her, and I loved how despite everything she's been given, she's kept herself down to earth, and appreciates Carter for everything he is. Carter is definitely the type of book boyfriend that female readers everywhere are going to fall for, and his and Darcy's romance was both swoon worthy, and authentic, and I loved how so much emphasis was given to needing to work through past hurts and insecurities, and how you can't just find yourself in a happily ever after.

It was an added treat to see mentions of previous places and characters mentioned in some of Amy Clipston's other contemporaries, and I loved how on top of the focus being on kidney donation, there was also a heavy emphasis on adoption and child abandonment. The author did a wonderful job giving proper attention to detail while still remaining respectful about the situations. 

Overall, I picked this one up expecting to enjoy it, but I wasn't honestly expecting it to end up being one of my favorite reads of the year. I can't possibly recommend it enough, and the only thing that would have made it even better is if the author had chosen to include a faith element, as I thought it would have blended into this particular storyline so beautifully.

Final Rating: 5/5.

Thanks so much to Thomas Nelson for allowing me to advance read and review this title!

I voluntarily read and reviewed a complimentary advance reader copy of this novel from the publisher (Thomas Nelson) via NetGalley. I was not required to give a positive review. All thoughts and opinions are my own, and this is my honest review.

Thanks so much for reading guys! Have a great rest of your day :)