It's You by Jane Porter is a deeply emotional and sometimes heartbreaking novel. Although very different from Ms. Porter's usual books, it is a very well-written story with a compelling plot and sympathetic characters.

Scottsdale, AZ dentist Allison "Ali" McAdams is still struggling to comes to terms with the loss of her fiancé just weeks before their wedding. Her world was turned even more upside down when six months after his death, her mom unexpectedly passed away. Her dad then moved into a retirement facility in Napa and although they were never very close, this is yet another change that she finds difficult to deal with. When her dad takes a spill, Ali takes a few weeks off from work to spend some quality time with him.

Ali is a little surprised at some of the changes in her dad. Instead of the introverted man she has always known, she is taken off guard by how social he has become. He has made numerous friends and participates in several of the retirement center's planned activities. One of his closest friends is ninety five year old Edie Stephens and while her dad deeply cares for her, Ali and Edie do not exactly hit it off when they first meet. But all of that changes as the two women bond over their shared losses once Ali learns that Edie lost her first husband during WW II.

Edie's story is quite tragic and at first, Ali has a difficult time wrapping her head around the fact that Edie's husband was an officer in German army. However, through Edie's recollections and her diaries, Ali learns there is much more to the story than she first thought. She is so moved by Edie's life in Germany that she impulsively plans a trip to Berlin so she can see firsthand some of the important places that figured so prominently in Edie's long ago past.

It is not until Ali begins talking with Edie that she begins to make peace with her own past. Ali is very introspective and her pain and sorrow is so palpable that it is very heartbreaking to read just how deeply she is still suffering from her losses. She remains steadfast in her decision to never risk her heart again, but once she learns about Edie's past, she begins to realize that loss is an inevitable part of life. By the novel's end, Ali has recovered from her losses enough to consider making some changes in both her personal and professional lives.

There is also a slight romantic element to the story and the introduction of Ali's potential love interest provides longtime fans of Jane Porter the opportunity to catch up with characters from the Brennan Sisters trilogy. Although the overall storyline is somewhat somber, the historical aspects of the storyline are quite fascinating and the novel's conclusion is upbeat and positive. All in all, It's You is a poignant and heartfelt novel of healing that I highly recommend.
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Over a year after his death, Alison McAdams is still emotionally hamstrung by the suicide of her fiancé, Andrew Morris. It doesn't help that her mother died a few weeks after that, and it may not help that Alison, a dentist, as Andrew was, is working in Andrew's father's dental practice. She'd like her father, now living in a retirement community in Napa Valley, to come live with her in Scottsdale, but he refuses.

Reluctantly, she takes a month off of work to go visit her father.

On the plane flight, she makes a new friend, Diana, a florist. At Napa Estates, she meets her father's friends, including a very prickly old woman named Edie Stephens. Edie had gone to Germany to study music before WWII, then went to work for the US Embassy there, and met and fell in love with a German officer, Franz.

Edie and Ali keep annoying each other, but they also keep coming back to each other. They start telling each other things they've never told anyone else. And Edie shares her diary of the war years, an American living in Berlin, married to a German officer.

Neither finds what they expect to find.

We get the story in both voices, or rather three: Ali's, Edie's now, and Edie during the war, in her diary. And the more Ali gets drawn into Edie's story, her heart breaks again, and starts to heal.

Edie and Ali are both compelling and moving characters, and I became totally drawn in to their shared and intermingled stories. Highly recommended.

I received a free electronic galley of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. ( )

Reeling from two sudden losses, Ali is, at best, going through the motions of living her life. She’s grieving and haunted by unanswerable questions. When her father, who lives in a retirement community in Napa, falls and breaks his wrist, Ali decides to take a leave from her dentistry practice to go and help him. While there, she meets one of his friends, Edie, a prickly 90 year old. There’s an instant dislike, but soon Ali discovers they have more in common than she thought. From there the story is told in alternating voices between Ali and Edie. Edie's story is told through a diary she wrote during WWII. Through Edie's story Ali begins to heal.

Grief and loss is an overriding theme. I appreciated that the author dealt with it, not by having Ali “move on” or “get over it”, but instead, learn how to live through it and accept that there are some things in life and death that will remain a mystery, but there is healing and hope for the future. I also liked that the ending wasn't predictable and tied up in a neat bow.

However, I'm not a fan of the title, which leads one to think it's a romance novel, when I would consider it women's fiction with a historical fiction side story.

A side note: I don't recommend the audio version. The narrator was annoyingly slow and imbued every sentence with dramatic meaning. I had to speed up the narration just to tolerate her and make her sound normal. ( )

I love Jane Porter. And I love her books. This is yet another one that I thought was well written, and didn't want to put down. The characters came to life for me, and I wanted to follow along in their journey as the book progressed. I am still wondering how their lives unfold beyond the book. Bravo! ( )

Title: It's You
Author: Jane Porter
Publisher: Berkley
Reviewed By: Arlena Dean
Rating: Five
Review:

"It's You" by Jane Porter

What I liked about this novel....

I really like how this author was able to give the reader such a good story of healing as it was for Ali especially after she left for Napa after the death of her mother and untimely death of her finance Andrew, who had committed suicide in Arizona. Truly life for Ali had been 'turned upside down.' Now she was in Napa looking after her father due to falling and injuring his arm who now lived in a retirement community. Would she be able to find some peace after all of her painful memories that had haunted her from Arizona? It was in Napa where Ali opens up to new friendships and trying to decide what would be best for her life now that she is alone and feeling very angry. What will happen after Ali meets a cantankerous old women named Edie who lad lost her husband in W W II? I liked how this author was able was able to let one see that there are some many pains and losses in our world. This history was indeed interesting! From meeting Edie why would a journey to Berlin give Ali answers about not only Edie but herself also? Who would have known that both of these women had endured tremendous emotional pain. In the end would there be a way for Ali to heal and yet not forget? I liked how this author was able to show through another person story how Ali will be able to find the courage she needed to want to live again. I found the characters were beautiful written being so well developed, defined, some humor and so believable giving this story such a heart wrenching detailed story that I wasn't able to put down until the end...often finding myself tearing up at parts of the read. Be ready for a good story of personal growth and self discover....also there is a backstory from a Edie's diary...but I don't want to spoil it for you...only to say you will have to pick up the good read to see for yourself what that is about.

"It's You" was a well written story by this author that told two stories of two women of different generations that showed raw powerful emotions. For Ali.... love and loss, recovered from heart break and healing to being able to pick up the broken pieces of the heart and the strength to make some new choices and hope again. I will go farther in saying that this is one novel that will stay with you long after you have read it.

I received a copy through NOR in exchange for an honest review. ( )