Monday, April 4, 2011

Mothers and Other Liars by Amy Bourret

Book description:
How far will a mother go to save her child?

Ten years ago, Ruby Leander was a drifting nineteen-year-old who made a split-second decision at an Oklahoma rest stop. Fast forward nine years: Ruby and her daughter Lark live in New Mexico. Lark is a precocious, animal loving imp, and Ruby has built a family for them with a wonderful community of friends and her boyfriend of three years. Life is good. Until the day Ruby reads a magazine article about parents searching for an infant kidnapped by car-jackers. Then Ruby faces a choice no mother should have to make. A choice that will change both her and Lark's lives forever.


This is the latest in a series of books I've read about abducted children, but one that certainly dealt with the problem of a child torn between two families in a unique way. When orphaned 19-year old Ruby finds a baby in the trash at a rest stop, she makes the impulsive decision to take the baby with her on a cross country adventure. Years later, Ruby and Lark are a happy family of two, about to become four thanks to Ruby's boyfriend Chaz and their baby onboard. That happiness is shattered when Ruby sees a newspaper article that reveals that baby Taylor (now Lark) was stolen and dumped all those years ago, and has parents still searching for her.

Without revealing too much of the twist, I will say that though it was a surprise at the time, the actaul outcome quickly became predictable, and the ending itself was very disappointing in the way it negated so much of the story that came before.

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