by Kristy Woodson Harvey

 One baby girl.
Two strong Southern women.
And the most difficult decision they’ll ever make.Frances “Khaki” Mason has it all: a thriving interior design career, a loving husband and son, homes in North Carolina and Manhattan—everything except the second child she has always wanted. Jodi, her husband’s nineteen-year-old cousin, is fresh out of rehab, pregnant, and alone. Although the two women couldn’t seem more different, they forge a lifelong connection as Khaki reaches out to Jodi, encouraging her to have her baby. But as Jodi struggles to be the mother she knows her daughter deserves, she will ask Khaki the ultimate favor…Written to baby Carolina, by both her birth mother and her adoptive one, this is a story that proves that life circumstances shape us but don’t define us—and that families aren’t born, they’re made.

First of all, let's take a moment to marvel over this absolutely gorgeous cover!! If you don't know by now, I am a sucker for an attractive cover. But as we all know, a book with a beautiful cover does not always translate to a beautiful book......except when it does, and in this case it does! This is told in alternating voices as a story for Carolina, the little girl given up by one mother and taken in by another. I loved that this book was not only a story about family, but about how each woman grew and developed within themselves. Each chapter began with an observation from the two mothers relating to a project that they found near and dear to them (one decorating, the other food preserving). It created a really nice flow to the story, and separated each section of the telling. It does take place in the south (NC), so I appreciated some of the local references. The characters were well written, and it was easy to get involved in their daily lives. Really well done for a debut author, you would never suspect that this is her first novel. If I had to nit pick I would say that it is a tad predictable (which never bothers me, but does for some) and had a bit more of a religious aspect than I would like (not a lot, but I'm not a big fan of God in my books).

Disclaimer: Since randomly seeing the cover of this book months ago, and then finding out the author is from my state, we have become "blog buddies".  We still haven't met in person yet, although we were both at the same author event and didn't know it! I will be attending her author event later this month, and I'm thrilled to finally meet her, she is a sweetheart! I was sent a copy of Dear Carolina by Kristy. I have done my best to remain unbiased in my review.

Kristy's website: http://www.kristywoodsonharvey.com/

Overall a really wonderful debut book, I think this would be an absolutely perfect summer read. Go out and pick this up and support my friend Kristy! You know you have to have this on your shelf........it's SO stunning in looks and words.