Book Review: Blank Slate Kate by Heather Wardell

Summary: 

Waking up with a strange man is scary. Realizing you lost fifteen years of your life overnight? That's terrifying. With her memories from seventeen to thirty-two gone, Kate has no idea who she is and where she belongs. As she begins to fall for the man who found her, she wonders if she forgot those years for a reason. Should she keep trying to retrieve her original self, or start a new life?

Release Date: November 24, 2011

Age Group: Adult

Source: Review copy from author

Review:
I simply love Heather Wardell's work and just sigh in contentment every time I finish one of her books.  Her writing is so fresh, so emotional without being heavy, that I live in a state of excited anticipation waiting for her next release.

Blank Slate Kate was no different from my other favorite Wardell reads---I started reading and was immediately drawn in to the story, and found myself unable to put the book down.  To read an entire book in one or two sittings as a working mother of a 9-month old is a true accomplishment, something that almost never happens for me anymore.  Even books I love, series books I have been looking forward to for months (or longer), take me days to read now.  But not Heather Wardell's books.  There is just something about her writing that makes me unable to stop reading once I've started.  I've just got to know what's going to happen next.

Kate wakes up one morning having no idea of where she is, or even what year it is.  She feels 17 but quickly realizes her body is much older.  She soon learns that she is actually 32, but has no memory of the last 15 years of her life.  Kate is taken in by Jake, who seems to be such an all-around good person---at first.  Enter in a husband who Kate doesn't know, a domineering mother-in-law, and a thriving business that she remembers nothing about, and Kate has her work cut out for her.  I loved living the journey to self-discovery with Kate.  

I really thought I knew how this book was going to end, but I was wrong.  I was so wrong, and I love being surprised like that!  Heather took the book in a direction I was not expecting at all.  It was an unexpected ending and I enjoyed it more than the ending I had prepared myself for.  I loved the character development and the love story.  I love Heather's writing and pacing, which kept the book moving quickly.  I would recommend Blank Slate Kate to just about anyone.  Fans of chick lit will especially love it!

If you're new to Heather Wardell, her first book, Life, Love and a Polar Bear Tatoo (which was an excellent read) is available for free on her website.  Another great read, Seven Exes are Eight Too Many, is available for free on Amazon until January 27.  Free books!  Wait---I mean, GOOD free books!  Don't pass these up!!