Unwanted

by Leigh Lennon

In the first book of this series, I didn’t think I liked Emma very much but having read this book, I feel like this she is a woman that I want to know more about.
This author leaves no stone unturned in her pursuit of subject matter that will provoke a reaction, that will get under your skin and make you think, make you take on board the pain and just make you …feel, this was all that and so much more.
Unwanted was by far the hardest of the three books in the series so far to read, I felt emotionally hijacked.
The battle conceive is one that is faced by thousands of couples every year and Emma and Tyler’s absolute desperation to have a child of their own was a tangible emotion, as a mother my heart broke for them and their battle to become parents, and just when I thought that I was going to run out of tissues they finally get their miracle and Emma falls pregnant with the assistance of IVF, but their battles were far from over because while they had won this round in their quest, they faced a much tougher fight when Emma was consumed with Post Natal Depression following a very close call during the birth of their child.
I spent much of this book with a tissue in my hand, Emma’s struggle with depression, the time she spends away from not only Tyler but her child in the first medical facility filled me with dread but when she got to New Mexico, I was beside myself, how could this family ever survive the situation they were is.
Tyler was a fantastic man, he loved his daughter unequivocally and he worshipped his wife but despite all his efforts, he couldn’t be the one to save her, she had to do that on her own and I wasn’t sure that she had the wherewithal to be able to succeed. Time and time again I thought there was perhaps a chink of light in what must have been a very bleak tunnel, but every time, fate and misery would team up and patch the hole that was giving me that sliver of hope back up.
Could Emma find a way to forge a relationship with her daughter? Would she learn to love her or was what she went through the final nail in her connection with not only Aspen but also Tyler?
There are twists and turns peppered throughout this book that whilst the details were unexpected, their presence was not, this is an author that likes to think outside the box and to keep a reader not only thinking but feeling too.
A heartbreaking look at Postpartum depression and the devastating effect is having on not just the Mother, Father and Child but also for the wider family.
Beautifully told with a thoughtful narrative that encouraged empathy and engagement.
Emotionally crippling at stages, this is a story that will take a while to recover from