Those Children Are Ours By David Burnett

I received this book to review through Beck Valley Books Book Tours, all the opinions above are 100% my own.

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Jennie Bateman screamed at her daughters, cursed at her husband, packed a bag, and walked away. Twelve years later, she petitions the family court for visitation with her daughters, Alexis and Christa.

Her attorney tells Jennie that, ordinarily, she could not imagine that some type of visitation would not be granted. But, she warns, the situation is hardly ordinary.

True, Jennie suffered from a bipolar disorder when she began to drink heavily, abandoned her family, and moved in with another man. True, she has turned her life around: leaving her boyfriend, returning to school, entering therapy, taking medication, finding a job, and joining a church.

But she pressed no claim for her children when her husband divorced her, and she has made no attempt to contact them in any way since then. Her daughters, now sixteen and fourteen, live four hundred miles away. They have busy lives that do not include her, lives that will be totally disrupted by the visitation that she requests. Their father is engaged to be married to a woman who has taken the role of their mother for a decade. Alexis remembers nothing good about Jennie. Christa recalls nothing at all.

Conflict ensues as soon as Jennie’s petition is served: her former husband does not want to share his children with the woman who deserted him; her children have no interest in knowing the mother who abandoned them, and her father insists that she is being timid and ought to demand full custody, not simply visitation.

As court convenes, Jennie’s past is dredged up− the desertion, the men, her drinking, her mental health − and paraded before the judge. Her claim to be a different person, now, is attacked. The judge hesitates to grant Jennie’s request, but reluctantly agrees to order three trial visits.

If persuading the judge to let her see her children was difficult, convincing them to allow her to be a part of their lives seems to be almost impossible. What happens as she finally begins to connect with her daughters places them all in grave danger and threatens her life, itself.

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My Thoughts About “Those Children Are Ours”:

WOW! The book, “Those Children Are Ours”, certainly dredges up some emotions! On one hand, we see Jennie turn her life around and become such a great person. Then we see her past and the awful and ugly things she said and did to her husband and children. And they are bad. Then we meet her parents and siblings and learn some more interesting facts from Jennie’s past. Her dad? Oh my gosh. Can you say wack-a-doo?

You will go on a roller coaster of feelings, wondering just who to root for.

After reading the entire novel, in a weekend because it is that good, I can honestly say that I loved it. I feel like all the emotions between the characters were spot on. The girls feelings throughout the court battle. Emma and Thomas’ feelings. And even Jennie’s back and forth are all exactly what I would imagine a family to feel when going through something like this.

I do wish we had been able to get a little bit more of a sneak peek into Jennie’s interactions with her brother and sister as children, though. As well as how their parents treated them. I think that would have helped clear some more things up for me, personally.

Overall, this was a great read. Only minor language, nothing overly foul. Sexual implications but nothing raunchy. I’d definitely recommend it.

About the author:

David Burnett lives in Columbia, South Carolina, with his wife and their blue-eyed cat, Bonnie. The Reunion, his first novel, is set in nearby Charleston.

David enjoys traveling, photography, baking bread, and the Carolina beaches. He has photographed subjects as varied as prehistoric ruins on the islands of Scotland, star trails, sea gulls, a Native American powwow, and his grandson, Jack. David and his wife have traveled widely in the United States and the United Kingdom. During one trip to Scotland, they visited Crathes Castle, the ancestral home of the Burnett family near Aberdeen. In The Reunion, Michael’s journey through England and Scotland allows him to sketch many places they have visited.

David has graduate degrees in psychology and education and previously was Director of Research for the South Carolina Department of Education. He and his wife have two daughters.

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