READING: You Are My Only by Beth Kephart

You Are My Only by Beth Kephart
Publication date: October 25th, 2011
Published by: Egmont USA
Source: NetGalley
Genre: YA Contemporary
Rating: 4/5

Emmy Rane is married at nineteen , a mother by twenty. Trapped in a life with a husband she no longer loves, Baby is her only joy. Then one sunny day in September, Emmy takes a few fateful steps away from her baby and returns to find her missing. All that is left behind is a yellow sock. Fourteen years later, Sophie, a homeschooled, reclusive teenage girl is forced to move frequently and abruptly from place to place, perpetually running from what her mother calls the “No Good.” One afternoon, Sophie breaks the rules, ventures out, and meets Joey and his two aunts. It is this loving family that opens Sophie’s eyes, giving her the courage to look into her past. What she discovers changes her world forever…

You Are My Only is a heart breaking story about a mother who lost her baby and a girl who is imprisoned by her mother in a life she didn't choose.


Beth Kephart is an amazing writer, no question about it. I've been meaning to read Dangerous Neighbors for a while now but I never got down to it. So my first ever Kephart book was You Are My Only thanks to Egmont and NetGalley.
Alternating between Emmy and Sophie POVs, Kephart gives us an inside into these girls' lives, the decisions they make and how these decisions affect them.


What got to me most in this book was that it was so sad! Both Emmy and Sophie are two very unhappy individuals, each one for the same reason: they never felt loved. Emmy's husband obviously never loved her and Sophie's mother doesn't know what love is, in my opinion. Most people think that it's because she loved Sophie so much that she did the things she did. I sincerely doubt it.
Wonderful thing is though that Emmy and Sophie, despite their abysmal lives, are both very capable of loving people back. Emmy loves her daughter, who was her whole world, and Sophie loves the warmth and kindness of her neighbors. Their heart and feelings are still intact, which is miraculous considering how they've been treated in their lives and that is something I loved about the book. That it manages to remain hopeful throughout, despite everything.


I recommend You Are My Only to anyone who wants to read something moving and beautifully written, with real character development.
Watch out for Beth Kephart, she is amazing.

*This book has been given to me by NetGalley free of charge