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I was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. After graduating high school, I went to St. Mary's College near my hometown of Alameda, spent my junior year at the University of Madrid, travelled through Eastern Europe and transferred to U.C. Santa Barbara where I got my B.A. in Spanish. I received my Master's degree in Education from Oregon State University and continued from there to work as a financial aid counselor at U.C. San Francisco. I lived in Santa Barbara for eight years then returned to the Bay Area where I met my husband and now have two children - 21 and 16, two chocolate labs and a terrier mix, along with my black Friesian horse who lives in the Oakland hills.
I began writing in 2009 and since then I have written five books. My first book, Moon Over Alcatraz, was published in 2012 and Taken Away came out in June 2015. I got the inspiration for this novel from Amber Alerts. I always wanted to write about how parents deal with a missing child. I wrote this book in the father's point of view, from the moment he finds his wife and toddler missing, through his journey to discover what happened to them.
Reviewed by Tracy Slowiak for Readers' Favorite
In a wonderful debut by author Patricia Yager Delagrange, Taken Away is a fantastic read, combining elements of romance, mystery and suspense. Jessee Bradford, a young California veterinarian, deals with a nightmare scenario. He comes home to find that his wife Serena, and baby daughter Sofia are gone, just completely missing. A frantic search for them ensues. Jessee fears the worst, that they have been kidnapped or perhaps even killed, but many, police investigators included, believe that Serena may have chosen to leave him, to escape a life that she might have found stifling.
After months and months of searching for them, often on his own, Jessee decides to relocate to Iowa, where he will take over his grandfather’s small veterinary practice. It’s there that he attempts to start over, while never forgetting the wife and child he loved. He eventually finds solace and love with a lovely female equestrian, Laura, and seems on the edge of truly beginning his life anew. But when he and Laura attend an art exhibition showcasing the work of an anonymous artist called “She,” something about the work reminds him of Serena’s, and his search takes on a new focus, now to find She and determine exactly who that person is. Could it be Serena? And if it is, what will that do to Jessee and Laura’s burgeoning love?
I very much enjoyed Taken Away. It was a very fast read for me, I could not put it down once I started it. It was extremely suspenseful, but had wonderful elements of romance in it as well. Author Patricia Yager Delagrange has excellent skills in character development, and you’ll definitely care about each of the characters, Jessee especially. This book would appeal to any reader who loves mystery, suspense or romance, or just great fiction in general. I am excited to read what this promising new author has coming out next!
