Red Thread of Fate

Lyn Liao Butler — 2022

"In the wake of a tragedy and fueled by guilt from a secret she's kept for years, a woman discovers how delicate the thread that binds family is in this powerful novel by Lyn Liao Butler. Two days before Tam and Tony Kwan receive their letter of acceptance for the son they are adopting, Tony and his estranged cousin Mia are killed in an accident. A shellshocked Tam learns she is named the guardian to Mia's five-year-old daughter, Angela. Tam has no choice but to agree to take in the girl she hasn't seen since she was a baby. With her life completely upended, Tam must also decide if she will complete the adoption on her own and bring home the son waiting for her in a Chinese orphanage. But when her secret comes to light just as she and Angela start to bond, their fragile family is threatened. As Tam uncovers the events of the past, she discovers the true meaning of love; the one she is meant to be with, and the family she is meant to have, however unlikely"--

Reviews

Kristen Claiborn@kristenc

Mar 17, 2025

This ended up in my TBR list because my favorite online book club voted on this one for the March 2025 selection. It is likely that this one wouldn’t have made it on my radar otherwise, and after finishing, I kinda wish I hadn’t used some of my precious time to read it. Be warned, I didn’t love it.

This book began with the death of Tam’s husband…and it simply got worse from there. I’m rarely a fan of back-and-forth timelines, and this one was full of back and forth. So, while the book started when Tam’s husband was killed, we were pummeled with the past intermittently, which made the book feel like it had a staccato pace. I did not enjoy the rhythm of this book. Unbeknownst to Tam’s husband, Tony, Tam believed he had been unfaithful with his “cousin” years before, resulting in a baby. Tony and Tam had been trying to adopt a Chinese orphan, hoping it would rekindle the spark in their relationship, but Tony was killed before the letter from China arrived. The whole scenario is sordid and dramatic, which is typically a great basis for a captivating story. Unfortunately, this story ran afoul of being great.

One of the biggest red flags in this book was that Tam had sexually based thoughts about other men immediately following the death of her husband. I found that to be highly unlikely, even if things weren’t going well with Tony. She still had to deal with the emotional trauma of knowing her husband was killed, possibly even murdered, and wasn’t where he said he was supposed to be. I can almost promise the last thing that would cross her mind would be jumping into bed with somebody else. And I found it even more ludicrous that others were suggesting she jump into the dating pool again…within days of losing her husband. Who does that? It all felt so far out of left field that we weren’t even in the ballpark anymore…we were in a hockey rink.

The rest of the story unfolded nicely. I did enjoy Tam’s relationship with Angela, and I loved that they decided together to move forward with Charlie’s adoption. While there were some positive aspects to this novel, it was unfortunately overshadowed by the desperate need the author had to make sure Tam was in a relationship.