If you have yet to read a book penned by Katie Ganshert you are missing out on a wondrous journey into the heart. Katie has a gift to pen real characters and poignant issues that most keep at a distance. Her words flow from a passionate heart that is transparent in black and white. I have admired Katie since reading her first novel, "Wildflowers from Winter", and then her second, "Wishing on Willows", and onto her third release, "A Broken Kind of Beautiful". Just the titles encompass so very much.
I walk away from each novel with a new appreciation for grace, mercy, and redemption. She entwines faith into every story. She gives the reader an opportunity to see their own reflection in her stories. Once again Katie brings a novel that is rich with characters. We see what the world around them doesn't. Their heart. We journey with them through their brokenness into a beauty they had not known could exist. Unexpected blessings reach these characters at a time when all hope almost seems lost. A place most of us have found ourselves a time or two.
Here is the scripture theme for this novel: "The land of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. He asked me, "Son of man, can these bones live?" Ezekiel 37:1-3
We see these characters walk through a dry wilderness to find before them beauty from ash. I absolutely loved this story-line. It was riveting and valuable to the heart.
Sisters of an alcoholic mother. One leaves home. The other remains. As one tries to forget, the other has no choice but to live in the shadow of a mother's choice over her own daughter, the drink. A grandmother whose present is fading into confusion leaves behind a legacy for these two sisters to not only find, but to bring them together as never before. A husband and wife trying to unravel from the heartache of not filling a child's room with pink or blue.
The world doesn't see beyond the pulled curtains. They aren't witnessing the depth of pain this couple is trying to balance as life alters their present once again. This story flips between the sisters, Gracie and Carmen. I love how Katie has once again brought her writing to so brilliantly together. Something that strikes me throughout this novel is just how much of our lives, and the lives of these characters that no one notices. Is it because the evidence of pain is hidden so well, or is it that we are just too wrapped up in self?
This is a tender and loving story that you are going to enjoy and ponder over long after the last page has closed. If you haven't read any other reads from Katie I encourage you to gather them up for a summer journey of reading.
I walk away from each novel with a new appreciation for grace, mercy, and redemption. She entwines faith into every story. She gives the reader an opportunity to see their own reflection in her stories. Once again Katie brings a novel that is rich with characters. We see what the world around them doesn't. Their heart. We journey with them through their brokenness into a beauty they had not known could exist. Unexpected blessings reach these characters at a time when all hope almost seems lost. A place most of us have found ourselves a time or two.
Here is the scripture theme for this novel: "The land of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. He asked me, "Son of man, can these bones live?" Ezekiel 37:1-3
We see these characters walk through a dry wilderness to find before them beauty from ash. I absolutely loved this story-line. It was riveting and valuable to the heart.
Sisters of an alcoholic mother. One leaves home. The other remains. As one tries to forget, the other has no choice but to live in the shadow of a mother's choice over her own daughter, the drink. A grandmother whose present is fading into confusion leaves behind a legacy for these two sisters to not only find, but to bring them together as never before. A husband and wife trying to unravel from the heartache of not filling a child's room with pink or blue.
The world doesn't see beyond the pulled curtains. They aren't witnessing the depth of pain this couple is trying to balance as life alters their present once again. This story flips between the sisters, Gracie and Carmen. I love how Katie has once again brought her writing to so brilliantly together. Something that strikes me throughout this novel is just how much of our lives, and the lives of these characters that no one notices. Is it because the evidence of pain is hidden so well, or is it that we are just too wrapped up in self?
This is a tender and loving story that you are going to enjoy and ponder over long after the last page has closed. If you haven't read any other reads from Katie I encourage you to gather them up for a summer journey of reading.
Katie Ganshert Christy Award finalist, Katie Ganshert is the author of Wildflowers from Winter and Wishing on Willows. She lives in Iowa with her handsome husband, their dinosaur-loving son, and their goofy black lab, Bubba. When she’s not busy writing or playing or reading or snuggling, she is obsessing over the paperwork and the waiting that comes with adoption, which she and her husband hope to complete sometime before they are fifty.
