FINDING OUR WAY HOME by Charlene Ann Baumbich

ABOUT THE BOOK

When the road home becomes daunting—sometimes a very capable girl on a bicycle can help find the way.

“Charming, surprising, familiar, and just downright wonderful.”
—Allie Pleiter, author of Yukon Wedding and Bluegrass Blessings

When principal ballerina Sasha Davis suffers a career-ending injury at age thirty-eight, she leaves her Boston-based dance company and retreats to the home of her youth in Minnesota. But Sasha’s injuries limit her as much as her mother’s recent death haunts her. Concluding she can’t recover alone, Sasha reluctantly hires a temporary live-in aide.

Enter the übercapable Evelyn Burt. As large-boned as Sasha is delicate, Evelyn is her employer’s opposite in every way. Small town to Sasha’s urban chic, outgoing to Sasha’s iciness, and undaunted where Sasha is hopeless, nineteen-year-old Evelyn is newly engaged and sees the world as one big, shiny opportunity.

Evelyn soon discovers Sasha needs to heal more than bones. Slowly, as the wounds begin to mend and the tables tilt, the two women form an unlikely alliance and discover the astounding power of even the smallest act done in the name of love. Finding Our Way Home is a story of second chances and lavish grace.  

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Charlene Ann Baumbich is the author of the Dearest Dorothy series, Stray Affections, and Divine Appointments, as well as several nonfiction books of humor and inspiration. She is also a popular speaker, an award-winning journalist, and lives with her husband in Glen Ellyn, Illinois. 

MY REVIEW

This is the first book I have read by Charlene Baumbich and I have to say I was completely entertained from beginning to end. She is a wonderful writer with strong characters and an equally strong plot. She must have a great sense of humor because I found myself chuckling often over the antics of Evelyn. Charlene also has a strong faith in God because grace and faith was a central theme throughout the story.

I found myself sighing with Sasha while she dealt with continuous pain during her healing process. I also emphatically felt the thrill and excitement of each leap and jump she completed in her dances as she replayed them in her mind. 

But the what I especially enjoyed was the relationship between Evelyn and Sasha. Watching it develop from an employee and employer relationship to one of deep friendship, was beautiful, hopeful and quite moving.

Evelyn was not only Sasha's helper, she brought light and music back into Sasha's life. Sasha was not only Evelyn's boss, she brought stability into her life by providing a place to work and live. 

The two of them were almost as different as night and day, yet there was plenty of shared laughter, tears and shared secrets that made their relationship work.

This e-book was made available for review through Blogging for Books. I am under no obligation to give a positive review.

 

Worlds Collide by Alison Strobel

Can I begin a review by saying, “WOW!” a fictional novel that reads like a memoir/biography and not only pulls you into the story but leaves its imprint behind on your soul.

The lives of Jada, the writer, Grace, a school teacher and Jack, a big-time Hollywood actor, intertwine in a way that only God could orchestrate.

Jada Eastman is a reporter and biographer for various celebrities and received a call from Jack Harrington’s assistant that he wanted her to help him and his wife, Grace, write their story. Jada was pretty cynical of the Hollywood crowd by this time, after having seen the ugly side of various actors’ lives and written about them. But Jack Harrington held a special place in her heart, having had a crush on him since she was a teen.

When she meets with the Harrington’s the first time to discuss the project, she is expecting to hear about religion because through the grapevine she heard they were religious nuts. What she hears and observes instead is love, kindness and how two lives were changed. Those two lives, Jack and Grace, then were used by God to bring about change in an industry that is built on lust, greed and wantonness.

Jack and Grace’s lives (though this is only a novel) reached my heart and I found I couldn’t stop reading it. I had to know how God moved in their lives and how He brought about change in them and those around them. 

Alison Strobel, who is becoming one of my most favorite writers, has a gift of story-telling that just gets better all of the time. This novel has to be the best yet. Her website is http://alisonstrobel.com/

This is an e-book that was provided by Blogging for Books for the purpose of review. I am under no obligation to write anything except my own opinion.

Win A Kindle... Catch a Ghost

This is for all  of your avid, bookworm readers! 

Author, Tina Pinson is having a drawing for a free Kindle. 

picture may not depict actual model of prize.

This is to celebrate the release of her new ebook In the Manor of the Ghost, which comes out this month from Desert Breeze Publishing. 

The drawing ends June 30, 2010, so be sure to enter it. No purchase is necessary, but do be sure to follow the instructions!

This is her link:  Write Where I Want to Be