A moving story of hope, reconciliation, and embracing life: My review of Blue Moon Bay by Lisa Wingate

Here is an entertaining book filled with pearls of wisdom! My favourite quote is "Love sees in you the best possible version of yourself, and makes you believe it..." (Reverend Hay, Blue Moon Bay). Read on for my review of Wingate's latest:


Publisher: Bethany House Publishers (February 1, 2012)

Book Synopsis as provided by the publisher:

Every Once in a Blue Moon
Your Heart Waits at a Crossroads

For Seattle architect Heather Hampton, a trip back to tiny Moses Lake, Texas, is hardly in the plan. Yet because a promotion hinges on the sale of the family farmland, Heather heads to the last place she ever wanted to go. She's determined to return home, signed contract in hand, the next day.

But the currents of Moses Lake take visitors on unexpected journeys. As Heather's stay lengthens, she discovers a family steeped in secrets and an unexpected connection to local banker Blaine Underhill, despite his opposition to Heather's project. With each new revelation and question, Heather can't help but wonder if the handsome banker--and the family she has come to know again--are crooks or crusaders. Somehow she must find out the truth before she loses everything she has worked for and everything she's found on the shores of Moses Lake. 

MY REVIEW

Lisa Wingate has taken the mess that often makes up families, mixed in misunderstandings and complicated relationships and bits of humour, and birthed a moving story of hope and reconciliation and new beginnings. Her characters breathe with life, inviting you into their hearts and their dreams, their pasts and their futures. The writing is beautiful and filled with grace, accompanied by a mystery I wasn't even expecting, along with twists and turns in the story. I love the wit sprinkled throughout the novel, such as when the author describes Heather's homecoming where Heather contemplates to herself "I was conscious of everyone surreptitiously watching me and maintaining their positions, in the way members of the bomb squad might gather around a suspicious package".

Expect to be entertained, but also expect to re-examine your own priorities in life and be reminded of what really matters, that God has a far richer plan than what you might be striving after.
 
I highly recommend this engaging book, and give it 5 out of 5 stars.

Book has been provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc. Available at your favourite bookseller from Bethany House, a division of Baker Publishing Group

About the Author:

Lisa Wingate is a magazine columnist, inspirational speaker, and the author of a host of mainstream fiction novels, including the national bestseller, Tending Roses, which is currently in its fourteenth reprint. Her books have been featured selections for Doubleday and Literary Guild book clubs, selected for The Reader's Club of America, and have garnered LORIES Best Fiction and Reader's Choice Awards, and been nominated for the ACFW Book of the Year Award. Recently, the group Americans for More Civility, a kindness watchdog organization, selected Lisa along with Bill Ford, Camille Cosby, and six others, as recipients of the National Civies Award, which celebrates public figures who work to promote greater kindness and civility in American life. Lisa loves sharing with readers via Facebook, Youtube, and her website. More information about Lisa's novels can be found at www.Lisawingate.com