Shades of Morning...Review

About the book:
Marnie didn’t know much about miracles.Mistakes maybe. Accidents. And monstrous mess-ups. She knew a lot about those. But miracles? Those were for other people. 

Marnie Wittier has life just where she wants it. Quiet. Peaceful. No drama. A long way away from her past. In the privacy of her home, she fills a box with slips of paper, scribbled with her regrets, sins, and sorrows. But that’s nobody else’s business. Her bookstore/coffee shop patrons, her employees, her friends from church—they all think she’s the very model of compassion and kindness.

Then Marnie’s past creeps into her present when her estranged sister dies and makes Marnie guardian of her fifteen-year-old son—a boy Marnie never knew existed. And when Emmit arrives, she discovers he has Down syndrome—and that she’s woefully unprepared to care for him. What’s worse, she has to deal with Taylor Cole, her sister’s attorney, a man Marnie once loved—and abandoned. 

As Emmit (and Taylor) work their way into her heart, Marnie begins to heal. But when pieces of her dismal past surface again, she must at last face the scripts of paper in her box, all the regrets and sorrows. Can she do it? Or will she run again? 

This is one review that doesn't come quickly or easily. It's certainly a book that doesn't leave you right away.  Marnie's life is full of regrets.  Regrets that she can't let go.  Regrets that she carries around with her, literally as well as figuratively.  She's a kind-hearted woman who can't forgive herself of her past misdeeds/mistakes. When Emmit shows up in her life, she finds herself forced to face her fears and her past.

With real, flawed characters, Marnie's story unfolds in a narrative manner with flashbacks and memories all interspersed.  Some twists and turns along the way make it compelling and unexpected, yet it's a tender telling of forgiveness, love and the second chances we all hope for.   

I liked it, I didn't love it.  It touched me, it didn't necessarily resonate with me.  It's not light reading, but not overly heavy either. Simply put, this thought-provoking book reinforces the belief that God uses ministering angels to help us in our journey through life. With discussion-promoting questions at the end of the book, I think this would be a terrific book club read. 

Thanks to KBK Public Relations and  Multnomah Books for the opportunity to review this book. You can learn more about Marlo Schalesky here.  You can purchase your own copy here.

 Read 6/10

* * *
3/5 Stars

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