Monday, July 12, 2010

Blog Tour and Review-Shades of Morning by Marlo Schalesky

Title: Shades of Morning
Author: Marlo Schalesky
Publisher: Multnomah
Pub Date: 2010
ISBN: 978-1-60142-025-1
Pages: 323
Genre: Christian Fiction

Book Synopsis:
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?


About the Author:
Marlo Schalesky is the author of several books, including Beyond the Night and Empty Womb, Aching Heart. A graduate of Stanford University, Marlo also has a masters of theology with an emphasis in biblical studies from Fuller Theological Seminary. Married over twenty years, she lives with her husband, Bryan, and their five children in California.


My review:
Shades of Morning was a quick read for me as I couldn't put it down once I started reading the first page. The story is touching, emotionally wrought, and at times heart wrenching, yet with an uplifting overall message. I could identify with the characters, even though I have never been faced with the situations in the book. I think many will find that to be true as the extraordinary situations in the plot bring about a feeling of hope and connection and that all will be right in the end. I think at this point with so much going on in our world, a story like this is what is needed to uplift and show there is hope and how to find it. The writing was very good and kept me craving more-I finished this book in two days. Yet, it kept me wanting more after the last page. I thought about this book, the characters, and the "moral of the story" for days after I finished. I think even if you don't normally read in the Christian fiction genre, that you will enjoy this book. It isn't preachy or condemning but shows the compassion that humans can have and what good can come out of that. On a final note, the book was worth reading just for the ending, just when I thought I had it all figured out, there was a twist that I did not see coming and filled me with the unexpected and joy of what can happen when you believe and have faith.

For more information, check out the authors site at:
www.marloschalesky.com

To purchase a copy of this book: You can buy by clicking on the Amazon link below that features the book or by going directly to the publisher's site.

http://waterbrookmultnomah.com/catalog.php?isbn=9781601420251






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