The Way It Should Be by Christina Suzann Nelson

 

After years of estrangement, the lives of Zara Mahoney and her twin sister, Eve, are suddenly and completely intertwined again. Eve's troubled lifestyle causes the state to take custody of her two children and contact Zara and her husband, asking them to consider foster care. Newlywed Zara thought she'd finally been given a fresh start and feels wholly unprepared to care for a niece and nephew whose existence she wasn't even aware of.

Meanwhile, Eve may have a real chance to start over this time with the help of Tiff Bradley, who's dedicated to helping women everyone else has given up on after facing a heartbreaking tragedy in her own family.

Over the course of one summer, all three women's hearts and lives hang in the balance as Eve desperately works toward a new life. Can they redefine their expectations of how life should be to find the hope they--and those they love--so desperately need?

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About The Author

 

Christina Suzann Nelson, inspirational speaker and award-winning author of If We Make It Home, is celebrating the release of Swimming in the Deep End, on September 25, 2018. Her first novel was honored as one of Library Journal’s top five inspirational novels of 2017. She was named the 2017 OCW Cascade’s Writer of Promise. Her stories have been published in the Cup of Comfort for a Better World, Cup of Comfort for Adoptive Families, as well as other publications. She writes and speaks about hope after dysfunction. Christina is over the top about her passions, including the stories created somewhere in the twists and turns of her less-than-focused brain. When she’s not writing, she’s working with the Every Child initiative, chasing escaped steers, reading, breathing in the sweet smell of her horse, hiking with her dog, or enjoying her just-as-crazy family.

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My Review

 What a powerful read, one that tugs your heart and doesn't want to let go.

Zara and Eve twin sisters had a difficult up bring and now we meet them when they are grown with what is now happening in their lives. One has just gotten married, she and her husband have bought a small farm and beginning their new life together. The other Eve has more or less followed in her mother's footstep, and is now clinging to life.

Add to this group a spunky 5 year old girl, and a toddler boy, and a dreaded illness hanging over their heads.

I loved how this story unfolded and kept giving, their was fear something would happen to these children, or one of these characters would end up dead.

I loved the epilogue, and now I want more information! A phone call?

I received this book through Net Galley and the Publisher Bethany House, and was not required to give a positive review.