Published by HarperCollins Christian Publishing on July 12th 2016
Genres: Christian, Contemporary Women, Family Life, Fiction, Romance
Pages: 352
Goodreads
When their tragic past begins to resurface, can he help her remember the things she can’t? After her mother’s death twelve years ago, Lynette Carlisle watched her close-knit family unravel. One by one, her four older siblings left their Nantucket home and never returned. All seem to blame their father for their mother’s death, but nobody will talk about that tragic day. And Lynette’s memory only speaks through nightmares. Then Nicholas Cooper returns to Nantucket, bringing the past with him. Once Lynette’s adolescent crush, Nick knows more about her mother’s death than he lets on. The truth could tear apart his own family—and destroy his fragile friendship with Lynette, the woman he no longer thinks of as a kid sister. As their father’s failing health and financial concerns bring the Carlisle siblings home, secrets surface that will either restore their shattered relationships or separate the siblings forever. But pulling up anchor on the past propels them into the perfect storm, powerful enough to make them question their faith, their willingness to forgive, and the very truth of all the things they thought they knew.
When I saw this book available, I’ll admit the cover and the font of the writing got me. I hadn’t even read the description of the story, but I knew I wanted to read it.
The Things We Knew by Catherine West didn’t let me down. It’s a great storyline and it kept me reading cover to cover until I got to the last page. I sat there soaking in the whole story and reflecting back to it, which is exactly the kind of story I like.
The book hit on so many important topics in today’s living, I’d bet anyone who reads it can identify on some level. The Things We Knew includes difficult topics such as physical abuse, drug addiction, infidelity and dementia. The story itself is filled with romance and suspense, while at the same time provides a bit of mystery and drama. It provides us with a faith-filled story of dysfunctional families struggling to put their lives back together through healing and faith. When crisis looms, the family is split apart, but determined to seek out the truth, they come together again. The author doesn’t put fairy dust on the dysfunction either – she lets us see just how it is for the characters – emotions and regret runs high, but at the end she shows us that mercy and grace prevail.
The author’s great writing carried my emotions right through this book. I felt the hope and forgiveness in this compelling story. The characters were realistic and relatable and their situations kept me very interested in the storyline page after page. This story is provided to readers layer by layer as the author gave me the information I needed at exactly the time I needed it, and then she provided me with more. This book captured my heart right from the very beginning and kept it there even as I write this post.
Having previously published three popular romance and women’s fiction titles, Catherine published this book, The Things We Knew, her first novel through Harper Collins Christian Publishing. Catherine loves to connect with her readers and can be reached at Catherine@catherinejwest.com. Find out more about Catherine at catherinejwest.com.
I received a copy of this book without cost from the publisher through the litfuse bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.
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