Tuesday, December 1, 2015

A Reason to Stay by Kellie Coates Gilbert


As the host of her own television news show, Faith Marin works to expose the truth for her viewers. But in her personal life, she's anchored her world with firm boundaries in order to hide a family history she'd like to forget. Her pro bass fisherman husband Geary's life is an open book, and unfortunately his busybody family doesn't know the meaning of boundaries. Deception and crippling differences soon derail their tender relationship, leading Faith to believe her only option is to end the marriage. But while divorce papers sit on her desk waiting to be signed, tragedy strikes and her heartrending decision is interrupted. With her life in the balance, Faith finds that the one she has been shutting out may be the very one she cannot bear to lose.


FIFTEEN THINGS ABOUT KELLIE COATES GILBERT . . . 
  1. I fell for my skydive instructor (pun intended) and we’ve been married over thirty years.
  2. I appeared on the popular television game show, Price is Right.
  3. I made Ted Kennedy’s bed (as a maid at the Sun Valley Lodge).
  4. Part of my skull was temporarily stored in a cooler during brain surgery.
  5. I’ve been to a Rocky Mountain Oyster fry. (don’t ask…look it up).
  6. I’ve herded sheep.
  7. I’ve attended a presidential inaugural ball.
  8. I know how to tell the difference between a male and a female crab.
  9. My first office was in the Idaho State Capitol Building.
  10. I was a popcorn ball in my fourth grade Christmas pageant.
  11. My Gram called me her “precious puddin’ gift of God.” I’ve tried to get my husband to use that term of endearment, but he refuses.
  12. The popular doll, Barbie, and I are nearly the same age.
  13. There were sixteen students in my high school graduating class.
  14. I decided to play golf because the clothes are so cute.
  15. My life motto is: Prone to wander chained to grace.


AND A LITTLE MORE . . . 
I barely remember a time when I didn’t have a book in my hand. My tiny hometown of Carey, Idaho had no library, no bookstore. The bi-weekly bookmobile provided the only avenue to books . . . that, and my Gram, who spent a lot of her Social Security checks on books for her granddaughter with an insatiable appetite for stories.
I grew up on a sheep ranch in southern Idaho, a business my family had been in for generations, never dreaming I’d ever see my own name on a novel. I left home to attend Boise State University and spent most of my adult years pursuing a sensible legal career, raising two boys, and learning to be happily married.
But God heard the quiet prayers of a woman who dared to dream big and ask her Lord for the outrageous. In early 2011, I signed my first book contract. Today, I am living my fantasy. I live in Dallas with my husband. I work from home, writing novels. Often by the pool.
Can life get any better?

My Take~

Kellie has a unique knack of taking real life and weaving a story that takes you on a roller coaster  ride of emotions. This book had it all. At first I didn't care for Faith, I thought she was snobbish and rude. Geary's family drove me bonkers because they had no sense of boundaries.
This is a different book in that it goes back and forth in time, at first that threw me off trying to keep up with where I was in the story.
I thought Geary and Faith rushed into their marriage without talking about the things that really mattered, like careers, children, and family dynamics, just to name a few.
I could see some of my family members in the characters. This is a great book, one that will have you laughing and wanting to smack someone for being ridiculous!
I highly recommend it!!




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