Title: Swimming in the Deep End
Author: Christina Suzann Nelson
Publisher: Kregel Publishers
A moving novel entwining the many faces of motherly love.
Jillian Cline has the perfect daughter: loving and smart, she's an Olympic hopeful with a bright future. But when Izzy becomes pregnant, Jillian fears that future is lost. Worse, she must confront her own secret past and hope the decisions she's made don't drown their whole family.
Izzy can't believe God let this happen to her. She knew the risks, but who thinks about that when they're in love? Now she has to face the consequences--and the disappointed stares from everyone who thought she was the perfect Christian girl. At least she has the baby's father, Travis. Nothing can tear them apart, right?
Margaret Owens had determined dreams for her son. She's furious that Izzy's pregnancy jeopardizes his college baseball scholarship and terrified that Travis will be trapped in a life of struggle and poverty--the life she's tried so hard to save him from. She'll do anything to protect him--even if it means forcing him to leave Izzy.
Stacey Frey is aching for a child of her own. But the son she was meant to adopt was taken before she could hold him in her arms. It feels like she'll never stop mourning; even the move to this new town hasn't distracted her from the pain. How can she and her husband find peace? Is there any hope of a family in their future?
And in the midst of all this . . . an unborn baby. Whose arms will hold him in the end?
About Christina Suzann Nelson:
Christina Suzann Nelson is a member of Oregon Christian Writers. Her essays have been published in the Cup of Comfort series. Nelson lives in Oregon’s Willamette Valley with her husband and four children.
My Thoughts:
From reading other reviews it seems as though I am in the minority when it comes to my thoughts about this book. First, this is the first book by this author that I've read. I was originally asked by Kregel publications to review this book and then signed up for the review tour with Just Reads because I already had a copy.
Overall this is a good read. Ms. Nelson pulls at the heart strings which keeps you reading. Hidden secrets create an intrigue to find out what drives the women in the book to make the decisions they have and do.
With that said. It is my opinion that Ms. Nelson’s use of words such as put up, and placed are an attempt to be politically correct. The usage of these terms are offensive to me as an adopted child.
I was not put anywhere, nor was I placed on a shelf and forgotten about. I wasn't given away either.
My birth mother gave me, a precious child to my parents as a gift because they could not have a baby on their own. She also gave my parents the gift of family. Using those words and phrases in my opinion takes away the beauty of adoption, and devalues the love the birth mother has for her child.
Close to the end of the book Ms. Nelson calls the pregnancy a mistake. God allowed the pregnancy which doesn't make the pregnancy a mistake. By calling the pregnancy a mistake you are then saying the baby is. My youngest daughter got pregnant in her final year of high school, she married the father and we have a beautiful eight year old granddaughter who is the apple of our eye. She was not a mistake. The timing of the pregnancy wasn't perfect but the she wasn’t a mistake because God ordained her life.
My review may sound as though I am being overly critical of this book, but being adopted, having found my birth mother, knowing the truth about my conception which mirrors one in the story, and how much my birth mother loved me gives me a completely different perspective than an average reader. I have also committed to being truthful with my reviews for both the reader and author without being mean or hurtful.
This is a good emotional women's fiction novel with the themes of hope, forgiveness of others and self, how the pain keeping secrets cause not only to the one keeping the secrets but those that love them run vividly throughout the book. Be aware that the subject matter includes pre-marital sex, abortion, adoption, child loss, and grief.
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