Title: The Way It Should Be
Author: 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.
About Christina Suzann Nelson:
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 Thoughts
I had no idea of what I was about to read when I opened this book. As I started it I kept saying just one more chapter, one more page but Ms. Nelson's writing just grabbed my heart and wouldn't let go. Having read both More Than We Remember and Swimming in the Deep End I should've realized that this book was going to be emotional, yet somehow I forgot how heart-tugging her books can be.
I loved Tiff and her determination at the possible cost of her marriage to minister to women in the throes of addiction. Zara, Eve's identical twin sister, is just newly married and literally thrown into being foster parents to Eve's two children that she didn't even know existed. Christina Suzann Nelson does a deep dive into each of these characters giving an accurate picture of the messy foster care system as well as the frustration they each experience.
I had so many emotions as I read this novel. I wanted Eve to get clean and stay clean. I wanted her to get her kids back and emotionally recover from all of the abuse that had been inflicted on her.
Zara's farming was so interesting and added a light-hearted emotional respite from the heaviness of the novel. Pickles, the dog was the best!
Bottom Line: Christina Suzann Nelson has written a deep and emotional novel that tugs at your heart, makes you think, and believes that there is hope for everyone no matter their starting point. The spiritual thread is clearly present but not overwhelming.
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