Raw Edges by Sandra D Bricker

This week, the
Christian Fiction Blog Alliance
is introducing
Raw Edges
(Abingdon Press - September 17, 2013)
by
Sandra D. Bricker
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

For more than a decade, Sandra D. Bricker lived in Los Angeles. While honing her chosen craft of screenwriting in every spare moment, she worked as a personal assistant and publicist to some of daytime television's hottest stars. When her mother became ill in Florida, she walked away from that segment of her life and moved across the country to take on a new role: Caregiver.

The Big 5-OH! was released by Abingdon Press in the Spring of 2010, and the novel was very well-received, garnering a couple of nibbles from Hollywood.

Always the Baker, Never the Bride was released by Abingdon Press in September 2010. With its phenomenal reviews, the novel spawned a series of three more books based on the popular cast of characters at The Tanglewood Inn, a wedding destination hotel in historic Roswell, Georgia. The series cemented Sandie's spot in publishing as a flagship author of Laugh-Out-Loud romantic comedy for the inspirational market.

"Being allowed to combine my faith and my humor with my writing dream," says Bricker, "well, that's the best of all worlds, as far as I'm concerned!"

ABOUT THE BOOK:

Grayson McDonough has no use for teal ribbons, 5k runs, or ovarian cancer support groups now that his beautiful wife Jenna is gone. But their nine-year-old daughter Sadie seems to need the connection. When Annabelle Curtis, the beautiful cancer survivor organizing the memory quilt project for the Ovacome support group, begins to bring out the silly and fun side of his precious daughter again, Gray must set aside his own grief to support the healing of Sadie’s young heart. But is there hope for Gray’s heart too along the way?

My thoughts:

I've read a number of Sandra Bricker's novels and I know that as I pick up each one, I will be gifted with a story that will both tug my heartstrings and tickle my funny bone.

Sadie's love for her late mother, Jenna, is evident and each journal entry between chapters enhances that part of the story even more. As Sadie learns the life lessons that her mother knew she would need to make it through the days to come, she also uses those lessons to help her father, Gray, see hope where he only sees loss and grief.

After the first anniversary of her death, Jenna asks (through her journal) that Sadie encourage her father to get involved in Ovacome, a support group for those whose lives have been affected by ovarian cancer. He reluctantly agrees and there they meet Annabelle Curtis, an ovarian cancer survivor herself, who is overseeing the construction of a memory quilt to honor both the survivors as well as those who valiantly lost their fight with the dreaded disease. As Sadie gets more attached to the project, she gets attached to Annabelle as well and is determined to get Annabelle and her daddy together.

This sweet love story is full of great characters, some emotionally charged moments, and a delightful ending that will leave a smile on your face. If cancer has touched your life in any way, then you need to read this book. Within the pages of this story, Sandra gives us a look into a disease that can leave people with tattered and fragile hearts, but also shows us that God's love can blanket us with hope and can help mend those raw edges.

My thanks to CFBA and Abingdon Press for generously providing a copy for review.

If you would like to read the first chapter of Raw Edges, go HERE.

Watch the book trailer: