Books*Reviews*Etc: BRINGING MAGGIE HOME

BRINGING MAGGIE HOME
by
Kim Vogel Sawyer

Decades of loss. an unsolved Mystery

and a

Rift Spanning Three Generations

Hazel DeFord is a woman haunted by her past. While berry picking in a blackberry thicket in 1943, ten year old Hazel momentarily turns her back on her three year old sister Maggie and the young girl disappears.

Almost seventy years later, the mystery remains unsolved and the secret guilt Hazel carries has alienated her from her daughter Diane, who can't understand her mother's overprotectiveness and near paranoia. While Diane resents her mother's inexplicable eccentricities, her daughter Meghan - a cold case agent - cherishes her grandmother's lavish attention and affection.

When a traffic accident forces Meghan to take a six-week leave-of-absence to recover, all three generations of DeFord women find themselves unexpectedly under the same roof. Meghan knows she will have to act as a mediator between the two headstrong and contentious women. But when they uncover Hazel's painful secret will Meghan also be able to use her investigative prowess to solve the family mystery and help both women recover all that's been lost? AMAZON BUY LINK

THE AUTHOR: KIM VOGEL SAWYER is a highly acclaimed, best selling author with more than one million books in print, in several different languages. Her titles have earned numerous accolades, including the ACFW Carol Award, the Inspirational Readers Choice Award, and the Gayle Wilson Award of Excellence. Kim lives with her retired military husband, Don, in Central Kansas, where she continues to write gentle stories of hope and redemption. She enjoys spending time with her three daughters and grandchildren.AUTHOR WEBSITE

MY THOUGHTS:

Such a lovely story that will tear at your heart strings and yet, warm your heart. It goes deep to the soul. As you read this story your emotions go out to Hazel. She has lived over seventy years with the haunting of her sister's disappearance. They were both just little girls when it happened, but Hazel has lived with guilt. Guilt that it was her fault that in a split second, her little sister disappeared. As the author takes us into Hazel's life, you want to tell Hazel it wasn't her fault. She was a little girl. You become so invested in the character's lives. Hazel became a very protective parent to Diane and Diane just couldn't understand it. She felt smothered, so a wall was built between the two. This was a secret that caused this. The secret that Hazel carried for years. Hazel's grand daughter, Meghan, loves Hazel and with her experience of being a cold case agent, will she be able to solve this mystery that has haunted Hazel all these years? When an automobile accident forces the three women to spend time together, will the secret come to light? Will Meghan be able to bring the women together and solve the unsolved mystery that has brought such unhappiness to them?

This story may hit home in various ways to different readers. You think of things that are hidden for years and years. Secrets that split families apart. Secrets that are so painful and are hidden for years. Hazel bore a guilt that no little 10 year old should have to bear. A guilt that spanned over 70 years. As you read you may feel that you know exactly how the characters felt. The author puts you there as part of their lives. You may know the pain, the heart ache. Such realism that brings about various emotions from the reader. The past is the past and it can't be changed but will these women have a chance to start anew and savor the future as mothers, daughter, grandmother, and grand daughter? Often times we won't or can't let go. We find it hard to let others, even family, know what we feel deep inside. As you near the end, you know deep inside that there just has to be a solution, but will there be?

Don't let this book pass you by. Once again Ms. Sawyer has brought a lovely story of LIFE and all it brings.

I received a copy of this book and voluntarily decided to review it.

I would give this book 5 STARS.
GOODREADS REVIEW LINK
AMAZON REVIEW LINK