CFBA: Miracle in a Dry Season by Sarah Loudin Thomas (Review)

This week, theChristian Fiction Blog Allianceis introducingMiracle in a Dry SeasonBethany House Publishers (August 5, 2014)
bySarah Loudin Thomas

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Sarah Loudin Thomas grew up on a 100-acre farm in French Creek, WV, the seventh generation to live there. Her Christian fiction is set in West Virginia and celebrates the people, the land, and the heritage of Appalachia. Her first novel, Miracle in a Dry Season, releases August 2014 through Bethany House. Sarah is represented by Wendy Lawton of Books & Such Literary Agency.

A graduate of Coastal Carolina University in Conway, SC, Sarah once dreamed of being a marine scientist. But her love for words won out and she has spent much of her career in public relations and marketing. She currently oversees fundraising and communications for a Christian children’s home in Black Mountain, NC.

Sarah and her husband Jim live in the mountains of Western North Carolina with Thistle–the canine equivalent to a personal trainer pushing them to hike, run, and throw sticks. Sarah is active in her local church and enjoys cooking and–you guessed it–reading.

ABOUT THE BOOK

In a Drought, It's the Darkest Cloud

That Brings Hope

It's 1954 and Perla Long's arrival in the sleepy town of Wise, West Virginia, was supposed to go unnoticed. She just wants a quiet, safe place for her and her daughter, Sadie, where the mistakes of her past can stay hidden. But then drought comes to Wise, and Perla is pulled into the turmoil of a town desperately in need of a miracle.

Casewell Phillips has resigned himself to life as a bachelor. . .until he meets Perla. She's everything he's sought in a woman, but he can't get past the sense that she's hiding something. As the drought worsens, Perla's unique gift divides the town in two, bringing both gratitude and condemnation, and placing the pair in the middle of a storm of anger and forgiveness, fear and faith.


If you would like to read the first chapter of Miracle in a Dry Season, go HERE.

My Review:

What a fabulous and unusual book. I enjoyed getting to know Perla, Sadie, Casewell and several of the townsfolk from Wise. Miracle in a Dry Season is about second chances, forgiveness, and faith. It's about using the talents God gives us to honor and glorify him. It's a book about how one person's best intentions can be misrepresented and how deadly gossip can truly be. In the end, however, it's a story of two people who are brought together during a time of great conflict in their lives--one searching for a new beginning and the other seeking the approval of a father he never really knew. The subplots of this story are just as engaging as the unfolding romance between Perla and Casewell. I'll be looking forward to more books by Thomas. 

I received a copy of this book from the publisher. This review contains my honest opinions, which I have not been compensated for in any way.