What a fantastic book! Beautifully written with wonderful characters. It openly addresses terminal illness and how it affects families. It also reminds the reader that God is in control- very encouraging. I highly recommend this book! ( )

Christina Suzann Nelson has been a favorite of mine since her first book. This book covered many emotional topics, insecurities, jealousy, feelings of not being wanted, and doing everything in one's own strength. A quote sums this up: "Those are lies you let get into your heart and mind. You were so worried about what everyone else thought,... It was like you were always trying to make up for something, and all the while, you were loved perfectly for who you were." Wise words we all need to hear.
In Christina's stories, God is always working everything for our good and His glory. Those are the best kind of stories. ( )

This story has a slow start as the author introduces her cast of characters, which allows readers to know them well. Readers first meet Cassie George, she is running home to be with Aunt Shasta, the woman who raised her. Shasta is sick and needs help. Cassie goes back to the place she’s called home, with Lark, Cassie’s humorous, precious four-year-old. Nothing gets past Lark, she is a smart, outspoken, little girl who has never met a stranger she didn’t like. She quickly settles in at Aunt Shasta’s and likes the thought of going to school.

When Cassie gets home, Shasta is in good spirits, and they have fun at Shasta’s coffee shop like in years past. Readers then meet Nora, a woman who is expecting her third child. She’s scared because things are not going as smooth as her other two pregnancies went. She keeps this news to herself as not to worry, her husband Ferral is a busy detective. Likewise, she doesn’t want him to ask her about the DNA family results she doesn’t know how to process. Can she learn that letting go of perfect may help set her free?

The story became more compelling when Cassie receives a manuscript addressed to her with no return address. Only a note that requests she read it. Things start to stir inside Cassie as she reads this remarkably haunting story. She can’t put it down. Cassie had so many questions as she read. She needed answers. I was fascinated by this. I wondered how the information she gleaned from the manuscript, would tie into Cassie’s family life. It sounds so familiar. She feels like she lived it. Can this detective she’s contacted help uncover the writer’s real identity?

I kept wondering how all the puzzle pieces would fit together. I kept waiting for all the characters to intersect; some did, and others did not. The story did come to a startling conclusion I kept wondering about. The author does a wonderful job of showing readers that families come together in very different ways. They help and love differently. Cassie learns to accept that. Themes that run through this novel of family, loss, friendship, forgiveness, second chances interwoven with a natural spiritual thread of unconditional love laced with kindness, humor, and truth. It’s a winning combination. This book will grab you and never let you go. It will work for your next book club pick.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I have received a complimentary copy of this book by the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”

Nora St. Laurent
TBCN Where Book Fun Begins!
The Book Club Network blog www.bookfun.org ( )

Shaped by the Waves by Christina Suzann Nelson is an amazing story that stayed with me after it ended. It is a well written story with wonderful characters that focuses on family, friends, relationships and secrets. This story is actually two stories in one with the main part being Cassie moving back to care for her great aunt and the other part being papers she receives in the mail. I just love the closeness Cassie and her roommate have and how the whole community stepped in to help Cassie with her aunt's failing health. This story also has mystery as to who is sending Cassie the papers and what they mean. This is not a quick read story as there is so much going on with the two stories blending together. The story does briefly mention sensitive subjects such as abuse, abduction and unfaithfulness.
I voluntarily received a complimentary copy of this story from the publisher through NetGalley, this is my honest review. ( )

I just love Christina's novels. They are full of little lessons, twists and characters that you can always seem to relate to! Cassie is a single mother and has worked hard to get where she has in life, but then a devastating call sends her back "home" and uproot all she has worked for. But life doesn't always go as we planned, and Cassie is quickly learning that sometimes we have to let life take control, as well as others to help us get through things. Knowing that her aunt does not have much longer, Cassie is trying to find out the answers she has wanted to know her whole life- who was her mother and what really happened, who is Cassie herself? When a mysterious manuscript shows up, Cassie realizes that this "story" may just be the story that holds the answers but will her aunt also help to fill in the blanks as well before it's too late? This was such a great story, and reminds us that often our past is our past, and what happened then should not change who we are today or what we've become and worked for. ( )