Review: Bringing Maggie Home by Kim Vogel Sawyer

Kim Vogel Sawyer is one of my favorite authors.  I am always excited to see when she has a new book releasing and I was thrilled to receive an advanced reader copy of Bringing Maggie Home for review purposes.  If you enjoy Christian fiction, this book is a MUST READ!  I believe Bringing Maggie Home is her best book so far!

Let me tell you a little about the book.

Bringing Maggie Home is a stand alone novel (although I would love to see some kind of sequel featuring Meghan and Sean) and is around 335 pages long.  It is a contemporary Christian fiction novel that spans three generations and moves the reader through time.  The story begins in 1943 in a fictional town in Arkansas when 10 year old Hazel turns her back on her three year old sister Maggie and Maggie disappears.  Hazel keeps the tragedy hidden from her daughter and granddaughter.  Her daughter, Diane, never could understand Hazel's over protective nature and resents her mother for it.  Meghan, Diane's daughter adores the love and affection that Hazel shows her but always feels as though she is caught between her mother and her grandmother.

70 years after Maggie disappears, Meghan, a cold case detective, has to take a leave of absence from work to recover from a traffic accident. She decides to spend the time with her grandmother in Las Vegas.  What she didn't know was that her mother planned to be there too.  Now all three women are under the same roof for several weeks.  Hazel's painful secret is uncovered and  Meghan desires to solve the mystery of what happened to Maggie and help both women recover all that they have lost.

Why is the book so amazing?  Well first of all because it is a good story.  When you start reading you want to know the solution to the mystery and find out what happened to Maggie all those years ago.  Ms. Sawyer has an amazing writing style that draws the reader into the book and brings the characters and setting to life.  I live in a small town in Arkansas and even though the story is in a fictional town, I could definitely relate to the story and some of the real places that were mentioned.  The best part of the story  is the message it carries and the impact it will have on the reader.  I am not sure I can do it justice in this review, but Bringing Maggie Home has a wonderful message of forgiveness that we all can learn from.  Sometimes you just do not know why people may do things they way that they do, even the ones closest to us.  Diane didn't know why her mother was so protective, but it caused resentment and a horrible strain in their relationship.  Diane promised herself that she was not going to be like that as a mother so she didn't show love and affection to her daughter who didn't understand why she wasn't affectionate like her grandmother and always felt like she was a mediator between the two women.  I loved this quote from the book, " I did the best I could with you and everything I did was out of love."  I hope my children all know that about me some day!

The rest of the message has to do with hope, the One in whom we should hope, and where true joy comes from.  This was another great quote, " That's the joy of the Lord honey, and it's better then happiness.  Happiness is fleeting, but the joy of salvation is forever.  You walk with Him now and you will never loose that joy no matter what comes."

Bringing Maggie Home releases September 5th!  This book was such a blessing to me.  I've already read it twice!

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this book for the purpose of writing a fair and honest review.  I received no other compensation and all opinions are my own.  I am disclosing this in accordance to FTC regulations.