Title: The Sweet By and By
Author: Sara Evans and Rachel Hauck
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Publication Date: January 5, 2010
Hardcover: 272 pages
ISBN: 978-1595544896
Genre: Fiction
A redemptive story from multi-platinum recording artist Sara Evans.
Jade Fitzgerald left the pain of her past in the dust when she headed out for college a decade ago. Now she’s thriving in her career and glowing in the light of Max Benson’s love.
But then Jade’s hippie mother, Beryl Hill, arrives in Whisper Hollow, Tennessee, for Jade’s wedding along with Willow, her wild younger sister. Their arrival forces Jade to throw open the dark closets of her past–the insecurity of living with a restless, wandering mother, the silence of her absent father, and the heart-ripping pain of first-love’s rejection.
Turns out Beryl has a secret of her own. She needs reconciliation with her oldest daughter before illness takes her life. In the final days leading to the wedding, Jade meets the One who shows her that the past has no hold on her future. With a little grace, they’ll meet in the middle, maybe even before that sweet by and by.
My Review:
The Sweet By and By is a beautiful and tender novel written by Sara Evans and Rachel Hauck. As Jade and Max approach their upcoming wedding, a time that should be overflowing with happiness, Jade begins to worry that she is not deserving of such happiness and that the skeletons of her past my not stay hidden. Jade’s fiancé, Max, is an esteemed lawyer from an elite and well-respected family, while Jade’s family is fractured. Jade’s father walked out on his family when she was eight, leaving her and her brother Aiden often in the care of their grandparents. As the years passed, her mother, a true 60s hippie, remarried but never abandoned her longing to travel, Beryl left the children with her mother and Jade was often left to care for her baby sister Willow. With the wedding only 5 weeks away, Jade can no longer wait, she must decide if she can put her differences with her mother aside and invite her to the wedding. Lives are forever changed when Beryl and Willow arrive in Whisper Hollow, Tennessee three weeks before the wedding. The Sweet By and By is a wonderfully written story told by both Beryl and Jade, and by touching on the past as well as the present the reader is able to better understand each woman and their decisions. Evans and Hauck write with such raw emotion and truth one cannot help but care for the characters. The Sweet By and By reminds the reader that every obstacle can be overcome, if confronted and dealt with through love and compassion.
I received a free copy of The Sweet By and By by Sara Evans and Rachel Hauck from Thomas Nelson as part of the tour. Receiving a copy in no way reflected my review of aforementioned novel.
Recent Comments