Hope’s Enduring Echo by Kim Vogel Sawyer – A Lovely, Enjoyable, and Inspirational Read

 

Hope’s Enduring Echo is Kim Vogel Sawyer’s new book.  I have only read one other book by this author.  So glad I found this novel it was a lovely read, even with some weighty issues it addressed. 

 

Hope’s Enduring Echo takes place in Canon City, Colorado in 1915.  The story is about the Ward family, Claude, Edda, and their daughter Jennie.  Claude’s job was to do a daily inspection of the wooden pipeline that brings water to the town of Canon City.  The family live in a remote cabin near the pipeline and they have no neighbors.  Other than their monthly trip to town and seeing the train passengers and crew, they do not see too many people.  Claude had always taken pride in providing for his family.  Thing changed two years ago when he sustained a serious injury to his leg.  He was not able to do the inspections since then.  His daughter Jennie has taken over the daily inspection of the pipeline.  Claude’s leg was not the only wound, daily he seems to be losing the battle to melancholia. 

 

Jennie has been homeschooled since the Wards moved to the cabin.  She has missed being in school and having friends.  That is why Jennie prayed that God would bring her a friend.  Every day when the train passed by Jennie waved to the crew and passengers.  One day a college student, Leo Day, got off at their stop.  He had seen this girl waving what looked like a bone.  Could it be a bone from a dinosaur?  As a paleontologist, Leo wanted to take a closer look and find out where it came from.  Could this young man be the answer to Jennie’s prayer for a friend?

 

I absolutely loved reading Hope’s Enduring Echo.  It was such a change of pace from so many other books.  Instead of being action packed, the story focused on the characters and their relationships and how they develop, grow, and change. 

 

The best part of this book was the characters’ Christian faith.  The characters strived to live out their faith, to apply the Scriptures to their daily life, choices, and how they responded to situations.  I loved that when characters realized that they had acted unkindly or impatiently they showed repentance and strove to apologize and make amends. 

 

When I think of Christian fiction, Hope’s Enduring Echo is a wonderful example of what I am looking for.  The characters’ faith was integrated into who they were and how they lived their lives.  Faith was an integral part of the storyline. 

 

I also enjoyed the different characters, especially Jennie, Edda, and Leo.  Claude struggled with depression it was painful to see him stuck in that cycle.  I appreciate the tender and caring response his wife and daughter displayed.  It was nice seeing the relationship between Jennie and Leo develop.  I found Leo’s quest to locate dinosaur bones and the study of paleontology interesting.

 

I enjoyed reading Hope’s Enduring Echo by Kim Vogel Sawyer and I highly recommend this book.  I look forward to reading more of this author’s novels, past and future books.  Kim writes in a manner that takes me back to what Christian fiction was like when I was a new believer.  Seeing the Christian faith as essential in the characters lives. 

 

I would like to thank Waterbrook Publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity to read a complimentary copy of Hope’s Enduring Echo by Kim Vogel Sawyer.  I was under no obligation to give a favorable review. 

Bringing Maggie Home by Kim Vogel Sawyer – A Thought Provoking Interesting Read

I love a good mystery, and that’s what drew me in and want to read, Bringing Maggie Home by Kim Vogel Sawyer.  This is the first book I’ve read by this author so I didn’t know what to expect.

The story starts out in 1943, when young Hazel is watching her 3- year-old sister Maggie.  She only turned her back for a few seconds, but that’s all it took and little Maggie was gone.  What happened?  Would they ever know?  Hazel and her family were devastated by the loss.  Its impact would ripple down and impact future generations.  Fast forward to present day, Hazel’s granddaughter Meghan is coming for a visit only to be surprised and find her mom Diane there too.  When the long-held secret comes out about Maggie, Meghan has hope, that as a cold case investigator, she may be able to finally bring some closure for her grandmother that she loves so dearly. 

Bringing Maggie Home turned out to be a little different than I anticipated.  It focused mostly on the people and their relationships.  Through this story, you can see how one horrible event can impact people far beyond the initial tragedy.  There were times, I felt like the story dragged a bit, because I was wanting to get on to solving the mystery.  When in fact that’s secondary to understanding people. 

I struggled with the character, Diane.  She was just downright unpleasant and I wanted to slap her.  She was rude and I didn’t like her.  But as the story went along I came to understand her more.  I really liked the characters Hazel and Meghan and their loving and caring relationship.  Another likeable character was Sean.  I liked how he lived out his Christian faith.  I greatly appreciate it when the Gospel message is woven in to a book by a Christian author. 

For those of you who love solving mysteries, don’t worry, you’ll get to the bottom of what happened to Maggie in due time.  That part of the book was interesting too.  I wish it had been a bigger part of the story. 

But all in all, I recommend Bringing Maggie Home by Kim Vogel Sawyer.  There were times reading it was painful because of the bitterness, hurt and anger the characters were dealing with.  But it caused me to reflect on my own life and relationships.  I went through a range of emotions as I read this book.  I found it hopeful in that characters grew and changed overtime and you saw the Lord at work in their lives. 

I love finding an author whose work is new to me.  Not only did I get to enjoy Kim Vogel Sawyer’s newest book Bringing Maggie Home, but now I can go back and read her earlier books.

I would like to thank Blogging for Books and WaterBrook Publishers for the opportunity to read Bringing Maggie Home for free.  I was under no obligation to give a favorable review.