Castles In the Sand by Sally John

Some chick-lit is light-hearted and fun, designed to make you laugh out loud and think about life. But some chick-lit tugs at your heart and makes you feel as though someone has read your journal, and God has a lesson to be learned amid the pages.

That is what I found in "Castles In The Sand" by Sally John. This is book 2 in The Beach House series, and it spoke volumes to my heart.

Kenzie is the wayward daughter. Drake and Susan are the up and coming ministry team parents who flinch at their daughter's unwed pregnancy. It's the prodigal story in reverse. She comes for forgiveness, and gets shut out.

Susan journeys to the beach house, and there is where God meets her where she is in her walk, her marriage, her relationship with Kenzie, and her relationship with Him. Powerful testimony to prayer, to honesty, to consequences...to being real with God and with each other (see my other blog on Velveteen Christians).

This book hits home because I have a wayward daughter. She has left the God she once loved, and I struggle to love her the way she needs to be loved (never mind the way she WANTS to be loved).

Any woman who has struggled with image, with expectation, with sin...will love this book. Be prepared...tissues alert! But I promise, you will love the Beach House...and you will love this family, find them precious, and see yourself somewhere in the midst.

Deena