A young girl lies huddled in a cardboard box, shrinking away from the social workers who have come to rescue her from a homeless camp. She doesn’t speak and affection seems alien to her as she has no apparent ties to anyone.
Placed in the affluent home of Hayley and Jason Montgomery, the girl begins to heal and flourish.

Will this little girl be the one to help Hayley work through the horror of seeing her own daughter die due to a hit and run? Believing her daughter’s death is God’s punishment for a past abortion, Hayley is determined to mother this nameless child to appease what she believes is an angry God.

Haunted by the secret he’s kept for over a year, Jason finds his control slipping when the girl comes to live with him and Hayley. When his secret is exposed, it threatens to destroy everything Jason and Hayley believe about their marriage, themselves, and God.

I love the idea of the book, but the execution didn’t work for me. I think most of my frustration came from lack of conflict. There’s really only one plot line in the book (Hayley taking care of her foster daughter), so there are many of the same scenes repeated over and over again.

I also think this book is another victim of bad cover copy–the back of the book tells you exactly what Hayley’s struggling with and why, but it’s a mystery in the book that’s dragged out for several chapters. I thought the book would be about her working through those issues, but that doesn’t really happen until the end of the book.

In general, I prefer to see more emotional contrast in the characters and I like a few more subplots for texture. This book started at an emotional high and stayed there throughout the book. Not my favorite, but I know others who like it.

Rated PG for subject matter (but nothing shown or explicitly discussed). Get your copy here.

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