Reviewing: What Matters Most

Once again Kellie Coates Gilbert tackles a difficult subject in her writing. What Matters Most, book 4 of her Texas Gold series gives us a glimpse of the impact dementia has on the lives the family left behind to face devastating loss of love, income, and the intricacies of managing the web of healthcare.

Leta Breckenridge was working toward a career as a landscape architect. Midway through college her mother is diagnosed with dementia and can no longer care for herself. This forces a new path that has Leta dropping out of school and working two jobs and supporting her mother's mounting costs in an assisted living facility.  She barely has enough to keep her bills paid and juggle the payments for her mother's care. The anguish of providing the best care possible for her mother is the driving force behind her life of work, work and look for more work!

This book is compelling in giving us information on a disease we continue to learn more about.  Nathan Emerson, the man who Leta meets and falls for is a renowned research doctor who has made inroads to cognitive brain studies. He is also a candidate for governor of Texas. After Leta met Nathan, she is drawn to his work on dementia and is impressed with the work he plans to continue in this area as governor.

In a twist of fate she is offered a research job at a prestigious public relations firm.  It isn't long before she is assigned to a special project with the goal of derailing Nathan's campaign. Her company represents the incumbent, a man who has plenty to hide. Although her new job comes with a premium salary she is forced to make a choice between her values and keeping up the payments at her mother's care facility. The decision is a tough one that many in our society face today. It is difficult to leave loved ones in a care facility. In addition to the burden of providing the best care possible, much rides on knowing that the said facility lives up to its promised level of care.

In addition to a good story this book gives us look into the underbelly of political campaigns. What I saw was unexpected. We have seen how campaigns can get dirty and I don't like it. The taste for power drives some to incredible lengths. While this is a work of fiction, the author has written it well enough that I can imagine these things happening. Campaigns come and go and we read of things we would rather not see. Careers can be ruined with the click of a camera or stroke of a pen. The lengths the rival campaign goes to in the effort to win is astonishing.

After reading this story I feel compelled to see more disclosure on how our tax dollars are really spent when used for special programs. Are those little known accounts being used for what they are meant to be used for?

I was pleased to receive this book from Revell to read and review. It is much more than a Christian romance. It is a book that is well researched by a woman who loves to do her homework, no doubt honed by a successful legal career. I wasn't sure how she would tie all this book up into a neat ending but she delivered. If you are looking for a good book to read in this campaign season, pick up Kellie's book What Matters Most.

Reviewing Where The Rivers Part

Dr. Juliet Ryan, noted scientist has the job of her dreams with Larimar Springs. She has a vested interest in food safety as the daughter of Dr. Bennett Ryan who is eminent in the field of food safety and sustainability.  When Juliet was just a child she learned of an outbreak of e coli at a fast food chain that left a lasting impact on her.  She is dedicated to her work and chose Larimar Springs primarily because of assurances by the CEO Alexa Carmichael's stance on food safety.  It didn't hurt that she was quietly seeing Greer Latham, V.P. of sales for the corporation.  She was convinced that she had the best job in the world with a company that cared so much for humanity. Her father differed with her on this and stuck with his mantra that corporate America was only out for money and did not care who they hurt to keep the money pouring in.

I wasn't sure if I would enjoy Where the Rivers Part at first since I have been on a reading jag with period pieces or Amish fiction. I was very surprised to get started and immediately hooked on this book.
Juliet's world spirals out of control on just about all levels and the novel became suspenseful. The characters were well developed and I kept wondering what was going to happen next when I had a chance to pick it up again. Predictably in a book or movie, we can get an idea that something is going to go wrong at the perfect job or the perfect relationship.  At the heart of this book we have very real people who we root for and those who surprise us. It is those who rally around the heroine who can surprise us the most because we don't expect that. In a rousing testament of faith, Juliet's mother inspires both Juliet and Bennett back to God and the shift in them makes the story all the more meaningful. I thought the book was good and the ending is even better. Pick up a copy and get involved in this caper of good and evil!

Many thanks to Revell, a Division of Baker Publishing Group for letting me read and review this book.  Where the Rivers Part is part of the Texas Gold series by Kellie Goates Gilbert. I have found another author to follow.