On... Speak through the Wind by Allison Pittman

Once again I came across a book that I cannot remember putting on my list or why I did so but I was not disappointed.

A review that I read... or a snippet about the book... somewhere compared the book to Redeeming Love (one of my absolute favorite books of all time) to Janette Oke... a beloved author from my childhood but not one now. (Her writing style is very cliche).

With that sort of information in my mind before I opened the book I had no idea what to expect. I didn't even really know what the basic idea of the story was because of the library stickers on the back covering half of the summary.

Mrs. Pittman did not disappoint. I never thought that I would discover a story so like Redeeming Love but this book rivals that story. Of course, I would not have liked the book if the plots had been similar or dealt with similar things. This book certainly was not a copy but dealt with many of the same issues.

Mrs. Pittman creates such a well of sympathy and empathy for Kassandra. Her life is so full of trials and things that happen beyond her control that seem to knock her down just when she gets her feet under her again. This series of events draws on the well of sympathy in the reader. In addition, Kassandra makes her own horrible mistakes... things that we finite humans are so prone to do. ("prone to wander, Lord I feel it, prone to leave the God I love") The trouble that Kassandra's poor decisions plunge her into draws on the well of empathy in the reader. I wonder what I would do if I were faced with the same choices as Kassandra.

Allison Pittman is a new favorite author of mine. I definitely am going to sample more of her work.