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jan1234's review against another edition
5.0
A lovely story about love & forgiveness. Couldn't put this down.
cometreadings's review against another edition
5.0
Emotional and uplifting, A Beautiful Mess is a delightful novel about a woman, a mother, taking all the life challenges and learning to face them with the power of love and faith.
This book title perfectly defines the plot. Because no matter how difficult the situation is, the characters penned by Brenda S. Anderson are motivated by good feelings, always looking for the good out of situations that at first might seem unbearable.
From the very first pages, you can see Erin as a protective mother and a determined woman who is going to find the right balance between her work and her new family of two instead of three. Yet she’s far from being flawless. Inside she’s very vulnerable, and the scars from her past are still there, ready to menace her serenity again.
When her ex-husband and his new wife die in a car accident, Erin becomes the legal guardian of the couple’s daughter, Clara, who’s also the reason why her husband left her and their daughter Mik, years before.
Even if she accepts this temporary situation, to also protect Mik and Clara’s relationship, she’s not ready for all the emotions quickly returning like a boomerang. She has to deal with all the memories, the pain, the rage, and start opening her heart to trust again and forgive the friend who abandoned her without any apparent reason when she needed him the most.
Reading this book was such a pleasure, and with its characters and storyline, it has put at my heartstrings.
I’m very thankful to the author for a copy in exchange for my honest opinion, and I’m surely looking forward to her other books in the future.
This book title perfectly defines the plot. Because no matter how difficult the situation is, the characters penned by Brenda S. Anderson are motivated by good feelings, always looking for the good out of situations that at first might seem unbearable.
From the very first pages, you can see Erin as a protective mother and a determined woman who is going to find the right balance between her work and her new family of two instead of three. Yet she’s far from being flawless. Inside she’s very vulnerable, and the scars from her past are still there, ready to menace her serenity again.
When her ex-husband and his new wife die in a car accident, Erin becomes the legal guardian of the couple’s daughter, Clara, who’s also the reason why her husband left her and their daughter Mik, years before.
Even if she accepts this temporary situation, to also protect Mik and Clara’s relationship, she’s not ready for all the emotions quickly returning like a boomerang. She has to deal with all the memories, the pain, the rage, and start opening her heart to trust again and forgive the friend who abandoned her without any apparent reason when she needed him the most.
Reading this book was such a pleasure, and with its characters and storyline, it has put at my heartstrings.
I’m very thankful to the author for a copy in exchange for my honest opinion, and I’m surely looking forward to her other books in the future.
daisey4's review against another edition
4.0
There is a lot going on in this book. I’m not sure how I feel about it……lots of different personalities dealing with many struggles. It was clean, which I really appreciate.
randikaye's review against another edition
4.0
A Beautiful Mess is the 4th book in The Mosaic Collection. If you've not read the others, no worries. Each book is a completely standalone novel written by different Christian authors to make up this unique collection of novels.
To be honest, A Beautiful Mess was unlike any Christian novel I've read in the past. What set it apart to me? Christian novels are more often than not VERY squeaky clean... A Beautiful Mess was not. Don't get me wrong, it's pretty clean as far as romances go but it doesn't shy away from real life either. There is no language actually written in the story, but there are several instances when it mentions characters using such language. Likewise, there are no graphic sex scenes... but the topic is certainly not glossed over. After all, this IS a story about a child who was conceived from an affair. It's real, it's messy, and it's quite frank in it's talk about the subject. It certainly puts more focus on the subject than you typically find in a Christian novel, but I felt like that added to the realness in the story... that's just life, and life isn't always squeaky clean. For this reason, I feel there are some Christian readers who are not going to enjoy the story, but I would encourage you to look past that discomfort because this truly is a fantastic story about forgiveness and the power of God to change our hearts and our lives.
As I read this book, I was drawn to the character of Erin. As a mother to an autistic child, I saw many descriptions that made me wonder if she was on the spectrum. But then I also saw some of myself as a socially anxious and rather awkward person too. It was never really addressed as to why Erin was the way she is, but it truly doesn't matter either way. I enjoyed getting to know her in all her quirks. She is just one of the well-written characters we came to know throughout this story...and not all of them were nearly as likable. Her ex-husband was in fact not very likable at all... nor was he supposed to be. One thing I did really love was that we got to get to know him through his journal entries and while he still wasn't a saint, it showed again just how God can change even the most unlikable.
This was the first book I had read my Brenda S Anderson, but I so enjoyed the realness of this story so I will definitely be checking out more in the future. This is another great addition to The Mosaic Collection and one I would certainly recommend.
**I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for consideration. All thoughts are 100% my own.
To be honest, A Beautiful Mess was unlike any Christian novel I've read in the past. What set it apart to me? Christian novels are more often than not VERY squeaky clean... A Beautiful Mess was not. Don't get me wrong, it's pretty clean as far as romances go but it doesn't shy away from real life either. There is no language actually written in the story, but there are several instances when it mentions characters using such language. Likewise, there are no graphic sex scenes... but the topic is certainly not glossed over. After all, this IS a story about a child who was conceived from an affair. It's real, it's messy, and it's quite frank in it's talk about the subject. It certainly puts more focus on the subject than you typically find in a Christian novel, but I felt like that added to the realness in the story... that's just life, and life isn't always squeaky clean. For this reason, I feel there are some Christian readers who are not going to enjoy the story, but I would encourage you to look past that discomfort because this truly is a fantastic story about forgiveness and the power of God to change our hearts and our lives.
As I read this book, I was drawn to the character of Erin. As a mother to an autistic child, I saw many descriptions that made me wonder if she was on the spectrum. But then I also saw some of myself as a socially anxious and rather awkward person too. It was never really addressed as to why Erin was the way she is, but it truly doesn't matter either way. I enjoyed getting to know her in all her quirks. She is just one of the well-written characters we came to know throughout this story...and not all of them were nearly as likable. Her ex-husband was in fact not very likable at all... nor was he supposed to be. One thing I did really love was that we got to get to know him through his journal entries and while he still wasn't a saint, it showed again just how God can change even the most unlikable.
This was the first book I had read my Brenda S Anderson, but I so enjoyed the realness of this story so I will definitely be checking out more in the future. This is another great addition to The Mosaic Collection and one I would certainly recommend.
**I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for consideration. All thoughts are 100% my own.
pages_and_procrastination's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
funny
reflective
fast-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
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