Wildflowers from Winter

Wildflowers burst from the ground in vivid blues and whites and violets, creating a picture more pleasing than anything her hands could design. She didn’t understand how it was possible, but Evan had been right. The abundance of snow had produced an abundance of wildflowers. More that she’d ever seen before. Somehow, those cold, lifeless winter months had prepared the land for something breathtaking. Something beautiful. Something brimming with life.

Evan knew there was something Bethany tried so hard to hide, to ignore. Why did he care? Why did he want to help her? He wasn’t sure, except that he knew he cared.

Bethany is forced to return to her hometown for not just one tragedy but two. Now she was stuck there. Her job was gone. Her apartment lease up. Her grandfather dead. Though the four hundred acres of farmland was hers, the farmhouse had been willed to Evan. Didn’t anyone understand why she couldn’t remain in Peaks? So now Bethany finds herself living with her old friend, Robin who is newly widowed and pregnant. Robin never had time to tell her husband about the pregnancy before he died and now she is finding it near impossible to move on with her life. As Bethany and Robin work through their struggles they begin to support each other in a way reminiscent of their childhood days. Moving through the winter months Bethany is present for the birth of Robin’s son, begins renovating a shop for the café Robin and her husband has planned to open, helps with the birth of a calf and finds that a hard winter does indeed bring forth wildflowers in abundance. She begins to understand that God is not who she thought He was and the winter of her life bursts into something complete, whole and breathtakingly beautiful. Like a field of wildflowers after the long, harsh months of winter.

I found it difficult to put down Wildflowers from Winter. Katie Ganshert is a good job of keeping her readers hooked. It isn’t until the very end of the book that we find out why Bethany had such a hard time remaining in Peak and why she was always looking for a way to escape.

I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.