Book Review: "Circle of Grace" by Leslie Gould

The kids are starting to settle in at Heather Creek Farm. Emily is making new friends, while Christopher has picked up a new hobby and Sam is getting into athletics at school. Emily has been invited to a friend’s lake house, but Charlotte has doubts that the girl — and her cute older brother — are a good influence on Emily. Can she put her foot down without losing her granddaughter’s love? Will Emily listen to her either way?

And when the weather service warns that a tornado is on its way toward Bedford, a scary near-miss and a dramatic rescue remind them all about the importance of family.

Book Three in the Heather Creek series is written by a different author from the previous two, but the storyline blends in so seamlessly that you would think they're all written by the same person. I enjoyed returning to this small town in Nebraska with a different type of blended family. Once again, all the reasons of why I enjoy this series came rushing back: the comforting storyline, the authors treating the kids as modern teens growing up, the ability to admit that adults can make mistakes, and of course all the yummy food. With this book, the kids school lives are brought into center stage as the three begin to settle down into their new surroundings. I honestly really appreciate how well Sam and Emily are portrayed as real teenagers in this book. When the viewpoint focuses on them, I feel as if I'm reading a YA book and not a book where it's obvious an adult wrote it who doesn't know teen culture. The scenes with the tornadoes were fascinating and thrilling to read as well. I don't live out on tornado country, so luckily I've never experienced one and reading this book definitely made me not want to live through one!

The only thing that bugged me a little was Charlotte's seemingly immediate dislike of Sean. I know that she was concerned about Emily and her emotions and potential heartbreak. However it seemed that in her efforts of trying to protect Emily, she missed out on the potential to help the rest of the family and Emily's relationship with Rayann. I wished she would have gone more out of her way to get to know the rest of the family instead of making assumed judgments. Other than that, I really enjoyed this book. This was also my first novel of Leslie Gould's and I enjoyed her writing very much and am looking forward to reading her other novels as well. I know I gush about this series every time I review one of the books, but it's because I truly enjoy reading this series.

Circle of Grace by Leslie Gould is published by Guideposts (2008)