Divine by Karen Kingsbury

★★★★★
Mary Madison was a child of unspeakable horrors, a young woman society wanted to forget. Now a divine power has set Mary free to bring life-changing hope and love to battered and abused women living in the shadow of the nation’s capital.
 
Mary is educated and redeemed, a powerful voice in Washington, D.C. - both to the politically elite and to other women like her. But she also has a past that shamed polite society. Her experiences created in her paralyzing fear, faithlessness, addiction, and promiscuity. At the crossroads of her life, only one power set Mary free and gave her a lifetime of love and hope. A power that could only be divine.
 
Peggy Madison is Mary’s grandmother, a quiet woman who has spent her life praying for her granddaughter. Peggy clings to the belief that God has a special plan for Mary. Through years of sorrow and longing, Peggy walks the journey in faith and watches from a distance as one key person after another comes into Mary’s life and demonstrates the timeless, powerful love of the Master, the Savior. The divine Lord.
 
Emma Randall is a single mother fleeing an abusive relationship, wondering whether there is hope for her and her young daughters. She is desperate, broken, and unloved, tempted to commit the unthinkable. Then Mary Madison introduces Emma to the greatest love of all, greater than any either of them has ever imagined.

Wow, Divine was a really intense book.  When the book overview mentions "unspeakable horrors," it's not exaggerating.  Divine was written as a parallel to the story of Mary Magdelene from Scripture and the seven demons she dealt with.  The modern Mary of this book certainly faces her seven demons as the book delves into heavy topics such as prostitution, sex slavery, abuse, and more.  As dark as these topics are, this book is NOT explicit in any way; however, Kingsbury certainly leaves no question as to what the women in this book deal with.  Parts of it are certainly hard to read.  But it is a story of finding the all-encompasing and redeeming love of Christ, a love that is Divine.  It's a very good book, reminding us that whatever sins we have committed, even if they are unspeakable, and whatever is in our past, we are made alive and anew by Jesus and His sacrifice.

Just Beyond the Clouds by Karen Kingsbury

★★★★☆
#1 bestselling author Karen Kingsbury tells the heartwrenching story of Cody Gunner, a widower fighting for stability, and the woman who wants to help him trust again--even when trust is the most terrifying thing of all.

Still aching over his wife's death, Cody Gunner can't bear the thought of also letting go of his Down's Syndrome brother, Carl Joseph. Cody wants his brother home, where he will be safe and cared for, not out on his own in a world that Cody knows all too well can be heartless and insecure. So when Carl Joseph's teacher, Elle, begins championing his independence, she finds herself at odds with Cody. But even as these two battle it out, they can't deny the instinctive connection they share, and Cody faces a crisis of the heart. What if Elle is the one woman who can teach Cody that love is still possible? If Cody can let go of his lingering anger, he might just see that sometimes the brightest hope of all lies just beyond the clouds.

I really enjoyed Just Beyond the Clouds.  What I didn't realize until after I'd read it was that it's the second book in a series! (The first is A Thousand Tomorrows, which I haven't read).  You definitely don't need to read the first book in the series to get up to speed in this book, but I may go back and read the first one anyways.  This was a really sweet and enjoyable story.  Elle works with handicapped young adults, and their personalities are so sweet and innocent.  I loved reading about Elle and Cody and how they carefully navigate their relationship.  This is the second Christian fiction book I've read by Kingsbury, and she is definitely on my list of authors to watch for.  A really enjoyable and sweet read.

(By the way, A Thousand Tomorrows and Just Beyond the clouds are available as one Nook book here!)

Like Dandelion Dust by Karen Kingsbury

★★★★★
Jack and Molly Campbell can imagine no greater happiness than sharing their lives with their adopted son, Joey. Then, suddenly one day, their joy is dispersed like dandelion dust in the wind: A judge rules that four-year-old Joey must be returned to his biological father. As the Campbells desperately search for a solution, they begin to grapple with the moral core of life's problems. A heart-wrenching, ultimately uplifting novel.

Wow.  I thought Like Dandelion Dust was a fantastic novel.  It was the first Christian fiction book I had read in a while, and I thought it was wonderfully written.  The story is very rich - it explores both emotional and moral dilemmas.  Kingsbury makes you feel the gut-wrenching situations and decisions as her characters are experiencing them.  I liked the 'unpredictable-ness' of this book and thought it was a great read.  Very uplifting.  After reading this, I downloaded a few more of Kingsbury's books to my Nook - I have a new author to follow!