Thursday, June 14, 2012

Book Review: Wildflowers from Winter

I recently began following Author Katie Ganshert’s blog, just weeks before her debut novel Wildflowers from Winter was released. It’s been fun getting to know Katie and watching her launch this book. I had the opportunity to participate in her Wildflowers from Winter Blog Hop and was fortunate enough to win an Advanced Reader Copy!

Let me say up front, I am a die-hard historical fiction reader. I can count the contemporary romances I’ve read on my right hand, but I was eager to read Katie’s novel for three reasons:

1. I’ve never followed an author while they launched their first novel and that alone intrigued me to read it.

2. The story line is fascinating and I especially love that it’s set in Iowa, my neighbor state to the south and a place I lived for over a year.

3. As I meet new authors I want to be open to read all sorts of genres so that I can support their work.

From the first sentence in Wildflowers from Winter, I was hooked. The opening scene starts in first person narrative and it brought me into the heart and mind of the heroine immediately. In an interesting twist, the novel transitions into third person narrative and then flips back and forth between first and third person periodically. I liked these different points of view and I thought it worked well.

Katie expertly captured the five senses and transported me into the story world through the smell of coffee, the taste of a cool Pepsi, the feel of the bitter cold, gazing upon the Iowa farmland and hearing the falling rain.  I enjoyed the references to pop (a very Midwestern term) and the Boundary Waters, which is a canoeing area in the northern portion of Minnesota.  These references helped bring the plot into the real world and made me feel like I was right there with the characters.

I was moved along with the story, waiting as bits of the puzzle were put together, feeling the heroine’s pain and heartache and watching as she found peace and healing with her past. Every character felt real to me and jumped off the page. The hero was everything a hero should be and the love story was sweet.

Katie tackled some tough issues in this book. Really tough. And she brought you deep into the minds of the main characters. These issues could have pulled the story into a black hole, leaving the reader feeling heavy and discouraged, but Katie expertly balances these aspects of her book with carefully crafted scenes of hope and possibility. The heroine’s spiritual journey is especially poignant and Katie handled it beautifully.

Wildflowers from Winter kept me up well past bedtime on several occasions! I would highly recommend it, and, as I said, I’m not a big fan of contemporary novels, but this one has me reconsidering. I look forward to reading Katie's next book, Wishing on Willows.
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 A young architect at a prestigious Chicago firm, Bethany Quinn has built a life far removed from her trailer park teen years. Until an interruption from her estranged mother reveals that tragedy has struck in her hometown and a reluctant Bethany is called back to rural Iowa. Determined to pay her respects while avoiding any emotional entanglements, she vows not to stay long. But the unexpected inheritance of farmland and a startling turn of events in Chicago forces Bethany to come up with a new plan.

Handsome farmhand Evan Price has taken care of the Quinn farm for years. So when Bethany is left the land, he must fight her decisions to realize his dreams. But even as he disagrees with Bethany’s vision, Evan feels drawn to her and the pain she keeps so carefully locked away.

For Bethany, making peace with her past and the God of her childhood doesn’t seem like the path to freedom. Is letting go the only way to new life, love and a peace she’s not even sure exists?

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Katie Ganshert was born and raised in the Midwest, where she writes stories about finding faith and falling in love. When she’s not busy plotting her next novel, she enjoys going on romantic dates with her husband, playing make-believe with her wild-child of a son, and chatting with her girlfriends over bagels and coffee.
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What about you? Have you read Wildflowers from Winter? Do you prefer historical or contemporary fiction?


15 comments:

  1. I loved WFW!! Katie has such an awesome way with words and weaved the story so well. I liked the switch between first and third person as well.

    And I don't really have a preference between historical and contemporary. I love both. I read both probably equally as often. :)

    Cute pic, btw!

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    1. Thanks - I took the picture when WFW came in the mail and I posted it on Katie's Facebook page. :)

      I'm happy to hear you love historicals - you write contemporary, right? I can't wait to read your work, too!

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  2. Thank you so much for this review, Gabrielle! I don't think I'll be able to stop smiling for awhile! :)

    I'm so glad you enjoyed the novel. Thanks for being so encouraging and supportive!

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    1. It's been my pleasure, Katie! Thank you for sending me the book - I'm looking forward to Wishing on Willows. :)

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    2. Me too! Oh my, Katie, the scene where Robin gets angry for (Insert name of husband here) dying just completely did me in.
      Very, very well done Katie.

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  3. I loved the book! I love the author too, QUITE a nice girl!
    The issues tackled were tough and real, and Katie did a great job of leading us to LOATHE Fenton, and then WHAM! We wrestled with our compassion of someone so mean!
    Her dance scene was hysterical and bittersweet, and I think we need photo evidence of Evan's, umm, his uhh, his physiological attributes from a bio-chemical standpoint as related to the conduction of pheromones between characters as developed by Ms Ganshert.
    Yup. Katie Ganshert can write a hottie!
    Great novel, great review Ms Meyer!!

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    1. Thanks, Mrs. Major! It was so much fun reading Katie's debut and then putting my thoughts and feelings about it into a review - my first ever! I agree, Evan was a hottie. I loved the scene when Bethany brings his birthday cake over and he get's a piece ready for her and asks her to sit on the sofa with him - I'm like, do it girl! *Sigh*

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    3. Okay, let's try this again....would it be bad etiquette, here on Gabe's blog, to ask people to hop over to somewhere and read something that someone else wrote to give your opinions?
      Just tell me, cuz I'm not sure of the protocol.

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  4. LOL Jennifer - why is it you ALWAYS make me laugh???

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    1. It's, like, a spiritual gift for people who can't grasp maturity and good behaviour.

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    2. Jennifer, you always make me laugh, too. Thanks for joining the discussion! :)

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  5. Loved Katie's book!! And I'm an Iowa girl, so like you, I loved the Midwest references. And Evan, oh yeah, what a hero.

    I read both historical and contemporary. I write contemporary, so lately, I read tons of that. But I love, love historicals, too...so I like to mix it up.

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    1. I can see a lot more contemporary books in my reading future. :) Where do you set your books? Iowa, as well?

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  6. Ahem, to actually answer your question Gabrielle...I like historical. That's what I write too.

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Your comments are my favorite part of blogging!