Just in time for the upcoming spring season, a new series launches today. A Garden Grows, the first book in the Hills of Harvest series by Karen Higgins, is one that will have you planning and desiring to plant the garden of your dreams once the weather clears up. It's a welcome reprieve after a time of dormancy, awakening the joy of seeing God's creation in all of its splendour.
Many thanks to Mountain Brook Ink for providing a complimentary copy of this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.
Book Synopsis
One plucky widow, six scrubby acres, and an unlikely group of gardeners, all brought together by a long-ago promise.
Fifty years is a long time to wait. Posey knows Elliot meant his promise, and oh, how he tried, but time and money didn’t grow on the sagebrush blanketing their high-desert land. Neither did life go exactly the way they planned. Now, Elliot is gone, the sound of his plea ringing in her ears ... “Build the garden, my love!”
This English garden was supposed to be a gift, a capstone on their wonderful life together ... so why is her heart not in it? And how, when Posey is deep in her own loss, does she find herself helping everyone else find paths to healing? Her son’s unrelenting opposition to this garden is a mystery, yet she tries to salvage their bond. Even her landscaping crew comes to her for relationship advice. Can’t they see she’s a grieving widow with nothing left to give?
Then there’s the letter Elliot left with the lawyer. Something tells her that dear man had a reason to save his last words until the garden is finished, but why?
Armed with nothing but brokenness and determination, Posey sets off on a mission to transform the desert soil—and maybe find a part to play in transforming hearts as well.
Source: Amazon
Book Thoughts
What an incredibly inspiring book to read as a non-gardener! I love that this book whet my appetite to build something beautiful out of dirt and to see the value of tangible life growing before me. Posey Bailey, an older British woman of God, is such a wonderful friend and mentor, and I appreciate that she is vulnerable about her feelings and sense of loss and inadequacy at times. Keeping her from becoming the all-knowing narrator, it's refreshing to be able to step into her shoes and see how she is able to take concerns to the Lord in prayer. This book is just like a garden that requires weeding and watering; when it starts off, all you can see are messy lives, but when they intersect, it's a stunning sight to behold how they bloom.
It's encouraging to see the characters transform as they work on Posey's dream garden, allowing us to meet young twenty-somethings and an older couple in their late thirties and early forties who all have different life journeys. Life isn't easy for any of the characters involved, but they are not alone as they struggle with everything from vocation to disability to marriage. You don't have to love gardens to love this book as there's room for novice green thumbs. If you want a story that you'll be invested in where a coming-of-age adventure and a faithful legacy to leave behind simultaneously co-exist, A Garden Grows is a book that will plant itself in your heart.
Book Summary
- Format of book: 📱
- Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
- Recommendation: 👍
Thank you so much for this beautiful review! I’m so glad you liked it!! That honestly means a ton 😊
ReplyDeleteThank you, Karen! It was such a blessing to enjoy your book; I look forward to what's next :)
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