Wildflowers (Glenbrooke, Book 8)

Love, longing, and faith in midlife are the triple themes braided together in Wildflowers, the sweet eighth installment of the Glenbrooke Series by popular Christian novelist Robin Gunn. As Genevieve Ahrens busies herself making a success of the Wildflower Café, she's aware that the rest of her life is in trouble. After 26 years of marriage, "all the doors to her heart were shut, and all the shades were pulled down tight," and she's withdrawn from her faith. Genevieve's husband Steven is a commercial airline captain who is away for long stretches of time, leaving her bitter and resentful. When fire guts the Wildflower Café, Genevieve can no longer distract herself from the frozen state of her soul and her heart. In the end, she finds that it is her ability to forgive the past through a renewed faith that thaws her unhappiness. Although occasionally the descriptions become a little heavy-handed, Gunn's fans will find that her award-winning ability to tell a good story is in full evidence here. --Cindy Crosby