With orders to evacuate ahead of an incoming hurricane, Jacqueline heads towards the home of her estranged daughter, hoping to be given both a place to stay and a chance to heal their broken relationship. While tiptoeing around her daughter's life, Jacqueline comes in contact with a variety of folks that mean her life and her faith will never be the same.
This book contained perhaps one of the most unusual cast of characters I've come across in awhile: a 51-year-old realtor, a railroad mechanic, church volunteers running an evacuation shelter, and a single mom who abandons her three children at the shelter. But the combination of these characters made the book feel fresh and engaging.
There were a lot of really tough issues tackled in this book; tough enough that each issue could have been a book in itself, but somehow they worked all together. There's the story of the mom trying to find forgiveness for her actions and abandonment of her daughter so many years ago. There's the man seeking to be an honest worker while his job could be on the line for not going along with his new boss's deceit. In addition, there are hidden relationships, children abandoned and trying to navigate the foster system, and evacuees trying to learn about God and where to find Him in their situation.
These stories felt so realistic that the characters felt relatable, even when I didn't fully understand what was going on. I don't know enough about railroad mechanics to understand what wasn't adding up for Jonathon, yet I felt his dilemma whether to let it slide or call it out. There were gaps in Jacqueline and Delana's past, but the bigger story of the redemption and healing that were necessary to move forward was more important. The foster care scenario was so heartbreaking; I found myself wanting to adopt Gavin and his sisters to first save them from the situation with their mom, and then to keep them together out of foster care. And for a more lighthearted side, the relationship of Jacqueline and Jonathon was just fun - a convenient excuse to escape a blind date at first, but watching them learn to be friends and to explore a relationship as parents of grown children in a later stage of life was an unusual plotline for me. But above all of those, I loved watching Jacqueline develop from a woman just escaping a temporary storm, to a woman seeking to not only heal her mistakes and to learn more about God, but to actively help others and to teach them about God's love through her own actions.
I give this book 4 stars. It was a lot of story in under 400 pages, and there are bound to be some gaps, but I really enjoyed this group of characters and their stories.
You can find When the Dawn Breaks HERE.
You can find the author's website HERE.
I received a digital copy of this book, via NetGalley, from the publisher, in exchange for my honest review.
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