The Widow of Saunders Creek

I always enjoy discovering new authors, so it was a pleasure to be able to read Tracey Bateman's The Widow of Saunders Creek.  

 Corrie Saunders grew up in a life of privilege. But she gave it all up for Jarrod, her Army husband, a man she knew was a hero when she vowed to spend her life with him. She just didn’t expect her hero to sacrifice his life taking on an Iraqi suicide bomber.
Six months after Jarrod’s death, Corrie retreats to the family home her husband inherited deep in the Missouri Ozarks. She doesn’t know how to live without Jarrod—she doesn’t want to. By moving to Saunders Creek and living in a house beloved by him, she hopes that somehow her Jarrod will come back to her.
Something about the house suggests maybe he has. Corrie begins to wonder if she can feel Jarrod’s presence.
Jarrod’s cousin Eli is helping Corrie with the house’s restoration and he knows his dead cousin is not what Corrie senses. Eli, as a believing man and at odds with his mystically-oriented family members, thinks friendly visits from beyond are hogwash. But he takes spirits with dark intentions seriously. Can he convince Corrie that letting go of Jarrod will lead to finding her footing again— and to the One she can truly put her faith into?

Tracey Bateman lives in the beautiful Missouri Ozarks which provide much of her inspiration for the books she writes.  She has approximately one million books in print and also publishes novels under the name Tracy Cross.
You can find Tracey on Facebook and on her website found at www.traceybateman.com. 




My Thoughts About The Book:
Waterbrook Multnomah sent me an Advanced Reader Copy (unedited) of The Widow of Saunders Creek  for the purpose of review as part of their Blogging For Books program.  With that disclosure, I regretfully have to give this novel a negative review.  I always try to look for something positive even in a work that I haven't particularly enjoyed.  But, I have to say that it was hard for me to even finish this book.  Understanding that I was reading an Advanced Reader Copy, it was still difficult to read because the editing was atrocious.  It was distracting.
I appreciate Ms Bateman's premise for this novel...the story of an army wife grieving the loss of her husband.  It is one that is very timely considering the situation our country has been in with Iraq and Afghanistan.  I was looking forward to reading the novel for that reason.  The story had some sweet and enduring elements to it; however, the whole conversing with the dead part was just not very believable.  The characters lacked depth and the story was just a bit simple and very predictable.

You can go HERE to Amazon.com to check out ordering information as well as read chapter one of the book.  The book releases on May 8, 2012

Happy Reading,
Jennifer