Before I Saw You

A long-time believer in the power of story to change lives, Amy’s diverse writing career includes over two decades of freelance writing including medical journal publications and a popular op-ed newspaper column.

Praised by reviewers for the way they both poetically and accurately portray real life hardship and hope, Amy’s novels are inspired by social issues which break her heart and the Bible stories which reflect God’s response to those issues. Her first novel, How Sweet the Sound, was written as a response to the personal questions she had for God about how He redeems the pain of sexual abuse. The driving mission behind all her writing is to bring words of hope to a hurting world.

Amy’s novels have been short-listed for various fiction awards, and How Sweet the Sound won the 2011 Women of Faith Writing Contest before it was acquired by publishers. Since then, she has published two more novels, Then Sings My Soul, and Lead Me Home.

When she’s not writing, Amy loves doting on her husband, three young adult sons, and their golden retrievers at their home in central Indiana. If there’s leftover time after that, she enjoys up-cycling, gardening, binge reading, exercising, and Bible journaling.

You will be blessed to connect with Amy via her website HERE.

Folks are dying as fast as the ash trees in the southern Indiana town ravaged by the heroin epidemic…

…where Jaycee Givens lives with nothing more than a thread of hope and a quirky neighbor, Sudie, who rescues injured wildlife. After a tragedy leaves her mother in prison, Jaycee is carrying grief and an unplanned pregnancy she conceals because she trusts no one, including the kind and handsome Gabe, who is new to town and to the local diner where she works.

Dividing her time between the diner and Sudie’s place, Jaycee nurses her broken heart among a collection of unlikely friends who are the closest thing to family that she has. Eventually, she realizes she can’t hide her pregnancy any longer—not even from the baby’s abusive father, who is furious when he finds out. The choices she must make for the safety of her unborn child threaten to derail any chance she ever had for hope and redemption. Ultimately, Jaycee must decide whether the truest form of love means hanging on or letting go.

My Thoughts:

Sorrells has quickly become one of my favorite authors and her books are beginning to own spots on my keeper shelf.  Before I Saw You has found its place there as well.

Sorrells quickly draws you in with complex characters in a small Southern town facing unbelievable circumstances.  She portrays real life and a young woman up against seemingly insurmountable odds.  The story is told in the most genuine way and before long the reader feels like they are in the very middle of the story.

Before I Saw You tells the love relationship that develops between every mother and child.  While Sorrells certainly isn't "preachy" by any means in her stories, the gospel is all over this one.  Read it and be blessed.

*I was given a complimentary copy of the book by the publisher.  All opinions are my own.

Happy Reading,

Jennifer