Driftwood Tides by Gina Holmes - REVIEWED

This week, the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance is introducing

About the Book: He made himself an island until something unexpected washed ashore.
When Holton lost his wife, Adele, in a freak accident, he shut himself off from the world, living a life of seclusion, making drifwood sculptures and drowning his pain in gin. Until twenty-three-year-old Libby knocks on his door, asking for a job and claiming to be a friend of his late wife. When he discovers Libby is actually his late wife’s illegitimate daughter, given up for adoption without his knowledge, his life is turned upside down as he struggles to accept that the wife he’d given saint status to was not the woman he thought he knew.

Together Holton and Libby form an unlikely bond as the two struggle to learn the identity of Libby’s father and the truth about Adele, themselves, and each other. My Thoughts:

“You’ve been looking behind you for so long.  It’s time to start looking up.”  (p. 287 – Tess)

Tess is a wise woman.  She shares her wisdom and her faith in concrete ways with everyone she cares about.  Tess is one of a very eclectic group of characters that fills the pages of Gina Holmes latest novel, Driftwood Tides.  Gina Holmes is brilliant in her depiction of the heart’s response to a myriad of situations.  In this novel she relates a group of people in search of identity and a forward focus.  From Libby’s search for her familiar roots to Holton's destructive choices that almost rob him of life entirely, this is a pretty needy group of folks.  However, I daresay that you will recognize every single one of their needs on either a personal level in your own life or in the lives of people you are close to.

I was really surprised at the way the characters in this book were connected in such unusual and interesting ways! I love it when I have to continually guess about the outcome of so many situations all at once!  Gina connects a lot of really common issues in a way that makes the reader take a fresh look at their own heart in relation to circumstances that have touched everyone’s life in one way or another.  The lives of these folks aren’t very pretty most of the time, and each of them faces a choice that will have profound effect upon their life.  Your heart will ache with the pain of tragedy and a hopeful longing that will keep the pages turning long past bedtime!

Gina Holmes has a brilliant grasp on relationships and how our lives are continually seeking a solid foundation from which we each must life our lives.  I think it is quite reasonable to expect award nominations for this title from multiple sources!  Bravo, Gina!  Holton, Tess, Libby, Caroline and Rob have left their mark upon my heart!  

About the Author:

Bestselling author Gina Holmes is the founder of the influential literary site Novel Rocket, regularly named one of Writers Digest's best sites for writers. Her debut novel, Crossing Oceans, was a Christy and Christian Book Award finalist and winner of the Carol, INSPY, and RWA's Inspirational Reader's Choice Contest awards, as well as a CBA, ECPA, Amazon and Publishers Weekly Religion bestseller. She is also the author of Dry As Rain, a Christy Award finalist, and Wings of Glass. Gina holds degrees in science and nursing and currently resides with her family in southern Virginia. She works too hard, laughs too loud, and longs to see others heal from their past and discover their God-given purpose. To learn more about her, visit www.ginaholmes.com.