Thursday, October 1, 2015

Flames by Ginny L. Yttrup - REVIEWED



About the Book:
I preserve legacies.

So begins the story of Jessica Weaver—wife, mother, and fire archeologist. Preserving Yosemite National Park’s natural and cultural resources is Jessica’s job. Preserving her family’s legacy is her obsession. But when she discovers her husband’s infidelity, betrayal’s flames threaten her family and all she’s fought to protect.

Haley Weaver, a sophomore in high school, is a daddy’s girl. As she enters the throes of first love, timid yet intrigued, Haley also discovers her father’s affair. Stunned and broken, Haley flees into the wilds of Yosemite National Park. If she can’t trust her father, how can she trust her boyfriend—or even love itself?

When wildfire breaks out and Haley is missing, Jessica fears the worst. In a race against time, she searches for her daughter as she deals with the magnitude of what her husband’s affair may cost her family. How can she go on if she doesn’t find Haley in time?

And what will Jessica do to preserve the legacy that matters most?

My Thoughts:
What once was, is no longer.” (p. 54)

Ginny Yttrup’s latest novel, Flames, deals with a tender subject, the complexities of life – seen from multiple angles and multiples generations, as the flames of infidelity burn through a family.  Jessica Weaver is a fire archeologist who preserves the effects of wildfire on all areas of life.  When infidelity blazes through her family, she is forced to take a close look at the motivations of her own life choices and examine the steps that brought her to this defining moment. 

The desire to preserve her family unscathed is thwarted when her teenage daughter, Haley, also discovers her father’s infidelity.  She chooses to run from the problem, creating another layer of firestorm that overlies the circumstances facing her parents.

While Haley flees to the wilderness, Jessica flees to her father, and Ted, becomes the lens through which we view the perspective of the parent who shepherds and supports his daughter through a trial not unlike one he walked through in his own marriage decades earlier.  The faith and grace displayed through Ted and his wife Cretia, is a poignant reflection of God’s grace and mercy to His children no matter what trial they are facing.

This is Ginny Yttrup’s first self-published novel, and it was written from a heart’s desire to help people take a long hard look at the destructive consequences of careless choices.  But, more than that, it is a novel that walks through the scorched earth of the heart and finds hope and healing through the searing flames of infidelity.

The words are rich, and carefully woven together so the reader is able to feel the pain, the terror, the hopelessness and the strength that is born out of such a trial.  I’ve walked this journey in my own life, and I’ll confess there were times I just snot-sobbed over my book and had to lay it down and physically grieve through the pain of my own life circumstances.  But, once on the other side of this novel, I felt stronger and more purposeful about my future than I’ve felt in years!  SUCH HEALING was found in the pages of this novel for me!!  This is a story birthed in love, and I am certain many lives will be saved and changed through reading this novel!

About the Author:
Ginny is the award-winning author of Words, Lost and Found, Invisible, and Flames which releases September 22, 2015. She writes contemporary women's fiction and enjoys exploring the issues everyday women face. Publishers Weekly dubbed Ginny's work "as inspiring as it is entertaining." When not writing, Ginny coaches writers, critiques manuscripts, and makes vintage-style jewelry for her Esty shop, Storied Jewelry. She loves dining with friends, hanging out with her adult sons, or spending a day in her pajamas reading a great novel. Ginny lives in northern California with Bear, her entitled Pomeranian. To learn more about Ginny and her work, visit www.ginnyyttrup.com.










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