Wildflowers from Winter

This debut novel for Katie Ganshert was an excellent read, in my opinion. The protagonist, Bethany Quinn, grew up living in a trailer in her small town in Iowa and being the girl everybody overlooked. Because of the death of her dad and some other things that happened to her, she was bitter and angry, and had given up on God. She was estranged from her past and had not talked to friends and family since she left home ten years prior.

When the book opens, she has a successful career as an architect in Chicago. Her mother called to tell her about her grandfather's heart attack and her former friend's sick husband, so Bethany went home for a few days.

She met Evan, who had been living with her grandpa and helping him on the farm for the past ten years, and their personalities clashed. In fact, her personality clashed with everyone. She had built walls to protect herself, and she was not willing to come out from behind them.

The book focused on the reasons for Bethany's harsh personality. She refused to talk about God, even though Evan and her friend, Robin, continued to witness to her. She refused to connect with people who remembered her, and she refused to talk to her mother. Alternating chapters told about Bethany's present life, and the year when she was twelve, when her father died. The author did a good job explaining the reasons for Bethany's disinterest in friendship or intimacy with anyone.

At the death of Bethany's grandfather, she inherited his large farm. But Evan, the man who worked for her grandfather, got the house. There had to be a way for them to work together so they both could attain their goals. In addition, her firm downsized and let her go. She moved in with Robin, her friend from high school, and together they began to unravel things from the past.

When Bethany began to realize some things about herself and open up to people, the reader could see a drastic change. Read the book to find out what happened. I finished this book in a day and a half and I recommend it highly.

I received this book free from Waterbrook Multnomah for my honest review.