Friday, September 2, 2011

Shards of Ashley-Karen Wiesner

Shards of Ashley
Karen Wiesner
Whiskey Creek, Oct 1 2011, $17.95
ISBN: 9781611600179

From the moment Jay Samuels met Ashley Savage when she moved to la Crosse when she was seventeen years old, he knew he loved her though she has childhood issues that would have anyone else fleeing for their sanity. A military chaplain Pastor Jay is the only male under the age of a zillion who gets inside the skin of Ashley as he not only refuses to run from her he enjoys the battles they have. Still he dreams of one day to have her as his wife raising a family of rug rats together with God’s blessing.

Though in denial, she knows obstinate Jay has come closest to penetrating her emotional fortress but besides distrusting people, she loathes his being a pastor. She also believes she could rid herself of him by telling him her darkest secret from her ugly teenage years, but cannot bring herself to do so as his scorn would kill her. Meanwhile he prays to God as Jay knows he can only pick up Shards of Ashley while the Lord can heal all of Ashley.

The fifth Family Heirlooms inspirational romance (see Glass Angels and Foolish Games) is an engaging tale but much darker than the previous entries due to the heroine’s past in a dysfunctional abusive home. Jay is a patient person who prays that one day his beloved will find God, but he believes she must forgive herself first for a transgression he does not know what it is. Although her second chance at salvation seems too simplistic with all her psychological baggage including her belief God punishes her for what she did fourteen years ago, readers will root for Ashley to trust the Lord.

Harriet Klausner

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