After the death of her parents, Dr. Ken Ellis, had taken on the role of father figure for Kit but when Dr. Ellis says Kit is not strong enough to make the trip, after her most recent surgery, Kit refuses to listen. So Dr. Ellis requests his colleague and good friend, Dr. Keith Long, accompany her, as Keith is about to leave to attend a medical conference and visit his own family in Minneapolis. Uncomfortable with this tall and handsome stranger, Kit reluctantly agrees.

Although Keith had not been looking forward to escorting this young woman, Kit's courage and strength attracts him despite the fact that she does not fit his image of his perfect wife. Kit in turn finds she is drawn to Keith's quiet compassion and faith as he shows her that she is someone worth loving, disability and all.

Strange accidents and events begin to occur when Kit arrives at her grandmother's home and deep secrets surround her families past. Kit's Great Uncle Edmond appears to be losing his mind as he sits everyday in Grandma Clara's living room with the shades down constantly turning an hourglass. Aunt Augusta, a high-powered executive secretary, begins to be plagued by childhood nightmares. Edmond's lazy and insensitive son, Lars, is no help at all beyond sneering at Kit's disability. And it soon seems someone may be willing to kill to keep Kit from uncovering the truth behind the secrets that her very presence in the house has begun to unravel.

This is an inspirational suspenseful romance with an interesting and diverse cast of characters. The believable storyline and realistic characters pulled me right into the tale and I was caught up in Kit's struggle both physically and emotionally. Ms. Scheidies does a wonderful job of showing how Kit's spiritual beliefs help bring her strength and peace and Ms. Scheidies has a good balance between Katalina's struggles, spiritually, physically, and emotionally, as she is confronted by her extended family secrets, her grandmother's illness and her growing friendship with Keith. The Christian texts and beliefs are well integrated into the story and while they do not overwhelm the plot, they are a very central and key element to the characters and the story. I greatly enjoyed the book until the last line when the book ended too soon. While I like open-ended stories that allow a reader to decide for him/herself what will happen next, this one left too many questions for my taste. I thought I must be missing several chapters at the end of the book -- the last line was like a television season ending cliffhanger. I have ideas about who is behind the many mysterious events; but there were so many unanswered questions and open threads left by this ending that it made suppositions about what would happen next difficult. I will be hoping for a follow up by Ms. Scheidies for this wonderful story, as we really need to know more about all of her remarkable characters and their histories.

Overall rating:
Sensuality rating: Sweet

Reviewer: Larenda Twigg
April 16, 2004