by: Laura V. Hilton

Dancing Word Writers Network

 

Title: Like A Watered Garden

Author: Patti Hill

Publisher: Bethany House Publishers

ISBN: 0-7642-2937-0

Genre: Inspirational/Women’s/Fiction

 

Mibby Garrett describes working through grief as “feeling her way through an unfamiliar room on a moonless night.” And she should know. Her husband was tragically killed while crossing a busy intersection on his bicycle.

 

Mibby is trying to get her life back on track—but it isn’t easy. Her thirteen-year-old son is working through his own grief—and his school work is suffering. So is Mibby’s business, Perennially Yours Garden Design. It’s hard to concentrate on planting people’s gardens or planning an elaborate design when her heart is broken.

 

While grocery shopping one Saturday, Mibby discovers she’s being stalked by a dark-haired woman. Living in fear is not on the list of things that Mibby cares to do. Who is this person and why is she following Mibby around?

 

At first I didn’t care much for Like A Watered Garden. I don’t like books that start out with someone dying and the main character working through the grief process. The book has kind of a slow start and it was difficult to keep reading. But as I got further into the book, the action picked up and I grew to care about Mibby and her son Kyle. I also learned to love some of the secondary characters in Like A Watered Garden.

 

There are some unresolved issues in Like A Watered Garden, but the sequel will be out later this summer. A hint of romance keeps the book interesting, and there’s enough humor in it to make the reader laugh and chase away more of the somber tones. I have to say that Like A Watered Garden will probably be one of my favorite books for 2005. Pick it up today at your favorite Christian bookstore.