Nourish & Strengthen, by Maria Hoagland
Synopsis: Taylor has the perfect life: a model’s figure, a husband who adores her, three healthy children. So why does she feel so much less than perfect?
After losing forty pounds, Chloe Taylor is finally happy with her body. What she doesn’t realize is that she’s not the one in control.
When Chloe is called as the Primary president, she discovers that managing the highs and lows of a chronic illness may be easier than the ups and downs associated with family, friends, and church callings. Consumed by her own challenges, Chloe fails to recognize the issues her friends are facing and is in danger of losing their friendship.
As Chloe strives to develop Christ-like love for herself and those around her, she learns that outer appearances are far less important than inner peace and spiritual strength. But is she strong enough to face her most difficult trial yet?
My Review: I love books that teach. When I invest time to read a book, I want to come away feeling smarter, and Nourish & Strengthen by Maria Hoagland does just that. It not only educates the reader about living with a chronic illness, but it also sheds insight into the life of a Mormon mother who must juggle all of her various family responsibilities, her relationships, and her church calling. She does a fantastic job describing her scenes with interesting detail, and the story skillfully balances humorous moments with the seriousness of some of her subject matter. Even better, it is clean and heartfelt.
I must admit that I struggled to keep the characters straight during the beginning of the book, but then again, I am not a member of the target audience (“women’s fiction”), and like most guys, I struggle to keep track of anything not related to sports statistics. However, I was touched while reading the last half of the book (especially chapters 18 and 19) because of our family’s own experience with Type I Diabetes. December 19th, 2006 is a date that our family will always remember as I carried our limp, 5-year-old daughter into the emergency room to discover she had a blood sugar level of nearly 600. Memories and emotions from that day came flooding back as I read Maria’s book, and it is comforting to know that others successfully cope with the same daily struggles and challenges associated with diabetes. Nourish & Strengthenwould accurately sum up the experience that a reader will have from reading this great debut novel.
Here’s her info:
http://mariahoagland.blogspot.com/
Smashwords for all eBook versions: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/93675
Createspace for paperback version: https://www.createspace.com/3647471
Amazon where the book is in paperback and Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/Nourish-Strengthen-ebook/dp/B005Y57BBW/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1319655788&sr=8-2.