Watch Over Me Review from Mary DeMuth
From Mary DeMuth:
I truly fell in love with the struggling characters in Watch Over Me, a novel about loss, need, soul damage, and relationships that heal. Christa Parrish knows how to draw a reader into a complex, emotional, but not overwrought story. Her subtlety is superb. She entices the reader with just enough to want more, painstakingly unfolding the story.
Watch over Me opens with a marriage in crisis, a PTSD former soldier struggling with unruly emotions and his peace-loving wife. Distance defines them. When the husband, now a police officer, finds an abandoned baby and brings her home to foster, the fissures in their marriage widen. Woven into that relationship is a deaf teenage boy who desperately needs a family. I loved this book. Loved the characters. Loved everything about it.
While you’re at it, visit Mary’s excellent blog to learn more about her two critically-acclaimed new novels, Daisy Chain and A Slow Burn.
WORLD Magazine Review of Watch Over Me
From WORLD Magazine – reviewed by Susan Olasky:
Watch Over Me | Christa Parrish
This novel has lots of story threads—an abandoned baby, an eating disorder, a failing marriage, an unloved teen. Christa Parrish redeems those gritty plot elements with a story about grace for troubled people with messy lives. She has drawn believable Christian characters who face marital discord and personal demons—and try to cope with them on their own strength. The facade they’ve built keeps others from knowing how deep is their despair—and it takes an infant to begin to turn them outward. Throughout the novel the main characters run from God, but Parrish shows (not tells) how God pursues them, even through terrible heartache. She writes with sensitivity and grace.
Watch Over Me Book Launch, September 19th
Please join me for the book launch of Watch Over Me on Saturday, September 19th at the Lighthouse Bookstore, 4 S Western Ave, #3, Queensbury, NY 12804, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Also, I’ll be signing again that afternoon at Milk & Honey, 16 Exchange Street, Glens Falls, NY 12801, from 2 to 4 p.m.
Watch Over Me – 4 Stars from Romantic Times!
From the October edition of Romantic Times:
Mainstream
Watch Over Me by Christa Parrish
* * * * (Compelling – Page Turner)
Parrish’s deft characterization pulls readers into a storyline filled with raw emotion. At first it’s unclear how the third character fits into the plot, but when it’s revealed, the story comes together seamlessly for an unforgettable conclusion.
Deputy Benjamin Patil’s life changes when he finds a baby in a plastic bag and he and his wife, Abbi, take the child into their home. But this home is anything but happy. Benjamin suffers from depression after a tragic tour of duty in Afghanistan, and Abbi hides her secrets and pain in an eating disorder. But their love for the baby bridges the gap between them, forcing them to confront themselves and their marriage. What happens if they find the baby’s mother?
Watch Over Me – Available for Preorder!
Yup, I was checking Amazon for something else, and decided to see if Watch Over Me was listed yet. It is. On top of that, Bethany House sent me the tentative back cover copy today:
Her Rescue Might Be the Miracle They Needed
Things like this don’t happen in Beck County.
Deputy Benjamin Patil is the one to find the infant girl, hours old, abandoned in a field.
When the mother can’t be located, Ben and his wife, Abbi, seem like the perfect couple to serve as foster parents. But the newborn’s arrival opens old wounds for Abbi and shines a harsh light on how much Ben has changed since a devastating military tour.
Their marriage teeters on the brink and now they must choose to reclaim what they once had or lose each other forever.
Poignant and powerful, this novel confirms Christa Parrish as one of the most talented new voices to emerge in inspirational fiction.
I’m almost starting to get excited.
