From Dishes to Snow by Kathy M. Howard

[NadineTimes10]

Ask Bayne Harris what happened to her husband and two children, and one answer might come out of her mouth while in her head, she's thinking, "I took them away from me."

In From Dishes to Snow, Bayne is living in daily grief and guilt for having been behind the wheel in the car accident that killed her family, and author Kathy M. Howard, in a simple and contemplative style, takes the reader on Bayne's escape to a mountain to shut out as much contact with life as possible. However, on account of a handful of nearby residents, Bayne's plans for seclusion begin to fall gently apart.

Though this book is appropriate for any time of the year and isn't labeled as a holiday novel, it could have been, the comfort of human compassion and holiday season warmth being mixed into Bayne's trying heart and mind journey full of tough questions and many prayers.

Wren Jordan is a likable guy right off the bat, though he starts to seem too perfect after a while and therefore not quite real. Eventually seeing that he isn't above feeling disappointment or jealousy rounds out his character to me.

Although this story is told in first person, there are moments when Bayne seems to know as much as a third person omniscient narrator by the way she states other characters' thoughts and feelings, or even their definite age ranges, to the reader: e.g., "a man in his thirties walked in" or "She looked at the man before her, still unsure how he was standing there, holding her hands." On a minor note, the registered trademark symbol ("®") accompanying brand names in the middle of characters' dialogue distracts from the story somewhat. Someone else would know better than I do if the trademark notices could have been taken care of on the book's copyright page instead.

But, yes, I deem this novel of both pain and hope to be a good Christmastime read, but again, it's a good read for any season and a great debut for Howard.
_____________________
Ambassador International provided me with a complimentary copy of this book for an honest review.