Before the Dawn

Title: BEFORE THE DAWN
Author: Carolyne Aarsen
Publisher: Guideposts Books
2008
Genre: Inspirational/Women’s fiction

Charlotte Stevenson’s world has been torn apart. Her estranged daughter, Denise, has been killed in a car accident, leaving her three children orphans. According to Denise’s will, she has named Charlotte as care-giver. So Denise flies out to California to bury her daughter and take the three children back to rural Nebraska to Heather Creek Farm to live.

But everything is not automatically a bed of roses. Sixteen year old Sam is upset, fourteen year old Emily misses her friends and wants to return to California, and the youngest, Christopher, just wants to fit in.

As Charlotte and her husband, Bob, struggle to adjust to having teen grandchildren they don’t know, the three kids struggle to adjust to the death of their mom and a new life far from home. What if Charlotte makes the same mistakes as she did the first time?

BEFORE THE DAWN is the first book in the new Guideposts series Home to Heather Creek. It was very well written and the emotions are realistically portrayed. I could feel the hurt of the grandparents and the children, and the confusion they all experienced. I enjoyed getting to know Charlotte and her family and friends as they struggled to settle into a routine, with school, chores, and life.

The faith message is expertly woven in and isn’t preachy. I enjoyed the realistic touches of life on a farm, learning to drive, and struggling against boundaries that are portrayed in this book. Don’t miss BEFORE THE DAWN, an excellent beginning to a new series. 280 pages.