Friday Favorite

I've neglected the site and I apologize... I've been working on making some extra cash and getting my son's wedding flowers and some other items purchased. I have been reading though... I have a selection for my followers to try.


First is The Cross Gardener by Jason F Wright.

  From Publishers Weekly

Author and political commentator Wright (The Wednesday Letters, coauthor with Glenn Beck of The Christmas Sweater) returns with another modern fable that wears its conservative values on its sleeve. Born on the side of the road to a dying teenager, John Bevan grew into happiness and safety on an idyllic Shenandoah Valley orchard, falling in love as a teenager, eventually marrying his high school sweetheart and having a daughter with her. When, pregnant with their second child, his wife dies in a car accident, John finds his faith and ability to function shattered. Attending the site of her death, John encounters the Cross Gardener, a man who tends the roadside memorials of strangers, and with his help John finds himself returning to the path of responsibility and righteousness. This title offers the same kind of values-focused emotionalism that fans expect, with plenty of uplift and tradition-affirming sentiment; even by the standard of his other work, however, this effort is prudish and clunky, and John often comes across as more sullen than bereaved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. 

My review: Its the story of a man overcome with grief from the death of his wife and unborn son. A man who has retreated into himself and withdrawn from the world around him, all except the two crosses that make where that tragic accident took place. Its about how he meets a man who is the Cross Gardener. This man cleans around the crosses of those killed in tragic traffic accidents along road sides and even watches over the crossing points of others killed in different circumstances. The cross gardener helps our main character John Bevin learn to grieve. You have to wonder did our author live through such events or similar? All the whys? What if's? And questions only God can answer.
This is a very emotional book... I cried, laughed and questioned some of the deaths I've dealt with over the years. I think I came to a better understanding and grieved a little right along with John Bevin and Lou Lou (John's little girl).  ♥♥♥♥ out of 5.