CFBA Review: The Art Of Losing Yourself by:Katie Ganshert

This week, the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance is introducing The Art of Losing Yourself WaterBrook Press (April 21, 2015) by Katie Ganshert

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Award-winning author, Katie Ganshert, graduated from the University of Wisconsin in Madison with a degree in education, and worked as a fifth grade teacher for several years before staying home to write full-time. She was born and raised in the Midwest, where she lives with her family. When she’s not busy penning novels or spending time with her people, she enjoys drinking coffee with friends, reading great literature, and eating copious amounts of dark chocolate.



ABOUT THE BOOK

Just like in my dream, I was drowning and nobody even noticed.

Every morning, Carmen Hart pastes on her made-for-TV smile and broadcasts the weather. She’s the Florida panhandle’s favorite meteorologist, married to everyone’s favorite high school football coach. They’re the perfect-looking couple, live in a nice house, and attend church on Sundays. From the outside, she’s a woman who has it all together. But on the inside, Carmen Hart struggles with doubt. She wonders if she made a mistake when she married her husband. She wonders if God is as powerful as she once believed. Sometimes she wonders if He exists at all. After years of secret losses and empty arms, she’s not so sure anymore.

Until Carmen’s sister—seventeen year old runaway, Gracie Fisher—steps in and changes everything. Gracie is caught squatting at a boarded-up motel that belongs to Carmen’s aunt, and their mother is off on another one of her benders, which means Carmen has no other option but to take Gracie in. Is it possible for God to use a broken teenager and an abandoned motel to bring a woman’s faith and marriage back to life? Can two half-sisters make each other whole?

If you would like to read the first chapter of The Art of Losing Yourself, go HERE.

My Review:
Carmen Hart's life seems to by falling apart, yet each morning she smiles brightly for the camera and broadcasts the weather. Each day it seems harder and harder to deal with her marriage to the high school football coach. Carmen is unaware how deep her grief has gotten her or how far away from her husband she truly is. As they await for a social worker to confirm with them adopting a child, Carmen gets the biggest surprise of her life.

Gracie Fisher is tired of her drunken mother and her dreadful school. Yes, she has been in a bit of trouble with the law, but can't her mother seem to care a bit? After an argument with her mother, Gracie packs her things, makes a sandwich, and heads down to Florida.

Carmen receives a call from her father telling her of a possible break-in at her Aunt's old motel. Upon arrival, she discovers her run-away sister, Gracie, has been staying at the run down motel. She takes her in after learning of her reasons for running away from home. Carmen feels that maybe, she can help Gracie, despite the girls anger and seclusion.

Gracie begins a new school and discovers maybe all football players and Christians aren't alike. She get's a job, goes to youth group, and get's in clubs at school. Maybe everything will finally work out for her.

The Art Of Losing Yourself is a wonderful book about finding yourself and God in all the chaos. I really enjoyed reading Gracie's point of view. She is a sassy, sarcastic girl. And her parts in this story were quite funny.

**Disclosure** This book was sent to me free of charge for my honest review from CFBA.