I've been following Eva Marie Everson's fiction career from the beginning and she has nailed it with this book. This is her best written, most compelling story, most heartfelt book she's written. I was reading along and finally stopped and said, "She's done it!" Gone are the long descriptives and in its place is a story that hooks you from the beginning. I saw every scene and felt every emotion. Everson has delved into the depths of mental illness and into the reaches of generational abuse. Yet, we see how God has the power and ability when placed into the hands of someone willing to take a hold of what He has to offer to turn, not only a life, but a whole family around. This book is a must read for anyone who has struggled to overcome familial trauma or who has dealt with mental illness in her family. You won't be able to put it down (I stayed up till 4am to finish it).

This is a sequel to the terrific first book, Chasing Sunsets, but they don't have to be read consecutively. However, I can see how this one and the next will complete the picture of life on Cedar Key in the 1940's. I highly recommend getting both, but it would be hard not to say that Waiting for Sunrise was my favorite.

A few months ago, I first visited Cedar Key, Florida, in Eva Marie Everson's Chasing Sunsets. Ever since, I've been anxiously awaiting a return visit. I finally had the chance, and it was worth the wait.

Waiting for Sunrise is the story of Patsy Milstrap. If you've read the first book, you'll remember Patsy as the loving older neighbor of Kimberly Tucker Granger who helped Kimberly through a particularly difficult time. This new book fills us in the story Patsy told Kimberly about the life she and her beloved Gilbert shared and how she ended up in Cedar Key many years earlier. Waiting for Sunrise would be easily enjoyed without the benefit of reading Chasing Sunsets . . . but why not enjoy them both!

Patsy has suffered a lot of loss and hurt in her young life. When she falls in love with Gilbert Milstrap and starts a new life with him, she hopes to put all the pain of her past behind her. Instead, those old hurts and fears stay with her and put her at risk of losing everything. Eventually, at Gilbert's suggestion, he and Patsy travel to the island of Cedar Key for a vacation. In that idyllic setting, Patsy comes face-to-face with her past and learns important lessons of family, love, and forgiveness.

Eva Marie Everson is a southern girl who knows how to tell a beautiful story. If you're also from the south, you may enjoy things like her comment about Patsy's "picking and putting up vegetables" in the first chapter of the story. And if you're not from the south, well, bless your heart . . . you can still enjoy the lovely story!

(This book was provided free from Revell for my honest review.)

Available June 2012 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.

Book 2 in the Cedar Key series is nothing short of excellent. This book tells Patsy's story and what a story it was. I was touched by the constant love of Gilbert for Patsy, he truly demonstrated what for better or worst means. The story is emotionally charged dealing with issues of mental health and abandonment. The issues in the Liddle family was so sad. The author has the done a wonderful job telling this story. She had my attention from the start to finish. I highly recommend this great book.

This is one of the books I received free at the American Christian Fiction Writers conference last fall, but I'm just getting around to reading and reviewing it. I loved it, and if you read it I think you will too.

Patsy Milstrap is thirteen when her mother sends her away to join her younger brother who was adopted shortly after he was born. Their father is dead, replaced by a cruel man who beats her mother and Patsy but seldom lays a hand--at least so far--on her two half brothers, Harold and Billy.

Who will help Mama clean house? Who will take care of her little brothers? Even though Patsy grows to love her new parents, the younger brother she had never met, and the young man she will marry, she cannot leave the past behind. It's there to haunt her every action and relationship.

What will it take to rid Patsy of all the wonderings that torment her?

I was looking forward to the second book in the Cedar Key Series, but I had no idea I was going to enjoy it so much! This was a great book! Everson is a masterful storyteller, making the reader feel like they are truly part of Cedar Key.