Tuesday, November 15, 2022

Why They Call It Falling

Formerly the wild child of three sisters, Emma Marano grew up to be a single mom working two jobs, estranged from her mother, and lying to her friends. She’d told everyone that her daughter’s father wanted nothing to do with his child, but in reality, her own inability to deal with her mistakes and shame led to the biggest lie of her life. But her daughter, Haley, is all Emma has in the world, so how can she regret keeping Haley to herself? Emma’s struggling, though, and her life is slowly imploding.

Right after high school, Justin Lee broke up with Emma Marano and joined the Army, leaving her and all her drama behind. Years later, he stumbles upon her and what turns out to be a daughter he never knew he had. Angry and confused, he insists on having a relationship with his daughter, but to do so, he’ll need to rebuild some sort of relationship with Emma, too. As he gets to know his daughter—and Emma again—he soon realizes that his biggest mistake was leaving her all those years ago. What he dismissed as drama turns out to be a serious mental health issue, and Emma needs help. Now, Justin has to decide if he can see past her flaws and forgive her lies, and together, they’ll have to work to reclaim their love and a faith in each other and in God, or they risk losing something precious in the process.

My thoughts: I usually wind up feeling bad for the father in stories like this, so I thought that Justin had a right to be upset when he comes home on leave to discover that he has a young daughter that he never knew about. I thought that the author did a great job of writing believable characters and showed why they made the choices they made. I felt bad for Emma to have struggled on her own for so long when she didn't necessarily have to. This is a sweet, lovely story to pick up and enjoy!

I received this book from Celebrate Lit. This is my honest review.

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About the Author

A member of American Christian Fiction Writers, Christina Sinisi writes stories about families, both the broken and blessed. Her works include a semi-finalist in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest and the American Title IV Contest where she appeared in the top ten in the Romantic Times magazine. Her published books include Christmas Confusion, Sweet Summer, and Christmas on Ocracoke. By day, she is a psychology professor and lives in the LowCountry of South Carolina with her husband, two children and her crazy cat Chessie Mae.

More from Christina

In Why They Call It Falling, the hero discovers he has a daughter he didn’t know existed when he sees his ex-girlfriend in a strawberry patch at Boone Hall Plantation (here in Charleston, South Carolina). In the book, the name of the plantation had to be changed to protect the innocent, but the recipe below doesn’t.

This recipe comes from a cookbook titled, Charleston Receipts Repeats. This book has modern recipes, as well as old-fashioned ones dating back through generations. It’s a perfect accompaniment to my Charleston-based romance.

Strawberry Pie I

1 9-inch pie shell, baked and cooled

1 cup sugar

3 tablespoons cornstarch

1 cup water

Dash salt

1 3-ounce strawberry jello (delete 1 tablespoon)

1 pint strawberries

Whipped cream

In a saucepan, combine sugar, cornstarch, water, and salt.

Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until thick and clear.

Add strawberry jello.