Sunday, November 9, 2014

Book Review Shaken Blessings by Celeste Charlene


Celeste Charlene

2013 
Prism Book Group
ISBN 9781940099057
$2.99 Ebook
$13.99 Print


Inspirational general fiction

A remarkable year in the life of a businesswoman changes her and lives she touches.

Sandy Calbrin, Sister Sandy to the African people she nurses, becomes Mommy Blessing when she fosters a doomed baby. Sandy thought she was doing her Christian duty by sponsoring several girls in an orphanage in Africa. When the country underwent a coup, she decided to take a trip to check on the girls and pick up some shea nuts for the spa treatments she offers at her spa.

Things go left as soon as she arrives. The orphanage was abandoned, the military have power, and the mission asks if she’ll use her nursing experience to help stem a measles epidemic. Her situation continues to deteriorate as she accidentally breaks nearly every taboo in the unfamiliar culture.
A couple of week adventure turned into nearly a year of struggle, including an opportunity to be a mother who loves and releases her child, a health worker who attempts to teach better health habits in the face of cultural practices of generations, and grow her once-tepid faith to that of a prayer warrior who even longs to return.

This book is not a genre story, but a remarkable, almost coming-of-age book although the main character, Sandy, is not a teen. Recommended for people who enjoy reading and living about different cultures from an author who experienced the lifestyle firsthand. 

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