To Know You by Shannon Ethridge and Kathryn Mackel

I really like the simplicity of the cover in this book.  The heart necklace really brings home the title of the book and I think it's such a sweet look that tugs at the heart when you see the title and picture together.  At least it did for mine.

I absolutely cannot imagine the heartbreak of giving up your children for their sakes.  I admire those who do and can recognize that someone will love them and care for them when you can't.  However, I would think the pain of handing them to another mother must be heartbreaking and leaves something of a hole in your heart. 

When Julia and Matt find themselves desperately in need of something that only their daughter (whom they gave up for adoption) could offer, she has to lay aside all fears and thoughts in hopes to ask her daughter to be a liver donor for her half-brother that she's never met.

You can imagine the thoughts of Julia's daughters as they have those thoughts put in their head about how their mother is just coming for them just for their liver.  I can't imagine being in either shoes through this story.  I wrestled with the same emotions and questions and thoughts as each character did, as I really thought about the situation.

The forgiveness wrapped in this book is amazing.  It was beautiful to watch played out.  I kept thinking about how neat it was that this book came out at Christmas time and the holidays.  I can imagine it would speak to many people, but also that the idea of forgiveness is powerful and what better gift can you give for the Christmas season than the same gift God gave us....forgiveness!  That message was so powerful in this book.

Read more opinions on this book by going to http://litfusegroup.com/author/sethridge.

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Julia Whittaker’s rocky past yielded two daughters, both given up for adoption as infants. Now she must find them to try to save her son.
Julia and Matt Whittaker’s son has beaten the odds for thirteen years only to have the odds—and his liver—crash precipitously. The only hope for his survival is a “living liver” transplant, but the transplant list is long and Dillon’s time is short. His two older half-sisters, born eighteen months apart to two different fathers, offer his only hope for survival.
But can Julia ask a young woman—someone she surrendered to strangers long ago and has never spoken with—to make such a sacrifice to save a brother she’s never known? Can she muster the courage to journey back into a shame-filled season of her life, face her choices and their consequences, and find any hope of healing?
And what if she discovers in her own daughters’ lives that a history of foolish choices threatens to repeat itself? Julia knows she’s probably embarking on a fool’s errand—searching for the daughters she abandoned only now that she needs something from them. But love compels Julia to take this journey. Can grace and forgiveness compel her daughters to join her?
In To Know You, Shannon Ethridge and Kathryn Mackel explore how the past creates the present . . . and how even the most shattered lives can be redeemed.
Purchase a copy here.
Learn more at Shannon’s website.

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I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers and Litfuse Publicity Group in exchange for my honest opinion of this book.