A Gift Called Hope - Eva Jordan

A heartfelt novel of a Christmas shadowed by loss and regret—and brightened by hope for renewal—from the author of Time Will Tell.

 

Six-year-old Jack is counting the days to Christmas. But his grandmother is just counting the days until it’s over. For Jill, the holiday comes with painful memories, and she wants only to escape the recent past and its tragedies.

 

She’s moved and started a new life running a food truck in Widmore Bay, a quaint seaside town, in order to flee her agonising history.

 

It’s only for little Jack’s sake that Jill tolerates the tree and decorations. She just wants to spend Christmas with the curtains drawn, reading a book and drinking coffee.

 

But this season, she may stumble onto a miracle that restores joy—and hope—in her heart . . .

 

What did I think?

I've been a huge fan of Eva Jordan since reading her fantastic debut, 183 Times a Year so I was very excited to read her latest novel, A Gift Called Hope.  I don't think I can write a review that does this book justice as it didn't just blow me away, it completely broke me.  I cried BUCKETS!  Although I prefer reading physical books, this is one occasion where I was grateful to be reading a kindle copy as I couldn't stop my tears from dropping onto the digital pages.

So you may have realised by now that this isn't a sparkly festive Christmas book; it's a book filled with emotion as main character Jill struggles to cope with her grief following tragic events on a Christmas day that she will never forget.  You find out quite early on about Jill's loss and even though I was expecting it, the flashbacks that reveal what happened completely broke me.  I will never forget Jill taking that telephone call and I've got a lump in my throat just thinking about it now.

Whilst there is a lot of sadness in this book, there is also fun and laughter as Jill makes a new life for herself and her grandson in a small seaside town.  Jill's Irish neighbour Mary cracked me up on many an occasion as Eva Jordan perfectly balances the darkness of grief with the lightness of laughter.

Jill's grief is portrayed in such a way that it's almost a character in itself as she experiences guilt, anger and blame but ultimately acceptance and hope (as the book title suggests).  I felt all of the emotions with her as I was completely invested in her story.  I left a piece of my heart in this fabulous book, which ensures I will return for a reread in the near future.

A Gift Called Hope isn't just a rollercoaster of emotions, it's a whole fairground.  I cried tears of sadness and laughed until I cried but overall I felt the uplifting emotion of hope, the gift that Eva Jordan is giving all her readers this year.  Simply wonderful and completely unmissable - worthy of five stars and more.

Many thanks to Eva Jordan for sending me a digital ARC to read and review; this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

My rating:

Buy it from Amazon