#BookReview- What’s Worth Keeping #WomensFic #BookLove

Blurb from Amazon.com

In Kaya McLaren’s What’s Worth Keeping, during one unforgettable summer, three generations of one family receive the best gift of all time: a second chance…

The day her doctor says the one word that no one wants to hear, Amy Bergstrom discovers a secret that her husband of 25 years has been keeping from her. Now that the months of treatment and surgeries are behind her, she escapes her claustrophobic life seeking healing, peace and clarity in an ancient forest in Washington State, a forest that holds memories of her childhood summers.

After dropping off his daughter at Amy’s Aunt Rae’s horse ranch in the mountains of New Mexico, Officer Paul Bergstrom visits the fixer-upper he had bought years ago as a place to retire with his family. Although it appears fine on the outside, the inside is a disaster—just like his marriage. When he finds himself with more off-duty time than he expected, he lovingly repairs his dream home, building the future he so desperately wants.

Witnessing her mother’s health crisis had been terrifying enough, but learning the cause was genetic leaves Carly with the sense that all of her dreams are pointless. With the help of her eccentric great aunt and a Clydesdale named T. Rex, Carly just may find her faith in her future again.

Amy, Paul, and Carly discover that love and family are worth keeping in this powerful, emotional, and hopeful novel.

Biography

After a couple years as a nomad spending winters in Mexico, Kaya McLaren has recently returned to her roots are in the mountains of Washington State. She returned to her career as an art teacher, as well, a career that took her to diverse landscapes like the Quinault Rainforest, Snoqualmie Pass, the wheat country of north central Oregon, and the Jicarilla Apache Reservation in northern New Mexico. In addition to being a writer and art teacher, she’s been an archaeologist and a massage therapist. She enjoys art in all its forms, making music with friends, travel, riding horses, telemark skiing, kayaking, soaking in hot springs, and going for walks with her Mexican street dog, Frida.

My Review

Beautiful. A moving tribute to inner strength.

What’s Worth Keeping is the story of three lives torn apart by Cancer. The disease infiltrates not only the person afflicted but everyone they know, in one way or another.

When Amy Bergstrom receives the shocking news from her doctor, she mistakenly assumes nothing could be worse. Until she arrives home to find her husband of twenty-five years had plans to leave her. Angry and hurt, she shuts down and succumbs to the necessary treatments needed to rid her body of the disease. Needing escape from everything that’s gone wrong in her life, Amy heads into the sweeping forests of Washington to heal.

Amy’s husband, Paul, is also battling demons. As a police officer, he’s been forced to witness the worst of humanity and it’s taken a painful toll. Now he’s hit with another traumatic event, that of his wife’s double mastectomy. The pressure he’s under is intense but instead of sharing his grief with his wife, Paul closes t up inside.

Instead of enjoying her senior year of high school, Carly is her mother’s night nurse while she goes through her cancer treatments. She knows she shouldn’t be so selfish but anxiety mixes with fear and resentment to create a stew of hostility in her breast.

The journey taken by each member of the Bergstrom family is heartfelt and realistically portrayed. Thank goodness for Aunt Rae!

“I voluntarily read an ARC of this book which was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.”