A Song For My Mother - A Novel by Kat Martin

A Song For My Mother: A Novel. Kat Martin. Vanguard Press. April 2011. 224 pp hc. ISBN No. 9781593156565.

Marly Hanson left Dreyerville, Michigan midway through high school with a rough and tough boyfriend, heading for Detroit where she eventually was abandoned and left with her daughter, Katie. Marly has a lot to be proud of, having put herself through school and made a loving home for Katie, a world that has been shattered and rebuilt after Katie develops and is treated for cancer. But Katie is on the mend now and has one desire, to see her grandmother in Dreyerville.

Marly's Mom, Winnie, has plenty to feel guilty about, but Marly seems hell-bent on voicing her anger and refusing to give an inch, a fact that is quickly picked up by both Katie and Winnie's caring neighbor, Reed Bennett.

Reed and his son, Ham, have had their own sorrows to surmount, but Reed is definitely attracted to Marly who comes across as the resistance poster female of the year - at first.

Telling more would spoil this tough but tender story in which the reader learns not to make quick judgments and watches the healing power of love crack stony, formidable walls into pebbles. Nothing is impossible, and love has such immense power to heal, bring forgiveness while still remembering, and forging a new world of trust and tenderness in a world that is so quick to condemn and slow to give second chances.

Great, lovely story, Kat Martin! Something for everyone herein!