The Edge of Belonging

Title: The Edge of Belonging (audio)

Author: Amanda Cox

Narrator: Leah Horowitz

Genre: Historical fiction, Dual-time, Christian Fiction, Family, Adoption, Favorites

Publisher: Revell

Source: Scribd

Challenge: Virtual TBR

My review:

The Edge of Belonging is Amanda Cox's debut novel that was published last year.  I listened to it on audio, and Leah Horowitz did a FABULOUS job narrating. I will make it a point to listen to other books she has narrated.

“You find a use for everything. Yet you discard yourself at every opportunity.”  

I can tell you this is another book that I will not be able to review properly. However, I will give it my best shot.

 “It was freeing in a way, to have a family built on love by choice and not relational obligation.”

The Edge of Belonging is a captivating and powerful story of adoption, faith, family, unconditional love, secrets, healing, and redemption. It will bring out all the emotions and feelings. ALL of them. This story will stick with me for a long time. I hear Pearl's voice in my head as she talks to Harvey, and it is getting me choked up as I write this review.

The longer you hold a secret the harder it is to let it go.

I loved Ivy, Harvey, Pearl, and Reese (an excellent, swoon-worthy hero!). They are an unlikely bunch, but they fit together so well. The story alternates between present day and 1994-1998. It is beautifully written and woven seamlessly together.

 They say a magnolia tree represents dignity. Maybe, at least, in her death, I provided her that.

There is so much more I could say about The Edge of Belonging; however, you need to read this one for yourself. I highly recommend getting your own copy because it is THAT good. I am not ready to let it go yet. 

★★★★★/5

Synopsis:

When Ivy Rose returns to her hometown to oversee an estate sale, she soon discovers that her grandmother left behind more than trinkets and photo frames--she provided a path to the truth behind Ivy's adoption. Shocked, Ivy seeks clues to her past, but a key piece to the mystery is missing.

Twenty-four years earlier, Harvey James finds an abandoned newborn who gives him a sense of human connection for the first time in his life. His desire to care for the baby runs up against the stark fact that he is homeless. When he becomes entwined with two people seeking to help him find his way, Harvey knows he must keep the baby a secret or risk losing the only person he's ever loved.

In this dual-time story from debut novelist Amanda Cox, the truth--both the search for it and the desire to keep it from others--takes center stage as Ivy and Harvey grapple with love, loss, and letting go.