Everyone has a past, but what about a secret?
The wedding invitations are out and the RSVP’s are coming in. Laura and her parents are planning a fairytale wedding to Brad Cutler—a promising young executive in her fathers firm, a devoted Christian, and the man of Laura’s dreams.

As the big day draws near, regret pulls on the bridegroom’s soul. He knows he can’t move forward until he makes peace with his past.  Laura learns Brad isn’t the man she thought he was. To make matters worse, he returns to his ex-girlfriend to apologize for the mistakes he made in high school, their decision to abort a child conceived out of wedlock. Laura prays he will return.

New York Times bestselling author Karen Kingsbury tactfully deals with the spiritual and emotional ramification of abortion in her new fiction novel Shades of Blue. This stand-alone book published by Zondervan is a testimony to Kingsbury’s writing finesse. It takes a talented author to write about such a sensitive issue, and a brave publishing house to promote the project, but there is more to this story than mistakes and regret. Hope, forgiveness and redemption are also part of the Christian characterizations in this modern-day romance.

Kingsbury brings the characters, their emotions and the story to life. Her writing is engaging and entertaining. However, as seems to be the case with many Christian fiction books, the ending is predictable. I suspect this has less to do with the author and more to do with an industry that wants to protect and promote Christian values by showing that morally correct and often difficult decisions lead to a desirable ending. In spite of this (general) complaint, the ending of this particular story is handled with the grace and ease of a proven, talented author. For this reason, I recommend Shades of Blue by Karen Kingsbury as a satisfying, heartfelt novel.   

Karen Kingsbury has written more than forty fiction titles and has nearly fifteen million books in print. Time magazine called her the Queen of Christian Fiction. For additional information about Kingsbury go to www.karenkingsbury.com