Saving Abby by Steena Holmes Guest Review!

All children’s book illustrator Claire Turner ever wanted was to be a mother. After six years of trying to conceive, she and her husband, Josh, have finally accepted that she will never be pregnant with a child of their own.

Yet once they give up hope, the couple gets the miracle they’ve been waiting for. For the first few months of her pregnancy, Claire and Josh are living on cloud nine. But when she begins to experience debilitating headaches, blurred vision, and even fainting spells, the soon-to-be mother goes to the doctor and receives a terrifying diagnosis. Since any treatment could put their unborn baby’s life at risk, the Turners must carefully weigh their limited options. And as her symptoms worsen, Claire will have to make an impossible decision: Save her own life, or save her child’s?

USA Today and New York Times bestselling author Steena Holmes brings us an unforgettable story of one woman’s courage and love. 

NY Times & USA Today Bestselling Author - Steena is the author of the heart wrenching Finding Emma series.

The Word Game was included in the Top 20 Novels to be Written by Women in 2015 by Good Housekeeping.

Her latest novel - The Word Game won the 2015 USA Books Award for Best Fiction and her novel, The Memory Child was a finalist in the same category. 

Steena Holmes grew up in a small town in Canada and holds a Bachelors degree in Theology.

In 2012 she received the Indie Excellence Award. Holmes was inspired to write Finding Emma after experiencing a brief moment of horror when she’d thought her youngest daughter was missing. 

She currently lives in Calgary with her husband and three daughters and loves to wake up to the Rocky Mountains each morning.
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Novels in her Finding Emma series:
Finding Emma
Dear Jack
Emma's Secret
Dottie's Memories
Megan's Hope

The Memory Child
The Memory Journal

Stillwater Bay Series:
Before the Storm
Stillwater Rising

The Word Game

Saving Abby

http://www.steenaholmes.com

If you could have one wish, what would it be? Some of us would wish for health, happiness, for wealth, or any number of things.  For Claire Turner, children's book illustrator, it was to have a child.  She longed to be a mother.  More than anything in the world, she wished to have a child.

After years of trying, she and her husband, Josh, finally accept the fact that this wish - one they share - will never come true.  Heartbroken, lost and in grief, the couple decides to travel to Europe in hopes of coping with the loss of the one thing they'll never have.  

Steena Holmes tells the story of this perfect couple as they travel across the ocean to mourn and to heal.  Along their travels, they make friends, they work on their stories (books about an adventurous kid named Jack that they co-author) and they find peace and joy in each other.  

But then, with a twist of fate and an unexpected surprise, Claire returns home to find out she's pregnant.  Elated and shocked, the couple enjoys the first few months of the pregnancy with a joy that only Holmes can describe.  Until life unexpectedly steers them in another direction - Claire is sick.  She has a brain tumor.  And she has to decide whether she wants to seek treatment or have the baby, because it's one or the other. She cannot have both.

Holmes writes with such compassion and love that this book is definitely readable in one sitting.  The descriptions of places makes you feel like you're there - you can smell the sweetness of the Belgian waffles and feel the Italian breeze brushing your skin.  And she makes you fall in love with the characters and feel every emotion they feel. 

Guest Review