Sometimes you don’t realize what your book is about until someone tells you.

When Uncut Diamonds came out, the marketing director at WiDo called it “Steel Magnolias with Mormon characters,” which I’d have never pegged but it was exactly the right description. (Even though it takes place in the Midwestern United States not the South, and the main characters are young parents not older ones preparing for a daughter’s wedding.)

But all that’s not the point. It’s that I find it amazing when someone can tell me exactly what my book is about, and do it better than I could have myself.

That’s what happened when I saw the review for Lighting Candles in the Snow by Mirka Breen, author of the historical fiction middle-grade book, The Voice of Thunder.  

Today is my novel’s launch day and I can’t think of any better way to celebrate it than by posting Mirka’s review:

“Lighting Candles in the Snow is a modern woman’s story, starring the Three Ds: Divorce, Dieting and Dating, in that order. Fans of Karen Jones Gowen’s first two novels will miss the solid loving Mormon family that was the heart of these books. They’re still here, in the form of Suzie and Rob, sister and brother-in-law of the main character, and their seven children. But they have taken a back seat to Karoline London, (that’s Karo-line, as she likes to remind us) who is struggling with the dissolution of her childless marriage, her ex-s addictions, her own lack of spiritual grounding and above all- with dieting and obsessing about food and her weight.

“But there lies a nice surprise- this is a modern woman’s tale, a bit of a romance novel, and a cookbook. Most chapters end with recipes, and having tried a few, I can attest that they are real, and yummy.

“As the story unwinds, Karoline makes her way home in more ways than one, and we readers get the essential nourishment we need from a good story, also in more than one way. Try the Pear and Bleu Cheese Soup; you’ll be glad you did, and happy to have read Lighting Candles in the Snow.

“And just as in Gowen’s novel, House of Diamonds, the title image takes a while to unfold but when it does it’s unforgettable.” (Mirka M.G. Breen, author, The Voice of Thunder)

Thanks, Mirka!  

For more information about Lighting Candles in the Snow, see the WiDo website.