About the Book

Book:  Borrowed Lives

Author: Carol McClain

Genre: Contemporary Fiction

Release date: March 2021

God Only Lends Us Those We Love for a Season

Distraught from recent tragedy, Meredith Jaynes takes pity on a young girl who steals from her. Meredith discovers “Bean” lives in a hovel mothering her two younger sisters. The three appear to have been abandoned. With no other homes available, Social Services will separate the siblings. To keep them together, Meredith agrees to foster them on a temporary basis.

Balancing life as a soap maker raising goats in rural Tennessee proved difficult enough before the siblings came into her care. Without Bean’s help, she’d never be able to nurture these children warped by drugs and neglect—let alone manage her goats that possess the talents of Houdini. Harder still is keeping her eccentric family at bay.

Social worker Parker Snow struggles to overcome the breakup with his fiancée. Burdened by his inability to find stable homes for so many children who need love, he believes placing the abandoned girls with Meredith Jaynes is the right decision. Though his world doesn’t promise tomorrow, he hopes Meredith’s does.

But she knows she’s too broken.

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About the Author

Carol McClain is the award-winning author of four novels dealing with real people facing real problems. She is a consummate encourager, and no matter what your faith might look like, you will find compassion, humor and wisdom in her complexly layered, but ultimately readable work.

Aside from writing, she’s a skilled stained-glass artist, an avid hiker and photographer. She lives in East Tennessee. Her most recent interests are her two baby goats Peanut & Buttercup. Like all babies, they love sitting on our laps and being bottle fed.

More from Carol

People.

Their lives are messy, destructive, full of mistakes.

Mostly, their lives are beautiful.

For years, I worked with recovering addicts. When I first heard their tales, shock and disbelief overwhelmed me. I couldn’t understand the pain inflicted upon them by addicted parents or what they did in their own lives.

Without Christ, no redemption could be found in their misery. Doesn’t sound like a fun read, huh? Many recover from their addictive patterns. In the interim, the foster care system serves their families wonderfully.

All these factors, coupled with the theme that lives are only leant to us for a season create a story of hope, humor and redemption.

Aside from seeing faith in Jesus change people’s lives—there are always goats.

I love goats, but my husband hesitated in including them in our lives. Seeing as I live the lives of my characters (I am daft), I gave my protagonist in Borrowed Lives Nubian goats. I raised them in my younger years, and by including them in my story, I could have goats vicariously.

Couple the above (redemption from addiction, foster care, and my obsession for goats) with my love of East Tennessee where the people are kind and friendly, and the scenery unparalleled, Borrowed Lives was born.

My Review of Borrowed Lives:

This book captured my attention because of the storyline, yet the writing, characters, and actual story kept me reading long past my bedtime. I absolutely loved the way this author writes. It was my first book by her and will not be my last. My only complaint about this book is that Book 2 isn’t out yet and I have to wait to read what happens.

I could feel all of Meredith’s emotions and totally fell head over heels in love with Bean (Pearl), Roxie, and Crystal. Oh my! Meredith is the type of foster mother I would strive to be. I have a heart for foster children and was a foster care worker myself, so this book was totally one I fell in love with. However, I wasn’t a huge fan of Parker Stone. I know I was supposed to like him, but I didn’t. I’m not completely sure why except that he seemed superficial and about appearances. I know he redeemed himself in the end, but still, he rubbed me the wrong way. I liked the police officer much better and totally was rooting for him to win Meredith’s hand. I also didn’t much like Felicity. I loved, though, how the author portrayed Meredith – faults and all. She did her best, she was a great mom, yet she made mistakes too. I felt like she gave too much responsibility to Beans and Roxie (in one scene she wouldn’t leave Roxie and Crystal in the tub by themselves because of possible drowning), a few months later she told Roxie to bathe her sister. What changed? However, maybe that’s typical for foster children of that age because they are used to taking care of their siblings and Bean especially loved to help. I loved how Meredith resisted yet wanted her family’s help. I could relate to wanting that independence yet realizing families are there for each other and it takes a village to raise a family. I loved how Sunshine and Cora were so real. I also loved how they bonded together as women and had “girls’ day +Owen). The author did a great job showing the love of sisters, mothers and daughters and families.

Fantastic book. I cannot wait to read the second in the series. I hope it gets published quickly!

I received a copy of this book from Celebrate Lit but was not under any obligation to write a review. All opinions are strictly mine.

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Don’t forget to check out the other blog spots listed below for your convenience.

Blog Stops

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, September 1

Texas Book-aholic, September 2

Spoken from the Heart, September 2

Inklings and notions, September 3

For Him and My Family, September 4

deb’s Book Review, September 5

Locks, Hooks and Books, September 6

Ashley’s Clean Book Reviews, September 7

Because I said so — and other adventures in Parenting, September 8

A Modern Day Fairy Tale, September 9

Musings of a Sassy Bookish Mama, September 10

Rebecca Tews, September 10

Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, September 11

Batya’s Bits, September 12

Pause for Tales, September 13

Happily Managing a Household of Boys, September 14

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Carol is giving away the grand prize of a $50 Amazon gift card!!

Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.

https://promosimple.com/ps/116b2/borrowed-lives-celebration-tour-giveaway