Healing Maddie Brees.

☆☆☆

healing maddie brees.

rebecca brewster stevenson.

Publisher  Light Messages.

Publication Date: September 13,2016..

Genre: Contemporary Fiction.

Format|Pages:  EBook|310..

 Source:  Received copy from Netgalley.

A debut novel from a promising new voice in fiction, Healing Maddie Brees is the story of a marriage and the memories that pit themselves against it, of the uncanny power of the body in both disease and desire, and of whether true healing ever really happens.



Maddie Brees has been given bad news: She is seriously ill. But she also has an old friend, an ex-boyfriend who might be able to heal her. She was witness to Vincent Elander’s so-called miracles in the past. But that was a long time ago, a memory that she would rather stay buried.



Now she is happily married to Frank and mother of their three young boys. The religion of her past is behind her, along with any confidence she once had in it. With the onset of her cancer, the memories of Vincent won’t leave Maddie alone, and before long they are affecting everything else: her marriage, her husband, the things they thought they agreed on, the beliefs they thought they shared. Soon Frank, who was to be Maddie’s rock throughout her treatment, is finding fault-lines of his own. In this exquisitely written narrative, Stevenson explores the questions of honesty and commitment, of disease and isolation, and of the many shapes healing takes.

*Received Electronic book from Netgalley, in exchange of review *

3.5 Stars 

 ☂

HEALING MADDIE BREES Was a powerful novel that dealt with a hard subject, such as cancer and of course hope. It was unlike other novels that I had read through the years. I have read quite few religious based books but none of them were way that this book was. I feel like HEALING MADDIE BREES was the most religious book that I have read, it was based a lot on faith. Considering what Maddie was dealing with at that moment, it was not surprising. Breast cancer is hard to deal with, and in a way it hits close home to me because my grandmother had breast cancer when I was a teenager. I remember how hard it was for her to go through it. I can’t even imagine what Maddie must been going through, especially with three young kids. All those emotions that she went through, they were so vivid that I felt as I was going through emotions along with Maddie. I am just glad that her husband Frank was there to help her through it all. I feel that she made it as far as she did, and stayed as strong as she had because Frank was there with her every step of the way, no matter how hard it got.



HEALING MADDIE BREES was not what I expected it to be. There were few parts within novel that felt like they were dragging on for too long, and few things that felt that they were repeating, and I found hard to keep my interest on some of the parts of the book. Mostly it was the long drawn out descriptions of character’s faith. I have nothing against religion, to me it just felt like the description was bit too long. It was a bit hard to get through. On other hand I loved the story, the flashbacks between Maddie and Vincent, I could see how different their relationship was than Frank and Maddie. I actually found myself feeling a bit sorry for Vincent, I felt like people was asking too much of him when they assumed he could heal. Especially Justine. There was only so much one person can do. There is a chance that he couldn’t help, but was just luck. Yet it like people assumed him to be able to heal others, no matter what it was. I can’t even imagine how he must felt like at that moment.



I loved the cover, and the description and that was one of the things that had captured my attention to begin with. Just go back and look at the cover, isn’t it beautiful and haunting? As a reader you can’t help but let curiosity get the best of you when you look at the cover. I feel like it tells a story of it’s own. If you love books about religion, that dealt with both family and hope, HEALING MADDIE BREES is a book that you will enjoy. A book that worth giving a try.