As the Tide Comes In by Cindy Woodsmall and Erin Woodsmall

   

Tara Abbott had lived a hard life, abandoned by her addicted mother and placed in foster care at a young age with only a painting from someone she once called Nana, but no longer remembered, to link her to her past. As a high schooler she met her two younger half-brothers, but saw them only that one time with their paternal grandmother. While she loved her two best friends, her roommates that became like sisters while in foster care, Tara missed being loved by family, missed having roots. So when, after graduating high school, she learned that her brothers' grandmother was dying and that they were likely destined to be separated and placed in foster care, Tara felt compelled to raise them as her own in the mountains of North Carolina.

Gavin Burnside, the man with four mamas, well one biological mama and her three best friends, is a firefighter with a problem. His dad had died in a fireworks accident that resulted in a personal injury lawsuit that caused the financial hole Gavin and his real mama found themselves in. There was only one possible way to pull themselves out, the dismantling and selling of an historical home on St. Simons Island, Georgia, an act that would have been legal if they'd only had a few more days to wait.

Cindy and Erin Woodsmall make the most of the grandeur of the mountain and beach settings in this story. They have placed unique, lovable characters in each, and orchestrated a story line that plunges the readers into the depths of grief and raises them into the heights of victory. This book itself is a vessel of love.

I highly recommend As the Tide Comes In. It is an equally great vacation read and rainy weekend read, and is equally filled with lighthearted goodness and deep, thoughtful lessons. I thank NetGalley and Waterbrook & Multnomah for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review. I was under no obligation to provide a positive review and received no monetary compensation.