Review and Giveaway - Stretch Marks by Kimberly Stuart

Stretch Marks: A Novel by Kimberly Stuart


My rating: 5.0/5.0
Mia is a eco-conscious vegetarian living in Chicago with her boyfriend and doing her best to avoid her cruise hospitality director mother. This all works out fine until she finds herself pregnant, without said boyfriend and with her mother on her doorstep. That's when Mia's life starts to change.


I really enjoyed this book and I really like the direction Christian fiction titles like this are going. There was a realism to this book. Mia didn't not believe but she didn't believe either. Her mother was a Christian, but she didn't go to church all the time, yet she was a moral person. Mia was a moral person to in many ways. Through the book we see both of them grow spirtually but very it's in the background. This is not an in-your-face preachy book, but a subtle way your life changes with God in it. More like real life. I loved the characters. Loved her mom, Babs outspokenness and Mia's trying to hold onto herself even with her mom around and with her body changing. Lars the boyfriend rings close to real-life as he leaves when Mia finds herself pregnant.

Rounding out the cast is Silas, Mia's neighbor and Adam, the guy who works at the grocery store that Mia frequents and remains her true friend throughout the book.

A wonderful, funny and moving story that shows how babies change us and how we can change when situations are not ideal. I loved this and I will be seeking out other Kimberly Stuart novels.

More information on this book in my FIRST Wild Card Tour post.

I will also be giving my copy away. It's gently used, but has a bunch of reading left in it. Open to US and Canada only (sorry international - things are tight at the moment) and it ends on 10/15. So if you would like to win here's how you can (you can do it all in one post - I'll count up and credit you for additional entries):

• Leave your email (+1)
• Follow me by rss feed, email or on blogger (+2)
• Follow me on twitter (+2)
  
• Tweet or blog this giveaway (+3) (limit one tweet for +3 per day)
• Tell me another Christian fiction book that deals with a real issue that's not usually covered in Christian fiction(+5)