In Every Heartbeat by Kim Vogel Sawyer

Book Description: As three friends who grew up in the same orphanage head off to college together, they each harbor a cherished dream. Libby wishes to become a famous journalist, Pete plans to study to become a minister, and Bennett wants to join a fraternity and have as much fun as possible. But as tensions rise around the world on the brink of World War I, the friends' differing aspirations and opinions begin to divide them, as well. And when Libby makes a shocking discovery about Pete's family, will it drive a final wedge between the friends or bond them in ways they never anticipated?

My Review:  This was another new author for me, Kim Vogel Sawyer.  How I missed this author...I simply don't know!  I loved this book.

Three orphans... Libby, Pete (Petey to Libby) and Bennett ...are off to college.  Libby is excited until she sets up her dorm room and meets the two most snobbish girls.  She then longs/wants to return home but her "mom", Maelle, insist that she stay.  As a good mother know we must sometimes challenge ourself to bear the unexpected.

Libby and Pete are the closest of the threesome.  Pete struggles with his peg leg from a boyhood accident but doesn't waste time on self pity or from occasionally hopping on one leg to keep up.  Pete is a wonderful balance for Libby and as situations sometimes get sticky for the orphans, Pete is the one to bring the positive aspects in to play.

Bennett loves food and fun.  Bennett is the one most likely to get into a ruckus, not always of his own doing, but simply just by being in the right place at the wrong time.

As the story progresses, Libby, Pete and Bennett must make three very different decisions  for their lives AND then World War I is upon the U.S.  How will our country at war change the three?

Pete trusts God to lead him into the ministry, Libby struggles with who/what she is to become and Bennett....well, some of us are just like Bennett....hoping for the best while having fun.  Just because one is born to two people doesn't create a family.  As we read In Every Heartbeat a family can be those who love and work together for the good of the whole group.  But how will those life choice we make/create affect our relationship to those  in our intimate circle?

But that's not all . . . Libby accidentally finds out something about Pete!  Will this change her and Pete's relationship and how will Libby explain what she knows?

This is a 5 star read for those who enjoy historical fiction with a touch of grace and a mingling of love and acceptance.  

*I reviewed this book for Bethany House Publishing*

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About the Author:  Kim Vogel Sawyer has dreamed of being an author since her earliest memories. Seeing her books in print is sometimes still too good to be true. In addition to her writing ministry, Kim travels to women's groups to share her testimony of God's miraculous hand of healing in her life--both physically and emotionally. She sees a correlation between the writing of a good story and God's good plan for every life, and she hopes her stories encourage readers to seek God's will in their own personal lives. Kim has written two novellas for Heartsong Presents and the popular novel Waiting for Summers Return. She writes gentle stories of hope, offering her readers encouragement. Bygones is the first book of the Sommerfeld Trilogy.