All That We Carried - Book Review

All That We Carried by Erin Bartels

 Two sisters, Olivia and Melanie head out on a hike that will change their lives. Ten years have passed since their parents were killed in a fatal car accident, and since then Olivia and Melanie have hardly spoke. Olivia poured her heart and soul into law school and distanced herself from her family. Melanie dropped out of college and became a life coach as she struggled to sort through her parent’s belongings. Each girl has harboured regrets since that day, and hopefully this hike will begin to repair the distance between them, even as secrets long carried are revealed.

I really enjoyed Erin Bartels writing style as she draws the reader not only into the story of Olivia and Melanie, but into the beauty of the wilderness as the girls begin their journey. The description of the hills, valleys and rivers becomes so crystal clear, you feel you are walking along with them. The two main characters were so diverse, it added much interest to the story as they discuss religion, life choices and forgiveness. I really enjoyed the novel and would love to thank the author  Erin Bartels, Revell Publishing and NetGalley for an advanced copy of the book to review. All opinions expressed for this review are unbiased and entirely my own.

 

ERIN BARTELS is the award-winning author of We Hope for Better Things--a 2020 Michigan Notable Book, winner of the 2020 Star Award from the Women's Fiction Writers Association in both the debut and general fiction categories, and a 2019 Christy Award finalist--The Words between Us--a 2020 Christy Award finalist--and All That We Carried (coming January 2021). Her short story "This Elegant Ruin" was a finalist in The Saturday Evening Post 2014 Great American Fiction Contest. Her poems have been published by The Lyric and The East Lansing Poetry Attack. A member of the Capital City Writers Association and the Women's Fiction Writers Association, she is former features editor of WFWA's Write On! magazine and current director of the annual WFWA Writers Retreat in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

She lives in Michigan, where she is never more than six miles away from a body of water. She grew up in the Bay City area waiting for freighters and sailboats at drawbridges and spent her college and young married years in Grand Rapids. She currently lives with her husband and son in Lansing, nestled somewhere between angry protesters on the Capitol lawn and couch-burning frat boys at Michigan State University. And yet, she claims it is really quite peaceful.

You can find her on Facebook @ErinBartelsAuthor, Twitter @ErinLBartels, and Instagram @erinbartelswrites

 

Thank you so much for stopping by the farmhouse. Lynn

 

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