THE GUEST BOOK by Marybeth Whalen

Book Description:  When Macy Dillon was five years old her father encouraged her to draw a picture in the guestbook of a Carolina beach house. The next year, Macy returned to discover a drawing by an unidentified little boy on the facing page. Over the next eleven years the children continue to exchange drawings … until tragedy ends visits to the beach house altogether. During her final trip to Sunset, Macy asks her anonymous friend to draw her one last picture and tells him where to hide the guest book in hopes that one day she will return to find it—and him. Twenty-five years after that first picture, Macy is back at Sunset Beach—this time toting a broken family and a hurting heart. One night, alone by the ocean, Macy asks God to help her find the boy she never forgot, the one whose beautiful pictures touched something deep inside of her. Will she ever find him? And if she does, will the guestbook unite them or merely be the relic of a lost childhood?

My Review:  THE GUEST BOOK by Marybeth Whalen is a summer read...well, it's set in beach house/beach front setting.  Actually, it can be read any time of the year but sometimes it's so nice to read a story that actually coincides with the season.

Macy Dillon is an artist.  When she was five she left a picture in the guest book of a Carolina beach house.  The next year when her family returned there was a drawing left on the facing page by an unidentified buy.  So, for the next eleven years Macy and "the boy" leave each other pictures until tragedy ends her visits to the beach house!  Macy frantically scribbles a note to the boy on her last day at the beach house, "You can hide the guest book under the loose floorboard in the closet of the room I've come to think of as mine..."

An then twenty-five years later Macy takes her own little broken family to the same Sunset Beach.  

Macy's faith is failing.  She has made some mistakes. She is raising a sweet child, Emma, whose father left when Emma was born.  Her job seems so dead end and she feels empty.  And then she and her mom decide to go back to the beach house where their family shared so many good times.

Macy wants Emma to experience the good times of the beach house, too, but she truly has hopes the "boy" who exchanged pictures with her all those years just might be there too.  

An interesting Christian romance with true ups and downs of life.  Life isn't perfect but God can bring it all together when you trust in Him.

*This book was provided by Zondervan*

*I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255.*

Meet the Author: 

• Marybeth Whalen is the wife of Curt and mom of six children. The family lives outside Charlotte, NC. Marybeth is the author of the novels "The Mailbox," "She Makes It Look Easy" and the upcoming "The Guest Book". She also serves as director of She Reads, an online book club focused on spotlighting the best in women's fiction. Marybeth spends most of her time in the grocery store but occasionally escapes long enough to scribble some words. She's always at work on her next novel. You can find her online at www.marybethwhalen.com.
  
  
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• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Zondervan (July 3, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0310334748
• ISBN-13: 978-0310334743