Glass Girl

Of course the book will appeal - and speak profoundly - to teenage girls. In fact, every teenage girl in the world should read this book. But, if this book gets pigeon-holed as being JUST for teenage girls it will be a real shame. The story touches on themes much too large for such a narrow audience. Meg suffers a devastating blow at an early age. She experiences grief in all of its ugliness and power. She enters the process without faith, with a deep-seated anger toward God and others, an uncanny ability to repel love, and the understandable instinct to isolate herself from the cruelty of life. It takes the wisdom, tenderness, and patience of an extremely mature (superhuman? perhaps, but very believable and certainly someone we all hope still exists somewhere - maybe even within us) young man of character, depth, and faith to walk along side her as she learns for herself that she is not as fragile as she thinks she is. Is she the glass girl? Of course she is. Her big brother Wyatt (her idol) told her so. The question is, What kind of glass is she made of? Will her grief destroy her like a fragile, weak, brittle window when it is hit with a baseball? Or is she the other kind of glass girl? the amazingly strong, beautifully transparent, deeply sensitive and completely renewable kind? Kurk takes us on a journey to find out. Along the way we learn a little about glass, a little more about love, a lot about grief and the terrible toll it can take on a human life, and something about ourselves. In the midst of all the ugliness, we see men and women as they were designed to be - as we all want to be. More than once along the journey I found myself recommitting to being the person I know God made us all to be - the person we can be by His Grace. An amazing debut. A glorious journey and a very worthwhile read - for everyone. Not JUST teenage girls.

Sometimes we are lucky enough to find a book that speaks to our soul, one that allows us to feel what the characters feel; their grief is our grief, their joy is our joy. Laura Anderson Kurk wowed me with her prose and her ability to put heartbreak and sadness on the page without it ever being melodramatic. These characters come alive in this story and they make you want to follow them down whatever road they're on because you've come to care about them. This book explores deep themes and spins them beautifully in a way that makes you think beyond the pages and the words. This is the type of story that mainstream fiction needs more of, the rushing themes of brokenness, redemption and mercy, of connecting with other human beings on deep enough levels to invoke healing...because that's why we're here. Loved this novel, devoured it in less than 24 hours. I devoured the sequel as well.

Glass Girl is beautifully written about a difficult, seldom approached subject - the loss of a sibling. Laura Kurk skillfully weaves a tale about Meg, the grieving sister so well that its amazing insights about the grief process sneak up on you. Henry, the strong boyfriend will appeal to women of every age. There are a few men of steel and velvet left!!! The characters are unique, human, and believable. Anyone who has suffered a loss of someone they love will relate to this book and feel the exquisite pain of Meg's journey as she comes full circle and learns to trust Henry, herself, and the Lord. She realizes God is very real, He will never leave us and He has plans for each one of us. After finishing this book, I found myself missing Meg and Henry and wanting more.....just what a great book does! This book is for a much wider audience than teenage girls. I highly recommend it.

Henry is one male lead that every single girl will fall in love with. I grew up reading everything I could possibly get my hands on. Very few books have ever touched me the way this one has. I first heard about this book from my 15 year old sister, who absolutely loved it. She's almost a decade younger than I am and our tastes are sometimes different, but I decided to try it and simply could not tear myself away. I felt like I was finally reading a book that had me in mind. There are so many book, movies, tv shows, etc. that have couples that you love to love, but most of them require some sort of "Christian disclaimer" for what you might not approve of. This book shows love in its most pure and simple form...without being preachy. It isn't a story built on "will they or won't they", simple teenage lust, or anything of the sort. It is simply a story of a girl trying to find her way to becoming whole after a heartbreaking tragedy, and the boy who loved her "with the love of the Lord" helping her find it. A love story, a friendship story, a "coming of age" story, a healing story...all in all, an amazing story. I don't know what else to say other than: if you could read one book this year, read this one. I'm waiting on my new copy to come in and plan on reading it multiple times a year...maybe month. We'll see. :)

I met the author, Laura Anderson Kurk, last weekend at a book signing in her hometown and mine. I bought her book and finished it in three days! This is coming from a mother of two preschoolers. What made me read so quickly was not danger or fantasy or fear or even high adventure; it was the very real voice of a lovely, fragile modern-day heroine and the beautiful prose of Laura Kurk. Meg, the main character, has a broken heart, but she doesn't realize she also has the strength to become whole again, with the help of a pure-hearted, handsome cowboy, and of God. The spiritual message was so deep that it wasn't evangelical in the negative sense many people think of it; it was heartfelt and inspiring. And even though it was about a girl who was grieving, it was also funny and uplifting and hopeful. Read this book, and you will not be able to get Meg Kavanaugh and Henry Whitmire out of your head! They set the bar for youthful strength and vulnerability, pure love and tempting passion. You truly get the feeling that these two are the kind that can change a generation and change the way readers perceive themselves, view love, and approach God. Read this book, as a mother or a daughter, and find hope.