The Art of Losing Yourself by Katie Ganshert

★★★★★ Start reading the beginning of The Art of Losing Yourself here.

Just like in my dream, I was drowning and nobody even noticed.

Every morning, Carmen Hart pastes on her made-for-TV smile and broadcasts the weather. She’s the Florida panhandle’s favorite meteorologist, married to everyone’s favorite high school football coach. They’re the perfect-looking couple, live in a nice house, and attend church on Sundays. From the outside, she’s a woman who has it all together.  But on the inside, Carmen Hart struggles with doubt. She wonders if she made a mistake when she married her husband. She wonders if God is as powerful as she once believed. Sometimes she wonders if He exists at all. After years of secret losses and empty arms, she’s not so sure anymore.

Until Carmen’s sister - seventeen year old runaway, Gracie Fisher - steps in and changes everything. Gracie is caught squatting at a boarded-up motel that belongs to Carmen’s aunt, and their mother is off on another one of her benders, which means Carmen has no other option but to take Gracie in. Is it possible for God to use a broken teenager and an abandoned motel to bring a woman’s faith and marriage back to life? Can two half-sisters make each other whole?  

The Art of Losing Yourself tells another absolutely beautiful story from Katie Ganshert. Even after a few days to process it, I’m still having a hard time deciding exactly what to say. But simply put, I loved it. As I have come to expect from Ganshert, this story centers around and moves forward because of her well-crafted, authentic characters - broken and flawed, frustrating and still likeable - and these characters certainly made me care for them. With ups and downs, they explored the differing dynamics and conflicts of various relationships - husband-wife, parent-child, sibling-sibling, friend-friend - all the while, searching for self and identity. A well-told and emotionally engaging story with a valuable spiritual journey, The Art of Losing Yourself receives my wholehearted recommendation - fans of Katie Ganshert will not be disappointed.

Thanks to Blogging for Books, I received a copy of The Art of Losing Yourself and the opportunity to provide an honest review. I was not required to write a positive review, and all the opinions I have expressed are my own.