Review: Violette Between

Last night I finished Violette Between, the first book I've read by Alison Strobel. I really wasn't sure what to expect, but was intrigued by the backcover copy:

"Between HERE and the PAST there lies a place...a place of longing for> what has been rather than hoping for what could be..."

The copy continues, but that sentence sums up the feel of the book. I would classify it as women's fiction (though I think men would enjoy it, too, if they like Nicholas Sparks) that examines the challenge of a love lived completely but lost colliding with the possibility of new love.

Violette is an artist who lives life with passion and joy. When we first meet her she's headed to work on a mural and seems completely in love with Dr. Christian Roch. Both have loved and lost, and now they are exploring love with each other. Violette seems completely engaged in her new relationship, but we learn she's trapped in between not wanting to let go of what she had with Saul and embracing what she could have with Christian. Christian is equally unsure of how committed Violette is to discovering if there is a "them". Christian brings her lunch at work and finds her lying on the floor.

The rest of the story weaves intricately between Violette's past and Christian's questions about their future. The one hiccup I had with the book occurred when I didn't pay attention to the date headings at the beginning of each chapter. Once I figured out the interplay between the two story lines, I rushed through the chapters because I was so eager to get back to each story.

There is an honest interplay of the issues and choices we each face. Will we choose to live in the past that we know and can predict, or will we step into the unknown of the future with hope and faith that it can be as good as -- though different than -- the past.

I recommend this book to you.