Love and Other Mistakes

This captivating tale from Kate explores a woman’s pain and hardship as she questions her faith. Natalie Groves has just lost her job at a plant wholesaler in Charlottesville, Va. The job was the only means of support for her evangelist father, who has been battling cancer for years. On top of supporting her father, 26-year-old Natalie also hasn’t gotten over her broken engagement to Jeremy Walters, who left her weeks before their marriage seven years earlier, causing her to lose confidence in God’s plan. When Jeremy moves back to his hometown as a single parent after his relationship falls apart, Natalie doesn’t know how to deal with her emotions—particularly about his nine-month old baby. After Jeremy’s sister-in-law offers Natalie a minimum-wage internship as an aide to a youth minister, Natalie takes it, but also has to work part-time as Jeremy’s nanny to pay her father’s bills. Kate mines a lively cast of secondary characters from Jeremy’s understanding and helpful family, including his minister brother, police captain father, and teenage niece. Kate also addresses infidelity and fractured families, exploring how wounds can be healed within a relationship and a community. With believably flawed characters, this affecting tale of deceit and redemption, which questions what it means to forgive, will elicit strong reactions from Christian inspirational readers interested in stories with strong moral themes. Agent: Chip MacGregor, MacGregor Literary. (July)