A book review on Here If You Need Me by Kate Braestrup. 

This is the blurb from the back cover, "Here If You Need Me is the story of Kate Braistrup's remarkable journey from grief to faith to happiness -- as she holds her family together in the wake of her husband's death, as she pursues his dream of becoming a minister, and as she ultimately finds her calling as a chaplain to search-and-rescue workers. Her story is dramatic, funny, and deeply moving -- an uplifting account of finding God through helping others and of the small miracles that happen every day when a heart is grateful and lover is restored."

I appreciated Kate's easy & simple style of writing, her no-nonsense approach. She shares with us some of her life's defining time periods... her husband is killed, she has four children, she enters seminary, and she leans on God to get her through. 

Her sense of wanting to share love even while mourning her husband's death is an amazing example her children have been privy to experience first-hand.

Furthermore, having a glimpse into the workings of a search & rescue was interesting.

The only draw-back for me is that I was wanting "more". And I don't mean this in a "I don't want to stop reading" good way. I felt Kate stopped sharing too soon over & over ... left out a few too many emotions or details. Her no-nonsense approach felt at times like an omission on purpose. 

While I realize protecting privacy was of great concern for Kate, I thought some stories could've been finished "more". She shares several accounts of search & rescue, but fails to let us know what  "the endings" were. They were found or weren't found didn't always feel like enough. I don't want to say much more without giving stories away.

I suppose my minor disappointment in this book is that Kate never delves too deeply into any one topic~ not her grief, not her family workings, not her search & rescue experiences, and not her trip through seminary. It was much more a surface-only book,  glancing off topics rather quickly & sometimes haphazardly. 

This isn't to say I didn't find the book interesting. I did. And this isn't to say I didn't look forward to reading it, because I did. I just kept wishing Kate would take any one of her main topics & hit them fully & deeply.