Tangled Lives
Available: July 11, 2023
• Page Count: 328
ISBN: 978-1649499677
Both women love him, but only one is meant for him.
Crystal Snow struggles with the paralysis caused by her biological parents’ drug use. She convinced herself no one will ever love her. Roxie, devastated by chronic childhood rejections, knows anyone who loves her must be intrinsically flawed. Both want only what is right for their sister who is also their best friend.
Dreams upend career. Destroy friendships. End love.
When searched out by their biological grandmother, the past tangles with the present. Issues the girls wished to forget resurrect and threaten their dreams.
Who gets the man and career of her dreams?
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- I don’t know if this will be the last book in the “Treasured Lives” series, but it is certainly one of the best. I appreciate how love is woven into every page of the book. McClain does a fantastic job of bringing her characters to life and I loved every one of them. Highly recommend this book and the series.authorCyn Taylor
- In Tangled Lives, Carol McClain paints an exquisitely satisfying portrait of how the Snow girls have grown into young women. Some of the pain from their difficult childhood remains, but mama Meredith has built a foundation of love, faith, and family that guides and sustains them as they face the challenges of adulthood. McClain does an incredible job projecting each girl’s personality, so beautifully crafted in the earlier installments of this series, onto the adult versions of each of them in Tangled Lives. Fans of the series will not want to miss this engaging and compelling story. Those new to McClain’s work are given an additional reason to pick up McClain’s Prodigal Lives and read this wonderful series from the start. authorTilmer Wright
Tangled Lives Excerpt
Prologue
Childhood behaves like the morning mist. Children dance and delight, then grow and vanish into the light of their days. So many nights, I wished my girls would mature, would give me grandchildren, would give me a moment to myself. First, of course, go to college.
When the time arrived, and they left me, they took their magic. Without magic, the scent of childhood wafted away in the morning fog. How could I have understood, all those years ago, the bedraggled waifs I fostered would steal my heart? In my reluctance to mother the abandoned children, I never fathomed the temporary fostering would turn into everlasting love when I adopted them.
Once more, I bit back tears as Crystal Joy, my youngest girl, climbed into her car. Last week, we outfitted the Honda with hand controls, so she could drive despite her spina bifida. Parker and I watched as she drove away to the University of Tennessee to join her sister.
I imagined I heard her singing. Never was Crystal without a song even as a child. Back then she hammered on pots and Tupperware to make music. Her alto, always on pitch. Her fingers twitched on guitar strings or dulcimers. In the end, my youngest daughter settled on the violin. Never did the spina bifida slow Crystal down or make her feel inferior. Could a mother call one child perfect?
The dust from the road settled, and I stood next to Parker like the day Lisa Simpson tried to adopt Crystal’s sister.
Roxie.
Always the most sensitive. Perhaps the proverbial middle child. Sweet, insecure Roxie. Too independent and too needy. Her biological parents died of drug overdoses. Roxie had been old enough to understand abandonment, too young to realize her parents’ issues had nothing to do with her worth. Her oldest sister’s grandfather adopted her when she was eight. The hole bored through my heart. It compounded sweet Roxie’s belief in her lack of worth. Roxie believed I loved everyone more than her.
Parker looped his arm around me.
His closeness soothed. Always.
“Meredith, the girls will be home before you realize they moved out. Now’s the time for them to heal, live their passions, and find themselves.” He kissed the top of my head. “They’ll be okay.”
In Parker’s eyes, I hoped to see the truth of his words. This time, I didn’t run away and hide. I let God take my fears and prayed the sins of my daughters’ parents would no longer descend on their innocent offspring. I prayed the love of adoptive parents and a heavenly Father would redeem.