Customer Reviews

Detours

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Bette Nordberg always takes a tough topic and weaves a wonderfully crafted tale around it. In this story, one of the things she tackles is interracial relationships. Callie O'Brian is given the care of her best friend Celia's child when Celia is in a car accident. She doesn't know anything about raising a child and must come to terms with it. Then Marcus Jefferson enters the picture, claiming to be the child's uncle. Only there is an air of mystery surrounding him. This is a novel about love, learning to trust and discovering who you are despite your up bringing. This is a book that I enjoyed from the very first page to the last.

Story Description:

Callie O'Brians ordinary life takes an unexpected detour when social services places a four-year-old orphan, Keeshan Hernandez, in her care. Overwhelmed, Callie is just about ready to give the boy back to the authorities when Marcus Jefferson suddenly arrives, claiming to be Keeshan's uncle.

In the face of Marcus' challenge, Callie realizes the strength of her ties to the little boy. Knowing she cannot simply give him to a stranger, Callie mounts a legal battle to keep Keeshan. Willing to sacrifice everything, Callie is unprepared for the strange attraction she has for Marcus. Can she let go of her own feelings long enough to do what is best for Keeshan? Is Marcus worthy of the prize Callie has to offer?

My Review:

I've quickly come to learn that Bette Nordberg has the uncanny ability to take any mundane, every day situation and turn it into something with substance and meaning.

Callie is a single woman who runs a coffee shop and an upholstery business and is just making ends meet. Her friend, Celia, and her four-year-old son, Keeshan, rent the guest house on Callie's property. When Celia is killed, Callie is given temporary custody of Keeshan but Callie has never been around kids much and is feeling very inadequate about her skills as a caregiver to Keeshan.

Just as Callie is settling into a comfortable routine with Keeshan, Marcus Jefferson happens upon the scene. Marcus is a black man and Keeshan's uncle. Here Nordberg opens the subject of interracial relationships. Callie becomes very protective of Keeshan as Marcus has applied for sole custody, but Callie also finds Marcus very attractive. However, having grown up with a racist father, the old tapes from her childhood are running through her head. Can Callie overcome her father's voice from the past? Who will win custody of little Keeshan?

This is a story of accepting the detours that pop up into our lives and of learning to trust ourselves regardless of our past. I didn't want this book to end and would love to see Ms. Nordberg write a sequel!!

I really enjoyed reading Detours. I felt that the characters were so real. Callie was so full of life although she had a deep hurt. She cared for people. When her best friend, Celia (who rents the guesthouse on her property) was in an accident, she decides against her better judgement, to care for her 4 year-old son. Having never been a mother or around kids she feels totally inept. Slowly as she learns to care for him she finds that she is loosing her heart to him as well. They have not been able to contact any close relatives and so she is granted temporary custody. When Callie and Keeshan (the 4 year-old) finally get into a nice "normal" routine enters Marcus Jefferson. He is claiming to be the boys uncle. Callie becomes very protective of the boy but at the same time wonders about Marcus. He is very kind, polite and very handsome. They each want custody but they also want what is best for Keeshan. Marcus is renting a room from an older lady named Violet. She is longtime friends with Callie's parents. Violet loves Marcus like a son and is encouraging Marcus to pursue Callie. Will he listen to Violet? Who will win custody? and what is the mystery that surrounds Marcus? Read the book and find out. I found myself not wanting to put it down to find what happens next.

Another great book by a great author. This book was difficult to put down. Just about the time things in life are status-quo, we are given detours to take us to a new or challenging experience. The story reminds us that we all have a God-given reserve of strength to meet whatever detours we must take. The story moves right along and involves an air of suspense and romance.

One of Bette Nordberg's strongest skills as a fiction writer is the ability to take the everyday mundane events of life and weave something spectacular from them. In Detours, Nordberg once again offers a story that is both true to life and riveting...she compels the reader to take an honest look into the inner-workings of how assumptions and pre-sumptions can cost a high price to one's soul and overall mental well-being. Readers will find themselves asking important questions about issues that truly matter in life...and discover God's faithful hand of grace close at hand.

Bette Nordberg never lets me down! Each one of her books is a page turner, and "Detours" is no exception.

"Detours" is a story about Callie O'Brian, a single woman who finds herself caring for Keeshan, her injured friend's four year old son. Later, when Celia dies, Callie and Keeshan's lives are thrown into a tail spin. Each one struggles with their loss in their own way. However, with prayer and time, healing begins. Life begins to look brighter until in walks Marcus, Keeshan's uncle, who has come to claim the boy.

"Detours" is a novel about love, learning to trust, and soul searching. I highly recommend this wonderful story.