The Baker's Wife by Erin Healy

Erin Healy creates an amazing, intricate story in The Baker's Wife. Audrey and her husband Geoff's world is turned upside down when an their church fires Geoff, the pastor. Dealing with the shame of a personal scandal, trying to hold their family together, moving, and starting a new business, Audrey and Geoff are hanging on by a thread. Life gets even more difficult when Audrey is involved in an accident and the body of the other driver can't be found. The victim's husband - a detective and elder at their former church - comes to their bakery and declares he will hold everyone hostage until Audrey can produce his wife's body. Audrey must rely on a troubled teen and a woman recently released from prison to help her find the victim before her husband and son die.

To say that the plot is detailed is an understatement. However, Healy tells the story in such a way that it kept me flipping pages furiously. The characters are amazingly well-developed. Each character really seems like a real person - with flaws, problems, hopes, dreams. As the drama builds and the pieces fall into place, readers will feel a wide range of emotions as they learn more about each character.

While the story was incredible, there was one thing that I wasn't quite sure how to deal with. Audrey gets these "feelings" and sometimes actual injuries that mimic those of other people. She feels that these are used by God to show her who she should be ministering to. I love the thought of being really in-tune with God and the ministry she has with her bread baking. However, it felt kind of strange in a Christian book. I wasn't sure if these feelings/injuries were psychic-type visions or prophecy or what. I probably wouldn't have felt so strange about it if it was in a secular book. As it is, I just wasn't sure what to think.

Overall, though, I really did enjoy the book and will gladly read another book by Erin Healy.

I received a free copy of this book from Thomas Nelson Publishers in exchange for my fair and honest review.

About the Book
If what doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger, why is Audrey growing weaker by the day?

When her husband Geoff, a pastor, lost his job after a scandal rocked their congregation, Audrey's never lost faith.

They decide to resurrect a failing bakery as a way to heal family wounds and restore their place in the community.

Running late to the bakery one foggy morning, Audrey strikes a vehicle. Emerging from her car into the fog, she discovers she hit a motor scooter. But there’s no rider in sight. Just blood.

The absence of the driver is a mystery, especially to Sergeant Jack Mansfield, the detective and church member responsible for firing Geoff from his pulpit. The scooter belongs to Jack’s wife, Julie, a teacher at the local high school, who has vanished…like morning fog.

Though there is no evidence to support Jack’s growing suspicion that Audrey and Geoff were involved in Julie’s disappearance, the detective is convinced of their guilt. When he takes the tiny bakery and its patron’s hostage, Audrey must unravel the secret of Julie’s disappearance and her own mysterious suffering before Jack hits his breaking point.

About the Author
Erin Healy is the best-selling co-author of Burn and Kiss (with Ted Dekker) and an award-winning editor for numerous best-selling authors. She has received wide acclaim for her debut solo novels, Never Let You Go and The Promises She Keeps. She and her family live in Colorado. Erin can be contacted through her website erinhealy.com or through Facebook at erinhealybooks.