RIGHT BEFORE THEIR EYES

RIGHT BEFORE THEIR EYES
Friday, March 28, 2025 by CARRIE WALKER

Categories: Friday's Fiction / GUEST AUTHORS / Reviews and Interviews

PLEASE WELCOME

CARRIE WALKER

FICTION FRIDAY

I always loved reading, but I never knew I’d write. Growing up, my parents kept my bookshelves filled, and I often stayed up late with a flashlight, finishing one after the other. I always had that teasing in my mind, like many avid readers probably do: “What if I wrote a book someday?”

But I’m not the type of person to venture out unless I feel called to do it, and for many years, that wasn’t the case. As it turns out, God was using this time to knit a lot of stories within me as I married my high school sweetheart, graduated from engineering school, served as a high school youth minister with my husband, and grew our family to seven children—two adopted and five biological.

And then the call came.

A young woman whom my husband and I had ministered to as a teen gave birth to a baby with a terminal brain condition that doctors deemed “incompatible with life.” Her sweet baby girl lived for almost a year, and when I visited them in the hospital, I laid eyes on the smallest six-month-old baby I’d ever seen, an angel. It struck me how this baby had surely changed the lives of many people, and her mother may not even realize it. At that moment, the seed for a story was planted.

But it wasn’t a story yet.

I had several teenage children at this point and would often see teens at school or come by the house who seemed lost, some so lost that it appeared they weren’t even trying to find their way anymore. And I thought, “what if a baby like I met changed the life of a teen like that?”

Then I had a story.

And so began the journey of my debut, Emma’s Hero.

I weave in romance because I believe every story is better with romance, but by the time I finished Emma’s Hero, I knew that this would be the first of a three-book series. For the series, the reader will take a journey with a young man from his troubled teen days to adulthood, and also watch the under current theme of how this baby changed the world, even years later.

My second novel, Right Before Their Eyes, also embraces life-affirming themes as it focuses on loving those close to us, and focuses on the struggles of those with dementia and teens that get lost in the foster care system.

My prayer is that my novels show how God is always working in every story and how, no matter what the circumstances are, there is always hope.

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MORE ABOUT RIGHT BEFORE THEIR EYES

Clare Martin thought nothing of agreeing to live with her dementia ridden grandmother when her parents left on mission. Balancing that with her job as a social worker and the expectations of her career-driven boyfriend proved doable—until Grandma started a house fire.

Mason Hughes has loved Clare for years, but the time was never right to tell her, and now she’s dating someone else, fixing Mason firmly in the friend zone.

He’s working to be a pediatric neurologist, a dream inspired by a special boy with a terminal brain condition, and he must choose a medical school. Finances are so tight he’s forced to consider a program across the country, a troubling fact he’s kept secret.

Lucia Roberts, a seventeen-year-old on Clare’s caseload, loses her foster home and is placed in an unwelcoming group home. At every turn, she’s met with rejection and becomes desperate for any proof she has value—enough to make choices that could affect the rest of her life.

When Grandma Dottie and Lucia's paths take a dangerous turn, Clare frantically tries to save them. As their lives knit together, will they find the love that’s right before their eyes?

ABOUT CARRIE WALKER

Carrie Walker lives in Michigan with her husband and seven children. From her ten years serving as a high school youth minister, adventures around the globe, and raising a family, many stories have been knit within her heart.

As an avid reader she pens what she loves to read, contemporary stories that bring hope to a hurting world. Weaving romance among story lines of characters in struggle, she aims to show God working in all situations. When she’s not playing board games with her husband, shuttling kids in the Walker bus or wishing for snow, Carrie can be found at the keyboard bringing those stories to life.

Carrie’s writing has been recognized in many contests. Her debut novel, Emma’s Hero, won the IAN Book of the Year for Christian Fiction, was a double finalist in the International Book Awards, placed in the ACFW Crown Award, Monroe Walton Center for the Arts Award, and won the 2020 ACFW First Impressions Contest.

*****MY REVIEW

I rarely find a book that keeps me turning the pages and makes me reluctant to set it down to clean up the kitchen or grab a snack.

Clare's struggle to be a caregiver for her Grandma, who suffers from dementia, balancing her social work career with the challenges Grandma Dottie's condition creates, rings true.

As a former social worker, Lucia’s story also rings true, as does Clare’s. This story will tug at your heartstrings as you follow Lucia’s difficult foster care experience. And, of course, you want to root for the hero and heroine to finally realize their love for one another. Will Mason choose his medical school wisely or throw away a chance to be with Clare? Will Clare realize her boyfriend is a millstone and wake up to the love she has for Mason?

Not only is the story engaging, but the book is well-crafted,

I recommend this book

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