A Broken Kind of Beautiful ~ Review

A Broken Kind of Beautiful
By Katie Ganshert

I have never read Katie Ganshert's books before A Broken Kind of Beautiful.  I needed to pick a new book for review through the Blogging for Books program and so I figured I give this book a try.  I am so glad I did.  A Broken Kind of Beautiful is a book that really touches one's heart.  I spent Saturday afternoon reading this book and didn't want to put it down.

Ivy Clark has spent her life wanting her father's love, but now it is too late.  She has no more chances to earn the love she seeks.  She's tried to fill this emptiness with meaningless flings and attractions since she was 14 years old.  Add to this that her mother hasn't been there for her for more than 10 years and Ivy is a broken person.

Ivy's life is dependent upon her looks and her fading youth (which at 24 years of age is pretty sad).  With her modeling career seemingly on the downturn - she has one last chance - modeling wedding dresses for her step-mother.

But why Marilyn Olsen would want the living breathing proof of her husband's unfaithfulness modeling her wedding line is unfathomable to Ivy.  With her career on the line she reluctantly agrees to leave New York for Greenbrier, South Carolina.  But when she learns that the photographer for the shoot is her step-cousin Davis Knight she's convinced this is the end.  After all Davis is a nobody maintenance man at the local church!

But Davis had his own successes and career in fashion.  But something happened, causing him to turn his back on a lucrative career and vowing to never to again pick-up his camera.  But Aunt Marilyn convinces him do this one favor for her and for his sister Sara.  And for Sara, Davis will do anything.

Can these hurting people find the blessings that being broken has brought them?  Or will they only see what their brokenness has cost them?

A Broken Kind of Beautiful looks at the heart and the inner beauty of a life reborn and renewed in Christ. The statement about outer beauty being fleeting is explored.  The emptiness of world acclaim can be overcome by coming into fellowship with the One who sees our true inner self. 

I received this book from Blogging for Books in exchange for my honest review.

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Sometimes everything you ever learned about yourself is wrong

Fashion is a fickle industry, a frightening fact for twenty-four year old model Ivy Clark. Ten years in and she’s learned a sacred truth—appearance is everything. Nobody cares about her broken past as long as she looks beautiful for the camera. This is the only life Ivy knows—so when it starts to unravel, she’ll do anything to hold on. Even if that means moving to the quaint island town of Greenbrier, South Carolina, to be the new face of her stepmother’s bridal wear line—an irony too rich for words, since Ivy is far from the pure bride in white.

If only her tenuous future didn’t rest in the hands of Davis Knight, her mysterious new photographer. Not only did he walk away from the kind of success Ivy longs for to work maintenance at a local church, he treats her differently than any man ever has. Somehow, Davis sees through the façade she works so hard to maintain. He, along with a cast of other characters, challenges everything Ivy has come to believe about beauty and worth. Is it possible that God sees her—a woman stained and broken by the world—yet wants her still?