Everything You Are by Kerry Anne King ~ a Review

by Susan Roberts

This beautifully written, lyrical novel is about music and family and forgiveness with a touch of magical realism.  It's one of those books that you want to get to the end to see how it ends but you find yourself reading slower because you don't want it to end and you don't want to say goodbye to the characters.

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. A free book was provided for an honest review.

October 2019; Lake Union Publishing
978-1542041966
audio, ebook, print (335 pages); literary

The main characters are

• Phee - the luthier who repairs musical instruments in a shop that she inherited from her grandfather.
• Braden - a talented cello player who abandoned his cello 11 years ago when damage to the nerves in his hands kept him from playing.  When he abandoned his cello, he also disappeared from his family.
• Allie - Branden's 17-year-old daughter who also plays the cello but is struggling with the recent loss of her mother and brother in an accident.
• The last main character is the cello.  The cello who calls to Branden - no matter where he is, he hears the music.  When he returns home to live, he finds that his daughter also has a special connection to the cello.

When Branden was 10, he signed an oath with Phee's grandfather that he would continue to play his cello for his life and never get rid of it. In return, he would be able to make beautiful music. If he didn't play it, bad things would happen in his life.  Now that his wife and son have died in an accident,  Phee attempts to convince him that the curse is real and that he must find a way to play his cello.  She feels that the curse is the reason that Branden's family died and worse will happen to him and his remaining family if he doesn't go back to playing.  As he tries to establish himself at home, he tries to fix the broken parts of his life.  His daughter is bitter and angry and won't accept him as her father and fights him at every turn.  As her life begins to cycle out of control, Braden begins to agree with Phee that the curse on the cello may indeed be real. It will take a miracle of love and forgiveness to bring all three of them back to the healing power of music.

This book covers a range of topics along with the curse - it talks with compassion about alcoholism, infidelity, suicide and pain and most importantly forgiveness.  The author shows the importance of love and forgiveness no matter what happens in life.  Plus the entire novel is all wrapped up in beautiful music.  This is an incredibly beautiful novel and I highly recommend it.

Buy Every Thing You Are at Amazon

About the Author

Kerry Anne King is the author of the international bestselling novels Closer Home, I Wish You Happy, and Whisper Me This. Licensed as both an RN and a mental-health counselor, she draws on her experience working in the medical and mental health fields to explore themes of loss, grief, and transformation—but always with a dose of hope and humor. Kerry lives in a little house in the big woods of the Inland Northwest with her Viking, three cats, a dog, and a yard full of wild turkeys and deer. She also writes fantasy and mystery novels as Kerry Schafer. Visit Kerry at www.kerryanneking.com.

Susan Roberts lives in North Carolina when she isn't traveling. She and her husband enjoy traveling, gardening and spending time with their family and friends. She reads almost anything (and the piles of books in her house prove that) but her favorite genres are Southern fiction, women's fiction, and thrillers. Susan is a top 1% Goodreads Reviewer. You can connect with Susan on Facebook, Goodreads, or Twitter. 

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