Carmen and Gracie are bound by having the same mother, but that’s where their similarities end. Carmen, the well-put together wife of the local high school’s football coach, works as the weather girl at the local TV station, and seems to live the perfect designed life. Gracie on the other hand is the gothic-grunge angry teenager whose life seems to spin uncontrollably.

After Gracie runs away from home, the two end up together rebuilding their family’s beach hotel. While they remodel the hotel to bring it to its former glory, both of their lives continue to fall apart due to destruction of their own making. Carmen desperately wants to be a mother. Gracie is in dire need of one. The unfulfilled longings in both of their hearts consume their lives.

The Art of Losing Yourself by Katie Ganshert touches on several real-life issues with poignant clarity and vulnerability. The emotional ride takes the reader along the path of the devastation of infertility; isolation brought about by marital strife; scarring left by dysfunctional families; as well as the pain of losing someone you love Alzheimer’s.

Ganshert immerses the reader in not just the story but the character’s emotions as well. By doing so, the reader understands the issues in the novel more intimately.  With real-life issues at its heart, readers will easily identify in some way, whether that be the dissolution of a marriage, the illness of a loved one, or the abandonment by a parent. It’s a book that readers can walk away from knowing they are better for the reading because they understand their own pain better as well as the gained empathy for others.

While the novel doesn’t tie up the story in pretty bows at the end, it does offer an unexpected twist and unfinished storylines. Therein lies the point, not all of our lives go according to plan but as long as the ones we love are beside us, the story can go on in hope.

The Art of Losing Yourself is a story that tempts readers to keep turning pages and in the end, readers are better off by having spent time between those pages.

Note: This book will be available for purchase on April 21, 2015. Click here to read more about Katie and discover  her other books.