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Title: All I Once Held

Author: Gaylynne Sword

Narrator: Clara Harris

Format: Unabridged

Length: 6 hrs and 56 mins

Language: English

Release date: 07-18-17

Publisher: Quoir

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 2 votes

Genres: Fiction, Religious & Inspirational

Publisher's Summary:

Katy Walton spent her life trying to be a good girl, or at least giving the appearance of one. When she marries into a long family line of Southern Baptist preachers, it becomes her job to maintain the image of the perfect family in the perfect church with a perfect future ahead. When the facade starts to crumble and even her best intentions fail to fool anyone, she finds herself alone and abandoned. It's not until she realizes how much living in the shadows of secrets and shame has damaged her daughter, Ivy Rose, that she learns to let go of all she once held in order to save what matters the most.

Members Reviews:

Great story about life, loss, and letting go of your preconceptions to live your truest life.

It's been a long time since I read a book that I could not put down, but this is definitely one of them! I became engrossed with the story of Katy and her life journey. I appreciate Sword's writing style, which I liken to one of my own best friends telling me their story first hand. I can relate to Katy's struggle to be myself in the church community. It took me years to find a church where I felt that I could lay it all out on the table and embrace my own story, and Sword's character Katy reminds us of the importance of this. Sword's book is honest, vulnerable, and relatable to real life. While this is a work of fiction, it evoked in me deeper philosophical questions about our need for human connection and supportive community. This a page turner that you won't regret spending your time on.

Touches the deepest places of the heart

All I Once Held is an amazing look into the reality and struggles of human relationship through the eyes of a wife and mother. The author's ability to weave this into a story that is engaging from the first sentence allows the reader to identify with the trials and weaknesses of the characters and to realize that there is a hope and peace to all the craziness of our human condition. Her presentation of an all loving God in the person of Jesus, free of religious hypocrisy, is enlightening and comforting, especially in a world where most Christian institutions present a very different God. This book will capture you from the beginning, take you through the trials of the characters and leave you with a hope that is real.

I was able to hold off until the last page ...

I was able to hold off until the last page before I had to reach for a tissue to wipe away the tears. What a life-experience narrative this story presents. It leaves you wondering how much of this story-line was personally experienced by the author with the depth of emotion that is so vividly expressed. Every person, particularly those over 40, should give this book a read and consider some of the parallels to experiences in your life; I certainly did.

Excellent. Insightful.

So true in it's reflection of life that it is hard to believe it is not a memoir. The issues of control within traditional pastor church life are sadly too often true. Other issues are dealt with too in a most amazing story.

Religious background? Struggle with Depression, or know someone who does? Read this.

I don't usually read fiction, but I enjoyed this book very much, and could resonate with all the main characters. It was for me, a true story of me in religious bondage, and the potential me also, if I don't keep to a strong vision.