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Reviewed by Patricia Reding for Readers' Favorite
When Cara Michaels discovers she is pregnant with her first child, she and her husband, Joel, are thrilled in Amelia’s Hope by Candis Vargo. Having put things in a proper order, they’d managed through their early 20s, finishing their education, and even purchasing their own home, all in an effort to prepare for their eventual future family. But when Cara’s midwife, Pam, runs preliminary tests, she discovers the reason for Cara’s recent easy bruising: leukemia. Faced with the alternatives of aborting her child so that she may begin treatment immediately, or being treated with drugs that could harm her unborn baby, Cara opts to save her child, whom she and Joel discover is a girl, and whom they name Amelia Rose. Cara and Joel, along with Cara’s parents, her best friend, Beth, and Joel’s closest friend, Ryan, manage through the months leading to Cara’s due date, struggling all the while to maintain as normal a life as possible under the circumstances.
Readers will share the heartbreak that friends, family, parents, and spouses may suffer upon the news that one whom they care for suffers with a life-threatening disease in Amelia’s Hope. Candis Vargo offers characters whose interpersonal relationships feel genuine. While Joel may seem a bit too perfect from time to time, and while Beth may seem a bit lacking in anticipating and understanding the feelings of her father (who actually has the same interests in mind as she does, namely, to protect his child), they nevertheless hit the mark in their concern for their unborn. As a consequence, readers will grow to care more and more for them along the way. In the end, Vargo provides an unexpected ending. It is not the “happy” ending that might feel contrived. Rather, it is one that brings home a message to every reader: life can change drastically and in a moment, so we should all take advantage of the time we have in the “now.”
