Katie is one of those people, going before us, holding our hands, leading us through these pages in the way that led her to Him.

Rich in biblical explorations of lament and praise, forgiveness and hope, service and surrender, Safe All Along asks, What practical choices can we make to experience the peace Jesus promised amid disappointment and uncertainty? There’s things for her to do there, of course: support her best friend, Bel, who is married and pregnant, and has just moved back herself, and housesit her parents plants.The one thing that gets her out of her funk is that, while helping Bel unpack, she finds a friend fic they wrote together in middle school. Oh… and did I mention that she’s house sitting for her parents and finds she unexpectedly has a roommate… the gorgeous and troubled hermit Levi Fanning. To an overwhelmed Georgie, the diary’s simple, small-scale ideas are a lifeline—a guidebook for getting started on a new path. Both of these main characters go through dramatic transformations during the course of the storyline.

If you know you’re facing a difficult conversation, plan it for before three pm—rather than after three pm, on an empty stomach. Honest and deeply emotional, Georgie, All Along is a smart, tender must-read for everyone who’s ever wondered about the life that got away . Every once in a while a book comes along that feels like a strike of lightning with its power and potency.

Georgie’s best friend, Bel Reston-Yoon and her husband Harry have recently moved back to Bel and Georgie’s hometown. Her writing style reminds me a lot of Beth O’Leary and Emily Henry, in that while there’s romance at their core of their stories, it’s always so much more than just about romance. As in they say the words weak and strong about six times between them in a single page of text which … err … is a lot. And it seems that she does live there… but it was written like a low budget movie character might speak in a Southern accent.