Book review: The First Gardener

I'd like to share a book with you called The First Gardener by Denise Hildreth Jones. The cover is what first captured my attention with this book. 

From the publisher: 
Jeremiah Williams has been tending the gardens of the Tennessee governor’s mansion for over twenty-five years. And like most first families who have come and gone, this one has stolen his heart.
Mackenzie and her husband, Governor Gray London, have struggled for ten years to have a child and are now enjoying a sweet season of life—anticipating the coming reelection and sending their precious daughter, Maddie, off to kindergarten—when a tragedy tears their world apart. As the entire state mourns, Mackenzie falls into a grief that threatens to swallow her whole.

Though his heart is also broken, Jeremiah realizes that his gift of gardening is about far more than pulling weeds and planting flowers. It’s about tending hearts as well. As he uses the tools that have been placed in his hands, he gently begins to cultivate the hard soil of Mackenzie’s heart, hoping to help her realize what it took him years to discover.

A Southern tale of loss, love, and living, The First Gardner reminds us that all of life is a gift, but our heart is the most valuable gift of all.

My thoughts: 
It has taken me a while to read this book honestly (probably because I had other books I was trying to finish as well), but it was a good book.  I must warn you that it is sad though.  The story is told from the perspectives of the loss faced by several main characters, each who offer something special to the book as a whole.  These are all very interesting, well-developed characters, and I think the reader can learn so much from each of these.  As I was reading I thought back to high school English class, character analyzing, and how some of the characters would be great for such. 

The reader can take away so many lessons from this book in my opinion, even though it is sad.   Some of the topics include death, depression, pride, forgiveness, and friendship. This is a good story and the author does a nice job weaving so many different aspects together.

And I don't know why this happened but I wanted to include it in my review:  My book totally fell apart.  The cover came off and the pages came out in two sections.  I haven't treated this book any differently than I ever treat any book so I'm unsure why this happened.  It made it difficult to read once it fell out of the cover! 

This book was provided to me by Tyndale for my honest review. 

Have a day of blessings!