Watch Over Me by Christa Parrish

ECPA's 2010 Book Award winner for fiction is Watch Over Me.  A abandoned newborn is taken in by the deputy who rescued her.  But the deputy and his wife have a troubled marriage.  She has an eating disorder and he suffers from the effects of a devastating military tour.  Throw into the mix an abused teen, deaf, and needing a kidney transplant from his estranged father. 
Will caring for the infant provide healing for the deputy and his wife or will it only stir up more issues?  How will the teen face the deputy when he finally figures out who the infant's parents are?  How can he tell the truth a tear the baby away from the couple he has learned to value? 
This is a good novel about relationships and how they can be healed by God.  Parrish is honest in her portrayal of Christians struggling with what God has allowed in their lives.  She is realistic in her portrayal of the Christian community with some being full of compassion while others are judgmental.
While a satisfying novel, I am not so sure I would put it at the level of the best Christian fiction of the year.

Bethany House, 349 pages.