Mother of Pearl by Kellie Coates Gilbert

Oh my goodness! What a book this is! Mother of Pearl is the debut novel from Kellie Coates Gilbert and it was crazy good. Brought me to tears time and again. The story of a mother who never gives up when it comes to finding the truth about the death of her teenage daughter. The only parts I didn't enjoy while reading this were the parts of the actual football games that the characters went to. As a self proclaimed sports hater, I skipped those parts completely and focused on the parts of the story that I was interested in.
I couldn't help it.
I just don't like sports.
But I loved the rest of this book. It interested me to observe the grieving process and how the friends and family around her thought she should be "better by now." I'm not sure the death of a child is something that a mother could ever find herself to be okay with. I appreciated the character of Barrie (even though I spent the whole book wondering how to pronounce her name) and how she just kept on going even when people turned against her.

It was eerily similar to a Lifetime movie that I watched last night! I'm looking forward for more from this author.

From the back cover:
Barrie Graeber has two great kids, a loving husband, and a respected job as the high school counselor in her tight knit community. Without warning, everything unravels when her teenage daughter, Pearl, is betrayed and lashes out.
Nothing prepares this m other for the helplessness that follows when her attempts to steer her daughter back on course fail, and Pearl shuts her out...or when Barrie discovers the unthinkable about her nemesis, the football coach.
Emotionally riveting and profoundly moving, Mother of Pearl brings us into the heart of a mother bound by an incredible burden, who ultimately finds she must recognize her own vulnerability and learn to trust in something bigger.

This book was provided for review by Glass Road Public Relations