The Color of Home by Kit Tosello: Book Review

 ** I received a complimentary copy via Netgalley. All opinions are my own. 

The Book

Audrey Needham, Bay Area interior designer to the rich and pretentious, is down to her last nerve. Her boss is impossible to please, her future is in jeopardy, and her great-aunt Daisy needs support as her husband descends into Alzheimer's.

When Daisy enlists Audrey's help preparing for a move to assisted living, Audrey risks her career to return to the idyllic small town of Charity Falls, Oregon, the summer stomping grounds of her childhood. But Charity Falls was also the place that broke her heart when her father was killed in a tragic fire at the Sugar Pine Inn thirteen years ago.

Despite Audrey's intent to avoid emotional entanglement, the pull of home is hard to resist. Something should be done about the deteriorating inn. A local girl with an incarcerated father needs a friend. And handsome local do-gooder Cade Carter is coloring Audrey all shades of uncertain.

Join award-winning writer and debut novelist Kit Tosello in this lyrical and often humorous exploration of how God redeems brokenness and draws us to the life we're meant to find.

The Author

Kit Tosello is an award-winning writer of evocative, small-town, contemporary women’s fiction with heart and humor, inspirational essays, and devotionals. Her debut novel, The Color of Home, releases September 24, 2024 with Revell Publishing and is now available for preorder. 

Kit's recognitions include a 2016 Cascade Award for published article and a 2019 Cascade Award for unpublished nonfiction book. Her inspirational essays appear in The Kitchen Devotional (Revell, 2024) So God Made a Mother (Tyndale, 2023), and Miracles Do Happen: 101 Glimpses of the Hidden Hand of God (Guideposts, 2019).

A former kitchen designer, Kit is a freelance newspaper correspondent and freelance book editor. But her favorite gigs are wife, mom, and nana. When not writing or editing, Kit can be found in the loose tea shop she operates with her husband, exploring the great Pacific Northwest, or enjoying the “great indoors”—which is to say, bookstores & libraries. Most likely with a matcha latte in hand.

Book Review

What a beautiful debut this was! As the story begins, we meet Aubrey- a Bay Area interior designer- as she makes the decision to return to the small town of Charity Falls, Oregon to help her aunt and uncle to get their home ready to sale as they prepare to move to an assisted living facility due to his dementia. This story drew me into this small town right away with its wonderful cast of characters.  While there were many introduced and that took me a bit to sort out initially, I found that each of these characters was very well written and added so much to the story. While there was a romance thread that I absolutely adored, I definitely felt like it took more of a backseat to the stories of family, community and healing that were the true heart of the story. With a beautiful debut like this, I very much look forward to reading more from Kit Tosella in the future. 

You can purchase your copy here: https://amzn.to/3yiVW8q