An Unplanned Book Review—Until I Knew Myself by Tammy L. Gray

I know that I said in one of my recent posts that there wouldn’t be as many book review posts (and I don’t think there will be, or at the very least, I hope to balance them out with my regular blog posts), but today I have a book that I can’t help but share with you because it fits so well with some of my recent blog posts. I bought it a while ago, but started it and finished it within two days this past week and I just have to share this book with you. (With this not being a scheduled book review, the format will be simpler than my usual book review posts. If there’s information you want about the author or the book that isn’t included in this post, feel free to comment on the post and ask me and I will try to get you that info.)

Here’s the synopsis of the book:

Tyler Mitchell grew up an orphan, taken in by his best friend’s family when he was only sixteen. Even though ten years have passed, and he’s been given everything he should ever want—a loving home, an adoring girlfriend, a successful career, and lifelong friendships—Tyler has always felt a foreigner in his own life.

When a surprising phone call reveals the death of his biological grandfather, Tyler’s seemingly perfect life starts to unravel. The people he loves most in world have kept from him the greatest secret of all—knowledge of his father’s family.

Now hunting for more information about his past, Tyler discovers nothing is quite as it seems. And the definition of family is far more complicated than choosing between blood and loyalty.

Until I Knew Myself and The Bentwood Series it starts is the kind that is worth investing your time in. This first book introduces a group of friends with the focus being on one couple in particular, Ty and Journey. Their story is an absolutely beautiful one of two broken people being made whole so they can finally come together in a far richer relationship than they had before. Each one of them have hurts that they have to face and lies that they have to overcome.

Ty is so desperate for a sense of belonging that he can’t see that he already does belong. There are lies acting as a wall standing between him and the gifts God has for him. Lies that keep him from realizing how loved and wanted he really is, not only by an earthly family, but also by a heavenly Father. In the course of this book, the blinders finally lift and Ty can begin to see what gifts he’s been given and what love is already being poured out over him, helping him to really begin to see things as they really are.

Lies we believe so often taint so many areas of our lives and the perceptions we have of situations we deal with. But God is good, so good to weave our stories together and bring us to places of truth and healing. God knows the hurts we have, the lies we’ve believed even when we ourselves don’t see it, and He works tirelessly to bring them out into the open, to bring His children to places of light and hope and truth and healing.

God’s fingerprints are all over this story, bringing these people to where they are ready to hear the truth and can begin to heal, bringing good from bad—redeeming the bad and repurposing it for their good.

This is a wonderfully written story of coming home, of finding out you belonged all along, of coming out of darkness and bondage to lies and into His marvelous light. I believe this novel has the ability to speak to so many people and remind them of who they are because of God and His love for them and maybe open doors for them to see that He’s been there all along and that even now He is working their story out for good. I’m very much looking forward to the continuation of the series and getting to know the stories of these characters and seeing just how God works in their lives.

PS-There were several quotes from this book that I really loved. I narrowed it down to a bit and they’re posted here on Goodreads if you’d like to check them out. I’ll go ahead and share my absolute favorite with you before I go: