Color the Sidewalk for Me by Brandilyn Collins is not a new publication (2002).  It is new to me.  I fell in love with her Kanner Lake series — which, I believe, spawned the aptly descriptive term “Seatbelt Suspense.”

Color the Sidewalk for Me is the second in the Bradleyville series.  I was so impressed with Kanner Lake, I wanted to read more of Brandilyn’s work, so I purchased the Bradleyville (categorized as “Other Books” on her website) and Hidden Faces (suspense) series.  The first book in the Bradleyville trilogy is titled Cast A Road Before Me.  The Christian theme in that book is very in-your-face, which the more demonstrative Christian readers will appreciate.  The tone is subtly less intense but no less important in Color the Sidewalk for Me.  Celia from Cast A Road Before Me is all grown up, and we see the results of the troubled aspects of her being that were foreshadowed there.

Celia left town suddenly shortly after graduating from high school as a result of something terrible she did.  She didn’t communicate with anyone for six years, when she had called her parents around Christmas-time and re-established contact, which continued for another ten years or so until this story begins.  Her father has just suffered a stroke and is calling for her.  Her mother has called to ask her to come home.  Celia is torn by old guilt and shame but knows she must go and face the people in the town her great-grandfather founded.

Artfully used flashback tells Celia’s story.  While there weren’t surprises in this story — I could anticipate each of the plot twists, as I read further into the book, I still couldn’t put it down.  I began in the middle of the book late last night, read through the gut-wrenching climax,  and finished just after four this morning to an emotionally touching and satisfying conclusion.

Readers who find Brandilyn’s suspense too intense (Is there such a thing?  Some people think so.), will enjoy the Bradleyville series.  It’s dysfunctional family dynamics at its finest and most sympathetic to all sides of the issue.

Brandilyn writes Christian fiction.  To some people that may be a turn off, but the Kanner Lake series was not “in-your-face” stereotypical Christian fiction.  Christianity was a part of the character’s lives, and they weren’t goodie-two-shoes holier-than-thou characters.  They were real people. The Bradleyville series is more overt Christianity central to the story-line, and the characters are still real people.  Even if you don’t read Christian fiction, I urge you to given these books a try.  I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.