From Ashes to Beauty (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781962902236)

She was the only risk I actually wanted to walk away from, but the only one I couldn't.

Fresh out of prison and struggling to outrun the weight of his past, Russell Grandy is convinced he's only traded one cage for another. He keeps people at a distance, certain that forgiveness is something only other people get. That is, until Birdie Jo MacLean walks into his life with a quiet strength he can't ignore, and a kindness that makes him wonder if maybe God isn't finished with him yet.

Birdie Jo has always believed that control is the same as safety. After experiencing life's heartaches, she throws herself into work because structure feels safer than surrender. But when her curated stability begins to crack and her health forces her to face the possibility that control is an illusion, she realizes she has let fear shape her more than faith. The last thing she expects is for Russell, a rough-edged complication, to stir feelings she thought were already buried.

As Russell fights the pull of his old life and Birdie faces the terrifying uncertainty of her future, both must decide if they will keep living guarded by their pasts, or trust that God's plan for restoration might require them to risk everything they've been protecting.