A Place to Land

Last summer, I had the privilege of attending the Five-Minute Friday retreat and meeting Kate in person. Her warm smile and soft-spoken ways hide a universal story of longing to belong that Kate tells with raw honesty and beauty.

Her quest for belonging began at the tender age of seven, when her parents divorced. The dual households created within her a disconnect-a feeling of belonging neither here, nor there. The sense of not knowing where (or what) to claim as home followed her through high school, college, and a move to South Africa for a stint in a mission field.

This memoir takes the reader over new roads with familiar signposts. As Kate shares her story, the reader will identify with her longing to belong and appreciate the way she gently shares her faith. Kate invites the reader into her life and her story in an attempt to show how she found her place to belong.

Those seeking--whether they seek an answer to their questions about God, a way to find meaning in a loved--one's cancer journey, or a deeper relationship with their Savior-will find hope and inspiration in this story. Kate's word crafting will leave readers wishing they had an excuse to visit (and maybe even live) in Cape Town, South Africa.

A Place to Land is a touching memoir of a woman's childhood in Michigan, bouncing back and forth between her parents' homes. Religion played a major role in her life and she traveled frequently for mission trips, including South Africa, where she married and had a family. Much of the book deals with her mother's decade long battle with cancer. I enjoyed her descriptions of South Africa. A good book to read about grappling with life transitions.

Kate's memoir is a page-turning beautifully written account of her life. It mostly deals with the roadblocks in her life and how each was lifted by the Lord.! Kate idolizes her Mom and is torn between her love for South Africa and her love for her Mom and sibling in her hometown. It ends with how her mother gets peace when she passes away after fighting cancer for quite a many years!
Th idea of home forms the crux of the story- Is it a house, family, mother, siblings, continent ? It is such a positively written life account.
Thank you Net Gally for providing me with a copy of this book to read and review.

I did not finish this book. It started out ok but I soon lost interest as it became too tedious for me.

Pretty average as far as a contemporary book. Unfortunately there wasn’t anything that actually stood out to me while I read.

I’ve enjoyed following Kate Motaung as the host of the Five Minute Friday linkup. When I saw that her first book was coming out, I couldn’t wait to join the launch team.

Memoir is one of my favorite genres to read. Kate’s memoir is a unique story of faith, grief, and cross-cultural living. Her gentle voice tells a story of looking for home between two continents.

Kate grew up as a child of divorce, just like me. Her stories of feeling torn between two homes are so familiar. I believe adult children of divorce are looking for validation of their hurts, and Kate does so without spewing vengeance on her parents.

But that’s just part of this story. Her search for home began in Michigan, then widened as she served in overseas missions and eventually married a South African man. As one who has not traveled outside the U.S., I appreciated her glimpses of a colorful, beautiful culture far removed from the world I know.

Kate lived in South Africa for over ten years, but her heart jumped back and forth between there and Michigan. Her beloved mother was diagnosed with cancer, and Kate traveled often to visit her family. Since cancer struck her mom when Kate was raising her children, the tug of home in either place was especially strong.

Kate’s testimony of faith is woven throughout the story. Her story is proof that faith grows through testing and trials. Even though her mother dies, I finished the book with a sense of calm, knowing that all Christians will be reunited in heaven someday. I can’t wait to meet her beautiful mother there.

This book is a helpful read for a woman dealing with grief, especially if a loved one is dying of cancer. It is also a good read for a woman who is straddling two different cultures, no matter what that looks like. A Place to Land is a peaceful read that I have been privileged to enjoy.

Thank you to Discovery House for a free preview copy of this wonderful book.

An inspirational easy read. It had me teary within a short period of time. Enjoyed it very much. True blessings.
Thanks to author, publisher and NetGalley for the chance to read this book. While I got the book for free, it had no bearing on the rating I gave it.

Kate Motaung's memoir is a poignant account of life and death when God is at the center fold of it. With a complete utter lack of pretension, Motaung is honest, insightful and self-reflective. Her writing style was beautiful and free flowing. Every experience illustrated in this memoir had a spiritual insight that followed, an insight that the reader can hold on to and follow. Overall, this memoir was unlike any I had read before and the accompanying scripture to each chapter will give the memoir lasting relevance.

This just ended up not my type of story or writing. The world is, thankfully, full of people with different interests and tastes, and I suspect many of them will love it.

Having been a follower of Kate's blog for over two years and having read parts of her story there, I was eagerly awaiting the release of this book, and I was not disappointed!
A Place To Land is a beautifully written memoir tracing Kate's journey through several of life's changes- her parents' divorce, her move from the US to South Africa, marriage, motherhood, and her mother's battle with cancer.
While several of the topics are heavy (and I would advise having some tissues close at hand!), the book is also uplifting and full of hope. I appreciated the honesty with which Kate told some of the more difficult parts of her story. There were several fascinating insights about South African culture, and she describes things so vividly that at times I felt I was on the journey along with her.
I read the book much more quickly than I intended to as there was always the temptation to read "just one more chapter" but it is also one that I will go back to and savour.
The book explores the concept of home, looking at what home is, and where we find our security amidst the changes of life. Ultimately it points to the hope Christians have of an eternal home in heaven.
I would highly recommend this book!
I received a complimentary advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book is absolutely amazing in showing how the world is not our final home but merely a stop on the road to heaven. Initially, the memoir was hard to draw myself into, but then I became engrossed in reading the character’s experiences and pictured myself along for the ride on her adventure.

As you read Kate Motaung’s story, you’ll be encouraged and strengthened to see God’s strength and guidance in every season of her life. You’ll find that same hope for your own struggles. A very honest and moving story of love, faith, and hope.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher. I was not required to give a positive review. This is my honest opinion about this book.

I just finished reading "A Place to Land" by Kate Motaung. The book started out with the story of the author's mother dying of cancer, and had me emotionally invested right away. My own mom had breast cancer before, and is a survivor, but her story really touched me and had me in tears. I was almost unsure if I could finish reading the book, but I am glad that I did. Kate wrote about how she moved from place to place throughout her life, whether due to divorce or missionary work, and her central theme was that earth is our temporary home. This quote from the book sums up this theme, "For years, I obsessed over the pursuit of home. It always felt just out of reach. Visible, but unattainable. Now I see I had it all wrong. Home in its truest sense - my eternal home- is exactly the opposite. It's attainable but not visible. Attainable only because of Christ's work on the cross and His gift of faith to me. Invisible for a little while longer." I thought the book was heartfelt and worth reading.

A Place to Land by Kate Montaung is her story of finding a place to call home. Ms Montaung tells her story of being in many places and situations and wondering what her home really is. She grapples with the meaning of home and especially how that relates to being a Christian. I love her ultimate conclusion to this struggle. This book is a wonderful reminder of where our home really is. I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a place to call their own. I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher with no obligations. These opinions are entirely my own.

In her new memoir, A Place to Land, Kate Motaung tackles the tough topic of what our home really is, and why we long for one. After growing up in North America, then spending 10 years in Africa, Kate continued to wrestle with the great desire to be able to call one place home even while her heart and mind were divided. Does a desire to land in one place preclude us from loving the other? Is our definition of home skewed? Come along on a heart-rending story of life, love, loss and healing as Kate shares her journey to find home.

I lost my Mom in 2014 and over the past four years things that I've read and heard have touched me in ways they might not have without experiencing her loss. I think, that reading this book, would have been one of those things that I would not have understand half as well if I had not experienced the grief of loss in similar ways. One morning I was listening to the beginning of this book and the things that Katie touched on with losing her mother, trying to find her place... well, all of it I suppose, I found myself weeping because I understood and agreed with her words. She put to words thoughts and ideas I haven't shared with others in my life.

Fears and hurts associated with loss of a person and the idea of a place... Katie does an excellent job touching on the truth of feeling as well as the truth of who God is and what He has for his children.

I truly, truly wanted to continue reading the book, but I really lost interest to finish it. I've been reading so many good reviews about it, but I just thought the first few chapters were too slow for me.

**I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.**

We are not home yet

Kate Motaung, author, online host, and blogger introduces her book "A Place to Land: A Story of Longing and Belonging" with a question that comes up on her flight from South Africa to the US to attend her mother's funeral: "Was I leaving home or going home? Even after nine years in South Africa, I wasn't sure?". It is a very honest bock with statements such as "I had nothing left to give, and couldn't handle playing the mom role when all I wanted to see my own mom live." Motaung's challenges were especially great since her parents divorced when she was in second grade and, as a result and later in South Africa, had lived in various homes. As a child she saw how God provided for her mother after the divorce and she saw her mother's faithfulness in attending church with Kate and her sister Sarah. The people in church became Kate's family, but even in high school she ping-ponged between identities, living a double life-style, and searched a place to land. A mission trip to Toronto opens her eyes to the fact that she is not the only one from a broken background and starts to lead her toward mission work in Africa.
In South Africa she experiences the wounds and challenges of this young nation in 2002. Cape Town did not replace home in her heart but filled her enough to distract her from the holes. Then she feels home slip through her fingers when her relationship with Kagiso, her future husband, deepens. She is open about the hurt over overseas cross-cultural living that she experiences at her daughters first birthday and has to deal with the fact that she was an ocean away when her mother's cancer came back, unable to help, but thankful that she could fly back to the US a few times to visit her sick mother. The death of her mother raises the question again: "Where is home?" She has to adjust to the "new normal." Kate realizes as Christians we are living in the "in between" - here on earth we are not home yet.
I appreciate the fact that Motaung opens every chapter with a quote or Bible verse that corresponds to the contents of this particular chapter. Her memoir of her first thirty years of life can best be understood by others (cross-cultural workers, Third-Culture-Kids, ...) who are aware of the fact that there is "home" in ones "passport country" and there is "home" in the country or countries where one has live (I am speaking of experience, having lived in an African country for 27+ years and also having arrived "too late" back "home" when my mother was dying). I highly recommend Motaung's book to readers who are trying to understand people with such a background and I recommend it to cross-cultural workers to see that they are not alone in their struggle with the longing and belonging, with the struggle to define what or where "home" is.
The complimentary copy of this book was provided by the publisher through NetGalley free of charge. I was under no obligation to offer a positive review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
#APlaceToLand #NetGalley

Kate’s memoirs tells of her struggles with her parents divorce and not being able to be there for her Mom during her battle with cancer as she would like as she is in South Africa. Kate also speaks of the special bond with her sister and becoming even closer during her Moms cancer.

I started this book without much background knowledge. A short while into reading, I realised this was an intimate memoir.
Ms Motaung has a way with words. She takes you along in her thoughts and memories. Her observations on moments and events are tender and on point.
Her description of the Hospice patients is both poignant and beautifully descriptive: "...,sitting with feet dangling over the edge of eternity."
Ms Motaung's words take you back to her beginnings; her parents' divorce, losing her first home, meeting her dad's new girlfriend, torn between her dad's relaxed parenting style and her mom's stricter style, and to the first time she considered her own death.
How she starts to realise that "this home on earth is only temporary" and the words she quotes: "The hospital is no place to sort out your theology. It has to be in place before the emergency strikes" echo onwards throughout the next 14 or so years of her life. Without her faith, I doubt she'd have handled what came her way in the manner which she did.
She gets an opportunity to move to South Africa to further her studies and discovers a whole new world. Finding love halfway across the world from her "home" with someone from another culture puts her into a difficult situation. Where does she belong? Her family at home or this new home and life that awaits her?
I had a good giggle at the rice issue: "I stood in the aisle paralyzed by all the options - instant rice, five-minute rice, fifteen-minute rice, jasmine, long-grain, basmati. Wild rice and Spanish rice. In Cape Town, there were two options: white rice or brown." Growing up in South Africa we only knew white rice, but we've moved forward into the many varied options of rice choice, and even in tiny, rural towns we are spoilt for choice, we can even get jasmine and basmati rice.
And then her mom's illness. The heartbreaking choices she has to make, stay 'home' with her family or go 'home' with her love. She finds herself questioning, debating her loyalty to her family and even her faith.
And then the intense homesickness she experiences after marriage and subsequent motherhood - the craving for repeating traditions of your childhood, the familiarity of what you know - and wanting your child to experience it too.
"It's not worth it! I screamed inside. It hurts too much. This whole overseas, cross-cultural living thing just isn't worth it!"
The tests God put her through and His unfailing Grace at every hurdle she encountered humbles a person and makes you look at your own life. The words of Dr DeCook: "Living and breathing every day is somewhat miraculous for all of us,..." and "....isn't all Real Living somewhat reckless?" gives a person food for thought.
I loved the South African references - 'snoek, All Gold; stoeps; braais'. Sights, sounds and smells of MY homeland. Not many foreign authors manage to capture the essence of South Africa like Ms Motaung has.
The words of a doctor friend in Chapter 16: "You know something? In the grand scheme of things, we all have a terminal illness. Since birth, we've all been under palliative care." summarises the memoir up for me along with words I read a while back: "We are all helping each other home." We are all on our journey Home.
I sobbed through this book.
I smiled through this book.
It touched me very deeply.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers, Discovery House, for allowing me the opportunity to read this book.

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I began reading, A Place to Land, by Kate Motaung. REAding the story of an ordinary girl who learned l

When a book pulls me into its pages within a few minutes, I settle in for the journey. And such a journey this was . . . crossing an ocean, different cultures and the chasms within a girl’s heart.

This is one of the most beautiful memoirs I've ever read. Motaung writes with such honesty, such depth. Her words, her struggles, her joys . . . They all moved me, sometimes to tears other times to laughter.

Reading how trauma in her childhood imprinted certain messages on her heart and how those messages formed her understanding and her yearnings spoke to me. As she walked through her growing up and adult years, those messages impacted her. I loved reading how God moved and spoke truth over the hurts in her life.

Motaung shares a beautiful message of hope and identity.

The ways she described her homes in Michigan and South Africa painted vivid images in my mind, which helped her story resonate with my heart.

Motaung’s struggles are ones I've (and I suspect many others) grappled with too. She lays them into words so beautifully. If you like real-life stories filled with authenticity, you will love this book!

**I received an advance complimentary copy of the book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Where is home? What does define home? Is it the place we grew up? Is it the place where people we love most are living? Is it where we're actually living? Or is our home in heaven, are we always "on the road" on the way to our real home?
Kate Motaung is always quite attached to the place where she's living, but she again and again she has to move again and she's torn between South Africa and Michigan.

We are creatures of established, time-honored spaces. It’s the place of the familiar that keeps us grounded. But what happens when it deconstructs before your eyes? Kate Montaug writes from experience when, as a 7 year old, she witnesses her parent’s marriage dissolve, triggering a series of revisions in the story of her life. Kate draws us into her recollections unapologetically. Her history reveals a girl trying to find that sense of home; the address where contentment and joy reside. We see glimpses of it in close relationships, especially with her mother and sister. With each trial in her life she is drawn to the One who gives peace, guidance, and hope. We get to watch as she processes through her call to the mission field. She lets us sneak a peek into her heart as she falls in love with South Africa and the husband she meets there. But more than that we are given the holy privilege of witnessing her raw emotions rise up to God when her mother is diagnosed with cancer. What then? Is our true home to be found on a patch of earth, or in the heart of someone we dearly love who returns that affection? Or is our place to land not found in what we can see or touch or hear? I invite you to read A Place to Land and join Kate as she reveals where her true dwelling place is.
I RECEIVED A FREE COPY OF THIS BOOK IN EXCHANGE FOR MY FAIR AND HONEST REVIEW.

Thank you Discovery House and Netgalley for this ARC.

This memoir questions what home is and where it is. An enjoyable read in the context of a Christian life.

Kate is a wonderful writer. Her story portrayed in A Place to Land was engaging and heart-wrenching, beautiful and inspiring. She uses her words well.

I found myself unable to put this one down at times. Kate Motaung's ability to bring the reader into her story for a front row seat is amazing. I laughed. I cried, which is a huge accomplishment for a writer.

For me, there is a fine line between giving a reader enough detail to help them paint a picture or overusing words, causing the reader to drown. Not once did I feel the need to surf (skim read) the waters to prevent being sucked under.

I wasn't sure what to expect on this book but really enjoyed it. The front row picture for what life is truly life did well. Enjoyed the big and small details and overall emotions. It was a good read, something different.

Starts so dramatically with her mother’s death. Heart-rending. A daughter very dependent on her mother, following the break up of the parents’ marriage.

So many thoughts on home - is that why I’m drawn to this? Fantastic quotations.

What I liked about her writing was how it could conjure up images so well. Her turns of phrases really good. Concrete images for abstract concepts. Real gift for that. Such as ‘grief came to visit often’.

What I didn’t like were two things. One was the inclusion of emails, blogs, etc. Broke up her voice and as a reader I was tempted to skip over them. Other was the inclusion of lists of things that I didn’t care about but were important to her. The things she and her mother did as tourists when she first visited there, for instance. Could have been cut.

Raw emotion poured out to God.

Motaung's vulnerable and powerful memoir will give readers a broader perspective and those who feel like home is a vague concept will feel deep compassion. Motaung's prose are beautiful, taking the reader on an emotionally powerful journey.
I would recommend this to readers of At Home in the World and Liturgy of the Ordinary.

A wonderfully written memoir that pulls you in and allows you to walk with the author as she says good bye to her mom. This book will make you feel what she felt and help the reader process their own grief at the same time.

A story of faith, relationship, and cross-cultural perspectives. Kate offers her heart as a guest seat, inviting readers to travel with her through life-shaping experiences and memories.

A very well written memoir that would make a great gift for someone considering doing missionary work in a foreign country. The author lays her heart bare about all her experiences from the time she was a young girl until the time she was able to land on the foundation that is as solid as a rock.

I enjoyed some parts of the book but the parts about her mother being sick and eventually dying was just too sad for me to read about at this time.

A Place to Land by Kate Montaug is such a beautiful memoir that explores longing, loss, and a desire to feel settled. Being from a military family and still "in the middle" in many ways myself with transitions, this truly speaks to me where I am and the entirety of Kate's words touch home. I really resonated with her question, "Where is my home?" because that's one I've thought many times over the years, as I haven't even lived in the same house for more than 2 1/2 years at a time, almost at age 29! So grateful for this memoir! It was interesting to say the least, just to mention themes, of global travels, being from a cross-cultural family, and her mother's battle with cancer...All things explored with such wonder and honesty, this memoir touches on the hard and good and thought-provoking parts of her story and past with honesty, grace, and care that you will find yourself gaining a refreshing purpose in where you are in life, where you are in your relationship with God, and hope and fresh eyes to see and explore the world anew.
Thank you Netgalley & Our Daily Bread Publishing for the digital copy to review!

This was a beautifully written book that captured the emotions of living an almost nomadic life. As Katy moves from place to place, she understands that being settled in other areas of her life, like her faith and family, mean more than being settled in a home. New beginnings can be positive and Katy proved that in her storytelling.