Fill the Sky

A wonderful story of three friends who have been close since college. Tess, Ellie and Jolene are traveling to Ecuador in hopes of finding a cure for Ellie's terminal illness. Tess, the business woman and most skeptical of the trio leaves in the midst of turmoil in her company to support Ellie. Jolene who is into spiritual healing and work plans the trip the mountain village of Otavalo, where they are immersed in nature and introduced to strange, ancient traditions. After an ayahuasca ceremony goes awry, and an unlikely betrayal threatens their friendship, each woman faces her own deep need for healing. (from the book blurb, I couldn't say it any better). Sometimes in life you just have to have faith and believe in the unbelievable. These women stay firm in their friendship and achieve unexpected results for all. I've never read Katherine Sherbrooke but this was a great introduction. She has another book, Finding Home which has some great reviews I'll have to find.

I really enjoyed this book about 3 friends - Ellie, Tess and Joline, who take a trip to Ecuador together. They are searching for healing for Ellie who was in remission for the last 3 years from cancer, but it has returned and they have given her about 6 months to live.

Joline is very into natural healing and being in tune with your body, mind and spirit. She has orchestrated a trip to Ecuador for the three of them to visit some Shamans to receive some different types of healing rituals. They are staying at Mama Rosita's. Mama Rosita is a very well known Shaman, although she does not do many healing ceremonies currently as her health has been going downhill.

Joline lives with her son Dylan. She has just given up her business and clientele to work for Bryce. Bryce is a bit of a take what I want when I want it business man. He will do whatever is necessary to get what he wants. He been trying to change some of that due to having had a heart attack a few years ago. He wants to take the land from Mama Rosita and all the families living there and develop it into a high end retreat center. Joline cannot believe that this is what she has signed up for. Through all the healing ceremonies, she discovers that she has been making decisions lately based on money as a measuring stick and this has never been how she has lived her life.

Tess cannot commit to anyone. She is able to love, because she loves her friends unconditionally. However, she has run from many relationships in the past because her mom died when she was young. She has never been able to allow herself to be cared for by anyone since that happened. She thinks she has to be independent and self sufficient, never needing anyone. Parker loves her and wants her to need him. She must come to terms with this fact about herself. Her healing ceremonies were some of the most powerful in the book and I LOVED her understanding of herself at the end. She was a character I really was not having any connection with until almost the end of the book.

Ellie has cancer. She is married to Joline's brother David and they have kids. She has been keeping a big secret from everyone and the stress of this secret is affecting her health greatly. I don't want to give any spoilers but her process through the healing ceremonies was very moving. She has to let go of guilt and see the reality of her situation. Sometimes when you are dealing with a similar situation, it is hard to step back and understand what is really going on.

This is a book of friendship, love, healing and hope. It explores the connection between emotions/stress and disease in our bodies.

Wow, another amazing 2016 debut! From the first page of this one, I was totally hooked. Not only with the story and the characters but the setting of Ecuador. I have some serious wanderlust after all the amazing settings I've been reading lately and this book is right at the top of the list. This book was filled with beautiful descriptions of the landscape, the people, the mood and the feeling of this awe-inspiring country and those descriptions were seamlessly juxtaposed with trying to heal Ellie; this entire book and experience felt so spiritual even with this dark but hopeful cloud hanging over them as the reason for the trip. This novel is about friendships and about accepting past choices while still and always moving forward. It has a bit of forgiveness but something more powerful that I think transcends words -- it's a feeling and I definitely felt it when I was reading Fill the Sky and especially when I finished this book. This book may cause you to think about alternative healing practices and question whether, sometimes, modernity is not always the answer.

I loved this book and can't wait for more from this author -- definitely recommend it if you like introspective novels that a re a bit spiritual and off the beaten path! Fill the Sky comes out next week on October 20, 2016, and you can purchase HERE.

She drank in the explosion of color on the right side of the road--flowers in pink, purple, gold and orange dotting a huge field, nature resplendent and harmonious. Each flower was a universe of its own, the stalk commanding water from the soil as petals flapped open to accept the sun. She said a brief word of thanks to the universe for all of nature's glories, especially the ancient vine that they would be working with, so revered it was known simply as "the plant," a moniker Joline liked to think marked it as the originator of all other vegetation. Powerful, indeed.