All Things Bright And Strange by James Markert

In the wake of World War I in the small, Southern town of Bellhaven, South Carolina, the town folk believe they’ve found a little slice of heaven in a mysterious chapel in the woods. But they soon realize that evil can come in the most beautiful of forms.

The people of Bellhaven have always looked to Ellsworth Newberry for guidance, but after losing his wife and his future as a professional pitcher, he is moments away from testing his mortality once and for all. Until he finally takes notice of the changes in his town . . . and the cardinals that have returned.

Upon the discovery of a small chapel deep in the Bellhaven woods, healing seems to fall upon the townspeople, bringing peace after several years of mourning. But as they visit the “healing floor” more frequently, the people begin to turn on one another, and the unusually tolerant town becomes anything but.

The cracks between the natural and supernatural begin to widen, and tensions rise. Before the town crumbles, Ellsworth must pull himself from the brink of suicide, overcome his demons, and face the truth of who he was born to be by leading the town into the woods to face the evil threatening Bellhaven. @goodreads 

This book is about Ellsworth Newberry and a slew of awesome friends. Ellsworth and some of his friends are not the same after coming back from the war, who would be. And Ellsworth lost his wife when she was trying to save a little boy from the Klan. Things didn't go well and there were some other killings. 

But there are other strange things going on in the town and Ellsworth is always fighting the urge to kill himself. 

1920 
BELLHAVEN, SOUTH CAROLINA

It was a good day to die as any. 
 But first, Ellsworth Newberry would have his morning cup of joe. 
'
'
'
Till death do us part, Eliza. And brings us back together again. 
Ellsworth reapplied pressure on the trigger. Would one bullet even do the trick?
Something thumped against the window. He opened his eyes. 
A cardinal bird fluttered outside the glass. An olive-gray female with a prominently raised red-tinged crest and a stark orange beak. It settled on the windowsill, stared at him. 
He watched the cardinal right back, watching it until his finger eased and he'd moved the barrel out enough to take a deep swallow. No other sign could have coaxed that gun from his mouth. He lowered the revolver to his side, and his heart rate slowed. 
Tears welled in his eyes.
The cardinal flew away. 
Across the street, Anna Belle Roper's front door opened. She walked toward his house with a towel-covered plate of breakfast. 
Too late now. Shouldn't have hesitated. 
Ellsworth plopped back down on his chair and placed the gun on the window ledge, resigned to another day of living. 
He sighed. "Hope she fried bacon."

I really enjoyed this book. The characters in the book are both funny and real. 

And when we get to the chapel in the woods that seems to create miracles, lets just say, nothing is as it seems. 

Also, the neighbor man that kept walking backward around and around his house freaked me right out. 

The book is filled with a town coming together, creepiness, laughs - I guess a little bit of everything. 

*Thank you to BookLookBloggers for a print copy of this book*

Happy Reading! 

Mel ♥