I’M RUNNING A GIVEAWAY OF KENDRA’S BOOK. SEE BELOW . . .

Comment below to be entered in the giveaway.

DNA testing for the average person has opened up a new fiction trope. The first one I read was Liz Tolsma’s What I Would Tell You, a dual timeline story partially set in Greece during World War II. 

The second one I read was Kendra Broekhuis’s Nearly Beloved (November 2025). Even with similar themes of family ancestry surprises and identity issues, these two novels go in completely different directions.

Liz joined me on the blog in 2023. Kendra joined me in 2024 when we discussed her debut novel, Between You and Us. 

Blurb:

In this captivating novel, a DNA test turns a woman’s world upside-down. Will searching for answers give her the peace she craves—or deepen the fractures in her life?

Dylan Turner works hard to keep her life predictable, though she would never call it that—she loves her routine, two guinea pigs, and minding her own business. But when her dad dies and the DNA test results in her inbox say he’s not her biological father, the life she’s so carefully built starts to unravel.

Craving answers and getting none from her mother, Dylan follows a sparse trail of clues across the country to where she grew up. It’s a journey full of unexpected encounters, including a friendly co-worker and another familiar face from her past—one she isn’t sure is a solace or an obstacle. As Dylan digs deeper into her family’s secrets, she can’t help but wonder, Is a comfortable lie better than the pain of knowing the truth?

Woven with emails, interviews, texts, and journal entries, Nearly Beloved is a heartfelt tale about looking for answers, even if they aren’t the ones you were expecting.

**********************

My thoughts

We speak of red flags as warnings and green flags as going full steam ahead, but in Nearly Beloved, some characters describe others as “beige flags”—basically boring. This book is anything but beige!

Beginning with Dylan, the female protagonist, the characters in this novel are well drawn, unique in their own right. Dylan’s struggles in finding her place in the world haven’t been easy, and it’s about to get harder. She’d been content with her routine, stable life (considered dull by certain others) after years of moving from city to city as a child.

Kendra captures the heart of painful and/or awkward relationships, especially the family dynamics caused by the revelation of her DNA test results. It’s shocking enough to discover her father wasn’t her biological father. It’s quite another to come to terms with her mother’s silence on the subject over the decades. 

I love Broekhuis’s fresh writing and imagery. It pulled me into Dylan’s anxiety, frustrations, and heartaches—once I finally got used to “Dylan” as a female name. 🙂

The last half of the book grew in tension and intrigue with its surprises and setbacks, much of it unpredictable. What Dylan learns about her parents’ roles and their past threatens to undo her. Fortunately, she’s not alone in her search and discoveries. I particularly liked James/Captain Jim, a decent, reliable guy who definitely enjoys puns along with his role at Trader Joe’s. 

Initially, the banter between Dylan and a particular guy friend felt like a retreat to high school days rather than conversation between thirty-year-olds—maybe a case of arrested development due to unresolved issues between them. But considering Dylan’s insecurities, broken trust, and angst in longing for answers, it made sense. 

Join me for some Q & A with author Kendra Broekhuis.

Questions about Nearly Beloved

What was your inspiration for writing Nearly Beloved? What’s your personal connection to the story and/or setting?

Kendra: Many people have heard a minister greet a crowd saying, “Dearly Beloved, we are gathered here today…” This greeting was not only inspiration for the title of my second novel, but it also captures my second favorite thing about my wedding—the people gathered from all over to support my husband and me. People who shaped us into the two people standing at that altar. 

The next time we’ll be with even a slightly similar group in the same room while on this earth will be at one of our funerals, so I look back on that moment with awe and gratitude. 

The people we surround ourselves with shape our views of our identity and belonging for better or for worse, which is what I wanted to scratch the surface of in Dylan Turner’s story. At one point in the book a friend asks her, “Is family the people who know and love you, or the people who cause a lot of chaos and pain? Or maybe a complicated mix of both?” 

The answer to that question will be as unique as the person answering it, but often family dynamics can be both: a place to celebrate love and belonging. And a group with, as my sister once put it after some of our own family drama, “more issues than a newsstand.” 

Dylan’s story is an emotional journey in figuring that out for herself after her own life’s plot twist of taking a genealogy test.

I love your sister’s summary of family dynamics! How is Dylan like you? Different from you? What would she have to say about you?

Kendra: Dylan is like me in that she’s very introverted and likes a lot of quiet time. However, some of her hiding is a coping mechanism for the ways she’s been hurt in the past. In her solitude, she’s also quite lonely.

If she were to say something about me, it might be that my life with four young kids seems like a bit of sensory overload. She might also say she’s disappointed in me for not enjoying pets as much as she does, because in her humble opinion she has the sweetest two guinea pigs.

“Sensory overload” is a fitting way to describe a young family! If you were to write a spin-off book about one of your secondary characters, which one would you choose and why?

Kendra: I would definitely write a prequel to Nearly Beloved about Dylan’s mom, Candis Turner. Candis is the other character who could use an entire book explaining her backstory, so I would find it fascinating and rewarding to get to write a novel just for her!

Candis definitely has a fascinating backstory. Did the plot stick to a pre-determined plan or did it evolve? Explain.

Kendra: The original story I outlined for Nearly Beloved was about three strangers forced to pose as a family in the Witness Protection Program. When I pitched it to my editor, she asked me to try something “a little less murdery” so I could stay within my genre, a common ask from traditional publishing houses! 

She suggested the idea of a DNA mishap, which led to Dylan’s Non-Paternity Event. The internet defines a “Non-Paternity Event” as “when an individual’s presumed father is not in fact their biological father.” 

My editor’s suggestion was perfect. It kept me in my genre of women’s fiction and still dug into the themes of family, identity, and belonging. It allowed me to still dig into the tension between the human need for love and the reality that opening ourselves up to others requires risk.

Your editor was spot-on. What was the hardest scene to write? Why?

Kendra: The hardest scene for me to write was (and almost always is) the first scene, as it’s a reader’s first impression of the story! I wanted to start Nearly Beloved right when Dylan finds out the man she thought was her biological father is not her biological father, which is at his funeral. 

It was a challenge to show Dylan’s layers of grief and pain with the timing of this news, all while trying to have my lighter writing tone come through, and while trying to portray Dylan as a character that readers can root for! I had to ask for feedback on the first big conversation between Dylan and her mom, and then rewrite that part multiple times.

That certainly was a challenge, but you accomplished it with a very effective first scene. What unusual or interesting thing did you do or discover while researching for this story?

Kendra: I took an Ancestry DNA test to research what it’s like to take the test and receive results via email. While I did not experience a Non-Paternity Event through my results, I did find a few fascinating things about my relatives while building my family tree. 

For example, my great grandmother’s cause of death on her death certificate was different than the story I’d been told about how she died, so I had to get on the phone with my mom so we could compare notes. This gets at the phrase said often while researching genealogy DNA and Non-Paternity Events, which is: “People lie, legal documents lie, but DNA doesn’t lie.”

While researching genealogy, I also learned it’s estimated up to 13% of people have a Non-Paternity Event in the first three generations of their family tree.

Thirteen percent—wow! I guess people take DNA tests at their own risk. If a reader could underline only one passage, which would you choose—and why?

Kendra: I would love for readers to soak up a scene between Dylan and her “Aunt” Lou when Lou says, “You’re part of something bigger than you, and all the details of your life—small like this teacup and big like your parents’ struggles—they matter. They matter because you matter. No matter how you got here, you are not an accident.”

This is an important tension to live – this idea that the world doesn’t revolve around any one person, and yet every one person matters to God because He cares for them. He cares for all of us—both the big and small details of our lives.

What conversation do you hope book clubs will have after reading it?

Kendra: There is a full reader’s guide at the end of Nearly Beloved with some great discussion questions. If I had to pick only one of those for book clubs to discuss after reading, I’d choose this one: What specific steps should Dylan take to connect authentically with other people? How can she navigate the reality that not all people are trustworthy while learning that love requires the risk of vulnerability?

Such good questions. What’s been the most surprising or rewarding part of sharing your book with readers?

Kendra: It’s a moment of pure joy and gratitude when readers who’ve been through what Dylan and Candis experienced in Nearly Beloved tell me they feel acknowledged in their grief. 

That is what I love about fiction. It’s the chance to offer a mirror to someone to feel seen in their circumstances, or a window for another reader to peek into someone else’s life and deepen their empathy.

What a blessing to touch readers at such a personal level. If you could live in one of the story worlds you’ve created, which one would you choose and why?

Kendra: This is a hard choice! I would choose to live in the world of Nearly Beloved, only because it’s currently winter and Dylan gets to travel somewhere warm. I need an escape from Milwaukee winters every once in a while.

Please comment below to be entered in the giveaway for a free book!

**********************

Back to Laura . . . On a similar note . . . 

If you like dual timeline fiction about family dynamics in a small town Midwest (Wisconsin) setting, try The Broken Weathervane (launched September 2). Two co-workers seek the same information. One wants to publish it; the other has good reasons to keep it hidden. The timeline alternates between 2015 and the 1950s. Check out the reviews and book trailer here.

If you like historical fiction, you might enjoy A Hundred Magical Reasons (launched January 2025). This story spotlights L. Frank Baum, author of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, his friendship with a young girl, and his impact through the decades. Set in Holland, Michigan, this dual timeline novel alternates between 1980 and the early 1900s. Read more and watch the book trailer here. 

If you like Southern fiction and small town/rural stories about family dynamics and secrets, you might enjoy my novel All That Is Hidden. Set near North Carolina’s Smoky Mountains in 1968, the story spotlights the bond of family and the connections of a tight-knit community. Northern exploitation threatens as a father’s hidden past catches up to him and tests family ties. Learn more and watch the trailer here.

All That Is Hidden is now an audiobook! 

I invite you to join my monthly newsletter for writing updates, freebies, and giveaways. Sign up and I’ll send you a prequel AND 7 Oz-inspired recipes: StandoutStoriesNewsletter.com

*************************

Kendra Brookhuis bio:

Kendra Broekhuis lives in the city of Milwaukee with her family. For her day job, she stays home with four of her children and drives them from one place to another in her minivan. She’s written, spoken, and created non-fiction content for over a decade, and now is excited to be publishing two novels with WaterBrook. You can find her sarcastic ramblings and serious encouragement—including the grief of losing her baby at thirty-three weeks pregnant—on social media and at KendraBroekhuis.com. 

**********************

Join me next time for a visit with author Sarah Loudin Thomas.

Meanwhile, have you read either of Kendra Broekhuis’s novels or other novels about DNA? Answer in the comments below.

Please comment below to be entered in the giveaway for a free book!

Ever reading,

Laura

Sign up for my monthly newsletter and receive the prequel AND 7 Oz-inspired recipes: StandoutStoriesNewsletter.com.