Awards & Recognitions

RITA® Award Finalist
Three months in the top ten on the CBA Bestseller List
Named a Top Twenty Favorite Novel of 2002 by Christianbook.com

Endorsements

Settle in with a cup of tea and a hanky and prepare for a wonderful read. — Tracie Peterson, author

Few can capture on paper the ways of the heart like Robin Lee Hatcher. Robin has a way of making me think through her characters’ experiences, sink with their failures, and soar with their triumphs. I find reading her books a pure pleasure in which I learn, not just about fictional characters, but myself as well. — Lisa Tawn Bergren, author

Robin Lee Hatcher’s words leave footprints on the heart . . . They come in softly and we are forever changed. — Karen Kingsbury, author

Robin Lee Hatcher isn’t afraid to wrestle down difficult issues. With her thumb on the pulse beat of today’s women, Ms. Hatcher creates plausible stories of ordinary people impacted by an extraordinary grace. — Lisa E. Samson, author

Reviews

In her latest novel, FIRSTBORN, Robin Lee Hatcher weaves a tale that clutches the reader’s heart — traveling with the characters through dramatic and challenging situations to an ultimate affirmation of God’s mercy, forgiveness and grace. The people in this riveting story are so familiar, so natural, one gets the feeling they live just up the street from us, or that we have seen them every Sunday in church … FIRSTBORN is likely to become another favorite among the long list of popular and outstanding books by one of Idaho’s most prolific writers. — Treasure Valley Christian News

With realistic dialogue, solid description, and flashbacks that build the story one layer at a time, Hatcher creates lives you’ll care about. Erika, Steve, and the others are flawed, unsure, adrift—and familiar. They could be your neighbors, your coworkers, your friends from church, your own family. The universal struggle for forgiveness will have you praying alongside them as you read. — Christian Book Distributors

Wow! Robin Lee Hatcher’s stories are usually outstanding reads, but FIRSTBORN tops all of her previous work. Riveting and packed with a skillful balance of realism and heart wrenching emotions, Ms. Hatcher paints a poignant and tender portrait of one woman’s struggle to save her marriage, but also form a relationship with the child she had to give away when she was little more than a child herself … I highly recommend FIRSTBORN for your late summer reading. It is a book you will not want to miss! (4 1/2 plugs) — The Romance Readers Connection

They seem like the perfect couple—high school sweethearts reunited and married after Steven Welby returns from college. Erika James Welby can hardly believe how blessed she has been. In Robin Lee Hatcher’s inspirational women’s fiction, Firstborn, Steven and Erika are on the threshold of their son Ethan’s 16th birthday when an unexpected envelope threatens everything they hold dear. When she opens the letter, Erika lets loose a maelstrom of emotions that threaten to destroy every facet of her carefully constructed life. The letter is from Kirsten Lundquist, her firstborn, the child she gave up for adoption years before. The sin of omission, the lie of withheld secrets, now tears at Erika’s soul in Hatcher’s compelling and bittersweet examination of the way the bonds of marriage can be strained to their utmost without snapping. Or split apart, as Erika and Steven’s best friend Dallas and his wife confront their own test of love and parenthood. Firstborn is a testament to the force of faith and commitment to family, as Erika seeks forgiveness from her husband and son and from Kirsten’s father—who never knew of her birth. Hatcher delves into the wellspring of heartfelt emotions, from agonizing betrayal to joyous exhilaration, in creating this extraordinary story. — BookPage Fiction Review

Robin Lee Hatcher pens an intense story with flashbacks guaranteed to make you cry. Erika is an incredible character who faces her past head on. Very true-to-life with a strong message. — Romantic Times Bookclub

“[With “solid writing” In FIRSTBORN] Hatcher believably builds suspense for the reader about Erika’s secret and pulls no punches as she convincingly portrays the agonizing emotions and far-reaching consequences of giving a baby up for adoption. Flashbacks are used effectively to flesh out the characters’ teen years, and Hatcher manages the multiple points of view adeptly. Although there is an obligatory CBA conversion scene, Hatcher avoids a neat wrap-up; the book’s conclusion makes allowances for the messiness of life. Hatcher, the author of 35 novels and novellas, is the recipient of both the Christy and the RITA Awards, so it’s no surprise that this is a well-written inspirational novel.” — Publishers Weekly