Analiese Wagner has a lot on her plate. She is the senior minister of the Church of the Covenant, a Protestant church with a huge congregation whose daily needs are constant. Her church administrator, Myra Hudson, questions her every move. Older congregants still loudly voice their opinion that a male is more suited for the job of leading a large church. The Rose Window Committee wants to replace the current, staid rose window in the sanctuary with a “bearded European Jesus with a lamb on his lap.” The fruitless search for an assistant minister has left Analiese with no one to share the duties of tending the flock, and her community outreach and volunteer work fill up many hours on her schedule. As her 40th birthday approaches, she is beginning to question her calling and ability to do God’s work at the Church while being the Good Samaritan she wants to be.

Luckily, Analiese has a strong support network. Her good friend, Ethan, is always ready to listen and take her away long enough to catch her breath over a relaxing lunch. She knew Ethan’s late wife, Charlotte, who left a large bequest to the Church, hence the money for the new rose window. To the women who came together to support her during her illness, a diverse bunch of varied ages and backgrounds but united in a desire to do good for others, Charlotte left her family home high up on Doggett Mountain. The Goddesses Anonymous, as they came to call themselves, gather there for many occasions, and each can always count on finding solace and support on that mountaintop, which is a very sacred space to them.

As THE COLOR OF LIGHT begins, Analiese leaves a contentious executive committee meeting and a pile of messages behind to speak at a rally for the Asheville Homeless Network. As a former broadcast journalist, Analiese isn’t afraid to put on a public face, using her position to speak out for a cause in which she deeply believes. While there, she gets into a discussion with an agitated person that escalates until she is knocked to the ground. In the confusion, she can’t be completely sure but is almost positive that the individual who helps her up is none other than Father Isaiah Colburn, the very man who convinced her of her calling years ago in San Diego.

"Emilie Richards does a fantastic job of giving yet another Goddess the spotlight and providing readers with more from her past.... This is a terrific series that will warm the heart and soul of every reader."

Analiese developed feelings for Isaiah that were destined to be unrequited, and in the ensuing years, communication between the two had slowly ceased. Her puzzlement over why he would be in Asheville, if in fact it was even him, grows when she spies him in the back of her Sunday service several days later. Sure enough, it is the Jesuit priest himself who shows up at her office door, sending her heart racing and questions whirling. Isaiah has been in Washington, DC, working on the business side of the Catholic Church, a role he finds increasingly unfulfilling. He also is questioning his calling, thus he has been granted a sabbatical of sorts --- time to evaluate his feelings and plan his future within, or outside of, the Church. Isaiah and Analiese obviously still have strong feelings for each other, and both struggle on how to handle them.

Shiloh Fowler also has a lot on her plate. The 14-year-old has been thrust into a role of leadership within her little family of four. Back in Ohio, her father, Herman (or Man, as he goes by), had a good factory job, and her mother was a wonderful gardener who tended to the family and home. But with an unexpected layoff, their future took an unexpected nosedive. They eventually lost their house and headed south to stay with relatives to try and get back on their feet. Unfortunately, though, as so often happens in this situation, rebounding has been almost impossible, and their support network is nonexistent. Man is a very talented Mr. Fix It, but finding anything more than part-time work has proven to be fruitless. Belle, Shiloh’s mother, feeds her depression with food, and her obesity is now affecting her health in severe ways, her constant cough worsening with every night they spend in their car or pitched tent. Dougie, Shiloh’s younger brother, is in a constant state of motion, and his hyperactivity is only fueled by the constant diet of fast food and gas station snacks.

The family has found a spot in the shrubbery behind the Church of the Covenant and is preparing to spend the night there when Analiese returns to her office and discovers them. Quickly evaluating the situation of a family who has been homeless for over 18 months, she offers them --- and gets them settled into --- an empty custodian’s apartment at the Church.

Analiese has opened up a can of worms. The Church quickly divides into two camps --- those who are ready to walk the walk of the Good Samaritan parable that Analiese has so often preached to them, and those who don’t like having reality show up at their marble-stooped front door. The family is allowed to stay temporarily, but the decision is constantly reevaluated by the congregants and the Executive Committee. More than one committee meeting leaves Analiese feeling like she has laid her position on the line by coming to the rescue of the Fowler family, but help does come in from unexpected sources and from the Goddesses.

Analiese knows that how the Church ultimately deals with the Fowlers will be setting a course for their future --- and hers as well. Isaiah’s presence in Asheville, and their continuing conversation, has totally rocked her present and may also set a new direction for her future. Analiese is fully aware of how lucky she is to actually have a calling, not just a job, and throughout the story she gives constant and careful contemplation as to how she will continue to use that calling.

THE COLOR OF LIGHT is the fourth installment in the Goddesses Anonymous series. Continuing the story of the group of women who started forming in ONE MOUNTAIN AWAY, author Emilie Richards does a fantastic job of giving yet another Goddess the spotlight and providing readers with more from her past. Recurring characters continue to grow --- some just finding their wings, others beginning to really soar --- yet their combined generosity and loving kindness never fail to tend those in need who come across their path. They all have lessons for Shiloh and her loved ones, and play a big role in the family’s gradual change of circumstances. This is a terrific series that will warm the heart and soul of every reader.