romance

Book Review: Embers in the London Sky

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Embers in the London Sky
Allegiance Under Pressure #1
by Sarah Sundin

My rating: 4 / 5
Genre: Christian historical romance

While fleeing the Netherlands that has just been invaded by the German army, Aleida’s abusive husband sends their son with strangers, shortly before losing his own life to the Germans. Once in London, she starts a long, difficult search for her son. There, she meets Hugh Collingwood, a BBC radio correspondent trying to inform the public and boost morale while reporting on the Blitz. When his uncle and friend are murdered, it looks like the bombs falling on the city every night aren’t the only danger.

In a way, this book almost seems like two different stories. The first is a combination of Aleida searching for her son while also trying to shine light on the way some of the kids are treated as they’re evacuated out of London during the Blitz and Hugh trying to maintain integrity in his reporting while struggling against the threat of censorship. This main part of the story kept me engaged, and I liked seeing these different sides of London during this part of history. Then the book turns into a murder mystery as Aleida and Hugh, both apart and separately, try to solve a series of murders. I’m a fan of mystery, and the rest of the story was interesting enough that I didn’t need the mystery angle to be expanded on. Still the pacing of the mystery being in the background for a long time to then suddenly jump into the foreground threw me off just a little. 

I appreciated the development of the relationship between Aleida and Hugh and that it didn’t come across as the main point of the story. I prefer a subtle romance, and Aleida and Hugh developed a great foundation of friendship first. Though some of the drama involving their relationship felt too much like it was thrown in there just to prolong the inevitable declarations of love. I look forward to the next book, which appears to be about Aleida’s cousin, who is still in the Nazi-occupied Netherlands, and I recommend this one to anyone who likes historical fiction from this time period in the Christian romance genre.

Thank you to Netgalley and Revell for providing me a copy of this book to review.

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Book Review: Bee’s Gift

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Bee’s Gift
Abby’s Letters #2
by Dana Romanin

My rating: 4 / 5
Genre: Christian YA romance

A one-time mistake changes Lindsey Bartley’s life forever during senior year, and she has a lot of difficult decisions ahead of her. Though Richard Hendrick, the man that Lindsey is forever linked to by two lines on a pregnancy test, doesn’t know it yet, his life is about to change for good as well.

I liked this book more than the previous in the series, mostly due to the main character actually being a bit more interesting and dynamic and the loss of the love triangle that permeated the first book. However, though we have moved on to a different character, we don’t move on enough. Part one of two, so half of the book, takes place at the same time as the events in the previous book, and though we see a different side of the story (Lindsey was a side character in the first book with no POV parts), she connects with one of the POVs in the first book (Clark) enough that several scenes are literally re-hashed, word-for-word, from the first book. To be fair, there are minor differences amongst the repeated sentences, though, since a different perspective is shown on the same scenes, but I really think the author should have figured out a way to have a completely fresh take on this second story.

That being said, Lindsey’s character arc, especially her newfound faith in God, drives the first half of the story pretty well. She struggles to decide what to do about her pregnancy, from keeping or discarding, telling the father or not, telling parents or not, etc., and it all felt pretty realistic to me. Except for the way that Lindsey picked up on “church lingo” and prayed fluently for someone else who was struggling, after only attending youth group for a few weeks. There didn’t seem to be much in the way of a learning curve, and it seemed like it could be a bit intimidating for anyone reading the book that is a new believer themselves.

Then part two of the book shifts focus completely from Lindsey to Richard, who was part of the love triangle in the first book. This second half of the book takes us past the time period covered in the first book, into the first summer after graduation for all of these characters, and to a brand-new setting. In a way, it felt like a whole different book, and I wonder if the author perhaps could have started the book here instead. I enjoyed Richard’s arc in this second half, as he grapples with an uncertain future and what his responsibility really is in the life of an unborn child that he has no reason to feel connected to. In the end, the story ends well, probably not much different than one might expect, though there is a bit of a twist thrown in in what feels like an obvious attempt to add drama or excitement. Overall, this book was more enjoyable than I expected it to be, after the first one, and though I’m not sure how accessible it is, I would recommend it for older teens and Christian parents of teens.

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Book Review: A Noble Scheme

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A Noble Scheme
The Imposters #2
by Roseanna M. White

My rating: 5 / 5
Genre: Christian historical mystery

Gemma Parks keeps to the shadows in her capacity as newspaper columnist writing about high-society functions, which is also useful for the investigative team she’s part of, the Imposters. The Imposters normally work for the wealthy, charging a lot of money for their services, but when a working man begs their help to find his kidnapped son, they can’t refuse. Unfortunately, this case puts Gemma in close proximity with Graham Wharton, one of the other Imposters, with whom she used to have a relationship before something went terribly wrong, and she’s been avoiding for almost a year since. Graham, for his part, hopes that this case will end both with a return of the boy to his parents and a return of Gemma to his side.

I loved this second book as much as the first, with the focus turning from Marigold and Merritt to Graham and Gemma. Marigold’s brother Yates, leader of the Imposters, again provides the third POV for the book, and I was happy to continue seeing his side of things. In the first book, we’re given allusions to something causing a rift between Graham and Gemma, but no details. I knew that would be brought out in this book, then, and I was a little annoyed when the “why” was danced around for over 1/4 of the book. Little hints were dropped, maybe even big ones, but I definitely missed the big picture until it was plainly stated (actually, I was spoiled by a review on Goodreads, so be careful what you read). When I did realize the full story, I understood completely why it was held back for so long. It broke my heart and made the journey for these two so much more than I imagined (I suppose what I imagined was an almost humorous tiff that just needed a quiet moment together to put to rights). The progression of their story brought tears to my eyes more than once, and I love the way their views of God were just as big a part of it as were their feelings for each other. Rather than a twisted idea that Graham’s reunion with God was somehow dependent on him (re)gaining the love of a good woman, which I’ve sadly seen in other Christian books, I felt this book had its priorities straight. That’s all the more I’ll say on this subject to avoid spoilers.

Like in the previous book, the case the Imposters work on isn’t a huge mystery, at least in regards to the culprit(s) involved. However, there were certainly facets to the villainy that were kept back and revealed at moments that allowed for suspense and even more emotion. The climax maybe got a little over-dramatic for my taste, but not even enough for me to lower my rating, because of how much I loved the book as a whole. I’m excited to see the next book in the series has already been announced; I love the synopsis so much, and I think that giving us little glimpses of Yates on the way to “his” book really heightens the anticipation of that third book. I highly recommend this book for fans of Christian historical mystery (this is set during the Edwardian era in London).

Thank you to Netgalley and Bethany House for providing me a copy of this book to review.

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Book Review: The Mistletoe Countess

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The Mistletoe Countess
Frederick & Grace Mystery #1
by Pepper D. Basham

My rating: 2.5 / 5
Genre: Historical Christian romance

When Gracelynn’s older sister can’t fulfill her obligation to marry an English earl, threatening to scandalize both families involved, Grace offers to save all parties and marry Lord Astley herself. The earl, Frederick, takes some convincing, but soon enough, they’re on their way from America to England as husband and wife—and virtual strangers. Grace will rely on her extensive reading background to infuse some romance into their marriage and also to try to solve the mystery of why so many accidents happen around her new husband, whose elder brother, the first earl, died of slightly questionable circumstances.

I read this book because I like mysteries and historic fiction, but the mystery was just relegated to too small a part of the story. It was solved a little too easily and wasn’t hard at all to figure out. And it was bogged down by the building of the relationship, both emotional and physical, between the main characters and the author’s drawn-out writing style. We’ve all heard the adage “show, don’t tell” for authors, but if you’ve ever wondered if it’s possible for too much show and not enough tell, this is that book. It’s okay to sometimes just say someone smiled instead of saying that the corners of their mouth turned up (or something like that) every single time someone smiles.

I can’t believe I’m at a point where I feel like there needs to be “steam” levels given for a Christian romance novel. Marriage of convenience stories in particular seem to make authors feel like it’s okay to describe the physical relationship between the main characters far more than would otherwise seem acceptable in Christian fiction. This is one of the worst I’ve read, with a lot of description given as the couple ramped up to their first time together as husband and wife, as well as subsequent desires and flirtations. I realize the couple is married, so what they are doing is okay for them…not for me to be part of. And even outside of the graphicness of the physical aspects of their relationship, there’s such a focus in general on kissing (especially from Grace’s naïve perspective) and repetitiveness in the descriptions of what each thought of the other, especially physically speaking and smells…okay, Frederick smells like amber…we get it… 

Moving past these issues (which is hard to do, because they permeate the story), the characters were okay. I liked Frederick’s understanding that the poor choices he’d made in the past would affect his future with his wife. He had a sort of redemption arc, though the focus seemed to be more on being redeemed by Grace’s love than Jesus’s sacrifice. Grace, on the other hand acts like a 15-16-year-old, so I was surprised to find out about a quarter into the book that she’s almost 19. I’m not sure if we’re ever told Frederick’s age, but the difference felt weird to me. Grace is a heavy reader and tends to live her life as if she’s living out a story, to what felt like an unrealistic degree. She reminds me a lot of Anne of Green Gables, except that where Anne matured as she grew up, apparently Grace didn’t. It smooths out a little later on, but she really just seemed so childish. 

This is the first book in a series marketed as mysteries. I’m hoping that the newlywed intensity of this first book will smooth out, though given that the next two books involve the couple trying to go on or actually going on their honeymoon, my hopes are low. Still, I’ll give the series another try. As for recommending this book, if you are interested in the genre and aren’t bothered by the mostly personal-preference issues above, please check out the link below to see what others thought. You might like it more than I did (experience tells me that you will). Though don’t expect much of a Christmas atmosphere to this book, because it’s only barely related to the season.

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Book Review: The Lassoed by Marriage Romance Collection

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The Lassoed by Marriage Romance Collection
by multiple authors (see details below)

My rating: 3.25 / 5
Genre: Christian historical romance, short stories

This book contains short stories from 9 different authors, taking place in the late 1800s, mostly in the western USA. Each story contains a marriage-of-convenience-type romance, which is my favorite kind, when done well. My overall rating for the book is an average of my ratings for each story, shown below. Below the ratings is a brief review for each story.

“Substitute Bride” by Angela Bell – 5 / 5
“Bridal Whispers” by Angela Breidenbach – 4.5 / 5
“Mule Dazed” by Lisa Carter – 2 / 5
“Sweetwater Bride” by Mary Connealy – 1 / 5
“A Highbrow Hoodwink” by Rebecca Jepson – 4 / 5
“Not So Pretty Penny” by Amy Lillard  – 2.5 / 5
“All’s Fair” by Gina Welborn – 3.5 / 5
“The Colorado Coincidence” by Kathleen Y’Barbo – 3 / 5
“Railroaded into Love” by Rose Ross Zediker – 3.5 / 5

“Substitute Bride” (5 / 5) is the only story that takes place in England, diving right into a story patterned after Jacob and Leah (from the Bible). It’s short enough not to get too much into the deceit that brought Elliott and Gwen together, but if too much time had been spent dwelling on it, it might have gotten annoying. The culmination of Gwen’s self-perception and Elliott’s odd hobby was very well done and the only moment in this book that brought tears to my eyes.

“Bridal Whispers” (4.5 / 5) is full of bad assumptions and misunderstandings, but not so much to make me roll my eyes (and that’s considering I have a low tolerance for these things). In fact, they were probably completely understandable in this story of a widower marrying the cousin of his late wife. I have to say, though, that the long shadow of the first wife would have been a huge problem for me, especially when Burton took her portrait into his bedroom so it wouldn’t hang over his new wife.

“Mule Dazed” (2 / 5) contains one of the worst male leads in the book, the local sheriff forced to marry a woman he was locked in his own jail with overnight. He spends most of the story lusting after his wife, Hattie, while still meanly telling her that he can’t wait to be rid of her when the judge returns and they can annul their marriage. Then he blames her for his own rash outburst in bidding higher than necessary at a basket auction. He’s just a jerk!

“Sweetwater Bride” (1 / 5) has the one male lead that’s worse than the one in the previous story. He’s not quite so rude overall, but he hogties an isolated woman who lives alone in a secluded valley so that he can take her to his parents, because she’s afraid to leave her valley, even though he first offered to bring his parents to her. Then he kisses this girl that he knows is innocent and naive and knows nothing of men or the world in general. How creepy! On top of that, this woman who has barely seen anyone but her dad for years somehow knows that the eyes of the guy who kidnapped her are an unusual color, plus she stops talking like someone who’s been stunted socially far too quickly. Add the author’s writing style that is full of poor grammar and confusing dialogue, and it’s my least favorite in the collection.

“A Highbrow Hoodwink” (4 / 5) is nice and sweet with an overall theme of forgiveness and leaving the past behind. I wasn’t a huge fan of the plan to lie and say that Katie’s son was Henry’s, rather than his brother’s, in a Christian setting, since at no point do they regret or repent of this. But I did like the way everything ended up with this small family.

“Not So Pretty Penny” (2.5 / 5) is not bad, but not great either. The romance part wasn’t bad, but the rest of the plot was weak. Wash, the male lead, was wrongfully convicted of killing his sister, framed by the actual killer. And Wash’s plan now is to find Wash and somehow get him locked up for the crime, neat and simple, even though the man had already convinced everyone that Wash was the guilty one based on only his own testimony? There was a major unexplained coincidence in the climax, and I just do not buy this happy ending.

“All’s Fair” (3.5 / 5) is the first story in this collection that I felt like would have been better with room to expand. A quickie marriage of a man and woman on opposite sides of a family feud to keep members of both side out of prison calls for a bit more depth than this story was able to get into, and there really wasn’t much resolution. On the other hand, though the story starts with an incident that leads to strong hatred between the two MCs, and by the time the bulk of the story starts 4 years later, it’s been mostly resolved on both sides (independently of each other), so the only obstacle to this couple’s happiness is weak and feels contrived.

“The Colorado Coincidence” (3 / 5) was an overall forgettable story for me. I struggled to remember much about the story for the review. So it wasn’t bad, but since I’m not a fan of major coincidences and this story hinges on one, it wasn’t destined to be a favorite. I was at least relieved that Mack didn’t trick Gloree into marrying him by letting her believe that he was the man who’d been sent by her late husband to marry her. I also liked Gloree challenging Mack to ask God to show up.

“Railroaded into Love” by Rose Ross Zediker – (3.5 / 5) is another one where I feel like there needed to be at least a little more time to explore part of the story. I like the way that Molly took to the street urchin, and he clung to her kindness. But since Molly’s brother’s guilt or innocence was a big part of both the marriage of convenience and the rest of the plot, it didn’t get enough resolution, in my opinion. I think this feeling in more than one of these stories is due to the fact that I always prefer a romance be more in the background of a solid plot, and by necessity, the romance in stories as short as these tends to be pushed to the front.

In the end, though my overall rating for this collection isn’t great, there were a few gems in there that I’m really glad I read. The Old West setting isn’t my favorite, and I’m not a huge fan of short stories, but my husband brought the book home from the library for me, thinking I’d like it, and I always give his random book finds a try. I’m glad I did in this case, and I think that others who enjoy Christian romance from this time period will probably like more of these stories than I did.

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Book Review: All’s Fair in Love and Christmas

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All’s Fair in Love and Christmas
by Sarah Monzon

My rating: 4 / 5
Genre: Christian Christmas contemporary romance

Mackenzie Graham wants nothing more than to do her job without drawing attention to herself and without having to talk to people any more than necessary. So when she’s put into the spotlight as a contender for a promotion, against a man she’s had a crush on for two years, for a boss who has a history of promoting the people who show the most Christmas spirit, she will have to force herself out of her comfort zone. Jeremy Fletcher really needs that promotion, since he’s raising his twin niece and nephew after the deaths of their parents, so he plans to use his penchant for meticulous planning to win the promotion. Mackenzie throws a wrench in his plans, though, by being much more than the quiet co-worker he’d never really paid attention to before, now that she’s been thrust front and center for him.

This is bizarrely the 2nd book I’ve read this holiday season that has a lot of overlap with my own life. Mackenzie’s mom has Alzheimer’s and has days where she doesn’t remember Mackenzie and/or is extremely agitated. My mom had Lewy body dementia, which declined quickly, but during that time, we dealt with a lot of memory issues and agitated states (even before we knew that she had dementia). Also, I have social anxieties similar to Mackenzie, though mine seem to be a different flavor, so to speak. While I recognized a lot of the inner monologue and choices made to avoid being in the spotlight, I don’t think I could bring myself to do some of what Mackenzie does to try to win the promotion—though possibly with such a powerful motivator (needing to pay for her mom’s care), I could. There was a certain thing she does a few times to try to push herself to be more confident that I know I would never do, and that angle doesn’t really go anywhere anyway, so it’s a little strange in the story anyway.

I was a little thrown off by the many references to TV shows and movies at first, but I think that’s just because I don’t actually read a lot of contemporary fiction—more historical or even SFF. But even in those references, there were a lot made to shows and movies I love, so it made me feel all the more connected to both main characters. Jeremy’s little shudder over thinking about his pre-teen charges spending countless hours watching other people play video games on YouTube made me feel as seen as the reference to Mackenzie’s half-print/half-cursive style of writing. If I could stop here, this would probably have been a 5-star read for me.

There were a couple of things that stuck out to me throughout the story, though, that brought the rating down: I don’t care for 1st-person, present tense for one POV and 3rd-person, past tense for the other. It’s kind of a pet peeve of mine, especially since it almost never seems necessary to do it that way. I suspect the author wanted to be more “in the head” of Mackenzie, with her social issues, and didn’t feel the need to do that for Jeremy, but even then, why the present/past difference? And the Christian content was weirdly paced. I had seen this was marked as Christian, which is why I was surprised to see absolutely no references to God by 15% of the way into the book. There is, though, flirting and suggestive movements, lots of secular music and such, and then suddenly there’s a prayer and biblical reference that seem to come out of nowhere. To be clear, I do not expect every book marked Christian to be chock-full of prayers and references to God or even to have a solid Christian message or moral. But other than Mackenzie’s belief that her lack of faith keeps her from getting past her social issues (which I kinda wish had been explored more), I would never really know that these characters are Christians. Overall, though, I enjoyed the book. It contains a lot of Christmas charm and is not too sappy, as Christmas romances go. I recommend it for fans of Christmas romance, especially with some Christianity involved.

Thank you to Netgalley and Bethany House for providing me a copy of this book to review.

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Book Review: Not If I Save You First

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Not If I Save You First
by Ally Carter

My rating: 1.5 / 5
Genre: YA romance

When Maddie’s dad is injured in an attempt to kidnap the president’s wife, he leaves the Secret Service and moves to the middle of nowhere in Alaska with Maddie, forcing Maddie to leave behind her best friend Logan, the president’s son. After six years, a trouble-making, 16-year-old Logan is sent to stay with Maddie and her dad in Alaska, which is especially awkward for Maddie, since she hasn’t heard from Logan in those six years. But before she’s able to hash things out with him, Logan comes under threat from a mysterious assailant, and Maddie might be the only one who can help him.

I hate rating a book this low, but when I looked through the notes I took while reading this book, I couldn’t see giving it a higher rating. The premise was interesting, and the setting was pretty immersive, but that’s about all I can say for it. The characters are inconsistent and flat, and I particularly didn’t like Maddie and her extreme girliness. Simply by virtue of being the daughter of a once-Secret Service agent and living for six whole years in the wilds of Alaska, she manages to stay completely cool and even make silly quips in the face of a murderer. And I’m all for Maddie and Logan working out their issues, but the romance between them is unbelievable and overdramatic.

Then there’s the plot, which has so many holes and unbelievable bits that it feels like it was cobbled together just to drive the romance forward. Everyone makes stupid decisions along the way, and motivations tend to make no sense at all. Most of the examples I could give would be spoilers, but I will at least mention that I don’t understand why Logan wouldn’t be given at least a brief explanation about how things work in this tiny shack where he’s going to be staying when he first arrives, like where the bathroom is or where the actual room for taking baths is and that if the curtain in front of the kitchen is shut, it means someone’s naked in there! I guess the scene where Logan walks in on Maddie taking a bath is suppose to be romantic? Or funny? Maybe both? To me, it was incredibly cringe-worthy.

My 13-year-old daughter is currently about halfway through the book, and just tonight she told me that she was on the edge of her seat. I have a feeling she’ll like it more than I did, which is fine, because she’s actually closer to the target audience for the book. But I think that teenagers deserve better.

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Book Review: The Event

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The Event
The Creek Water Series #1
by Whitney Dineen

My rating: 2 / 5
Genre: Contemporary romance

Emmaline Frothingham left home to prove herself in the wide world, rather than let it always be assumed that she was dependent upon her family’s money. But an embarrassing moment at a work function leads to a life-changing event, and she returns home with the baby that resulted from that night, determined to work hard and keep her head held high in her judgmental hometown.

I normally stay away from contemporary romance, but I got this book for free so decided to give it a try. I appreciated the closeness of Emmie’s family, though at times they are a bit ridiculous. Right off the bat, she’s put into a difficult situation due to the meddling of her aunt, and though she certainly could have chosen not to go along with with the lie thrust upon her (that her baby’s father was a recently deceased fiancé of Emmie’s rather than a one-night-stand), there would be no plot if she had. I wrote down my prediction of a “twist” about 1/3 of the way through the book, though even in my notes I said that it would be ridiculous, yet it seemed obvious that it was heading that way, and yeah, it was. I won’t spoil it, but as twists go, it’s one that is not very surprising (I’m really not one who normally guesses correctly about twists, if that tells you anything) and requires far too many obvious contrivances in the plot. That doesn’t really make for a fun read.

On top of all of that, there’s the fairly extreme bullying, done both by the clear bullies but also by the other side, and the ridiculous amount of references to Emmie’s nursing apparatuses (I know that’s a terrible euphemism). If it hadn’t been such a quick read, I don’t know that I would have finished it. I’m sure the series continues on to showcase some of the side characters from this book, but I don’t plan to read further.

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Book Review: Abby’s Letters

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Abby’s Letters
Book #1
by Dana Romanin

My rating: 2.5 / 5
Genre: Christian YA romance

When 17-year-old Jane’s mom dies and leaves her and her 13-year-old sister Abby alone, Jane is determined to keep her sister out of foster care and does her best to pretend that her mom is still alive until she turns 18 and can file for guardianship of Abby.

The synopsis, as given above and the official one for this book, intrigued me a lot. The official synopsis includes an explanation for the title—thinking her mom is still alive, Abby writes letters to her, through which Jane comes to see a different side of her mom, who became an alcoholic after her husband’s death. This aspect intrigued me the most, especially considering the loss of my own mom earlier this year and hearing my sisters talk about a somewhat different mom than I really knew. Sadly, Abby’s letters don’t come into the book until much later than I expected and are mostly short and shallow. The connection they cause Jane to feel with her mom felt forced to me.  Instead, the plot was largely dwarfed by the all-too-common tropes often found in YA and/or romance. A love triangle casts a heavy shadow, and Jane lets herself be goaded into doing things she wouldn’t normally do because someone called her “boring,” thus making the character feel cliché and detracting from the otherwise strong personality I think the author was going for.

The book has 4 perspectives—all 3 sides of the love triangle and Abby. I felt it was a bit much at first, but I don’t really remember having any issues with it throughout the book (on the other hand, I don’t really need to see how perfectly perfect Jane and her body are from two male perspectives). I took issue with Jane’s seemingly cavalier treatment of both guys, though, as she would touch the friend on the chest or something, right in front of the boyfriend, as if she had no idea (at 17, mind you) of the intimacy of such a gesture.

Despite its shortcomings, the book did have some touching moments. I liked the conversion story, though it’s relegated to near the end of the book. It is a big part of the reason, though, that I am interested in seeing how this series continues, despite giving this book such a low rating. That and because I had an inkling that something was going on with Lindsey, who briefly turned the love triangle into a square, and the synopsis for the next book confirms my suspicions. As for this first book, though, it had the potential to be a poignant story about loss and discovery, but the love triangle and other YA/romance tropes got in the way.

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