Author: Krista Lynne Jensen
Series: N/A
Number in Series: N/A
Copyright: 2012; Covenant Communications, Inc.
Genre: LDS Fiction: Romance / Suspense
Pages: 194
ISBN: 9781608618651
My Rating: 4.5 / 5
Content Rating: PG (for some alcohol/drug use, and an intense scene)
This story is about a 25-year-old girl named Jill who tries to keep everything perfect in her life: clean apartment, a small dog, and is even writing a book! She works at a publishing company and when they express interest in one of her manuscripts, she rushes back to her office to locate her flashdrive for the file to send them. But it's not there. Neither are her keys its attached to. Her phone is also gone, replaced by one she doesn't recognize. It rings. On the other end is a voice she recognizes. He's attempting to ask her out. Little did Scott realize his clever "trick" to get her attention has sent Organized Jill through the roof--for if she doesn't get that manuscript in her boss's hands ASAP, she may just lose the chance of getting something published--her dream. When Scott realizes his mistake, he's horrified and tries to make it up to her. She won't have anything to do with him. With the chaos of the day behind her, she heads home, only to find her drug-addicted long-lost sister standing on her porch in the rain with a baby to her chest. Jill invites her in, not having spoken to her sister in nearly two years. She looks terrified. Offering to let her stay, Jill settles down for the night. In the morning, Jill awakes to find her sister gone... the baby crying on the couch. From there, Jill's life becomes increasingly more strained and dangerous. People wreck her apartment, go after her father, and even threaten her friends; all in search of finding her sister who had obviously crossed the wrong people. On top of all that, Scott keeps showing up in her life and she can't help but feel the pain he caused her years ago... and he doesn't even remember it.
This was a fast read for me and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It had everything I liked from romance to the suspense and mystery. I feel the story was laid out well and flowed along quite smoothly. The fact that Scott kept appearing was rather humorous and added depth to the story. Watching the characters grow and change was my favorite part. I understood how Evie (the sister) felt and why she left the way she did. I also can understand Jill's bewilderment at suddenly having to provide for a baby (something I don't even have knowledge about, so it was easy to sympathize with her). The author did a great job at painting each character's personality and emotions, while revealing their secrets at just the right times.
One of the things I found interesting was the climax. Because the majority of the book is Jill running from the perpetrator who is after Evie, when the believed climax occurred, I was disappointed. As the book went on, I was thinking, Well, that was a lame climax, and I let my guard down, trying to enjoy the remainder of the book. Little did I know the author had another twist coming and the true climax was much more than I expected. And because I had let my guard down, it genuinely surprised me.
The following lines are Jill's summary of the book she is writing (which ironically enough, is entitled "Saved by Grace and Chocolate") and I feel it sums up this book very nicely:
"...And then there's God's grace. Those things that happen and, for all the laws and powers of reason, they shouldn't happen, but theyd o , and someone is given a chance..."
"Mercy."
Jill turned to Laura. "Yes. Mercy." She swallowed. "The book is about a girl who is given mercy and then learns that mercy, that grace... is not always painless... It's not always graceful."
p.62
In the end, this book turned out to be quite the tear-jerker. In ways, I even feel changed from reading it. Crazy, I know, but it's true. I simply love the message that grace truly is not always graceful. Often the Lord blesses us in ways we don't expect, even ways we don't want. But once we get passed the trial and look back, we see how His hand was in our life the entire time, weaving all the stray parts together to form a masterpiece.
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