phyllish
Written on Nov 9, 2017
As Sammi experienced Jordan's betrayal and experienced the numbing grief as she realized that she had given him something she could never get back, I could feel her pain. And as her choices that night went from bad to worse, I got it. It totally made sense why she did what she did, and despite the fact her choices were stupid, the author did such a great job in showing her thoughts and motivations, it made sense.
Levi also experienced the pain of betrayal, in his case, by his brother and fiancee. As a man who had no Christian upbringing or understanding of sin, his choices made sense as well. I love that despite the fact that Levi's brother stole his fiancee AND tons of money from his business, Levi still struggled with whether he should report this to the police. He also showed such kindness to his mother despite the terrible way she treated him.
Sammi's parents were introduced in the prequel to this series as loving, Christian people. So when Sammi finally got up the courage to break the news to them about her pregnancy, I was surprised at their responses. True, I understood how they would have been shocked, but I expected them to be a little more obvious in showing grace to Sammi. Yet again, I could see the author's purpose in this, and as the story was being told from Sammi's perspective, that her view of their reaction was clouded by overwhelming guilt.
As Sammi allowed her remorse over her poor choices and imagined judgement and condemnation from everyone around her. I could feel her pain and her struggles. Hopeless, and lonely. Scared.
The theme of this story was clearly that God's grace is greater than all our sins. The message of forgiveness was taught loud and clear.
I thought that Sammi's father's perspective that just because Levi and Sammi conceived a child together didn't automatically mean that they should marry was very interesting. I have never even considered that marriage under those circumstances could be a bad thing.
Another important point that the author brought up was the fact that pregnancy outside of marriage is a very visible sin - it is very hard to hide. I have often thought that it is a shame that so many Christians treat this as an unforgivable sin, and yet indulge in other sins that don't have such visual evidence which are in so many ways worse. Sins such as hatred, envy, gossip. Sin is sin and grieves the heart of God. And our sin, no matter how great or small, is why the Son of God offered himself as a sacrifice on the cross. So we should be slow to judge others and should with gentleness and kindness and love "restore such a one".
This book is part of a series, but it can stand alone. The author has several series she has written, and many of the characters from one series appear in the others, so it would be good to read them all so you can see more of the beautiful tapestry of lives that she is weaving.
This review was originally posted on Among the Reads