Love's Providence

by Jennifer H Westall

[violetpeanut]

I enjoyed this one. Anytime I see the word "Christian" attached to a book I cringe a little. That's a personal thing because I grew up attending a very strict Baptist church that followed the Bible in a very literal sense. I many times find that when things are labeled Christian it's because the content is generally not relateable to those outside the Christian faith. Not so with Love's Providence.

I think the author really did a fantastic job of writing characters of faith and strong convictions and showing their struggles in a very genuine way. The situations are authentic and are similar to situations I myself faced when I was in college. Lily's struggles are honest and real. Nothing here is sugar coated and although there is a happy ending, the characters take quite a journey to get there.
The author does a really great job of fleshing out the characters and giving insight to their thoughts and actions. I loved Lily. She has strong values and stands up for them and yet, nothing here sounded "preachy."

As for the plot, although never boring, I thought it was a little slow at times. The first half of the book is about Lily meeting Alex and getting to know him. There is some action and a little bit of mystery in the second half of the book and the pace picked up a bit. This was a pretty quick read for me so the pacing wasn't really a huge issue for me.

I give this 3 stars because I enjoyed it but it's not the type of book I will read again or would recommend to everyone. Fans of Christian Fiction and clean romance will love this and would probably rate it even higher. This was a wonderful debut from Ms. Westall and I would be interested in reading more from her in the future.