Saturday, August 15, 2015

The Sweet By & By by Sara Evans with Rachel Hauck ~ Book Review

With having hand surgery and not being able to type and be on the computer for any length of time, unfortunately I got behind on my book reviews so there are going to be a few in the next couple of days.

The first book in a 3 book series, it was the last one I read. As I really enjoyed book 2 (reviewed here) and book 3 (reviewed here) I figured I would like to know the beginning of Jade's story. Jade is marrying into a well to do family. The furthest thing from her background. With a father who abandoned her when she was 8, and then having a hippie mom who constantly remarried and followed whatever fancy took her at the time, the only stable thing in Jade's life was her Christian grandmother. So when after college, Jade moved to a new town and became the owner of a antique and retro type store, she left the past in the past. But now with the fancy wedding her future mother in law is forcing upon her, she is confronted with having to invite her mother to the wedding. Which is the last thing Jade wants. Too much hurt and water has passed under that bridge and she will have too much explaining to do to her new family as she has hidden it all from them including her husband to be, granted them both agreeing to keep the past in the past. But when her mother shows up three weeks early with her own news, Jade has to come face to face with her past and hope when it all shakes out and settles she still has a marriage to look forward to.

 I liked this series and it was finally good to read the beginnings of Jade's story. The story is raw and honest in it's feelings. Jade faces many issues from her past that are now resurfacing after she tried so hard to bury them. As each one rears it's ugly head she is forced to resolve them. But her grandmother's Christian roots which she placed in her as a young girl, also come back to the surface and in doing so Jade must also face the hardest questions of why God would let all those things happen to her. Some of the reactions Jade had seemed a little immature for her age but then when one faced as much hurt as she did and then tried to bury it so deep I guess the emotions would also be immature as they were never dealt with. But it was a good story of pain, and redemption.

Reading Challenge Goals Met:  a trilogy (does finally finishing a trilogy count?), a book by a female author (bonus points for me:  it had 2 female authors!), a book out of the bottom of my TBR list

Linked at Semicolon Saturday Review of Books



4 comments:

Susan@ Reading World said...

Sounds like an emotionally satisfying read. I'd have a rough time reading a trilogy out of sequence. Were there spoilers in the later books? They must have really grabbed you to make you want to complete the series!

Barbara H. said...

This does sound interesting. I have read one of Hauck's that I didn't care for but am not opposed to trying another. Haven't read any Evans yet.

Barbara H. said...

This does sound interesting. I have read one of Hauck's that I didn't care for but am not opposed to trying another. Haven't read any Evans yet.

Faith said...

The OCD in me won't let me read a trilogy out of order!! haha....sounds pretty good!! I saw your comment about my last book review. Well, my next one definitely won't be a 10 I can tell ya that!! it's ok....an intriguing story and plotline but definitely NOT a 10.