You know you're reading a great book when you try to prolong the last page. I mean - you want to get there, yet you know that the last page means the journey is over. Such were my feelings when I finished the second book, Softly & Tenderly by Sara Evans (with Rachel Hauck).
That's right! Sara Evans - the talented country singer - can not only write songs, but she has given us some beautiful stories in book form, as well.
Softly & Tenderly is the sequel to The Sweet By and By, which begins the journey of Jade, the main character.
Jade is one of the several women in a "Southern Soap Opera" (as she says in the book) and the story is about her journey to find her place in a broken world.
I loved Jade from the first novel, right into this one. She is unique and strong, and yet, has her own very real, battles to fight, which sometimes brings her to her knees.
As Jade discovers that everyone around her has secrets, she battles her own past, filled with secrets, and what to do with them.
She struggles to forgive the mom who abandoned her over and over again, the husband who let her down, and herself, for things she did at the age of sixteen.
Softly & Tenderly is a beautiful story of people who seem so real. Their struggles are real-life struggles that most readers can relate to. You don't want the book to end because you've grown to love these characters and you want to know how their journey plays out.
Thankfully, Sara (and Rachel) don't leave us hanging for long! Her third book will be coming out in January 2012! And you can bet - it's on my wish list!
Merry Christmas everyone!
*I read this book on my iPad, which I love to do! It takes some time to get used to not holding a real book and flipping pages, but the delivery time (from the download to my hands) is so amazingly quick, that it might be my new "favorite" way of buying books!*
**Thank you to BookSneeze for providing me with this book in exchange for a review. It is my pleasure to help you in this way! Merry Christmas BookSneeze!**
This book had an interesting story line that kept me guessing about what would happen next. However, I feel it focused too much on the negative and the bad things that happened and not enough on how God could be glorified through all that went on. I also feel like the story left me hanging - I finished the last chapter and was really wondering why the story was over right then. It was like my book was without the last two chapters! I appreciate the points made about forgiveness - there was forgiveness on many fronts in this book - and I think it makes you evaluate your own life to see if you, too, have secrets that need to be shared.
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