I am so excited to be FINALLY bringing this review to you! I loved the book and I love this author!
Since I was part of Tamera's Blogging Buddies, a special group of bloggers who helped promote this book, I posted the overview along with a trailer and excerpt already. To view that post, please follow the link below:
My Review:
I absolutely love Tamera Alexander's writing. She has a way of pulling you into the story and leaving you wanting more. This sweet story is no exception. The story itself has a lot of components that are woven together seamlessly. It focuses on time period specific issue: women's rights, treatment of immigrants, mental illness, and the recovery of a nation after war. It's often hard to appreciate the beauty in life after something as ugly as war, and Tamera doesn't diminish that fact, in the least. That is something I can really appreciate, especially in light of my circumstances.
The characters, oh the characters! I absolutely fell in love with Eleanor. She is kind, sweet, witty, and strong. She is, indeed, a beauty so rare. Her development, while important, is not as highly played up as Marcus' development. I believe that was done because Eleanor is already the person God wants her to be, she just has to learn to embrace and trust. Marcus, on the other hand, while handsome and witty, had a lot to learn. His development from prideful to humble was an experience I think everyone goes through at one time or another. We all question our place in the world and do our best to find out where we belong. One important note: I REALLY did not like Adelicia Cheatham. I understand what she was trying to do for her niece and I admire her strength and ambition, but I just didn't like her!
The message was fantastic. I absolutely enjoyed seeing Eleanor and Marcus' journeys, which were both separate, but similar. While there thoughts are different in regards to God, their realizations were very similar. God doesn't protect us from all the hurts in life. Sometimes, He allows pain and suffering, even war, to come. What we have to grasp is that everything happens for a reason. We may never know the answer to the "why's" in life, but we have to learn to trust God and his righteousness. The Bible says in Isaiah 55:9, "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." - NKJV (thank you Tamera for including this verse in your reading guide, it fits perfectly!).
**Thank you Bethany House, for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.**
**Thank you Bethany House, for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.**
My Favorite Quotes:
There were so many parts of this book that I loved, I had a hard time choosing, but I narrowed it down to three that meant the most to me:
"Not everything has to be beautiful to be worthy of admiration." - Eleanor Braddock
"Every brick laid in the foundation of life, however meaningfully or haphazardly places, shaped the whole." - Marcus Geoffery
"Just because a husband--or wife--passed on didn't mean the love they'd shared had died. It lived on in the hearts of the people who still loved them. Good-byes were simply part of this life..." - Eleanor Braddock
