Shelf Full of Books

Crossroads is an emotionally touching story as we become involved in the lives of Mara and Ashton Hedwig and Carter and Chloe Callahan who live in the small community of Miller's Creek.

I enjoyed the characters that the author created because they were not perfect (okay, Ashton was very sweet and precocious, but other than her, everyone else had their issues). The author made it clear in her writing that God accepts us the way we are, flaws and all.

There were many issues that Mara faced that were realistic obstacles to deal with in her journey of faith. Though her story is fictional it could easily be used to assist someone else in a similar faith-crisis.

Mara and Carter initially meet when Mara, a real estate agent helps Carter look for a place to rent. Their families become more involved when Chloe comes to work part-time for Mara.

When Ashton's leukaemia returns, Carter sees the pent up anger towards God that is built up in Mara's heart and because he has begun to care for her, and refuses to become involved with a woman who is not following the Lord he seeks to help her find her way back to Him.

There are many heart wrenching twists and turns in this story and you may want to have a box of tissues close by if you are subject to cry easily. I thought the author did a very good job of bringing together some spiritual, teenage health, medical as well as the circumstantial issues that life throws at us into a cohesive whole.

The writing was excellent. It was clear, concise and well-edited. The only errors I noticed were that leukaemia is a disease where there is a lack of red blood cells, so why was the donor taking injections to increase her white blood cell count?

Crossroads was a moderately fast-paced book. I thought its speed was appropriate for its genre. Enough time was taken to let us get to know each of the main characters and their backgrounds enough to care about them and what happened to them. That emotional connection with them is what made this book and its message so powerful.

While Crossroads is a clean romance novel, it is much more than that. It is the story of the hope we have of the forgiveness of redemption in Jesus Christ if we turn our hearts back to Him. It is about overcoming the same kinds of issues that Carter and Chloe faced. It's about putting our faith back in Jesus.

I thoroughly enjoyed Crossroads. I highly recommend this book to you if you enjoy Christian fiction and clean romance. I gave this book 5 stars out of 5.

Thank you to the author for providing a copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. A positive opinion was not required. All thoughts are my own.

See the complete review on Shelf Full of Books

http://kathrynsshelffullofbooks.blogspot.com/2015/04/crossroads-book-review-trailer-and.html