Softly and Tenderly by Sara Evans with Rachel Hauck
This is a story about family relationships, marriage difficulties, human weaknesses, in fact every day life in soap opera terms. Or for many people, it is the reality of life, living with the consequences of past mistakes. A love story, with hurts and heartaches affecting three generations, it centres on Jade, the main character, travelling on an emotional roller coaster, as she deals with the problems surrounding her life.
I was drawn into this novel from the first page. I liked the occasional humour, the pathos and the ease of discovering more about the characters - it didn't become too complicated. I haven't read the previous book in the series, but there was enough background information given to be aware of places and circumstances affecting the people in the story.
Knowing the Publisher, I was expecting this to be a more `Christian' book, but there was little mention of God until the last chapters, however, as I considered this, perhaps our own lives are like this - we don't draw close to God and call out to Him until we are `up against it' and the problems overwhelm us. This is a moving story, well written, and I look forward to the next book .
I was given a complimentary copy of this book for review purposes by Thomas Nelson, but this no way affects my comments.
Margaret Vaughan
