It's a bit better than most Love Inspired titles--at least it had some Christian lessons in it that different characters had to learn. I don't know if I've read anything by this author before. A friend sent me this book in a box of books, but when I started it, it hardly seemed like it had been read before.

WARNING: REMAINDER OF REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS. READ ON AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION

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Likes:
The church's response to Gelina's decision.

The lady who helped Gelina asking Gelina to pay it forward rather than taking money.

Angela's choices made to pay the good deed forward: helping a shelter, visiting the elderly and buying items for them, helping Cathy to attend college and get out of a bad situation.

Hosea's response to Angela's past. It's nice to know there are people out there who can hate the sin but love the sinner, who can walk the "God makes everything new and clean" talk.

Cathy's making the most of the chance offered to her. The church's response to Cathy's plight. (I do wonder what happened to or became of her father--I wonder if he will show up in another book? I hope he finds salvation somewhere along the way.)

Cathy paying the good deeds shown to her forward by being a friend to Diana and even staying over the Christmas holiday at school with her.

Frank and Greta--nice caretaker, grandparent/parent figures.

That many characters see and think that God is working in their lives: Hosea recognizes it in his life and counsels Leigh in it, Angela wonders if God is trying to prevent her from calling a realtor.

Seeing Hosea struggle--pastors aren't immune to the struggles the rest of us humans have. Also seeing Hosea turn to his parents (believers) and to God for counsel.

The lessons characters learn throughout the story.

Dislikes:
Angela's resolution to her mental struggle occurs abruptly. After all the wrestling with it that she did, I have a hard time believing that a short conversation resolves it for her.

Hosea's response to Angela's past: while I like his response overall, it's not the norm to a situation like that. I wonder, did he struggle with it in the years between his guest preaching stint and his acceptance of the pastor position in Harmony, Colorado? Because if his only struggle with it is what's portrayed in this book, then I'm not sure how realistic the struggle is/was.

I didn't get the leap of logic that allows Hosea, Leigh and Phil to connect Cathy's comment about the cabins with where Angela would have gone when she fled Harmony. ( )

Oh, I just had to read this book once I stumbled upon the summary on another site. The heroine is a former prostitute (seriously, a heroine in a Christian romance novel who isn't as pure as the driven snow - someone call the press!) who falls in love with the pastor who led her to Jesus. Except she's not quite over being a prostitute, and it takes a lot of angst for her to realize that that's all in her past.

I honestly have no idea how to rate this book. On the one hand, the heroine is definitely non-traditional. On the other hand, there's still a lot of slut shaming done in this book (except, you know, she didn't choose to have sex). Angela, the prostitute-turned-choir-girl, keeps talking about how ashamed she is of "her" sin. Except the reader rather quickly finds out that she was forced into prostitution; it was never something she chose. Her mother sold her into the life and she was repeatedly raped. Angela eventually ran away at 18, as soon as she could manage to get away. So...how exactly did SHE sin?

And even if she HAD chosen to be a prostitute (except, really, who genuinely does that?), why all of the "I'm unworthy, no one will ever love me, god is trying to punish me" crap?

Yeah, no idea how to rate this book. At least it was entertaining, in a train wreck sort of sense? ( )

A Christian novel about a prostitute forced into it by her mother and her boyfriend, who escaped, became a Christian and then after a few years, the preacher who had led her to the Lord became her pastor. The novel is about the struggle she had to accept Christ’s forgiveness for herself. ( )