Amanda never thought she would have the love she had when she married the man of her dreams after only a week of knowing him. Now she has become a full-time mother of his twin daughters from a previous marriage. But when her new husband dies suddenly in a plane accident, his first wife's parents come calling, trying to claim the girls as their own. The judge tragically grants them custody, leaving Amanda with a hefty inheritance from her husband but an empty house. Kara and Lizzie grow up in the unstable home of their irresponsible grandparents and soon become shoplifting, drug-using teenagers who think they can make their own way in the world. But Amanda is still there, quietly trying to invite them back into her life, free of charge. They can learn how to run the family company and own the company one day-if they will only take the gift Amanda is offering them.
Terri Blackstock departs from her usual genre of suspense and writes something fresh-a parable. Allegorical fiction and parables can make very interesting novels when used correctly. In this case, the parable follows the concept of God's undying love for everyone, no matter how sinful. However, the biggest problem with this book is the fact that Terri took a shortcut at the end where she could have truly written a powerful parable. However, she did not, costing her a perfect rating.
When viewed in the correct light, the characters are appropriate for this parable. Amanda is a perfect character, yet she is modeled after God. This is evident because no other character is perfect. In fact, there are many imperfect characters. The story is told from the first-person perspective of Kara, making her the only character with a personality. This did not have to be, however. While the character development isn't horrible, Terri took some shortcuts by developing circumstances better than she developed characters.
Parables add fresh novels to Christian fiction mostly because they depart from cliched and worn-out plot patterns. While Terri did depart from the norm during the plot, she did not depart from the norm at the end of the plot. There was most definitely a better way she could have ended this book, one that would have taught the reader more. However, the end does not entirely ruin the book, it merely scars it.
The fact that Terri Blackstock was able to write this book so well shows that she is a true author-able to leave her comfort zone and try something different without thinking twice. More authors should at least experiment outside their comfortable genre, just to shake things up a bit.
4 stars
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