This is a sweet Christian romance between Libby and Jax that features an amazing community, a sweet little girl, and fruit orchards.

The main drama is interpersonal and intrapersonal but there is also some extreme weather and, sadly, Libby's grandfather experiences rapidly declining dementia. Jax's grandmother went through something similar and he was with her in those end stages so he feels compelled to help Libby with Cleve, her grandfather.

People who like Christian romance, the kind of drama I described above and happy endings.

CeeCee, the little girl. She was so happy and vibrant, despite all that was going on around her and all she and her mom had been through. I liked Jax too.

Ruthy has written some amazing books but I found this one hard to read. Libby didn't really steal my heart, which is unfortunate, as it's kind of hard to get into a romance when the heroine isn't all that to me. She was kind and a great mom though so she had that going for her. She cared about her grandfather and honoring his wishes, also good. I don't know what I didn't like exactly, just that I didn't relate to her well.

SPOILER ALERT - skip to next section if you don't want to have a key element spoiled.
I was a bit incredulous that the marriage proposal occurred the night before Libby's grandfather's funeral. Really??? Normally the ending is my favorite part of this kind of book but the timing of the proposal really turned me off.

Find something more exciting to read.

There were a few scenes that were highly interesting but overall I'd say mildly interested.

Has written so many Christian romances I can't even hazard a guess as to how many. She's normally very good. Entertaining, funny, perfectly capable of writing exciting scenes. Her western trilogy is a great example of her better work.

It's uplifting and has a great sense of what a healthy community can look like. It also has some lovely applications of faith to hard times and relationships.

It's a bit boring at times. It was not hard to put down at bedtime.

I borrowed the paperback version of this book from my local library. I feel terrible because I am friends with the author and didn't like this book. But rather than give her a low Amazon rating, I won't rate it there, just here.

Interested in buying this? Support Writing.Com by making your purchase of A Hopeful Harvest (Golden Grove)   from Amazon.Com!

Created Feb 11, 2020 at 2:44pm • Submit your own review...