A Love Surrendered, A Review

What a beautiful love story. A Love Surrendered is the the story of the remaining O'Conner in Julie Lessman's The Daughter's of Boston and The Winds of Change Series'. Julie offers romance in a way that touches not only our hearts but also offers us a choice. Her stories are based not just on man's love but on God's as well. She reminds us that being a Christian does not mean being boring or without love but rather that if we do it God's way there is just so much more to any relationship.

Set in the last months of Prohibition Steven O'Connor a fed.. is determined to be the best he can be. The best son, the best brother, the best friend, the best fed and he is going to do it all on his own. After making mistakes in his life that almost destroyed his family while in college, Steven is not about to mess up his life again. He wants to hold up his honor and not embarrass his family again.

Orphaned and left to live with her standoffish aunt, Annie Kennedy wants to start again. She is determined to ignore the God who took both of her parents, the God her father had been committed to. Instead she is determined to follow in her wilder sisters footsteps and live a little. Only problem is, she is just not that girl. While she values her friends she is missing something in her life. In a moments weakness, her aunt hears her cries and gives her a letter left for her from her father, to be read on her 18th birthday. In it he reminds her to trust in God and she will never be alone.

When Steven and Annie meet is is instantly attracted but she is keeping a secret from him. Her sister is the girl who Steven was madly in love with in College and betrayed his family with. While Steven and Annie slowly fall in love we watch them struggle with themselves and their refusal to live God's plan. It is a struggle that they must deal with every moment of the story and yet slowly they come to the realization that once you make the choice and live it, it isn't really that difficult at all.

Another intriguing aspect of this book is we get to see peaks into the lives of the siblings whose stories have been told in previous books. Sometimes it seems a bit heavy handed and confusing but we watch the lives or ordinary people coping with choices, making mistakes and working through their problems. As I got into this story I found myself truly enjoying these asides.

In a world that is so often filled with fifty shades of something.. it is refreshing to read a story about love that expounds waiting not jumping into sex the moment a character meets. Ms Lessman tells a sweet story and we should truly treasure her work.

Shauni

This review is based on the ARC of A Love Surrendered provided by netgalley