Book: At the Water's Edge by Annette Lyon
Book Description:
Annela
grew up in Helsinki feeling alone and unwanted. Now she has decided to begin a
new spiritual life. In her heart, she knows that this new path will lead her to
the happiness and peace she desires. But shadows from her past keep
reappearing, stalling her progress and making her ultimate goal seem
unreachable. First her boyfriend, Tommi, pledges his love, all the while acting
in ways that destroy her faith in him. Then her mother, Helena, keeps a dark
secret from her that could change Annela's life forever. Then Kenneth appears
in her life, but during his brief stay in Finland, will he help her find the
love and happiness she’s looking for, or will he prove to be one more
complication?
Genre: LDS Romance
Length: 208 pages
5 Star Review:
I really enjoyed this book. It was very thoughtful and real. I thought the characters were sweet and real. Kenneth was the best hero and I enjoyed how he tried to win Annela over. Annela’s commitment to the Church was well written without seeming over zealous. The romance was great and dealt with some tough subjects like rape/assault, domestic abuse, and alcoholism very well. There were fun and romantic moments as well as serious, thoughtful choices and decisions that needed to be made. I especially enjoyed the ending (who doesn’t love a good ending). The side stories and characters were well written and enjoyable people. I especially loved Sister Henderson and her matchmaking schemes. Even the villains of the story were redeemable, and I love that theme, that they could repent and be forgiven, but it wasn’t trivialized and made to seem easy. Overall a great LDS read. (no need to say it is a clean romance, right?)
Content:
Sex: 0
Violence: 1 (rape/assualt, domestic violence, alcoholism issues are addressed/decsribed)
language: 0
Review Copy
What to read: If you like this book, you will love Annette's other books, especially "War of Hearts" and "Between the Lines". You will also like her contributions to the Timeless Regency Romance Collections.