2013 Book Review #35: Ties that Bind

I've read so many good books this year, so far.

I love to read and sadly, my long chunks of reading time are coming to a close.

It's back to work for the new year on Wednesday.  But I am determined to have some reading time during the school week......it might only be for a few minutes while dinner is cooking, or waiting for Claire to get out from a ballet class, but I am determined to keep reading this autumn.  I just won't be finishing books at the rapid pace I did over the last 10 weeks!

This author was new to me and I really enjoyed her writing although it was  a simplistic style (meaning the actual words were not difficult.... a 5th grader of average reading ability could read this).  The plot was well executed and kept my interest although parts of it were a little too trite for me. A little too perfect (towards the end).  However, I loved that she put Scripture in her book as well as the salvation message and the themes of forgiveness and love/compassion.  It touches on Christians who become addicted to drugs or alcohol after turning away from God due to something happening in their lives.

STORY SUMMARY

Brynn Taylor has just been released from 5 years in prison.  She had been in prison since the age of 19, for breaking and entering, possession of illegal drugs, and avoiding arrest,  just after her mother died of breast cancer.  Brynn has never known her biological father and made a promise to her mother that she would find him.  All she has of him is the classic novel Sense and Sensibility Book Three by Jane Austen with an inscription to her written by him.  The book is very old. Inside the book is an address which leads her to Elk Valley, Colorado.  All she really owns can fit inside one backpack:  the Jane Austen novel, some clothing, her grandfather's gun.  

Brynn arrives in town and meets Christy, the local book shop owner.  Christy has a sister named May who helps train horses on a ranch owned by Ruth.  Ruth and May are friends although Ruth is an older, Christian woman. Brynn also meets a young girl named Roxie, who has also been in trouble with the law in the past, and lives at another local ranch owned by Jan and Keith Mercer.  The Mercer's are Christians who have really taken Roxie under their wings and are helping her to change her life.

Brynn discovers, soon after arriving in Elk Valley, that her biological father died a few years ago.  He had been an alcoholic and had been married to a woman with whom he had 2 daughters, May and Christy!  They have no idea that Brynn is their half-sister or that their father had had an affair 24 years earlier when they were just young children.  Ruth and Brynn share this secret but sadly, Ruth dies suddenly of a heart attack while drawing in the barn.  Brynn becomes upset and returns to taking pain killers. Soon she is hooked on drugs again and gets them easily from Shane, a local young man who used to work for May until she discovered his drug addiction. 

One day Christy invites Brynn to attend a book fair for book dealers and Brynn discovers a first edition copy of Anne of Green Gables.  It is worth a lot of money so they decide to hold an auction for it. While working for Christy, Brynn discovers that May has a copy of Sense and Sensibility Book One, and Christy has Book 2. She does not reveal to them that she is the owner of Book 3 nor does she feel ready yet to reveal that she is their half-sister.

One night, Brynn and Shane get high at a party on the Mercer's property and they are caught.

May is very upset and tells Brynn she must leave the ranch because she can no longer be trusted.  

Brynn takes her gun, leaving her Jane Austen novel behind.  She plans on ending her life, when Roxi and a special horse appear.  This is just after Brynn asks God to show her one good reason not to kill herself.

Roxie lets everyone know that Brynn is safe and Brynn then breaks down and tells May and Christy who she really is.  They embrace her and begin to talk to her about the Lord.  Brynn shares how she used to be a Christian but got hooked on drugs after her mom's death.  She was truly alone in the world.  Christy lets Brynn move in with her and puts her to work in the bookstore.  Christy shares some of her own past struggles with alcohol and they both attend AA meetings together.  It is there that Brynn discovers that even the pastor used to be hooked on drugs until he came to Christ and now he leads the AA group.

Brynn has finally found her home.

The 3 Sense and Sensibility books are all together on display in the store.

The Anne of Green Gables book is auctioned off for a lot of money and May and Brynn begin to bond.

Brynn renews her faith in Christ, Roxie comes to Christ and Brynn decides to try again with her dream of becoming an artist.

MY THOUGHTS

I did enjoy this book but the ending was just all of a sudden too "perfect". But, over all it was very good.

I really liked how May, when she was struggling with her faith, remembered the words of Psalm 116.  That has always been a fave Psalm of mine and I love that the author put it in to the story.

I also liked that the author kept things "real" with the characters facing real-life addictions and faith struggles. The timing was just a bit too "perfect" and if this book was ever made into a movie, I would probably think it was "sappy".

Overall, I think the themes of forgiveness through the cleansing blood of Jesus Christ is the most important concept in the book.  It clearly shows any reader that we are loved unconditionally by a great and powerful God.  And that anyone can come to Christ by accepting His love, believing Jesus died and rose again and by confessing our sins to Him.  His love covers a multitude of sins...big and small.

I also like that the author showed us another side of May.  She had faith struggles, too, and that is very real for some of us at some point in our walk.

I highly recommend this book for ages 12 and older.

On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the highest, I rate this a 9.