Justice: Book Review

Justice: By Emily Conrad

Genre: Christian Romance

Release Date: March 9, 2018

Synopsis

Jake thought he was meant to marry Brooklyn, but now she’s pregnant, and he had nothing to do with it.

As Brooklyn wrestles with questions about what her pregnancy means and how it will affect her relationship with Jake, she can’t bring herself to tell him the truth.

To make matters worse, if the man who owns the bookstore across from Jake’s coffee shop, has anything to do with it, the baby will ruin them both.

Can Jake and Brooklyn overcome the obstacles thrown in their path, and finally find the truth in God’s love and in each other?

My thoughts

This book was….phenomenal. Courageous. Romantic. Thought-provoking. Unapologetic. I was immediately hooked. Tough issues are handled with class. It’s so encouraging to see a Christian Fiction book and author (and publisher for that matter)  willing to deal with these issues.  I  am so impressed with this story. It’s one of my favorite reads so far this year. (Ok, it’s only February.) It’s definitely one of the best I have read in a long time.

The Characters:

These characters were likable from page one. Usually, (maybe these are just my typical reading experiences) a character arc will take a character from a bad place, to a place of growth and improvement. OR the opposite. In this story however, Jake’s character progression plummeted downhill before he began to show some growth and improvement spiritually and mentally. Jake’s character showed authentic, realistic struggles, mirroring our own lives. We often exhibit both seasons of growth in faith and in life, and seasons of regression, where our faith lacks, or we encounter too many distractions. I think his character beginning in a good spot, then spiraling out downhill, then coming back again, was so fascinating.

Here I am analyzing things to death.

Brooklyn has to be one of my favorite female heroines. Her inner strength, her  tender, unapologetic God-fearing heart, her struggle to overcome trauma. I loved watching her open her heart and make room for Jake. She is a beautiful character you want to root for from before you even dive into her POV.

The story:

Christian Fiction has come a long way. This is not the first book to touch on extremely difficult topics, but it’s one of the first I’ve encountered. I appreciated this story because of it’s unapologetic nature; God was at the center of the story, in the middle of Brooklyn’s trauma, in the middle of Jake’s internal and external struggles. But it wasn’t preachy; it simply expressed the stories of these characters without forcing the reader to believe anything. Preachy-ness is a fine line authors in Christian fiction walk all the time, every day they sit down and write. It’s hard to balance authentic dialogue and character interactions with sermon-isque dialogue and interactions, but Emily Conrad nailed it.

Recommended?

I cannot recommend this book enough. It’s romantic and bold and definitely worth a read. I was honored to have received an advanced copy of this book and was not required to give a positive review. Thank you, Emily for allowing me to read this in advance.