A State of Grace Novel #1
By Tammy L. Gray
January Sanders's life is a mess, she's a mess. The guy she thought was the one has dumped her and she needs to get her life and herself unbroken. Stuck in Texas after having left her life in Georgia behind she reaches out to her Aunt Doreen for a place to crash and then rebuild her life.
With a "bridal" cabin to call her temporary home and a temporary assistant job at her aunt's church January just might be able to get her life back together and save up enough money to get herself back home to Georgia. There is just one little problem she doesn't believe in God and working in a church is just asking for trouble. But as long as no one knows what harm could it do just faking the church stuff, after all, she's helping out a very overworked staff member.
And when she meets the perfect guy who just happens to work in the church's musical ministry, well he doesn't need to know just how her faith, or lack of faith, compares to his own beliefs. After sometimes the truth hurts a whole lot more than a little lie that is for the greater good. Now if only her aunt's overly obnoxious landscape designer/architect would quit making her business his.
But Dillion Kyle tells it as he sees it and he isn't about to let January get away with the mistruths she is using to hide behind. And he knows just what to do to get her temper into a smoldering tempest. But there is something about him that captures her attention too. Dillion knows the pain that she is living through, even if she doesn't know the whole story (or even half of it). And even more interesting Dillion has a way of making her want to spend time with him, when he isn't making her mad.
I have never read Tammy L. Gray's work before and was well pleased with this introduction to her work. This book has a contemporary setting and is relatable whether or not one has found one's self in a similar situation. January is a character one can identify with in one way or another as she deals with disappointments, family issues, and life in general. I can actually see this book being a good fit for a Hallmark movie. This isn't all happy this is all good but it is a satisfying read and well worth the time spent between the pages. Would be an excellent book club selection.
I was provided a complimentary copy of this book with no expectations but to provide my honest opinion - all thoughts expressed are my own.
About the Book:
There's a Lot of Irony in
Hitting Rock Bottom
After a heartbreak leaves her reeling, January Sanders is open to anything-including moving into a cabin on her aunt's wedding venue property and accepting a temporary position at her aunt's church despite being a lifelong skeptic of faith. Choosing to keep her doubts to herself, she's determined to give her all to supporting Grace Community's over-worked staff while helping herself move on.
What she doesn't count on is meeting the church's handsome and charming guitarist. It's a match set for disaster, and yet January has no ability to stay away, even if it means pretending to have faith in a God she doesn't believe in.
Only this time, keeping her secret isn't as easy as she thought it would be. Especially when she's constantly running into her aunt's landscape architect, who seems to know everything about her past-and-present sins and makes no apologies about pushing her to deal with feelings she'd rather keep buried.
Torn between two worlds that can't coexist, can January find the healing that eluded her, or will her resistance to the truth ruin any chance of happiness?
