Review of Love Lifted Me by Sara Evans and Rachel Hauck

Rating: 4.5 Stars

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Synopsis from Thomas Nelson: A fresh start is a gift. So is having a hand to hold.

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Jade and Max share a deep love, though revelations from his past have recently shaken their marriage. And Jade is completely smitten with Max’s little son, Asa, whom she is now raising as her own. Their blended family brings her a joy she’s never known. But there is one more secret to be uncovered. One that will impact them all.

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Max is doing his best to “man-up” and prove himself worthy of Jade’s devotion. As well as that of his young son. It seems like life in Whisper Hollow, Tennessee, will pick up where it left off until Max is faced with an unusual opportunity—leave his family’s law firm to coach high-school football in Texas.

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Realizing a fresh start will bring healing to their marriage, Jade takes the leap of faith and moves with him and baby Asa, bidding good-bye to her beloved Blue Umbrella shop.

The new beginning in quaint Colby, Texas, is soon sullied when Max discovers the high-school program isn’t all it seemed. While Max struggles to rebuild a once glorious football team, Jade wrestles with news that could break Max’s heart . . . and change their lives forever.

Review: I have followed the winding road of Jade's story since The Sweet By and By.  Each novel in Sara Evans' and Rachel Hauck's Songbird series has been as touching and melodic as a country song.  A chorus of love, pain, healing, and faith flows through the series and into the third novel, Love Lifted Me. The conclusion of Softly and Tenderly left me with a lingering anticipation of what the plot of Love Lifted Me would hold for Jade and Max.

Throughout the course of three novels, Jade and Max have been through a multitude of hardships.  They have led imperfect lives, which makes them realistic individuals, not just characters in a book.  In the previous two stories, Max's personality annoyed me.  Love Lifted Me redeems his character and introduces a stronger and less self-centered side of Max Benson. True to the trend if the Songbird series, secrets threaten the tenuous relationship between Jade and Max.

The change in setting from Whisper Hollow, Tennessee to Colby, Texas introduces new characters and new challenges that keep the plot fresh and interesting.  There is a focus on football, which I found less engaging.  As a reader who knows very little about the game, the football scenes were ones that I skimmed. Since my first introduction to Jade, I have hoped for a happy ending to her story. Love Lifted Me is a heart-warming conclusion that flows with a steady tempo.

I received a complimentary e-copy of this book from NetGalley, courtesy of Thomas Nelson.  I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions expressed above are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Read an Excerpt:

The Sweet By and By by Sara Evans and Rachel Hauck

Rating: 4.5 stars

As a fan of country star, Sara Evan's music and Rachel Hauck's novels, I was excited to discover that both women have joined forces and released an inspirational novel.  The Sweet By and By is a collaborative effort that successfully blends the emotional story lyrics present in Sara Evan's songs with the character development and humor that defines Hauck's novels.

In The Sweet By and By, Jade Fitzgerald is a young woman who is the owner of a vintage, antique shop and just weeks away from marrying Max Benson, a successful lawyer from an upper-class family.  With pasts that they both wish to forget, they agree to live in the present while embracing the future.  After Jade reluctantly sends a wedding invitation to her estranged mother, Beryl, memories from the family's past set ripples of pain and regret into motion.  These ripples soon turn into a wave of emotion that they must confront.  While the women struggle to reconcile their past, Max also faces the return of his former fiance and a secret that he wishes to keep from Jade.  Will Jade's and Max's love for one another surmount the obstacles that they face?

The Sweet By and By skillfully displays the complexities of family relationships and the power of forgiveness as individuals struggle to come to terms with their past actions and decisions.  While reading this novel, I was drawn to the unfolding story of Jade's and Beryl's tumultuous relationship.  Like this story, real-life is complex with no "perfect" endings.  Our lives are always a work in progress. 

I look forward to Sara Evan's and Rachel Hauck's upcoming novels in the Songbird series.  Hopefully,  readers will once again re-visit the lives of some of the characters in The Sweet By and By, especially Jade's younger sister, Willow.
~K