A Christian Romance about second chances

I chose to read this book as part of the Adult Reading Round Table discussion on Christian and Inspirational fiction.

I will disclose upfront that I am not a Christian, nor do I identify as belonging to any specific religion. I chose this book to read as it is something out of my wheelhouse and I am trying to read more books written by and about women of color.

Cree Jordan is a hard working, intelligent woman who strays away from commitment after a long term relationship left her sour. Unfortunately for her, due to circumstances with the airline, she is forced to sit between the ex boyfriend who ruined her life and the one who got away during an international flight to Paris. After another flight cancellation leaves them stranded in Paris for 24hrs, Cree must navigate her feelings toward her ex, Wayne, and her newly developing feelings toward the one who got away and all around good guy, David.

I have a lot of feelings about this book. Wayne was a very well written asshole ex character in that he was constantly doing things to undermine the things that were important to Cree. The authors could have written him as an abuser or manipulator and I believe he was both of those, at least emotionally, but their inclusion of him verbally dismissing her passions and dedication to her family was a great way to express what a selfish person he was. I wish the book was a little longer so we could get more of a sense of who David was. It’s a short novel and I think a little extra content would have made me enjoy the characters a bit more, aside from Cree.

There is a lot of things going on in this book, but I have to say the issue I really had with this book was the inclusion of the abortion angle. Cree is struggling with the fact that she secretly had an abortion years ago, something a good Christian girl doesn’t do, but she was desperate. Right when her relationship with David seems to be heating up, he tells her why he left his last relationship: his ex had an abortion and he considers it murder and that she obviously has no family values. This sets off the last quarter of the book where Cree runs from him and he pieces together why and ultimately forgives her and claims that the decisions she once made doesn’t change the fact that he loves her.

Nowhere in the book description or contents is there a mention of abortion. I wish I would have known that going into this book because I never would have read it. My own personal feelings aside, I had a problem with our love interest forgiving Cree for what she did because she’s a different person now, but still we assume holding the belief that if other women do it, it’s not okay.

The romance aspect of this book was very well done and I thought the characters seemed real and interesting. I loved Cree as a character because she never once succumbed to Wayne’s attempts to get her back. She stood her ground and remained strong. I also liked her sisters a lot, especially when they got back at Wayne in the end. Beautiful and exactly what he deserved. All in all this was a nice romance but only if you’re anti-abortion. If this hadn’t been for a seminar, I would have DNF’d it immediately.

Title:  Love a Little
Author: Rhonda McKnight and Sherri Lewis
Format:  Paperback
Pages: 224
ISBN: 9781540566904

Three Descriptors: Inspirational, Authentic, Likeable