Wednesday, July 9, 2014

Hope Deferred by Elizabeth Maddrey - REVIEWED

This week, the
Christian Fiction Blog Alliance
is introducing
Hope Deferred
HopeSprings Books (July 1, 2014)
by
Elizabeth Maddrey


ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Elizabeth Maddrey is a semi-reformed computer geek and homeschooling mother of two who loves a good happily ever after.

Elizabeth Maddrey began writing stories as soon as she could form the letters properly and has never looked back. Though her practical nature and love of computers, math, and organization steered her into computer science at Wheaton College, she always had one or more stories in progress to occupy her free time. This continued through a Master’s program in Software Engineering, several years in the computer industry, teaching programming at the college level, and a Ph.D. in Computer Technology in Education. When she isn’t writing, Elizabeth is a voracious consumer of books and has mastered the art of reading while undertaking just about any other activity.

She lives in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. with her husband and their two incredibly active little boys.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Christian fiction for women.
Can pursuit of a blessing become a curse?
June and July and their husbands have spent the last year trying to start a family and now they're desperate for answers. As one couple works with specialists to see how medicine can help them conceive, the other must fight to save their marriage. Will their deferred hope leave them heart sick, or start them on the path to the fulfillment of their dreams?




My Thoughts:
“…you had to choose to believe that God’s plan was going to be better than yours?”  (p. 83)

These words are spoken from one sister to another as both of them are facing a crisis of faith, of trust, of just believing the truth that God does, in fact, have a much better plan for our lives than we can think or imagine.  June and July are sisters, and they are both yearning for a family.  For different reasons, both are having trouble conceiving.  Hope Deferred is their journey through infertility – but it’s also their journey toward a foundational truth about God and His love that will change their hearts forever.

I’ve know people who have walked this journey through infertility.  Quite honestly, I can say I really didn’t understand some of the reactions and reasoning they exhibited during their journey until I read this book.  It’s quiet insightful into many relational areas of life that are deeply affected by the desire to have children – and the results of that desire being deferred by divine providence.

I won’t give away anything, but I will say that things are left a bit too open-ended – so much so that I feel confident that another episode of this series will follow in short order.  This book reflects reality – emotionally, spiritually, relationally and physically.  It is a very though provoking book. One I am happy to recommend to all!


P.S. The sisters’ names….who does that to their children?  I thought it was a type-o at first and it about drove me up the wall the entire novel! It isn’t an honest review if I don’t say something about the names? Really?  Crazy-making!  Will they name their children August and September?  Arrrrrgh!!!

If you would like to read the first chapter of Hope Deferred, go HERE.

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