Finally & Forever by Robin Jones Gunn

For those of you who don't know this about me, I've been a huge Robin Jones Gunn fan since Christy Miller.  If you're a fan too, you know what I mean.  So, of course, I've been trying for years to follow the journeys of all my dear friends.  They have been such a part of my life now for nearly 2 decades.  How could I not continue on their journey with them?
I finally picked up Finally & Forever the other day and proceeded to read it in less than 48 hours.  I can honestly say that I never guessed that Katie would end up in Africa.  She has always been an important character in Robin's line up.  A great supporting role for her best friend Christy, but I never pictured her falling for an unknown like Eli and ending up in Kenya.  All of this being said, I am glad that Katie ended up where she was truly supposed to be.  I found myself turning page after page wanting to know where the story would go next.  Katie flew to Africa with Eli to see what was there for them.  She arrived in a new culture and soon fell in love with her surroundings.  Along the journey in Africa, Katie and Eli have bumps in their relationship.  Are they truly supposed to be together?  Do their desires for ministry mesh?  What is God's plan?  Heart searching happens and soul searching and the answer comes.  The realization comes that they can mesh their ministry desires and become one in marriage.  The end of the book is grand - what a creative way to do it!
Go get your copy of Finally & Forever, and see the amazing sights of Kenya.  There may even be a miracle in their somewhere too and a chance to see what God's plan for your own life might be.  Thank you, Robin Jones Gunn, for a great book!  Could you write about the wedding now and bring the whole gang back together one last time??

A Wedding Inivitation by Alice J. Wisler

It has taken me a really long time to finish this book, which isn't to say that I didn't enjoy it.  Alice Wisler's writing style is a little different that what I normally read.  It's gritty, heart searching, and sometimes feels very real emotionally.  She takes you into the lives of her characters and has you try on their emotions, their feelings, and their past. I enjoyed reading Samantha Bravencourt's story of teaching in a refugee camp in the Philippines and her life experience years after that has been saturated by her year abroad.  Her story has heartache, doubt, faith, and renewal.  This book has some Southern flair mixed in with the dirty streets of the refugee camp.  Two very different worlds collide in this book as we learn Samantha's history and her present.  A deep-reaching book with a lot of light thrown in.  Great book club read for a group, and there are discussion questions in the back!

Disclaimer:  This book may have been provided free for review by Bethany House Publishers.