book! Loved seeing the spiritual growth of the characters, felt like it was natural and not contrived, Until I Found You by Victoria Bylin is a story brimming with potential that sadly fell short, I loved the premise of two people with broken pasts discovering hope, redemption, and a second chance, It is something many readers can relate to, but the author made it unique by comparing Kates journey with that of the California Condors, I enjoyed learning about these interesting birds that I had previously known nothing about,
However, try as I might, I struggled to connect with the main characters, especially Kate, I understood why she fell for Nick, but I failed to see what drew him to her, In their first encounter, Kate jumps to thoughts of him and a future, even when shes supposed to be in shock after just surviving a neardeath experience.
It didnt get better from there, Throughout the story, Kates affection for Nick felt more like an unhealthy idolization than love, and unfortunately this opinion remained to the end, Even her “epiphany” or decision to follow Christ came across more as something she had to do to hold on to Nick rather than a true and heartfelt decision.
For the most part, I liked Nick, Granted, he had issues dont we all!, but they felt genuine and so did his turn
around, His faith also seemed sincere probably due to the fact he made his decision months prior to Kate entering the picture, That being said, his level of emotional and romantic involvement with her, despite knowing she didnt share his beliefs, disappointed me, After Kates supposed turn of heart, Nick made a big deal of needing to step back and let her figure things out for herself, His brother also warned him of the importance of allowing Kate space to first fall in love with Christ and then Nick, Nonetheless, he didnt back away, If he had, Kates profession of faith might have felt more authentic, As is, this novel was one of those rare cases where, at the end, I wanted the main characters to part ways and not end up together.
Kates grandmother, the condors, and quaint Meadows kept me intrigued enough to make Until I Found You good for a onetime read, Romance fans, as well as anyone interested in learning about North Americas largest land bird might enjoy picking up a copy of this book,
copy provided by publisher, Thanks! Victoria Bylin has created a realistic world with characters the reader will relate to, I can especially relate to the heroine, Kate Darby, who deals with the fear of whatifs, Nick is a new Christian and focused on building a life completely different than the one he lived before he came to faith, There's an instant connection between these two, However, they both hold back from pursuing a relationship, Kate doesn't share Nick's faith, And Nick has made a pledge to remain single for a year, We get to know Kate's grandmother, Leona, who struggles after a stroke leaves her unable to speak and facing physical challenges, The unique descriptions bring the quaint town of Meadows, CA alive and give the characters depth, Great read! Until I found you
Victoria Bylin
Bethany House
Kate has only returned to the little town of Meadows to help her grandmother recover from a stroke, and doesn't expect to stay for long.
Being rescued by the handsome Nick was not part of the plan, Then again, neither was almost dying when her car goes over the side of the mountain when she swerves to avoid a Californian Condor, Meeting Nick makes for some interesting changes in Kate's life, and soon she is trying to juggle more than she can cope with, while trying to find a balance between work, family and faith.
Until I Found You is an interesting book, It is a Christian contemporary romance, with realistic, annoying, human, loveable characters, At times I felt the book was slow, which is strange considering it opens with a pretty dramatic car crash and continues with plenty more crashes, fires and high speed chases.
I also struggled with the writing style, which at times seemed overly dramatic, cliched and told a lot more than it showed, However, Until I Found You is also clever and tells of the real struggle we humans have in accepting and understanding God and what it means to give control to Him, as well as dealing with our own pasts, mistakes, choices and desires.
I liked the use of the symbolism, especially the character Eve, and the end quarter of the book was particularly strong, I thought, Overall, a challenging, but enjoyable book,
The publishers provided a complimentary copy of this book for reviewing purposes,.Stars. Being generous.
The author is a great writer, and I liked the charactersall of them, A lot. What I had trouble with is the SUPER RUSHED ENDING, SUPPPPPERRRR rushed. Kate didn't even MEET Nick's family but she's comfortable with his brother marrying them Or has she been attending his congregation this whole time I DON'T KNOW.
Furthermore, I found her conversion horribly lacking, Not sure if it is just a difference in opinion between me and the author though, There was little Bible verses mentioned only one, Jeremiah:used wonderfully out of context and lots of "Well, I WANT God to be real because then I can be happy like Leona and Nick are happy.
" I don't know, I would have liked it to be based on Bible verses that helped her, maybe a good sermon and not birds and "feelings, "
Also, the bird asides were weird, Did not work for me at all, Until I Found You by Victoria Bylin
Kate Darby's mantra is to enjoy life one day at a time, She enjoys her work and living in the city, When Leona Darby, her grandmother, becomes ill Kate heads to the small mountain town of Meadows to take care of her and help run the small newspaper her grandfather started.
She suddenly finds her life having more twists and turns than the mountain highways,
Nick Sheridan isn't proud of his past, He had a bestseller book about his old life, his hedonistic life, One night on Mount Abel had changed all of that, He became a Christian and promised God he would stay datefree for one year, He still struggled to lose all those old habits, His struggle became a bit harder when Leona's beautiful granddaughter came to town,
Leona Darby was ready to die, but she was still needed on earth, She had to tell Kate about the condors, One morning while she poured her heart out to God in prayer, she told Him she would do whatever it would take to help Kate, she had no clue God would take it so literally.
A page turner, I could not put this book down until the end, It was so true life, The struggles of leaving old lives behind, of giving up control of one's life to an unseen God, of having the right people around you to help guide you.
Or, to follow the wrong people, The questions of why God allows bad things happen, Learning to depend and trust God even when life isn't full of roses, because there will always still be thorns,
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