liked the first in the series, but absolutely loved this sequel, I feel the mother daughter dynamic in this one was so well written and Jades struggling marriage was very realistic.
Cant wait to start the final book, Maybe in the wideopen country she can learn to breathe again,
Happily married and owner of two successful boutiques, Jade longs to begin a family with her husband, Max.
But when she discovers that Max has an illegitimate sonwho he wants her to help raiseJade's life is turned upside down.
She flees to her childhood home, a rambling Iowa farmhouse, with enough room to breathe, There while her mother's health grows fragile, and the tug of her first love grows strongerJade begins to question everything she thought she knew about family, love, and motherhood.
In the wideopen landscape, Jade begins to see a future that doesn't rest on the power of her past, but in the goodness of God's tender mercies.
Softly and tenderly Jesus is calling, calling for you and for me, . . So the song goes. One of my favorites. What an awesome read!
I haven't read the first book, but I think from my experience that the books can stand alone as well.
We meet Jade, who is married to Max, They are having troubles with having children, But when Max's exwife dies and Jade finds out that they slept together a week before Jade and Max's wedding and have a son, will Jade be able to forgive Max and keep Asa as her own even though she can't have any
Jade's mother in law and Jade walk in on her fatherinlaw and June's friend having an affair.
So maybe Max takes after his father Rebel and will cheat all his life too,
With all of this going and Jade's mother, Beryl, having leukemia and dying, can Jade take any more Is her place with Max or somewhere else, perhaps with her exhusband Dustin All these questions will be answered in this fantastic, easy to read book! Sara Evans is also an American country singer.
This book was sent to me through BookSneeze and the publishers for review,
Details about the book:
Author: Sara Evans and Rachel Hauck
Title: Softly amp Tenderly
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
When I requested for this particular book for review, I was not aware of the fact that this is part of a series, in fact this is the second book in the Songbird series.
But that is no cause for concern, as you can very well read this book as an individual novella without any need to refer to any part of a series.
The main protagonist is Jade, a young woman who has been married for quite some time now to her dashing husband Max.
Jade is a successful business woman, with two boutiques in the small town where she lives, and a wonderful reputation of being the perfect woman, except that she has still not conceived.
Jade longs to start a family with her husband, though she is unable to bear him a child, and this is one nagging thought that makes her long for a child of her own even more.
Jade's world is suddenly turned upside down as she discovers a secret between her inlaws, a secret to which she unwillingly and unknowingly becomes a witness.
Already burdened with the thought of her ailing mother who is spending her fight with cancer, this revelation seems like it is enough drama for now.
But is it Jade has more to witness, as she is confronted with a past from her husband, a husband who she loves with all her heart and who loves her back with as much passion, but whose past is now catching up nonetheless with Jade's present, and threatening to ruin all that she believed in.
Jade decides to run away from all the confusion and heartbreak and decides to take her mother back to where she grew up.
Thus Jade embarks on a road trip with her mother Beryl and her motherinlaw June,
I will not go into any more details as it would give up a lot on the story.
The book is a very fast read, especially as it is in large fonts and can be finished off in one sitting.
The characters are nice and can be related to easily, the story is interesting, and I found it a little too easy a read for me.
However, as I am a nonbeliever, I found the concepts of 'Faith' and 'His Power' a little too much for my taste.
I would rather have this as a regular book than a 'Believe In God' book, But I definitely do not mean that you will not like the book, The story is interestingly built and I actually liked it a bit, just the fact that the references to 'Him' were a little unnecessary for me, that's all.
Hope I am not offending anyone here with my nonbelief,
I will give this book two: An OK read, Some over simplification of tough concepts, In some places, characters are allowed to stretch the storyline by ignoring the obvious issues, A bit frustrating. Finding Myself
Jade's life had not been easy and she guarded her heart very closely, Max had done all the right things and she trusted him so this marriage may just be the answer to her prayers.
Things seemed to be going her way for a change, two antique stores, new marriage, husband that loves her, a relationship with her Mother, and then it happens.
Read this book and see how Jade turns her life over to Jesus and his He walks her through the toughest time of her life.
Started out slow but then it turned out wonderful, There in one more book in this series and I look forward to finishing it, This has been so good, I love Christian Fiction. I can only wish Sara Evans would have written more fiction, Just when life was starting to look up for Jade Benson, she married lawyer Max and reunited with her mother Beryl.
A whole new set of challenges are about to occur, desperate for a baby Jade is heartbroken when her doctor informs her that she cannot carry fullterm and her mother is diagnosed with Leukemia.
When her husband Max and his mother June start pressuring for a child, Jade is torn between God's way and the worldly options of surrogacy and adoption.
When tragedy strikes and Max's exgirlfriend Rice is found dead, it seems that she left behind something for Max a son that Max didn't let Jade know he had.
With the revelation of Max having a son , it causes Jade to reevaluate her marriage and whether or not she can live with the knowledge that he had a son elsewhere.
Softly and Tenderly ia the sort of novel that when your whole world comes crumbling down, the only thing to help save what you have is good friends and family.
Very good. Not as good as the first, but still really good, I thoroughly enjoyed the first book in the Songbird series, sitelinkThe Sweet By and By, a heartwarming tale of love and redemption.
This second novel takes up a couple of years after that sweet ending, At first, it looks like Jade's life is pretty wonderful in Whisper Hollow, Tennessee except for the fact that she and her husband Max have still been unable to have a baby.
Then a series of events exposes the many cracks in Jade's world her husband's substance abuse, her fatherinlaw's cheating ways and the motive behind them, and, most of all, her husband's betrayal just before their wedding and a lifechanging secret that's like a knife to Jade's already wounded heart.
On top of all of this heartbreak, Jade's Freebird of a mother, Beryl, is losing her battle with leukemia and wants to die at home in Iowa.
Grieving for the mother she's not ready to let go of, Jade, along with her motherinlaw, June, take the opportunity of granting Beryl's wish as a way to get away from the various sources of heartache and do a little soul searching.
Enter Jade's exhusband, her fatherinlaw's bid for state judge back in Tennessee, and a rolling hill of memories, Jade struggles to deal with everything.
Because it's a lot, I felt that there were too many problems facing Jade and June at once substance abuse, infidelity, betrayal, grief, old feelings, an accident at Jade's business, and more.
I mean, sure, that's how life can be but for the sake of the story, there were just too many things vying for the reader's attention.
There is not a lot of joy to be found in this second story about Jade's search for redemption but there is a lot of wisdom.
And several questions left at the end that are hopefully answered in the final book, Emotional faith based storybookof,
I had to think about this before I actually reviewed it,
I found a cheating husband I dislike more than Phil Hunter, is that possible Apparently,
Hubby is keeping secrets, . . hes hooked on Percocet after a stint in rehab, hes had a one night stand with his exfiancé during his Vegas bachelor party weekend, this one doesnt stay in Vegas.
Two and half years later, the exfiancé is dead and hes fighting for custody of hismonth old with her parents.
Themonth old hes been keeping a secret, supporting financially, but never telling his wife, The wife who hes pushing to have a baby aftermiscarriages, Then he decides he needs to go into serious rehab and leaves the baby with his wife right after shes been through the devastation of losing her mother.
Hes a real prince.
This isnt a romance, lots of peripheral stories going on with lots of baggage to unpack, Bookeven includes high school football Texas style, This series has me completely engrossed in the lives of these characters, Its not a "fun" read sometimes its down right difficult to read because of all the hurt and sadness, but somehow, you finish reading with a sense of hope, a desire to strive to have a closer relationship with God, a renewed spirit to be thankful, forgiving, loving and patient with your own trials in life.
If you do consider reading this, i would HIGHLY recommend reading all the novels in order, Alright, Im going to try to be fair and admit that I accidentally jumped into the middle of this trilogy without reading the first book.
So, the cumulative drama of both books may have just pushed it too far for me, but I only made it about halfway through before giving up on this story.
Im a sucker for clean/ Christian themed romances, Im usually pretty lenient with the genre, My main problem with this story line is that it falls into the worldly trap of normalizing extramarital affairs, While not condoning immorality, Sara Evans makes sure that so many characters are stepping out on their spouses, that it adds to the already overwhelming flood of sludge coming from “typical” books.
The overarching theme of forgiveness is commendable, however, it could be effectively communicated without every dang character being an adulterer.
The more I think about this book, the sadder I get, I think that it
had a lot of potential to show how much strength can be gained by walking with Christ, how some things are morally wrong and that there are consequences to actions.
Everyone in this book was a cheater Max sleeps with an ex a week before his wedding, but that's no biggie because they weren't married yet.
Uh, NO! That's not how that works, Jade's motherinlaw cheated on her husbandmonths before Max was born, and Jade's fatherinlaw is a serial cheater, Even Jade is caught kissing her exhusband,
Fine, have that in the book, but then please explain that cheating is wrong in every situation, That everyone is hurt by cheating both partners, And have genuine repentance for the wrongs,
I wished this book had a statisfying conclusion, Perhaps therd book in the series will provide that, Fingers Crossed! I feel the book leaves you hanging I want to know more and praying their is another book to finish out the story line.
I laughed and I cried it was so good This book tells the rich story of what happens after the "happily ever after" that most books end with.
We continue the story of Jade, Max and their parents, I loved the truth of this book and the challenges that the characters faced, I'm not entirely sure how to rate this book, While the characters were very believable, there was so much drama that this book almost felt like a soap opera.
Despite that, I was constantly wondering how I would react if I were in Jade or June's situation and I felt like I was making decisions right along with the characters.
/Jade has finally gotten everything she has wanted almost, Having reconciled with the mother who abandoned her as a child and is currently struglling with terminal cancer, she has married the man of her supposed dreams and runs a successful business.
The only thing missing is a child in her arms, After numerous miscarriages, her world feels like it is falling apart, When she learns of her husband's illegitimate son, conceived teh night of his bachelro's party, it finally comes crashing down.
As she struggles with this new revelation, her husband's drug addiction, her mother's imminent death, and the dissolution of her inlaws' perfect marriage, Jade must decide what it is she is really looking for in life.
The religious aspect of this book wasn't as profound as many others of the genre, which I appreciated.
However, I found Jade to be rather lacking as a character, It seemed as though all of her desires were fictional ones based in what she was "supposed" to want, When faced with real life dilemmas, her character floundered, The best part of the book was the strength exhibited by her mother and motherinlaw, as they road tripped to take her mother home to die.
Disclaimer: A copy of this book was provided by the publisher, being a Christian doesn't always have cut and dry decisions about how we should behave, if my husband continually has affairs, should i continue to forgive and go back for more emotional abuse Christ asks us to forgivetimes.
. . unlimited, but is the right choice always to forgive and go back what about the husband who sleeps with his ex fiance a week before he said his vows to you if he confesses, what do you do
lessons: there are unexpected joys that God has in store that we can not fathom.
The hard times we are currently going through don't last forever there is a beautiful sunset just around the corner,e ven in the most stressful of times.
cherish family while you have them we're not guaranteed another day,
be careful to not let your heart be led astray emotionally physical will likely follow,
be wise sexually things go slippery downhill fast,
people's "perfect" lives are not usually what they appear we all have our own joys and our sorrows, .