Book Reviews

I began this book, Child of Mine by David & Beverly Lewis, with happy anticipation as both the title and cover were very appealing to me (yes, the cover picture is important, too!). This novel of how a young woman, Kelly, locates her stolen daughter after nine years is, beyond a doubt, a very interesting story. The descriptive vocabulary (but not overly so) and sentence structure seem to flow naturally, making it easy to read. To me, that is very important otherwise I get bogged down trying to figure out what is being said or I get irritated with the author's style of writing. I'm assuming that's a normal concern for most readers. 

Anyway, having said all that, I was a bit surprised and, yes, disappointed at the climax of the story a few chapters from the end. My heart was actually beating faster as I wondered just what would happen next and where this story would end...it was that good! But then all of a sudden it's like the bubble burst, the story took a very unexpected turn and I felt like there was just something missing, something that was needed to kind of connect the dots. Although it ended well...although probably not how I would have chosen (but isn't that just like life?)...I still felt some disappointment in the way the last few chapters were written. This might seem strange, but I actually felt like the authors were in a sudden hurry to finish the book. I'm now wondering if some of this isn't because two people were writing the story. It would appear that somehow, towards the end, their thoughts about how the story should end up were going in two (or more) directions. 

I still would recommend this book to others, it is overall very interesting and in some parts it is on-the-edge-of-your-seat quality. The Amish flavor in parts of it also adds some charm. As a Christian book, it is satisfactory, I suppose, but in that area it seemed rather "light". Much more could be added to give it some needed spiritual content and depth.

On a scale of 5 I would give this book a 4.5. I received this book free from Bethany House Publishers in return for an honest review.