Lightly Heavy Romantic Fiction

This morning I finished another romantic Christian fiction novel.  One might wonder why I read so many of these given that my reviews are often what might be considered 3 star reviews.  Well, my mom loves them and so I search for good ones to pass on to her.  

Ann Gabhart is one of the authors I have enjoyed more than others.  Her latest, Love Comes Home is very

clearly a romance.  It's funny to me that it's labeled "Historical Fiction".  It should really just be labeled "Christian Romance" in my opinion.

This latest novel by Ms. Gabhart is about a family of sisters after World War II finding their way to love.  There's pain and suffering in the novel.  The recovery of the men from the war is only touched upon and not delved into.  The story focuses more on the role of love in each of the sisters' lives and their trials, travails, healing, and blessings.  

Picture four sisters ranging in age from 14 to 25 years old (I think).  One wonders about the family who left her amidst the Great Depression.  One adjusts to pregnancy and her husband, a rescued POW, returning from the war.  Another grieves the loss of her husband to the war and processes how to heal and continue living with her toddler daughter.  The last, who saw herself as the strong one, copes with her husband returning from the war who she loves but doesn't know that well.  The story follows these four sisters and their stories.

I'm just going to consider this in terms of being a romance.  If you enjoy Christian romance and want a book that isn't going to put things into your mind that you don't want there, this book will fit the bill.  It does idealize love a little bit and make it seem as the be and end all of life, but don't most romance books do that?  I appreciated the way the sisters bore with each other amidst different personalities, gave each other space when they needed it, but put each other first, too.  It is a good, solid book about family and what it means to love one's family.  The story is set in a time when families lived in closer proximity than they do today.  Our culture has changed.  But, the ideas of loving one's siblings and bearing with irritations are the same things that happen in families even from a distance when siblings communicate regularly and have relationships with one another.

If you enjoy Christian fiction set around the time of WWII and romances, you'll probably enjoy this one.

Please note that I received a complimentary copy of this book for review from Revell Publishing.