Out of the Storm

by Andrea Renee Cox

The negatives outweighed the positives in this book, for me.

Positives:

* I loved the shocking opening line. That pulled me into the story right away.

* There were many swoon-worthy lines, such as: “The bright beam hadn't been enough to save the ship from the whipping that had beat against her like a cat-o'-nine-tails.”

* There was a sense of urgency early on that I really admired. It's pretty tough to capture that so quickly.

* One of the twists in the first half of the book was really intriguing. It surprised me more than most in recent books I've read.


Negatives:

* The faith thread fell way too flat for me. The characters were able to solve all their problems on their own, without having to turn to God and rely on Him for their strength and abilities. One tiny mention of turning to the “giver of life” wasn't enough to redeem this for me, because there was no follow-through on that one-sentence promise.

* If a bullet was in the man's thigh, I didn't understand why the woman had to shove his drawers all the way up to his rear. This came off as very immodest, especially for the time period, and particularly for a chaste woman.

* The leading man was an unlikable playboy for about 75% or so of the book. I only really liked him in the last three or four chapters. He was overly flirty, disrespectful, and blatantly disregarded the leading lady's father's rules. This is not the type of man I would recommend anyone to date, let alone marry, because he didn't respect her parent's boundaries. Therefore, I could not root for him in a fictional setting either.

* The romance was really sweet until it shifted into much-too-sensual kissing with bodies pressed up against each other. This also went against what the leading lady had stated earlier was her moral code or set of standards.

* There was a moment when the leading lady said she would “let” the leading man take advantage of her (the indication was that they were speaking of pre-marital sex). They did not go that far. However, even her saying she would allow him to go that far went directly against her earlier-stated moral code or set of standards. It was really disappointing that she, a devoted Christian who prided herself in her chastity (including not even desiring to kiss a man, so she said), would be willing to give up one of her most basic principles (protecting her virginity until her wedding night). I am glad the leading man, the playboy, showed some restraint for once, but I found it completely odd that the more principled character would suddenly drop her own standards like that. It seemed to come out of the blue, which was possibly most shocking of all, because there was no warning in her thinking having dipped lower than normal or anything like that.


I enjoyed pieces of this story, but the negatives were just too glaring for me to retain that feeling throughout the entirety of its chapters. I hope others will find it more enjoyable than I did.


I was not compensated for this honest review.