Stones of Remembrance

After several years of book blogging, I found two general rules that most of the bloggers I knew held two - don't read self-published work, and don't read Christian romance. So when I was given the chance to read this novel, I honestly thought about it for a bit first - and then something told me to give it a try. Sure glad I did.

Stones of Remembrance is a lovely novel. It has engaging, sympathetic main characters, and a plot that feels like it might actually be true. It avoids many of the problems I generally have with Christian fiction by portraying it's heroine neither as excessively pure nor perfectly holy. Allaya speaks and acts like a real person, in a real situation, and that was refreshing. I appreciated that the romance between Allaya and Finn made logical sense in its progression - it didn't feel rushed or orchestrated solely for the purposes of the story. It was emotionally compelling, and I have to admit to spilling a few tears during the reading of the book.

While not perfect - there are a few spots that felt like additional editing might have improved on the story; and in several sections the main characters talk directly to God, which I know will make some readers uncomfortable - this was an excellent example of the Christian romance genre. If more authors could write stories like this, I would happily read them. I will absolutely read more by this author. If this is a genre you enjoy, I highly recommend this novel!