Softly and Tenderly

 

The book was given to me by Thomas Nelson to read and write a review of, I am not being paid for my services.

 In Softly and Tenderly a book written by Sara Evans and Rachel Hauck, we find Jade, a happily married woman whose world is unraveling. As she struggles through the pain of miscarriages, the guilt of an abortion, the destruction of her boutique, and the mourning of her mother's impending passing, she discovers that her husband, Max, and his family aren't as together as she hoped. Two years ago his bachelor party weekend yielded a son, Max is having a hard time kicking his addiction to painkillers, his father has had multiple affairs, and his mother has a secret too. As she searches her heart and her past she must decide whether to run to the familiar, her home and ex-husband in Iowa, or face the pain and all of the wonder it could bring in her new Tennessee home.



First of all I need to confess something: I've always been kinda sceptical about romances. They always seemed kind of cheesy. But, a friend of mine urged me to awaken the romantic in me, and I decided to give the genre a whirl. I read one romance and it wasn't bad, so I decided to give it a second try with this novel.

As a book it is well written. Softly and Tenderly is an easy read and a page turner. It is a perfect way to unwind after a long day. With a cup of cocoa and an afghan, it is quite relaxing.


As a story I was disappointed. So many awful situations are happening to the heroine simultaneously that it no longer seemed realistic. Instead of delving deeply into her emotions about one thing, the miscarriages for instance, or her mother's bout with cancer, both of which we hear about on page 4 and both of which carry enough emotional impact to create a book full of wrestling with God, Evans and Hauck continue to plummet Jade into situation after situation. Nothing is really resolved because nothing goes deep enough to let the problem rise to the surface.

As an inspirational book I was also disappointed. Though prayer and the concept of forgiveness are thrown in, God doesn't seem to be a central part of any of the characters' lives. He is someone to rely on in death, but not someone anyone is relying on in daily life. Freedom from drugs and fidelity are done out of duty, not out of conviction from God, nor performed in the strength of the Lord. Because of this I finished the book feeling not inspired but as if a piece of religious guilt had been smeared on my soul and lauded as a work of art