After reading Her Small-Town Romance and seeing how it ended, I knew I HAD to read Sam's story and how he heals from a horrific boating accident (I cried a lot during that hospital scene). My brother was in a life changing motorcycle accident years ago and in reading this story I was very much reminded of what happened to him, but not in sad way. This story resonated with me in a sweet way of how tragedies happen, but how God shows up for us in a major way if we let Him, and the path to moving forward after you've suffered through something. I imagine that MUCH of Sam's emotions and struggles were exactly what my brother experienced and in a way, this story really helped me cope with a painful situation that happened many years ago. I truly love when an author can write a story like that and it brings me hope where I was once heartbroken.
Sam's story is not as sad as I thought it would be and I loved Celeste right away. She reminds me of Jenny in Lindi Peterson's Rich in Hope (highly recommend that one as well, beautiful girl has a scarred face and must heal from it, not sad at all either), one of my all time favorite books :) Celeste is grateful for her parents and all their help, but she is desperately trying to be independent while raising her nephew and getting over the death of her best friend, thinking that she will never be beautiful again unless she can erase her facial scars.
I truly LOVED the authenticity of the characters struggle in this story, but in a respectful and loving manner. I never felt that Sam or Celeste were overreacting or ungrateful, they simply had to find a way to cope with their current situations and believe that God still loved them even after they both had suffered terrible accidents. They both did so with love, tenderness for one another, and courage beyond normal parameters. How they both love Parker was the sweetest part of the story, their protectiveness of him and each other was a real treat in the story!! It was also enjoyable how they were attracted to one another and supported each other :)
The setting and Sheffield family were also a tremendous part of this book, it's winter and Christmas time and I loved that :) The Sheffield family is one of the best I've ever read, they do all they can to support Sam in his injury while giving him love and space. There's one scene he has with his brother, Bryan (from the previous book I mentioned and also loved) that was very precious to me. I wish I had been able to have that conversation with my brother. The scene with Sam and his dad touched me to my core. This is a Love Inspired book, but it goes MUCH deeper than most clean romance novels and I appreciated that.
HIGHLY recommend this story and it can be read as a stand alone, these characters have tremendously blessed me and I look forward to more Kemerer books :)