Review - Thankful by Shelley Shepard Gray

Thankful
Return to Sugarcreek, book two
by Shelley Shepard Gray
Publisher: Avon Inspire
Pub. Date: May 6, 2014
ISBN: 978-0062204479
Pages: 256
Buy Link: http://ow.ly/wAcFF
Blog Tour: http://litfusegroup.com/author/sgray

Review:

I hate to admit this, but I had forgotten about the book blog tour for Thankful by Shelley Shepard Gray, which I was suppose to post a review for two weeks ago. Typically when I receive the tour information from Litfuse, I would go ahead and set up a draft for the review with the correct schedule date. For some odd reason I had overlooked the tour email, so the book ended up at the bottom of my TBR pile. If I hadn't set up a draft for three other upcoming tours tonight, I would had missed the last day of tour, which is today! Luckily for me, the book is short and I flew through it a few hours ago.


Thankful is the second installment in the Return to Sugarcreek series and centers on Christina Kempf. She is in love with Aden Resse. She dreams of one day becoming his wife, but there is a complicated situation. Aden's parents died in a car accident ten years ago and with no other family to take him in, Christina's parents took him in and raised him as one of their own. Through the Kempfs' eyes, Aden and Christina are no more than brother and sister.

Though the grew up together as siblings, Aden has been in love in with Christina ever since he saved her from falling through a thin patch of ice. The experience has haunted Christina and she is now afraid of many things, but with her strong faith in the Lord, she might me able to overcome her fears.

Meanwhile, Christina's parents are pressuring her into getting married to one of the Sugarcreek's young men, but her heart is only for Aden.

Despite being under 300 pages, Shelley Shepard Gray cleverly squeezed in three different plots; Christina and Aden's love story; a married couple (Ben and Judith Knox) struggling to adopt a child; and Jana Kent, the owner of Sugarcreek Inn, finding love again. Thankful is heartwarming story about faith, love and family. I more than enjoyed reading the second installment in the series and I'm looking forward to reading book three, Joyful.

*Disclaimer - I received a complimentary copy in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

About the Author:

Shelley Shepard Gray is a two-time New York Times bestseller, a two-time USA Today bestseller, a finalist for the American Christian Fiction Writers prestigious Carol Award, and a two-time Holt Medallion winner. She lives in Southern Ohio, where she writes full-time, bakes too much, and can often be found walking her dachshunds on her town's bike trail.