Saving Grace book review

Saving Grace (The Prayer Tree Series #2)by Annie Jones

Synopsis: "Every year on the night of New Bethany's annual Splendor Belle Gala, reclusive Sera Grayson appears on the porch of her aging antebellum home dressed in a tattered ball gown. Legend holds she is reliving the greatest disappointment of her life: waiting endlessly for the man who stood her up more than fifty years ago. Rosemary, Naomi, Gayle, and Lucy, first introduced in Jones's Prayer Tree, together decide to help out the eccentric old woman-partly to strengthen their own special bond, threatened by time and the demands of everyday life. Will their joint project instead tear them apart forever?"


This is not the type of book I would normally pick up and read.  I like Christian fiction, but I usually read it because I got it free for my Kindle or I got it free in exchange for a review.  That being said, I almost always enjoy them.  This book is no different.  It's a book about finding strength when you think your world is falling apart.  We all face times like that, and if we maintain the right perspective, we grow stronger.  And we make it.  Being Christian fiction, that idea is shared in terms of religious belief.  This isn't what I would call a born again book.  Those are harder for me to swallow.  :)  This isn't so in your face, it's just a given accepted part of who the characters are.
The story is interesting.  I have a soft spot for history and legends, and as this book touched on both, it's not surprising I liked it.  The characters overall were believable.  I don't know that Ben or his relationship with Lucy were very well developed, but most of the other characters felt rounded out to me.
I might have known the characters a bit better if I had read the first book in this series, The Prayer Tree (The Prayer Tree Series #1).  Normally, reading a book in a series makes me want to read the others, but I have to admit, that is not so in this case.
Anyway, I give it three out of five stars.
I did receive this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group in exchange for this review.