The Secret Life of Sarah Hollenbeck

This was not good. I was really looking forward to a Christian novel that focuses on ~real~ topics. But, Francine Rivers (who is the only author I have found that does this correctly) is too long and sometimes dark. So, I also wanted something light hearted. This sucked. I don't know how it has such a high rating. The romance was extremely fast, the Christian aspect wasn't really explained and neither was the struggles except for “I know that's not how a Christian would act, but I've prayed about it and made my peace with it” instead of the struggle of HOW a Christian should act and WHY.

Also, did not agree with their interpretation of God's plan for us (His plan is salvation, no soul mates, nothing like that. Goodbye). The Insta-love was gag worthy and the romance itself was not a joy to read. They literally got married within MONTHS because they couldn't keep their hormones in check. I have a couple Bible verses to refute Ben's on how he thought that was okay and as a Pastor that is a bad example. I did not enjoy this read and it made me angry.

Overall, it's clear that Bethany Turner has talent as a writer. I'd like to see some improvements in plot/pacing and characterization, but her prose has promise.

First issue was pacing, and I think this was my main gripe. Turner chooses to show us the before and after but none of the extra parts that play into Sarah's huge turnaround. The moment where Sarah says she trusts God when having coffee with Piper is literally less than a paragraph. It comes out of left field and Sarah isn't really even seeking God at the moment; she's vaguely curious about why Piper is different. So we have a huge moment that's supposedly a catalyst for the entire rest of the book, a change that's so huge that Sarah can't even write the same books she wrote before–and it's less than a paragraph? Make me feel it, Bethany! I'm not asking for a blow-by-blow salvation plan, but I sure want to know what drew her, what changed her, how she felt, how her heart did a total about-face in a moment's time. Don't tell me–show me. This is the biggest of several such examples throughout the book.

Second issue was believability. Sarah just had so major a life change that she can't do anything the same way again. However, her publisher is super chill and is fine with her suddenly changing genres after forcing her to complete a world tour to promote her brand? Hm...yeah, no. (Also, why did she complete the tour if she hated the old stuff so thoroughly?) But this major life change is only referred to obliquely. There's nothing about suddenly falling head over heels for Jesus, nothing about devouring her Bible page after page, nothing about signing up for every last Bible study in town with the same zeal she showed of joining every single book club in town. If she wasn't doing these things, how did she suddenly conclude that erotica was wrong? Is she actually that much in love with Jesus–in which case we'd see a lot more of her drive in pursuit of a closer bond with Him–or is she binding herself to cheap rules of legalism?–in which case where is she hearing the idea of such a complete change in just one area of her life? Again, I'm missing the tug of what Sarah is feeling and instead I'm being told what's going on and expected to believe it at face value.

Third issue is characters. Piper is like quicksilver. I don't know her. I don't know her tug on Sarah. I don't even know if she's single, married, dating, or anything in between. One of my favorite things in books is the bond of best friends, but here we have a “best friend” who went three years without contact of any sort, who lives her own ephemeral life and pops up when needed to give a word of advice or share a cup of coffee and gossip. It takes until about 30% of the way in before we even hear that she intends to go on a date with someone. She seems to have read “The Thorn Birds” before; why was she okay with reading a book based on fornication but not an erotic book on the same subject?

Then Ben isn't much better. He loves his daughter to the moon and back. He grieves his wife. He wants to kiss Sarah. He'd have sex with Sarah if he didn't have beliefs holding him back. But why is he so attracted to Sarah? They don't talk about a ton of stuff. Who is Ben the man? Why his passion to preach? What does he do in his spare time? Seems he did nothing much before he met Sarah except weep for his wife and love on his daughter. He's two-dimensional: handsome and deeply in lust with Sarah.

Fourth issue is just that the book doesn't really know what it wants to be. It's a lot of talk and not much depth. While I didn't enjoy all the sex-sex-sex stuff, that isn't my main objection, though I do think readers should be aware that there's a lot of content. The humor wasn't funny–actually, I found it rather offensive that Sarah and Piper would die laughing over the nicknames Sarah had for the group, such as “Boob-Job woman” and “Botox”...Sarah didn't know better but Piper should have had a thought for some kindness. These ladies, after all, are supposed to be friends of Piper's, at least on a superficial level. It seemed that the sex talk was more “Oh, look how racy I can be” and covered a number of major plot and characterization flaws with the noise and excitement of being different. To me it was mainly a lot of page real estate devoted to one topic without having a foundation of strong story narrative to back it up.

Thanks to Revell publishers and netgalley for a free copy to read. A positive review was not required. Except for Revell or netgalley, this review may not be quoted without written permission. Copyright 2019 to Hannah Gridley I don't wish a sentence or two to be quoted out of context, after having seen some such quotes online. Thanks!