Love Lifted Me

November 15, 2011
The third installment of Evans' Christ-centered drama about a woman who is redeemed through submitting to God and forgiving her husband. As the novel opens Jade and Max Benson's marriage is just about over. Max is in rehab (again) for prescription-drug abuse and Jade is at their home in Tennessee, raising Max's 2-year-old lovechild Asa (right before their wedding, Max had a fling with his ex-fiancé Rice, issuing forth Asa, now with Max since Rice's death in a plane crash a few months prior). Jade has fallen in love with Asa but is wondering if she can ever trust Max again. When he returns, Max is a changed man--clean, committed to Jade and recommitted to living a life in Christ. Just one little thing--he wants to leave Tennessee and the prestigious law practice he's inherited to coach high-school football in small-town Texas. He is asking Jade to leave behind her friends and the successful vintage-clothing store she's built, as well as their home and the comfortable life of a lawyer's wife, but they feel this is what God wants them to do. Why God wants Max to coach high-school ball remains unclear, and it is suspicious that God's will and Max's childhood dream are conveniently aligned. Initially, life in Texas, where those Friday Night lights are a serious concern, is disastrous. Max fires assistant coaches, loses games and infuriates the town, all of which alienates Jade. But that's not all Jade has to worry about--more pressing issues emerge on the way to the resolution. Simplistic, feel-good fare.

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Starred review from December 15, 2011
Jade Benson feels that she can never trust her husband, Max, again. Not only did he cheat on her with her best friend, Rice, but a baby resulted from the affair. When Rice dies in an airplane accident, Max brings the toddler into their home. Two-year-old Asa is the brightest spot in Jade's life. Despite the boy's beginnings, Jade feels nothing but love for him. But Jade's world is about to crash again. She receives news that Max isn't Asa's dad, and the biological father knows it. Jade has survived infidelity, miscarriage, and major damage to her shop by an out-of-control car, but losing Asa could very well be the thing that destroys her. Country singer and songwriter Evans and novelist Hauck (Dining with Joy, 2010) have proven to be a winning team. This third installment in the story of Jade and Max (The Sweet By and By, 2009; Softly and Tenderly, 2011) carries the same emotional wallop as the first two. Although libraries will want all three volumes, this one also works well as a stand-alone novel.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)