Winter Turns to Spring

June 2, 2008
What happens when authors use fiction to explore self-help principles? Chapman, the relationship expert whose juggernaut The Five Love Languages
has sold more than five million copies, teams up with novelist Palmer for a series that intentionally dovetails with Chapman’s nonfiction book The Four Seasons of Marriage
. This lackluster concluding installment explores the “spring” season of marriage by profiling fictional newlyweds Brad and Ashley Hanes, whose marriage is not turning out to be as idyllic as either had expected. Can God transform the winter of their discontent into a spring of mutual appreciation and rekindled love? Yes, and there are sweet moments along the way. Still, the novel feels contrived despite Palmer’s competent writing and characterizations.

June 1, 2008
Fourth in "The Four Seasons of a Marriage" series (after "Falling for You Again, Summer Breeze", and "It Happens Every Spring"), this final marital installment centers on newlyweds Brad and Ashley Hanes, who are having problems right from the start. Brad doesn't know how to end the fights and draw his wife closer to him, so he brings home a homeless puppy hoping to touch Ashley's heart. Then, an unexpected snowstorm shuts down their town of Deepwater Cove, and the residents try to make it through the dark winter. Veteran CF novelist Palmer ("Sunrise Song") and relationship expert Chapman (author of "The Five Love Languages") based the stories on Chapman's philosophy of marriage and love.

Copyright 2008 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 1, 2008
The residents of Deepwater Cove, Missouri, are having a bad year. Brads troubled marriage to Ashley, the sudden death of town-favorite Esther Moore from a stroke, and the crisis of faith that missionary-in-training Jennifer Hansen is undergoing after a traumatic mugging in Mexico are only some of the trials they face as they enter the Christmas season. Palmer and Chapman conclude their four-part traditional evangelical Christian fiction series based on the concepts espoused in Chapmans nonfiction title Four Seasons of Marriage (2005) as the various residents grapple with issues of faith, finance, and fidelity.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)