She has emotional wounds. He has physical ones. Faith doesn’t come easy for either.
Holden Jenkins receives a diagnosis that alters the course of his life. His slow recovery is pockmarked with discouragement and puts his future in question. Will he ever again walk without pain? Or be well enough to return home?
Maddie Smith is an ICU nurse on the verge of burnout. In need of a change and drawn … a change and drawn to a man she barely knows, she goes on sabbatical and takes up the fight to get Holden back on his feet.
As he searches for his identity in the midst of this new life, Holden struggles with a deep hurt. Why would God allow this? Meanwhile Maddie, shaped by her own emotional scars, battles against an unseen God she’s not sure she can believe in. Will these two be able to find peace – and a future together – or will the difficulties they face push them apart?
more
I loved everything about this book! I can’t find anything negative to say!! (And for those who know me, that is rare indeed!) I loved:
– the realistically flawed characters that were nonetheless relatable and likable
– the world-building without delving into long passages of descriptions
– the humor
– the slow-building romance
– the sensitive way it handles modesty and desire
– the well-done, strong faith thread – both for a seeker and for a struggling believer
– the editing
– everything!
Favorite quotes:
“So she did what every warm-blooded mature American does when the situation calls for it. She pictured two little figures, one sitting on each shoulder. Apparel? Oh, yeah. Totally normal. One wore white scrubs, and the other red.” (p. 54)
“’I got into some trouble when I was younger, ended up in the brig for a while, but Ma never gave up on me. Says she prayed me through it. I’ll never be a doctor or lawyer or anything highfalutin, but I’m a deacon now, and that means a lot more to me than a fancy education ever could.’” (p. 72)
“’Take it from me, you can lose your health and your wealth in the blink of an eye. The things you do for God are the only things that can’t be taken away.’” (p. 72)
“Next time I’m tempted to whine, tell me to put a sock in it.” (p. 121)
“Tomorrow’s meeting would either be funny or disastrous. Knowing her luck, it would be the latter.” (p. 123)
“This new way of looking at things that he was going to have to figure out — it would have to include analyzing life not in terms of what he thought easiest, but rather in terms of what would be best for Maddie.” (p. 132)
“Okay, God, the joke’s on me. If this pain is Your way of helping me avoid tempting thoughts of the nurse asleep mere feet away, Your plan is a success. She’s the last thing on my mind right now. Almost.” (p. 146)
“That was the last time he let prudishness get in the way of prudence.” (p. 155)
“You’re laughing at me, God. I can tell. I did something wrong, didn’t I? I made fun of my older brothers when they started having crushes on girls. Is that it? There has to be a reason You’re putting me through this.” (p. 155)
“Holden possessed a special gift that presented itself when he comforted people of the female persuasion. What was his gift? Catastrophic failure.” (p. 178)
“Perfection is overrated. Authenticity matters a whole lot more.” (p. 206)
“…’your eternity has to matter more to me than the here and now. Anything less on my part would be pure selfishness.” (p. 206)
“’I’d like to think of what we have here as a simple informal arrangement between friends.’” (p. 218)
“’I’ll bet you never had quite as much fun, either.’ ‘Indubitably.’ The drive might be taking forever, but at least he’d discovered a use for that word.” (p. 240)
“If gratitude was a destination, his GPS had been hacked, and he’d been sent to the middle of Siberia.” (p. 244)
“Other people might be as thoughtful or considerate, but they didn’t possess that inner something that made Holden so special. She’d already decided it had to be God, but Tom’s pointing it out rankled.” (p. 264)
“’I’m clearing you to live without supervision.’ Any enthusiasm felt in anticipation of the doctor’s pronouncement had already died an excruciating death. Its bloody and beaten corpse lay sprawled on the exam room floor.” (p. 301)
“’You may not believe it yet, but your prognosis is actually quite good.’ Dr. Matthews was right. He didn’t believe it.” (p. 302)
“So who was she trying to convince — herself or the cat?” (p. 313)
“Ah, she had it. Our Lady of the Runaways. That was what she’d been doing, wasn’t it? Running away from her problems, running away from her fears, running away from a man she’d come to care about, and even running away from God.” (p. 335)
“Maddie shook her head. ‘I wasn’t planning to come here, but then I ended up in the parking lot and figured I might as well go in.’ Pablo’s grin was infectious. ‘When that happens to me, I usually end up in the candy aisle of a convenience store, not at church. You’re already a step ahead.’” (p. 338)
“’They aren’t less because of what they’ve suffered — whether their injuries came in the military, from elsewhere, or were something they were born with. In a lot of ways, they’re more. If you’d stop feeling so sorry for yourself, you might learn a thing or two from them.’” (p. 360)
“Every man needed a friend who understood when to speak up and when to be silent, and every man needed someone who didn’t pull their punches and said it like it was without all the dancing around and being politically correct.” (p. 362)