“Tested Love” is Part 2 of a 4 book series. The story begins in Book 1, “Tender Love”, which is free on Amazon, and continues in Book 3, “Tormented Love”, due for release in Sept/Oct 2016. To gain the most from this series. it’s recommended they are read in order.
A new marriage, a ready-made family, new challenges and a face from the past all converge to pose the most difficult questions yet … questions yet for Tessa and Ben.
No sooner do they return from their honeymoon in Fiji when Ben’s teenage son, Jayden, reverts to old, troubling habits. Ben’s parenting style adds to the stress Tessa feels. Part of her wants to coddle Jayden; another part of her wants to support Ben’s wishes, but Jayden isn’t making it easy for her.
As she frets over marrying Ben and taking on so much responsibility, a new challenge arises. How will Tessa and Ben cope when their worst fear is realized?
Will Ben and Tessa have the strength to power through and hold onto God’s graces or will the turmoil be enough to make their faith falter? Can this ready-made family remain together, especially now that their worst fear has come to fruition?
“Tested Love” is Book 2 in “The True Love Series”, a clean and wholesome Contemporary Christian Romance set in sunny Queensland.
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4 stars
I have purchased the 10 book Australian based clean boxset titled The True Love and Precious Love Series Boxset: A Christian Romance by Juliette Duncan and this review was given freely.
The 10 part saga of the Williams family touches on many serious topics that challenge ones faith and health but also provides a picture of the growth, love and comfort that can be found when walking with God. Vivid descriptions are interwoven between heartfelt prayers, family drama and portions of scripture. Includes the titles Tender Love,Tested Love,Tormented Love,Triumphant Love, Forever Cherished,Forever Faithful,Forever His,Unchained,True Love at Christmas,Promises of Love, and A Time to Treasure: Prologue
**Tested Love:
The continued saga of the Williams family is a tense one filled with the sad undercurrents of jealousy,miscarriage, suicide, injuries and Jayden’s secret relationship with his mother Kathryn in Florida, USA.
Newly weds Tessa and Ben Williams struggle with adjusting to each, a new home,a new church family, a new job and mercurial 14 year old Jayden who is testing the waters to learn his place in the new family while struggling with the loss of his old schedule and security.
**Tormented Love:
This installment of the Williams family saga is transcontinental and features a “the grass is not always greener”undertone complicated by peer pressure and both drug and physical abuse but ending on a hopeful note.
Tessa and Ben join her brother Elliot on a mission trip to Ecuador in hopes of reconnecting in both Faith and love while distracting themselves concerning Jayden’s cutting all contact and going to live with his needy and superficial mother Katryn in the USA.
**Triumphant Love:
This final prayer filled complex sequel of the Williams saga features the serious topics of the trials of an unplanned single teen pregnancy, Tessa’s pregnancy scare, substance abuse, murder, the threat of Jayden’s deportation and touches on elder memory loss but is balanced by a renewal of Faith, the loving aide of two wonderful Christian families and a happy Williams family reunion.
After being gone for a year, Montana resident Jayden finds both his Faith in God and love for Angie Morgan deepening, his homesickness for his father and Tessa growing, and his sense of obligation to his abused mother lessening.
**Forever Cherished:
A touch of irony with a fair amount of drama. This prayer filled sequel features the trials and rewards of a new baby, the beginnings of the Williams family’s Misty Morn Christian retreat where Tessa helps her first lodger, depression and suicide troubled Leah Maloney, find Leah’s first love and child, relates Tessa’s father’s progressing dementia and provides an event filled father-son camping trip for Ben and Jayden.
**Forever Faithful:
A second chance at love story where bad things happen to good people but ultimately ends happily with a wedding for the Williams family.
After college veterinary student and Christian youth group leader Jayden is assaulted and receives a life threatening injury from 19 year old Troy Barrett whose drink was spiked, Angie flies to Australia to be by his side only to be followed by her controlling and jealous boyfriend Cole.
**Forever His:
A prayer filled sequel with a nice recap and the story of newlyweds Jayden and Angie Williams’s adjustment to each other as they travel and witness. Contains picturesque descriptions of the places and the people Jayden and Angie see during their year long honeymoon trip around the world but also contains Ben and Angie struggles over how to take care of her aging parents and how Ben’s boss Brad being investigated for embezzlement will affect them.
**Unchained:
A poignant companion novel to the Williams family saga starting the day well to do stay at home mom Sally Richardson finds out she is penniless because of her accountant husband Brad’s gambling addiction and embezzling. This is a prayer filled novella depicting a family’s struggle with addiction, communication and self image as they build a closer relationship with both God and each other.
Can be read as a standalone but best if read in sequence.
**True Love at Christmas:
Taking place around the time Tessa and Ben go on their first mission trip, this is a Christmas companion novel to the Williams family saga featuring the true meaning of Christmas, a reaffirmation of Faith, veterinarian Harrison Smith’s romance with Zoe Taylor and, the Christmas surprise he and his siblings give their parents.
**Promises of Love:
An emotion packed continuation of True Love at Christmas laced heavily with the theme of loss but ends happily. Promises of Love finds the newly engaged Zoe Taylor and Harrison Smith spending Christmas day with Zoe’s extended family and her financially struggling parents, Harrison hoping for a short engagement while Zoe is torn trying to figure out how to make everyone happy while dealing with doubts concerning her relationship with the no-Christian Harrison, her grandmother’s sudden illness and with the sudden return of her high school boyfriend Spencer.
**A Time to Treasure: Prologue: Not read
A wonderful continuation of Tess and Ben’s story. I love how Duncan is not afraid to showcase the realities of life. Even without a step-son, life as a married couple isn’t a breeze. No matter how much time you spend together prior to marriage, there are somethings you won’t know or be expecting. There are ups and downs, disagreements and fights. How you handle these, how you treat your partner, and how you reach an agreement is what is important.
I received a free copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving an honest review.