Hope, love, and loss meld two polar opposite personalities. How long can they keep passion for their ministry and each other after the wedding?
Medical missionary and avowed bachelor Merit Campbell is wounded during a skirmish at his Mideast clinic and sent home to recover. Restlessness propels him to explore the happier moments of his childhood in Illinois where he meets Amalia Kennedy, owner … Kennedy, owner of The Last Detail, who enjoys helping people prepare for their final years. Merit ushers in new life; Amalia ushers it out. Love? Obviously. Marriage? Check. Dealing with the family closet? Step back…
Amalia enjoys her predictable life in a quiet little Illinois town—until long-time intended, Hudson, finally proposes in a way that shows her boring and old are coming way too fast. When a mutual friend introduces Merit and Amalia, the spark of attraction makes Merit reconsider his bachelorhood. When he can’t return to the mission, he accepts a call as pastor to Amalia’s church. As the two grow closer they weather constant interruptions from ministry, business, and family, even at their wedding and beyond. When tragedy strikes, they must learn to rely on each other in ways they couldn’t have prepared for.
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Lisa Lickel’s The Last Detail is a delightful novel about friends and family—parents, brothers and sisters, cousins, aunts and uncles. Families who are not unlike our own. Families who offer love and support despite failures, tragedies, and illness.
Merit Campbell is a medical missionary who runs a clinic for the tribal people of Nehrangestan on the continent of Asia. The story opens in the midst of a battle between two warring tribes. After Merit gets caught in the crossfire, he sustains wounds and must return to the US for recuperation.
Amalia Kennedy assists Hudson Demerest in running his funeral home with her business The Last Detail, where no detail escapes her. Hudson has come to depend on Amalia and believes he can’t do without her. When her childhood friend proposes marriage, Amalia is not impressed with his frank admission he wants a son rather than professing his love. Though people in Fox Falls, Illinois expect the couple to marry, Amalia turns Hudson down with a resounding no, yet Hudson doesn’t seem to take no for an answer.
Merit is one of four children along with Worth, Prudence, and Justice. After the death of his older brother Worth and the disappearance of his youngest brother, Justice, Merit is afraid to allow anyone in his life again. Since he’s always looked to Prudence for wisdom and strength, he voices his doubts about taking a wife to the mission field. When he asks what she’d do if she lost her family to tragedy, she wisely answers that they weren’t hers in the first place, but God’s.
Merit meets the practical, yet lovely Amalia when she helps Prudence with details involved in disposing of deceased Uncle Bruce Campbell’s enormous old family home. From the beginning, the relationship between Merit and Amalia is electric. The lighthearted banter between the two is clever, upbeat, and fresh, bringing a smile to my face.
While on leave in the states, Merit is offered a job as a pastor for New Life church when Pete Thompson and his family accept another pastorate. The change from life on the mission field to a pastorate isn’t as easy.
The characters came alive for me. I could visualize each one and their unique personalities. Amalia who is steady, hardworking, and practical. Merit who suffers with doubts and insecurities. Through him, the reader is allowed to see that pastors are as human as anyone else. One of my favorite characters was the colorful Angus Craig who owns The Print Shop and gives his life to the Lord.
The story is filled with laughs, smiles, family outings, tragedy, and a surprise ending.
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This Christian novel is a beautiful love story, but it’s not a formula romance.
During Merit Campbell’s young adult life his parents and one brother are killed. Another brother’s missing. Merit commits himself to the missionary work his older brother started. He’s convinced himself he’s not going to marry because a wife and family would distract him from God’s work. A skirmish breaks out, and Merit’s wounded so badly he must leave the mission field and return to the United States to recover.
When Merit comes to his recently deceased uncle’s house he meets Amalia Kennedy and cannot deny his immediate attraction to her. She’s spent her life believing she’ll marry Hudson, a longtime family friend, who she loves, but not in a romantic way.
Merit and Amalia are drawn to each other, but illness, the stress of work and tragedy complicate their relationship.
The Last Detail keeps the reader turning page after page to see when Merit and Amalia will openly share their feelings and take hold of the love they have for each other. It’s a beautifully written romance that shows how true love includes God’s wishes. It also illustrates how the love of two people can impact the friends and family they love.