She’s got her heart set on becoming a missionary. He’s determined to recruit her for the job. There’s only one problem. They’ve never actually met … drawn toward Susannah’s gentle nature. But is it possible to fall in love with someone before you’ve met face to face?
When a family promise threatens to keep them apart forever, Scott and Susannah have to trust that God’s plans for their lives are more perfect than anything they could have dreamed up on their own.
Sweet, inspirational, and based on true events!
Read the romance and fall in love today.
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This sweet love story will take you on a journey of the heart. While you won’t travel across the globe, your heart will travel on an unexpected journey all it’s own.
Susanna feels a called by God to be a missionary to the world. After high school she began working at the local assisted living facility, as a nursing aid. But her greatest heart’s desire is to share the gospel to the world. She finds an missionary agency that offers a summer program, and this seems like the answer to her prayers. After a few emails and a phone call she feels a connection to the recruiter.
Scott enjoys traveling the globe and supporting the missionaries. When he receives an email from a young lady on the other side of the country who seems to be on fire for God and have a deep longing for the mission field, he is surprised by the sudden connection he feels with her.
I appreciated the strong faith in this story, the deep roots of prayer and the reminders of trusting God even in the hard times when things don’t seem to be going as planned. The chapters alternate between telling the story from Susanna’s point of view then Scott’s point of view, and for me this switch back and forth was a bit choppy in places. However, by the end it all fits together.
A story with a deep well of emotion and strong roots in faith. This sweet heart-warming story is sure to edify your convictions of sharing the gospel and to remind you that you don’t have to travel the world to share the love of God. I give this story 3.5 stars and would recommend it to those who enjoy reading stories of tender love, and deep faith.
(I receive complimentary books for review from publishers, publicists, and/or authors, including Netgalley. I am not required to write positive reviews. The opinions I have expressed are my own.)
Susannah,from a small western town, has a burning desire to serve on the mission field so she contacts a mission recruiter (Scott), living on the East Coast, and their love story unfolds through written messages and phone calls.
He desperately wants to fly out to meet her and her family, but something always stops it. When Susannah’s mother suddenly is killed in a car accident, she remembers her promise to care for her sister with cerebral palsy the rest of her life. She senses she must end her relationship with Scott.
The reader can’t help but feel the deep emotions of lost love as both Scott and Susannah try to accept what seems to be God’s plan for them. What makes this story so special is that it is based on the author’s own life!
What Dreams May Come is a sweet Christian contemporary romance. In it, Susannah is determined to be a missionary and isn’t interested in any man unless he is headed toward the same goal. But she finds herself falling for the missionary agency’s recruiter, the man on the phone who she’s never met in person and who isn’t necessarily going to move overseas like she plans to. What is she to do?
What Dreams May Come was a very sweet romance. As the author wrote in her note, it is based somewhat on her own romance with her husband. I enjoyed reading about the characters, watching them grow and struggle through difficult choices and circumstances. It was especially interesting to see what choices Susannah made in regards to her disabled sister and to see her involvement in her community. As a whole, I found the characters very relatable and likable, and I enjoyed watching them fall more deeply in love and make choices regarding their future.
I enjoyed his sweet story very much and recommend it to fans of contemporary Chrisian romance.
I received a complementary copy of this book. All opinions are my own, and I am not obligated to provide a positive review.
Another great book by Alana Terry! It is so easy to fall in love with the characters in this book. Susannah had her long time dreams of becoming a missionary taken away with the passing of her Mom as she needs step in to take care of her sister who has Cerebral Palsy. She had fallen in love with her recruiter even though they had not met in person. They were looking forward to meeting just after her Mom died but she assumed that she had to let that go in order to care for her sister as well. I love the way this follows both of these young people through this time following the path God has put in front of them. The ending shows how even when you can’t see God’s full plan for your life if you follow His leading you will be amazed with the beautiful things He has in store for you!
I also want to say the way Alana has entwined her beginning of her marriage into this book brings a special personal touch! I love the way so many of the characters from the church & town of Orchard Grove are mentioned in each of her books-many explored in detail in their own books. It truly gives you the feeling you are part of the town yourself. For people like me who were raised in a small town and church like that it holds a very special meaning!
And to you Alana…..I sure hope (if you haven’t already) that you write a book some day all about the special woman of Grandma Lucy!! She is a rare gem! 🙂
excellent for anyone…a light read
This is the first book written by Alana Terry that I have read and it’s so appropriate that I started reading it on Valentine’s Day and the story is a retelling of her love story with her husband! The book is definitely geared towards the Christian reader and has wonderfully encouraging Scripture as well as prayers liberally sprinkled throughout the story. The writing focuses on the heartache of two devoted Christians who fall in love but are kept apart due to life circumstances. The main characters’ doubts, cries of grief and sorrow for love perceived to be lost, struggles to understand God’s bigger plan, and striving for peace and contentment even when submerged in confusion are all so real and touchable.
Susannah is barely an adult at almost twenty but has a heart for international missions and for reaching the lost. She is gentle, loving, diligent, and patient. Scott is in his thirties, already an experienced world traveler as a support personnel to the international missionaries. He’s “a missionary to the missionaries.” He is devoted, kind, thoughtful and loving. The book starts out with the first few chapters recounting their “courtship” via phone calls and emails and dwells a bit in the past to catch the reader up to what’s actually happened to keep the two apart. Then the book switches back and forth from Susannah’s world in tiny town of Orchard Grove in Washington and Scott’s world in Massachusetts. I really enjoyed their attending Urbana Missionary Conference together since I have wonderful memories of that conference when I attended.
The book was enjoyable and made me reflect upon my own thought processes and prayers during difficult situations that broke my heart.
I received a copy of the book from the author/publisher via Celebrate Lit Tour. I was not required to write a favorable review. All comments and opinions are solely my own.
I have been a huge fan of this author for awhile. Her writing always bring me to a point where I can escape and jump into the book and be part of it. This book is extra special because I get to see a softer and transparent look at her life through a story that brought tears to my eyes. I know when I was getting ready to graduate, I had plans to attend college and become a teacher. I had a boyfriend and figured we would just follow each other to college and see what happens. Sometimes what we want doesn’t always happen the way we plan. This book is one that gives hope, reinforces how we need to continue to have faith and patience.
I loved Susannah right away. She has such a big heart and wants to go into the mission field. God placed that desire on her heart and she was excited to follow her dream. I loved how she became friends with Scott . It was nice to read about how their relationship developed and their dream of mission work was shared between them. When a tragedy strikes, Susannah makes a heart-wrenching decision that will change everything in her life. The beauty of her selfless act choked me up. How many of us would give up everything to take care of a loved one? I wanted to hug Susannah and tell her “Well done thy good and faithful servant.”
The story was emotional at times and really made me examine my life. Have I been following what God had planned for me? Did I let my dream die because I became discouraged? Thank you for sharing your story with readers. I won’t forget how a young woman dreamed big and had faith to allow God to open doors for her. What may seem impossible , is right before our eyes, if only we continue to trust God.
I received a copy of this book from Celebrate Lit. The review is my own opinion.
Such a sweet love story and then you realize that they have never met, and all because they share a love of God, and mankind.
We see sacrifice at the ultimate, giving up the life you desire for your sister, and giving up the man you love.
This story is based on faith, but there is sadness, and I found myself also admiring the step-father, so little time in the family, but what love and compassion he shows.
The author has woven a perfect story of love of God, family, and fellow man, and kept me page-turning to the very end.
I received this book through Celebrate Lit, and was not required to give a positive review.