Tuesday 22 October 2019

All In Good Time - Carolyn Astfalk

All in Good Time
Carolyn Astfalk
Multa Verba Publishing
ISBN 9780997971835
ASIN B07ZDHLGW2


 When I first returned to the church in the late 1980’s I went to the Christian book store and really wish there had been a book like this back them. I am not the target audience for this book, but it is so masterfully written I could not put it down. I read through my lunch two days in a row, and almost missed my stop on the bus home because I was so engrossed in the story. It is literally a page turner. This was the third novel by Carolyn Astfalk that I have read this year, I have also read her short stories in the collections, Secrets: Visible & Invisible 7 Amazing Stories and Gifts Visible & Invisible 8 Christmas Stories for Teens. His story is just being released as I write my review. And I think it is an excellent read. 

 This story is in part about relationships. In part about a young widow and her three children. A young man. Family. Temptations. There are issues of pornography. Illness, and even the other type of ‘romance novels’. The main characters are Brian Perella, a young man who has sworn off dating. His plan is to remain the fun uncle. Brian works in IT and after discovering some extreme pornography on a coworker’s computer, he needs to testify in court against the man, but it also brings back temptations he thought he was past. Then he meets Melanie, she is young, has three children and is a widow. She was not looking for romance, and never expected it. The two grow closer and closer together. And when life through Brian a curve ball he wants to save Melanie more hurt and heartache, so he breaks off the relationship. But it is something they both regret. But neither knows how to undo.  

 The book deals with a lot of serious issues. And most of them are counter cultural in this day and age. Carolyn’s appreciation for Saint John Paul II’s Theology of The Body is evident throughout the book. The book gives a great representing of trying to live for God. And That we all make mistakes. It is a romance but not in the traditional sense of the word. In many ways the story reminds me of Madeleine L’Engle’s Chronos books. It is a great Catholic novel, and excellent Christian fiction. The book gives excellent examples of living for God, and trusting even when going through trials. 

 An excellent read, that I highly recommend.


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