Wonderful! 'From This Moment' - by Kim Vogel Sawyer

 

About the book:

A lost ring brings together two wounded souls--a youth minister haunted by the past and a spunky church custodian--in this heartwarming romance from the bestselling author of The Librarian of Boone's Hollow.

Growing up in the foster care system, Jase Edgar always dreamed of one day starting his own family. But his fiance's untimely death shattered his plans. Moving to Kansas and serving as a youth minister should be a fresh start, but he can't seem to set aside his doubts about God's goodness long enough to embrace his new life.

Newly-appointed church custodian, Lori Fowler is battling her own challenges. Her strained relationship with her father and her struggles with overeating convince her she's not worthy enough for love. When an Amish weaver enlists their help locating the owner of a ring found among the donated clothing she uses as fabric, Jase and Lori find themselves drawn to each other. But will they be able to release the past and move forward from this moment into a joyful future?

My review:

This was a wonderful story about a man who thought he knew what God's plans for him were and struggled to trust Him after they were upended.  He was honest with God about His doubts, which I liked about him.  Jase moved to this small town and got to know some of the wonderful people that rounded out this story, including the pastor and his wife.  While I liked Jase a lot, Lori was my favorite character.  She was funny and joyful yet also struggled with emotional eating after her mom died when she was a preteen.  Due to that and her father's verbal abuse, she suffered from insecurity and low self-esteem.  I liked seeing the huge difference in her from how she was before realizing her problem, working on it and turning to God and after.  An interesting aspect to the story is Lori's best friend Kenzie, a girl who grew up Amish but had left that religion when she discovered grace.  She weaved items into works of art and they both work at a craft store.  Kenzie really had a strong faith and was very humble.  It seemed like I learned something from each person and their faith journey as they each had struggles.  There were a few cute moments and I hope we get more of Kenzie's story in a future book as I want to know where she ends up.  I highly recommend this story!

I received a kindle copy of this book free from Netgalley.  I was not compensated for this review.  All opinions are my own.