Book: Season of Hope
Author: Carol James
Genre: 20th Century Christian Historical Romance

Release Date: July 19, 2020

Hope Stockton’s life is dead, frozen in a winter of guilt, deceit, and fear. When a handsome young pastor, Josh Lewis, comes to serve in her church, she wonders if she can trust him with her past. Will he be able to help her find the answers to the questions that have been buried in her heart for years? Or will his own secrets drive them apart and prevent him from helping Hope find her spring of forgiveness?

Set in small town Texas in the years during and following the Vietnam war, Seasons of Hope is a story of forgiveness and restoration.

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This was my first book by author Carol James and I must say she will definitely be added to my list of go-to authors. This book was so good. This story was emotional. Tissues nearby came in handy in some sections for me. The themes of faith, redemption and forgiveness are evident in this story which made it all the better for me. From the prologue the story captivates you and makes you want to know more about it. The characters were heartfelt and relatable.

We immediately meet Hope who is a single mother with a little boy named Mattie. She is scared to get close to anyone. She has a past she doesn't want people to find out about especially Josh. She is also a broken woman. She feels like God's grace cannot possibly extend to her after her the sins she has committed. She believes that God is possibly punishing her and that's the reason why her first love and her parents were taken from her.

Josh is the new pastor in town. He comes from a well off family but is not without his faults, or regrets.

Josh and Hope meet for the first time but she doesn't realize that he is the new pastor. She is skittish around him and takes her a long time to get comfortable being around him. Her preconceived ideas about him and his life are revealed and she allows herself to open up to him and open her heart once again to the possibility of something more. Circumstances, (that I will definitely not reveal as I don't want to spoil it for you) brings them together in a beautiful way.

God really had to bring Hope to a place where she could do nothing else but realize that He is the one in complete control. There are other characters as well that we see in the story that you enjoy seeing like Aunt Dee and Ms. Cora. Josh's parents also play an integral part in the story and it was beautiful to read how that relationship was restored.

Overall this book was a great read and I can't wait to read another from this author.

My Rating: 4 Stars/ Really Liked it.

Favorite Quotes:

"He didn't know exactly what his future held, but he knew the One who held it."

"We live in a fallen world, and bad things happen to good people."

"Forgiveness is not a reward that's earned, but a gift that's given."

(I received a copy of this book as part of the Celebrate Lit Book Tour. I was not required to post a positive review. All views expressed are only my honest opinion.)

About the Author

Carol James is an author of inspirational fiction. She lives in a small town outside of Atlanta, Georgia with her husband, Jim, and a perky Jack Russell “Terrorist,” Zoe.
Having always loved intriguing stories with happy endings, she was moved to begin writing to encourage others as she’d been encouraged by the works of other authors of inspirational fiction.
Her debut novel, Rescuing Faith, has been a number one best seller on Amazon.
Carol enjoys spending time with her husband, children, and grandchildren, traveling with friends, and serving in the production department at her church. And most days, in the late hours of the night or the wee hours of the morning, she can be found bringing her newest novel to life.

More from Carol

Overcoming the Darkness

The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. John 1:5

I’ve read or heard this verse hundreds, maybe thousands, of times. But I remember exactly the moment I truly understood the picture it paints.

I sat in church one Sunday morning. For weeks, I’d been elbow-deep in crafting a manuscript set in the years following the Vietnam war. The title was Season of Hope.

In the squeaky voice our congregation loved, Pastor Buddy read this scripture and then asked a simple question. “Have you ever thought that light always overcomes darkness?”

Of course I’d thought that. I knew The Light was Jesus. I knew through His perfect sacrifice, He overcame the darkness of sin and death to give us life and light.

But then, in his folksy manner that would sneak up on you and drop the truth right in your lap, Buddy’s sermon began to paint a poignant illustration.

You can walk into a dark room with any amount of light, no matter how small—a candle flame, a flashlight beam, or even the illumination from the face of your phone—and the light will always…always…invade the darkness.

But the opposite is never true. No matter how great the darkness and how small the light, darkness never prevails. Never overcomes the light.

And what little you manage to see in the darkness is distorted, not an accurate representation of reality. Because darkness hides reality. It shows us only colorless, indistinct imitations. Light, however, shows us beauty and truth.

Simple, right? Maybe. But like so many truths in the Bible, the idea is rich and full of meaning when you meditate on it.

When I left church that day, I knew my heroine’s battle was to be a clash between light and darkness, truth and lies.

In Season of Hope, Hope Stockton’s heart is frozen in the dark winter of her past. She’s spent so many years hiding her failures and fears from the light of truth, she questions whether her heart will ever feel the warmth of spring again.

Then she meets Josh Lewis, and she wonders, can she entrust him with the dark secrets that have been buried in her heart all these years?