After the Leaves Fall by Nicole Baart

From Goodreads: Julia DeSmit can't wait for her life to begin. After her mother leaves when Julia is nine years old, she's raised by an unassuming, gentle father and a saintly, matriarchal grandmother until her father dies just as Julia is becoming a young adult.
On the cusp of womanhood, Julia feels jaded by her circumstances and longs for a new identity. College seems like the perfect place to start over. But when Julia makes a mistake that will change her life forever, she returns to her grandmother's farm, defeated and convinced of her own worthlessness. Only through the gentle prodding of her loving grandmother does Julia begin to accept the imprint her childhood has left on her life and look for hope in a loving God who longs to make all things new.

If I had read the description a little more carefully, I would have seen that this was Christian fiction. Despite being a Christian and liking fiction...Christian fiction just really isn't my thing. The first half of the book caught my attention, it was a basic coming of age story with hardship and unrequited love and all the teary angsty stuff I enjoy but with a dollop of faith discussion that was just right. But then the second half of the book, the preaching began taking first place and the story seemed neglected to second place and it all fell apart for me. It wasn't that it was bad, it's just not what I would choose. I have heard that this is the first book in a trilogy, I may grab the second if it come sup as a freebie on my Kindle list, I am curious how things are going to turn out. If there is a next time, I will be going in knowing what to expect and thus will be in the proper mind set to enjoy it for what it is rather than what I wish it could be.


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Click on the logo to see my progress towards the 2012 A to Z Reading Challenge hosted by Strawberry Splash Reviews.