Kelly Irvin

What a heartrending story encompassing the hard subjects of a cancer diagnosis, divorce, estrangement, and spiritual questioning.
The characters and situations came across as very realistic. I applaud the author for using her own cancer experience to enlighten her audience. She truly has made lemonade out of lemons.
Forgiveness is a big theme as was getting your priorities straight, living in the moment and actively loving your family. It was told in several voices. Kristen was an oncologist show more who wholeheartedly gave to her patients. But she learned that she could not do enough when the patient was her sister, Sherri. The story showed how cancer affects the whole extended family, not just the person with the diagnosis.
Recommended for fans of women’s fiction.
*i received a complimentary copy of this book from Thomas Nelson through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.* show less

Henrietta, or Hen for short, is all spunk and sass, preferring to be outside with the animals than inside the home like other Amish women. Hen knows she’s different and she’s perfectly fine with that assessment, but sadly her father, Bishop Miller, does not agree. There is always a struggle between father and daughter as he begins to force Hen to be more domesticated. The problem is her heart is with the animals, and this struggle between father and daughter is heartbreaking to witness, show more especially with how harsh her father’s words can be.

My heart really went out to Hen. As a woman who has always hated to cook and do “woman things” and all been ridiculed for my choices, I bonded with her plight. My heart too has always lied elsewhere and the craving to be accepted for yourself is real. I am so glad that Hen was able to overcome and find a balance that would lead to a lifetime of happiness and man who accepted her for who she is.

Vet assistant Nicholas Byler has recently moved to the community and is struggling with his own issues. Not only is Nicholas trying to further his veterinary career, but he is also caring for a grandparent that is suffering from dementia. Hen and Nicholas have a rocky start to their relationship but eventually see one another not only in their shared passion for animals but also in the struggle, and what I love is that the growth of their relationship felt so natural. It’s not hard to see why their admiration for one another was a slower burn.

The ending was so sweet and very earned. Over the course of the story, I connected with both Hen and Nicholas and loved seeing them both get the own happily-ever-afters. Faith, family, and the power of love and acceptance flourish in A Daughter’s Choice, and I enjoyed this literary journey.

*I have voluntarily reviewed a copy of this book which I received from the author/publisher. All views and opinions expressed are completely honest, and my own. show less

This read was so good!! Hard--but good.

It was my first foray into this author's books; I'd seen her name before, but hadn't picked up one of her books until now as those I'd seen were primarily Amish-themed, and I'd ODed on those back in the 2000s, sad to say. (That might change given how much I enjoyed this--granted non-Amish--one; Irvin is quite a talented writer!)

Irvin juggled three narrators seamlessly here, and I particularly enjoyed that she included the husband of one of the sisters show more as a narrator. It added gravitas, a fresh perspective, and uniqueness one doesn't see too often in the multiple-narrator format.

Faith is woven throughout the read, as is the amount of research Irvin obviously did (which I learned in the afterword was in large part due to her own cancer diagnosis/experience--saaaad). Working in the healthcare industry myself, though not having much (any) oncology exposure, I was particularly interested and invested, and learned a lot. (And I felt suitably chastised for not having scheduled one of those joyous routine medical procedures available to women "of a certain age" whose ranks I recently joined, lol. )

Really, really well done, and thought-provoking. As ever, timely to read around the holidays, a time I often spend at least to some degree in reflection about life, where I'm at now and where I'd like to be, and the people and things that really matter.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. show less

*I was given a copy of the book for review. This does not affect my review. This review is voluntary.*

I... Somehow, I expected to be writing this review, and yet it still kind of frustrates me at the same time. I just kept hoping that somehow I would connect more with this one, or that there would be a sudden twist, but for me it just didn't fit well.

I will admit right now that I have never read anything from Kelly Irvin, but knowing she mostly only writes Amish fiction I probably would not show more have picked this one up had I not agreed to do my best to read and review it. At the time, I had not idea about the author or content, in which case I would have normally declined.

Don't get me wrong, the story was good, and there is definitely an audience that would likely love this one, it just wasn't me... I'll try to break down the pros and cons without spoilers, but there might be slight spoilers just because this is a mystery, so fair warning.

Pros -

Normally I enjoy starting with the positive things about a book, especially in a review, but I'll also try to be fair and keep the negatives as concise as possible too, more so since many are just personal pet peeve type things that likely wouldn't both most readers.

Characters -
Hunter (Nash): Already off to a bad start...I'm sorry! I honestly didn't care for many of the characters, they were just not working for me. Many of them came off as flat or just highly unlikeable, often both. Hunter was one exception. From the moment we meet the ex-con parolee we see something the others lacked, a refreshing appreciation for life and that includes caring for others around him as well. He love his mom, his friends, and Laney. Always Laney. But he's also willing to do the work and go the extra mile to prove it. Hunter is strong and confident, but also willing to say he messed up, to take credit and to make things right if needed.

That's something that many of the characters seemed to really struggle with in this one, so it was all the more refreshing to see this big tough guy taking initiate on that front. I also loved seeing him with Delaney. While she wasn't always the easiest to love, he stood by her and never gave up. Even knowing that he might never win her back, he was still willing to risk his life to protect her and to finally get to the bottom of Corey's murder.

While I enjoyed his character, it could also be seem as obsessive or even slightly pushy...Which I also couldn't really disagree with, this could have easily gone that was too, and it seems only his newly found Faith in Christ prevented this drive to solve the crime that saw him locked away for nearly a decade from taking a nasty turn... Still, as far as this story goes, I appreciate Hunter's role in this crazy cast of characters.

Delaney:
I had a sort of love/hate relationship with Laney, but overall I thought she fit will with Hunter, and provided an interesting counter-balance or alternate perspective in the story. This was more apparent when the mystery began to unravel.

Her stubborn insistence on doing things on her own (while I'd normally appreciate and respect this seeing what all she's been through, but I felt it was more the 'how' she did it and the way it was portrayed in the story) was grating at times, but also added to the story when in the times it did pay off and she was able to find a new lead. The story was overall painfully slow at times, so this new threads added a bit of excitement as the book goes along.

Mystery:
I didn't love the mystery, but it was interesting to see how the various parts were inter-connected. I wish the suspense level was a bit high or at least that the action and story would have moved a little faster. I'm always down for a good high-stakes fast-paced action story, more so in a Romantic Suspense read, but this one read much slower than I'd expected. It wasn't bad, and did build up to a fairly fast-paced conclusion, but much of the story seemed to just be that...a slow build to the end.

As a mystery read, while I guessed something was off about the guilty party early on, that's not unusual for me, and I did find it interesting seeing how the characters slowly worked toward the conclusion that something was off there as well. Seeing how the different clues began to paint a picture all their own.

Cons -
Pacing:
I mentioned that the book was slow? I ended up putting it down a few times, then picking it up a few days later after finishing some of my other reads. I did end up reading it in a few sitting once I hit a certain point, around 20% in or so? Still, even then it seemed to be longer than necessary, having some scenes that didn't even really seem to add to the story at all and came off more as 'filler' scenes.

They didn't take away from the story, and were often on the shorter side, but they also didn't really add much either. This along with the already medium to slow pace made it difficult to get into the story in places.

Content -
Drugs and Alcohol Use:
This alone would have been on thing that made me DNF the story early on had it not been important to finish it. The opening scenes involved heavy drug use, liberal amounts of alcohol, and gore...I'll touch on that in a moment.

While Hunter has since stopped using, and Delaney seems to have as well since her brother's death, it's still a big part of their story, and plays a good sized role in the book. If this weren't a Christian book by a supposed Christian publishing house, I might not even care. I also wouldn't have picked it up, but that's another issue.

There's a lot of talk about drug dealers, gangs, drug lords, etc. As in, it seems every other character is either a user, a dealer, or a former user... That's quite a lot for a 'clean' Christian book, no? And the same goes for drinking. There's even a mention that a character or two were actually strippers, and she only stopped after being injured in some type of accident? (A car wreck I assumed, but it was mostly glossed over.) What? How is that even relevant?! News flash, aside from the heavy drug/drinking scene, it isn't relevant at all to the story.

Violence:
Okay, so I get that 'suspense' or thriller reads often include a certain level of necessary or expected violence, and I'm fine with that. I actually don't normally mind violence in action stories, knowing that it is even unavoidable in some stories.

That's not what bothered me about this one... Sure there was a couple mentions of shooting, and even mentions of stabbings. Both murder victims were also stabbed to death, but the level of detail in the description was overly gruesome I felt for a 'Christian' story, and whole unneeded.

While the descriptions are brief, they still made me uncomfortable to read at times. It was likely more the word choice and style of the story, but it just felt darker and more vividly portrayed in this one. From the start of the book I was able to visualize the story...some of those images I would have rather not been able to see in such detail, haha.

Miscellaneous:
For those who care, there was also some light cussing and at least two places where they words were cut off after the first letter...yet still easily guessed and I would have preferred if they had been skipped entirely, as again they add nothing and are not needed.

The only thing that really makes this a 'Christian' book is Hunter's faith and work with a local preacher with at risk teens who he's trying to help, and the mention of God liberally sprinkled throughout. It's not really a bit theme in the story, there's no 'come to Jesus' moments, no miracle or anything that makes the content and plot itself Christian. It's a loose fit to the genre, and so long as the reader doesn't mind the random mentions of God, the story can just as well be enjoyed be secular readers, and might even fit better in that circle in some ways.

Overall, the story was good, and did offer the story promised in the blurb. Still, I had hoped for something more, and sadly, I've realizing more and more that I'm not a good fit for the big 'Traditional' publishing houses, Christian or otherwise. They seem to have a specific audience and demographic in mind, and I'm clearly not part of it. Regardless, I can see this one being well received and even potentially a best-seller in the right circles. I can see this one doing well with fans of romance and who enjoy their Romantic Suspense more of a chick-lit thriller type that is light on the God moments. I've seen others really enjoying Trust Me by Kelly Irvin, and it is an interesting read. If it sounds like something you would enjoy, go ahead and give it a try! show less