AUTHOR: JoAnn Durgin
DATE: 2016
STARS: *****
Catherine ("Caty") Lewis is thrilled to be home again with her family and friends. After working as a chief accountant for a multinational oil corporation in Dallas and then Lubbock the past five years, she’s been transferred to their new world headquarters in downtown Houston. Before she can even inhabit her new office, she schedules a private meeting with the reclusive founder and CEO. Someone in her division appears to be embezzling funds, and Caty prays she’s not the prime suspect.
After suffering a deeply personal loss, Caleb Reid is struggling to raise his precocious twelve-year-old daughter, Lauren, on his own. He moved to Houston for a fresh start and to escape the threats that have plagued him the past few years. Then quickly discovers he can’t outrun them.
When these two meet, romantic sparks fly. Caty stares down fear with the kind of strong faith Caleb has neglected along the way. Can he risk endangering Caty in his fight against an unseen threat? Have the walls he’s built around him and his daughter served to protect them or to keep others from getting too close to his heart?
The theme verse for Abide is John 15:4, “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.” Abide. Relax. Rest in the grace of Jesus Christ and bear fruit. What a beautiful beginning!
Caty’s inability to live up to her middle name, Grace, endeared her to me immediately. The fact that she is spunky, brave, and honorable solidified my admiration within the first few pages.
Caleb’s reclusiveness created an aura of mystery in his widespread companies, but Caty manages to breach his personal defenses with sparkling dialogue and candor. His daughter, Lauren, captured my heart with her precocious ways and understandable loneliness.
Abide is the best kind of romance. While entertaining and thrilling me, it touched my heart and my soul with God’s truth and grace. I love this story and give it and its author, JoAnn Durgin, five stars. Highly recommended!
Disclaimer: I was given a copy of this book by a dear friend and was in no way compensated for this review.