Unforgiven Launch Week: Happy Launch Day!
Redemption isn’t free.
Guilty of countless crimes, Vladislav Genkin is desperate to find forgiveness. Violence has long scarred his soul, and his sins push him to Grace Baptist Church to confront Nikolai Alexandrov, one of his victims. Yet Nikolai’s forgiveness brings Vlad no peace, and against Vlad’s will, he’s drawn into the circle of the church and Nikolai’s dangerous past.
Katya Voronova rebuilt her life from the shambles of a long-ago divorce, and Vlad’s appearance leaves her shaken and besieged by memories better left untouched. Yet she is drawn into the rising danger, and Vlad’s past becomes more apparent—and unforgivable.
As the past finally catches up to Vlad and Katya, will they find the forgiveness they crave—and will they discover that grace has already accomplished it?
A novel is a conglomeration of all an author has dreamed, feared, experienced, and imagined—and all that the Lord has pressed upon a Christian author’s heart. When I first wrote Unforgiven, I did not understand so truly and deeply what the themes of this book ought to be. I simply wrote as the story came to me and set it aside when it ended.
Last year, I set out to edit this book—to publish it during the summer after I’d graduated university and before I presumably got a full-time teaching gig. And yet those plans came to naught. I have never been in such a drought of being able to work on a story, and I had to fully stop. I had to rest and surrender to the reality that God’s Will wasn’t mine in the timing for Unforgiven. (And that’s a lesson in itself for the rest of life.)
But as the year rolled on after that summer, the truths within Unforgiven became buried more deeply in my heart by God’s grace. Tears and prayer and hard emotions and doubts and pleas usually come along with some of the greatest growth in our Christian walks … read some of the Psalms if you don’t believe me. 
And then God brought me to this summer, changed from the author I’d been the year before. Perhaps I wasn’t improved—or even at the same level—of writer that I’d been when I’d published Untold in 2022. Maybe I didn’t have the same writing chops I’d once had when stories flowed so freely.
But truth, praise God, was more deeply anchored in my heart—and I knew what Unforgiven had to say.
Vlad Genkin was a character I initially never would’ve pinned as an MC—not until my dear sister, Kristina, suggested I write a book about him. He was a complete scumbag when he first appeared in Unworthy, even threatening poor Evgeny Yurlov. (How dare anyone try to harm my Evgeny.) And when we get to Untold, the depths of his crimes become more apparent through Nick’s soul-deep suffering.
Vlad had committed great crimes against countless people (even against other MCs) … how could this character ever be redeemed?
Katya Voronova had very little background in the series, other than being mentioned in Untold a couple of times. She had no dreadful past mentioned, but she had a hidden past—one with Vlad. A divorce had separated them years earlier, and Katya’s conviction led her to never remarry—leaving her hopelessly single, childless, and grudge-bearing against Vlad.
And the only hope for either of these characters—and for me and you—is the Gospel of our Lord Jesus.
Vlad, in all his sin, could never atone for his wrongs. He could never suffer or beg enough for redemption.
Katya, in all her discontent and unforgiveness, could never rescue herself.
Yet Jesus could rescue each of these characters, and I promise you that if you come to Him, He can rescue you. He can fully and graciously forgive every sin, for He is the great Sin-bearer, the Atonement for our sins. He became a curse for us that we might be blessed, and by His stripes we are healed. By faith in Him, we are saved from all our transgressions—even the ones that condemn us unforgiveable. His grace is sufficient for us.
And those of you who are mired in unforgiveness and discontent … Jesus can teach you forgiveness. He will teach you to forgive your enemies and to love those who persecute you. He will satisfy you with His love, His goodness, His protection, His care, and His deep and abiding affection that is never moved by your failures.
No matter your trials or sins or anything in your life … Jesus is greater, and I promise that He is able to deliver you. Call upon Him, and He will save you.
Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench: he shall bring forth judgment unto truth. He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth: and the isles shall wait for his law.
