Unanswered Prayers

Crystal Creek #21

by Penny Richards

THE TEST OF A MARRIAGE

Eva Carmichael was talented, beautiful…the girl everyone believed most likely to succeed. When she left her hometown for a new life, she never expected to one day find herself alone and pregnant, her world in ashes.

But the Lord never closes a door without opening a window…. For years the young minister Howard Blake have loved Eva from afar. Now he offered to marry her. But Eva had never imagined herself as a minister's wife. And even if they survived the small-town gossips, could their marriage ever grow into the light of love?

Welcome to Love Inspired™—stories that will lift your spirits and gladden your heart. Meet men and women facing the challenges of today's world and learning important lessons about life, faith and love.

Genres: Love Inspired, Christian Romance

247 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published September 23, 1994

About the author

Penny Richards also wrote romance novels under the pseudonym of Bay Matthews, and as Sandi Shane with the writer Sandra Canfield.

Reviews

[Alice · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a lovely book this was, quite an unusual plot and it was exactly what I was looking for, what a touching love story between the Reverend and the pregnant failed actress that he had been hopelessly and secretly in love with for most his life. What a wonderful man he was, I'm half in love with him myself, and Eva was a good character also that had good development and learned from her mistakes and became worthy of a man as wonderful as Howard.
That's all i really wanted to say, I recommend this book.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Okay, first of all, the beginning of this story threw me through a loop!!! It starts out with Maggie and Rio. Tragedy strikes and Maggie admits to her parents that she's losing her faith. Through a series of flashbacks, Maggie's parents tell her the story of their 'forced' marriage and some of the mistakes they made - how they had to lean on each other through their tragedies. So be aware that the main story is actually a story within a story, and Maggie and Rio's story is just as important! But, I must admit that my favorite was Howard and Eva's story. I laughed so hard at times, and at others I cried.

I will warn you that this isn't your typical Love Inspired book. It's very different. There are two curse words in this book, a few violent scenes, and several mentions of 'sex.' With that said, I will say that these things served to make the story that much better. the curse words were only said to make the scenes more realistic. The other stuff made the story more realistic and really added to the story! I loved, loved, loved how the last flashback scene ended! It made me cry!!!

And while reading this book, it almost sounds like there was a book that preceeded this one...I would be curios to know if there is!

[Sheri · Rating 3 out of 5]

My grade: C+. This is two stories in one. At first I thought I'd downloaded the wrong book and looked back at a review which reassured me I hadn't. The story description doesn't even hint at that.

I enjoyed both Howard and Eva's story and Rio and Maggie's story. It was interesting how the author flipped back and forth between the past and the present and made it work. The only thing I wanted was for the author to have gone deeper into Howard's character. He was nearly too good to be true and we didn't really learn why he loved Eva so much (he'd just loved her since they were children) or how he got such a strong, unshakable faith (no possible explanation other than that he was a preacher's kid). How exactly does a teenage crush turn into a love so strong that it stands up to harsh adversity?

I did like the stories and all the characters, The medical parts were very well done and accurate. I just wanted a little more depth than I got.