What Happens Next in Christian Fiction Devourers

Jan 01, 2023 Maureen Timerman rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2023

I love books by this author and this did not disappoint. From beginning to end the pages flew as I looked for answers.

A read that is told from several points of view and is melded together beautifully.

One glorious summer three young kids, one boy and two girls, spend as much time as possible together. Faith is visiting her Grandmother for the summer, and becomes best friends with Heather, but shortly after Faith has gone to her new home, Heather turns up missing.

Thirty six years later a mother i ...more

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Oct 08, 2024 Kate rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Whew! This one definitely makes you feel 'all the feels'.
I was very quickly drawn into the story of Heather's disappearance and the questions that persisted 36 years later. I think the use of 3 points of view helped tell the story in a way that would not have been possible otherwise . . . though Faith was the main character, we needed both Heather's 1986 perspective, as well as her mother Dora's present day thoughts to really understand the layers of what was happening in both time frames beyond ...more

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May 15, 2023 Kelly-Ann ~ Sassy Bookish Mama rated it it was amazing

Shelves: on-my-shelves, reviewed-on-my-blog

WOW... this book had be enthralled from the very first page. It was like a Dateline Cold Case show but in book form. Let's see if I can tell you about this book without giving it away...

First of all this is my very first book by this author and I was completely impressed. The characters are so real and believable. They can truly be your next door neighbors type of familiarity. The story is being told in three different perspectives but you can follow easily and not get lost. We see the story thr ...more

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Feb 11, 2023 Susan Faloon rated it it was amazing

Shelves: kindle, mystery, netgalley, dual-time-periods, fiction, cold-case, multiple-narrators, missing-person

"...people don't want to get too close to a family that's experienced this kind of tragedy. It makes it too real, like it could happen to them." Dora, mother of a missing child.

This to me is a powerful story. First and foremost, on an emotional level, this is a story about grief. I recognize it. I'm living in it, grief, that is. The author has captured grief in this work. There are as many kinds of grief as there are many types of reaction to it. Agony, fear, anger, ruined lives, deep encompass ...more

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Oct 16, 2022 Iola rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2022-read, 2022-new-author

True crime podcaster and mother Faith Byrne is newly and unhappily divorced. She’s even less happy when her ex wants to take her two daughters to Hawaii for the three whole months of summer, not just the short holiday she’s originally agreed so they could attend their father’s wedding.

But that does mean she’s free and unencumbered when she gets a strange request from the sister of a childhood best friend. Back when she was ten, she’d spent a summer at her grandmother’s house in Deep Valley, Oreg True crime podcaster and mother Faith Byrne is newly and unhappily divorced. She’s even less happy when her ex wants to take her two daughters to Hawaii for the three whole months of summer, not just the short holiday she’s originally agreed so they could attend their father’s wedding.

But that does mean she’s free and unencumbered when she gets a strange request from the sister of a childhood best friend. Back when she was ten, she’d spent a summer at her grandmother’s house in Deep Valley, Oregon, where she’d befriended Heather, the girl next door.

Despite their promises to write, Heather never replied to any of Faith’s letters. Now Faith finds out why: Heather disappeared a matter of days after Faith left Deep Valley. And her parents never told her.

That got me hooked. The story itself was told from three points of view: Faith, Dori (Heather’s mother, who is still grieving for her lost daughter and can’t understand why everyone else – including her husband – has moved on), and Heather herself, from 1986.

We therefore saw Health and Faith becoming friends at the same time as we saw Faith searching for her lost friend. It was an effective way to unravel the mystery and show Faith’s investigation.

While I enjoy a good crime novel, I’m not a fan of true crime novels (or nonfiction). True crime has real victims, and I’d much rather engage my imagination with make-believe than dwell on something that actually happened to someone … and which left behind mourning family and friends.

I think this is why I liked and appreciated Faith’s take on true crime: because she wasn’t focusing on the crime. She was focusing on the people. Her listeners expected stories of hope and healing, of people who fought through loss to come out stronger and still maintaining compassion and wholeness.

I’d describe What Happens Next as dual timeline women’s fiction with a touch of mystery. We did find out what happened to Heather, although I didn’t think the mystery was the main focus. It was more a story of relationships, particularly marriage, and grief.

Recommended for those who enjoy well-written novels with great characters.

Thanks to Bethany House and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review. ...more

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Jan 30, 2023 Valerie HappiestWhileReading rated it it was amazing

One of the best novels I've read in 2023 is What Happens Next by Christina Suzann Nelson. Set primarily in present day Oregon, a considerable portion of the novel is written in flashbacks. The story is told by three characters: Faith, our main character and a popular true crime podcast host; Heather, her best friend in the summer of 1987; and Dora/Mrs. Crane, Heather's mother.

Ten-year-old Heather disappeared on a summer day in 1987 with no trace of her in the past 36 years. Dora has been devasta ...more

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Jan 19, 2023 Melmo2610 rated it it was amazing

This was a phenomenal read! The mystery of this one was super compelling, and I couldn't put it down. I HAD to know what happened to Heather all those years ago. The back and forth point of views between Faith and Heather's mom Dora made the story even more real and relatable. A simply great story. This one is not to be missed!

I received a copy of this book from the publisher as well as purchasing my own audio copy. I was not required to post a positive review. All thoughts are my own. ...more

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Oct 30, 2024 Amanda rated it really liked it

I had trouble putting this one down! Kids can be so demanding wanting things like dinner. 😂
Seriously I am so glad I found this book. It was not perfect but I really enjoyed it. I would have liked more background on Nathan. His story is only hinted at. There are also a couple of things mentioned that are never brought back up or not fully explained.
The hints are just enough that you can guess who is involved with the disappearance but it did have me guessing on some of the details till they were ...more

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Oct 31, 2023 Loraine rated it it was amazing

This was really good. Even though the story bounced between two separate time and 3 different POV’s it was done well.

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Aug 02, 2024 Janet rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

yes 5 stars

I don’t often give 5 stars and I sat with it a while before doing so.

This is a GREAT read. It held my interest, it made me think, made me go “who”?, wanted to be there that summer, and the list goes on.

What can I read by her next?

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