Title: And If I Fall 2nd edition
Publisher: IAM Books
Publication date: January 12, 2018
Length: 474 pages
Reviewed by Racheal
Synopsis
Jude Connor’s rural Idaho hometown is a place of strong values and high expectations. For those who fit into the local church’s narrow confines, there’s support and fellowship. For those who don’t, there’s ostracism in this life and damnation in the next.
Jude wants desperately to be saved—to believe with the fervor of the charismatic Reverend Amos King, whose sermons are filled with brimstone and righteousness. But every time Jude thinks he’s found the right path, there’s a fork in the road, and Truth seems to be in a different direction.
As much as Jude craves the certainty the church offers, he finds himself at odds with it. Without intentionally rebelling, he befriends Pearl Thornton, considered an unrepentant heathen; he craves the support of Gregory Hart, whose church standing is questionable; and the feelings he has for his friend Tim Olsen make him fear for his own soul. But then Reverend King offers Jude sanctuary, special guidance, and a path into the Light.
Will Reverend King be able to help Jude preserve his place in heaven? Or will the reverend's own demons cause hell to swallow them both? The answer lies in Jude's willingness to follow his own path—even if it leads him far from everything he's known.
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Review
Robin Reardon is a new
author to me and I have to admit reading new authors can be a little intimidating at first. However, I was captivated
the moment I sat down and started to read this novel.
A person's views on
religion and homosexuality can be very
offsetting topic to me personally if not done in a respectful and unbias
opinion. Robin's approach to this sensitive subject with one of the boy’s journey through his younger
year into his graduation from high school was amazing.
In this town perspectives
on religion is based upon generations of teachings by pastors of their
churches. As though no one in this town ever thought to ask questions or upset
the foundation to which all beliefs were based on.
I could feel the
troubles from her character Jude as he battles
the storms within his soul! Wanting to be the perfect image of what he was told
God wanted him to be. Jude had put his trust in people only to be lied to and
left broken. He was lead away from his people because they didn't fit into the church's definition of being worthy of
God.
It made me hurt inside
for the boy he was, for the teenager he struggled to become to finally realize
that God would love him cause there was nothing wrong with the person he was. I
admire the strength of the young man he had become
to leave not only his hometown but his family in order to finally break away
from having to deny who he was.
This book was a hard
look into a strong structure of some
religions that are still practiced today.
But it gave me hope that there are also individuals that have the fight in them
to firmly believe that they were made in
God's image no matter what their sexual orientation may be.
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