I love parallel storylines so was excited to follow along with Jordan's real life and also get to live in the fictional world that she was creating on paper with the college class that she was teaching, but there were a lot of things that annoyed me about this book.
First of all, this fictional world just didn't make sense. This "ambassador" shows up and has no idea who he is or what he's meant to do in this world, and all of the people he meets recognize him as a newcomer, but he's treated like royalty, for which, through most of the book, there's no explanation. This man goes to work in a game manufacturing business that is described as a factory, but you get the impression these games are technologically advanced, but one particular scene makes it seem like they are slot machines.
These world-building issues are ones that might be relative. I'm all for leaving some things a mystery until the end of the book, but there has to be some balance so that your reader isn't shaking their head in confusion and losing interest.
There are also a lot of contradictions in this novel. In the fictional world, William creates a game called "Good Things Come to Those Who Wait," but the way in which he stumbles on the idea or knowledge of how to create this game was by opening a door to a room that he was told not to enter.
These are just tiny things compared to what's going on in the real world. Jordan's son is a college student who is struggling with alcohol abuse. Because this is a faith-based novel, alcoholism is like the worst possible thing that could happen to this kid, in his parent's eyes. They completely freak and discuss taking him to a therapist. At first, Jordan doesn't want to take him because she's worried that needing psychological help will make him feel that he's broken. But then, while sitting in the waiting room of the therapist's office, she has an internal dialogue that the therapist can take as long as he needs "repairing her son."
This touched a major nerve with me because I know many, many people (including myself) who have been treated as "others" in the Christian circle when dealing with mental illness. It's as if only non-Christians or people who are struggling with their faith could possibly have thoughts that are anything but sunshine and roses. It bothered me that it was only when there was an outward symptom of this kid's pain (the alcoholism) that the parents woke up and realized someone deeper was going on. Even then, he was a sinner for drinking, not someone who was struggling with a mental illness trying to cope.
I've read many faith-based novels that let the theme of religion float through the plot and they are wonderful books, but this felt forced the entire way through. It's fine to have characters who practice some kind of faith in your story, but when you get preachy about it and only highlight what is wrong with your non-faith characters is when it becomes annoying and this one crossed that line for me. I had high hopes for this book because I enjoyed Hunt's writing and the plot was intriguing, but overall, it fell short.