Now and Always Yours

by Anita Stansfield

Greg’s feet suddenly became very heavy, and his head very light as he stood and watched the opening of the bars that had kept him separated from the world. . . . If not for the knowledge that his sister would be waiting outside to take him home—and that he had two children at home waiting for him—he might have preferred to turn around and ask to stay. And so begins a new chapter in Greg’s life, which includes the daunting tasks of earning the trust and respect of his teen-aged children, finding meaningful employment in a society that doesn’t always take kindly to those who have “served time,” and daring to believe in love with its miracles of healing and forgiveness. And Greg has no illusions about conquering these hurdles. However, with the support of a devoted sister and her extended family, and the unexpected gift of a uniquely charming and brave woman’s love . . . it all just might happen. In this utterly captivating novel, bestselling author Anita Stansfield achieves a satisfying balance of romance, humor, and deep glimpses into the human heart and soul. It is a story that resonates with emotional truths that will linger long after the last page is turned.

Genres: Romance, Contemporary, Lds Fiction, Fiction, Adult

272 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 1, 2016

About the author

Anita Stansfield, the LDS market's #1 best-selling romance novelist, is an imaginative and prolific writer whose romantic stories have captivated her readers.

"With sales approaching a half million, Anita Stansfield has clearly found a niche in this market," said Nicole Martin, Publicist for Covenant Communications. "Her popularity stems from her ability to empathize with and write about the issues that LDS women deal with on a daily basis."

"I always write for women like me. It's through my interaction with other women that I've found there are some personal and emotional struggles that are typical," said Anita Stansfield. "I hope my writing makes women feel better about themselves and shows them these real problems can be solved through gospel principles."

Reviews

[Spring Clark · Rating 1 out of 5]

After reading (well, skimming it mostly) this book, I want to poke my eye out. Normally, I try to be really positive about most things and rate books at least 3 stars or above, but this book tanked. Reading it was like reading a to do list travelogue with a bunch of psycho babble thrown in.

A sample of my own making, so you get the style of the book -

"We decided to go the store to buy food. When we got to the store, we walked down all the aisles to fill our basket. Just as we were about to check out, we realized that we had forgotten to get some canned pears. So we went to the canned goods aisle to find the pears. Lisa was also shopping on that aisle. Seeing her made us realize that we still had lingering emotions regarding the items we had discussed about her ordeal the day before. We greeted her kindly, but quickly left to check out. After the checker rang up all our items and we paid, we pushed our cart to our car and loaded all the food into the trunk. As we drove home, we began to discuss in detail our lingering emotions about Lisa and how seeing her in the store made us feel...."

Do you get the idea? It is a hard read. I've liked other books by Anita Stansfield, but I just don't think I'm going to read any more of her books.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

It got a little repetitive for me but it was a quick read and everyone lived happily ever after.

[Jessica Van Tassell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Judge you if you may but sometimes there is nothing better than a cheesy LDS romance book that you read till late in the night. Completely unrealistic but still enjoyable.

[Kimberly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was an amazing read. I didn't want it to end. I wanted to give it 5 stars, but there were formatting problems and editing and proofreading mistakes as well. As much as I wanted to, I just couldn't give the book 5 stars.

This book is about redemption. Greg Turney has been in prison for the last 6 years for a crime he never committed, his so-called friends framed him for their crime. The only crime he DID commit was being high and having a large amount of street drugs on him when he was arrested, which made it look like he had the intent to a deal drugs. Greg was so high when he was arrested, he didn't understand what he was being charged for until he was sentenced.

His children, Neal and Jeanie were left in the custody of their abusive, neglectful mother. She could hardly feed and take care of herself, let alone a 7 and 9 year old. Greg had been divorced from her for several years, but knowing his kids were suffering and that he was in no position to help them destroyed him. Greg begged his sister, Shannon, a high powered single attorney, to get custody of his children on behalf of their sakes and her brother's as well. Shannon works in a prestigious in a prestigious law firm in the city, she had no qualms about quitting, dropping everything, and moving elsewhere for her family.

Getting released early for his good behavior and devoting his life to G-D, Greg is more afraid now than he was when he first went to prison. He hasn't seen his kids in years, the only communication he's had with them is their weekly phone calls and the letters they've exchanged over the years. He's scared and excited to see them. He knows that it will be a long road to rebuilding a relationship with them again, and he owes it to his sister and her new husband.

The only thing he didn't expect were the hurdles he encounters. Finding a job, meeting a beautiful woman a not feeling good enough for her, and not knowing where you stand in your children's life. Are you now Uncle Greg because your sister's husband has been their "father" all these years??

This book is a MUST READ!!!

**Was given an ARC by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review**

[Anna · Rating 2 out of 5]

I used to really enjoy Stansfield and perhaps it is just my mood that made this one less pleasurable to read for me. I still liked her characters and cared about what happened to them and the plot was a good one, but I was disappointed in the execution. There was so much exposition here and it was so repetitive, constantly talking about how wonderful such and such character was and how grateful some one was for them and the blessings of their life, that I skimmed much of the book. Other quibbles I had were the insistence, by everyone but Greg, that he had not changed but had always been a great guy, just confused, which coupled with the attitude to BK and to Celia's family made it seem that the author does not really believe a person can change. I also really did not like how the situation with Celia's family was handled. And, finally, I felt the whole story and especially the romance between Celia and Greg was rushed.

[Catherine · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wondered if I might be in the minority in what I was thinking about this book, so I read some reviews before posting mine. It turns out a lot of people were thinking along the same lines I was. While I wish that family conversations could be as picture perfect as the ones in this book, it just didn't feel true to life. It wasn't that their lives were perfect - they definitely had difficulties they had to work through, some major ones even. I just couldn't really envision most scenarios going down the way they did in this novel. I will just say this...I watch Hallmark movies consistently,(and love them) so if I think something is too cheesy, then that is saying something. This book was full of cheese.

[Anne · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like Anita’s books a lot. But this was not a very good book for me. It seemed to be one big therapy session. Trying to help people solve all problems In their life. The people were not realistic to me. How lucky the family is that they get along and can sit down and talk things out. Just seemed a little unbelievable to me.

[Stacy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have not ready anything by Anita Stansfield in a while. This book was well written, and had likable characters. It was an interesting story, following a man coming back to his family after he leaves prison. And, it had a good ending.

[Teresa · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was an interesting story. Some of it was too repetitive and sappy. It's a book I will only read once.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good

[Jodie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good story. Typical Anita Stansfield book. A lot of glossing over on some parts. Some of it so not believable.

[Betty Ann Baer · Rating 1 out of 5]

Someone else must be writing her books. They just go on and on saying the same thing over and over. Two people had a difficult life while growing up and this is explained over and over.

[Rebecca Dean · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel like Stansfield did a lot of research with a counselor so she could write the details of these characters struggles. Interesting story

[Angieluila Bradley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good story. I want to read the second one.

[Marcy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Darling story! I enjoyed!

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great characters and a pretty good sequel.

[Marcie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked Anita Stansfield’s older books. Haven’t read one in years so thought I’d try her books again. This one was pretty slow and hard to trudge through. Did lots of skimming.

[Adree · Rating 3 out of 5]

The storyline was cute and followed a typical happily ever after format. I felt like there were several parts that were repetitive and kind of tedious to get through.

[Michelle Llewellyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

The sequel to Legally and Lawfully Yours this is, unfortunately, another mundane read by this author. Dull and ordinary, set in a fictional town with characters whose everyday actions hardly make for an interesting story. The narration is very wordy. The obligatory dialogue, spoken by these flat characters who do not change and grow as a result of their easily resolvable conflicts, makes this a very fast read. There is no violence and the romance never goes anywhere beyond kissing. (Actually, it never goes anywhere!)
In a nutshell.
Told in third person limited, recently released from prison, Greg Turney, brother of Shannon who has custody of his two children, is faced with the decision of what he should do with this second chance at life. After serving his time, Greg has emerged a devout, Bible-reading, God fearing, changed man with no desire to resume his drug dealing past. His sister has agreed to take him in. His kids have no problem letting their biological father back into their lives.
He just landed himself a respectable food service job (not at Baskin-Robbins) so he can support himself.
Maybe he'll ask Shannon's slightly overweight secretary with major self-image issues, to marry him. That should solve everything. In the meantime, everyone will continue to keep the Sabbath day holy without any mention of what religion this family follows.
The entire novel seems overly manipulated.
Once a best-selling LDS romance author of the nineties, Anita Stansfield's entertaining style of storytelling has lost all its sparkle and humor, her recent writing resembling fanfiction rather than the original, inspired tales of page-turning romance we couldn't wait to purchase and stay up all night reading.

[The Flipped Page (Susan K) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was given a copy in exchange for a fair and honest review.
Romance, clean; Christian.
This is more of a 3.5 for me as a reader, but I rounded up, because the redemption story struck a chord with me. While this is a romance, it is also a redemption story, and a story of the meaning of forgiveness. Greg's life journey after being released from prison, is made easier by the kind and tender watch care of his sister and her husband, Shannon and Phillip. They have raised his children while he was in prison. While the prison sentence is a background to this story, Greg's assimilation back into society isn't smooth. He has to find work, and his criminal background prevents that from going smoothly. He wants to work on his relationship with his children, who have had other parents than him for most of their lives. He wants happiness and companionship and when he meets C., and is attracted to her, he doesn't feel worthy of anyone's affections without gainful employment, and of course, with the past that is anything but stellar.
Greg's journey was not without pain, and not without mistakes or disappointments. It was a lovely picture of learning, communicating, and family that was beautiful to read for that reason.
Celia's story was intermingled with Greg's. Her family pain, and healing with courage, and hope, was again, painful, but hopeful with the courage and confidence she develops over the course of the novel. A journey of life and hope, with a HEA in the mix.
Again, not perfect for me as a reader, but it was still a worthwhile journey to read for the redemption.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Now and Always Yours, by Anita Stansfield, is an amazing book about family, starting over and keeping faith. This is the first book I've read by this author, and I was pleasantly surprised by just how much I enjoyed reading it. This is the continuing story of the characters from Legally and Lawfully Yours, but can easily be read as a stand-alone book.

The story is about Shannon and her brother Greg. Greg has just been paroled, and has no idea what the future has in store for him. The only thing he does know for sure is that he needs to reconnect with his children and find a job. Greg soon finds out both will be a lot harder than he expected. Shannon is excited to finally have Greg out of prison, and brings him home to live with her, her husband Phillip, and their two children, and also Greg's children. Shannon is an amazing sister to Greg, and is very supportive while he is trying to rebuild his life. Then there is Celia, a friend of Shannon's, and when Greg meets her, the chemistry is undeniable.

I loved reading about this family, especially the journey of Greg trying to get back a normal life. The bond between Shannon and Greg is genuine, and believable. I felt the author did a great job in the development of the characters, and loved how family played such an important role in this story. I would definitely recommend reading this book!

I received a digital copy of this book from Covenant Communications and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Emilee · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a review done by my sister, Tiffany...

I was excited to read “Now and Always Yours” because I had just finished the first book “Legally and Lawfully Yours!” This is a heartfelt novel, continuing the story of Shannon and her brother Greg, who recently gets out of prison and is ready to start over as a dad and face the daunting realities of life.

Here’s a portion from the novel that captivated my attention: Greg’s feet suddenly became very heavy and his head very light as he stood and watched the opening of the bars that had kept him separated from the world.…
If not for the knowledge that his sister would be waiting outside to take him home and that he had two children at home waiting for him he might have preferred to turn around and ask to stay.

And so begins a new chapter in Greg’s life, which includes the tasks of earning the trust and respect of his teen-aged children, finding meaningful employment in a society that doesn’t always take kindly to those who have served time, and daring to believe in love, with its miracles of healing and forgiveness.

I enjoyed reading this book and couldn’t put it down for two days! I’m confident readers will be satisfied with this engaging balance of romance, heartache, emotional truths, and humor. You won’t be disappointed!

[Cathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't not like this book. But I'm not really sure that there was anything about it that set it apart from the rest of the clean romances. One little thing that was different about it was that one of the main characters, Greg, was an ex-convict trying to show the world around him that he isn't the same man that went into the prison in the first place. I thought that Greg was a good character, he did seem real. I liked that Greg was Shannon's brother from Legally and Lawfully Yours, it's always fun to see what the characters from other books are doing later in time.
I thought that the whole premise of the book was good. Greg, just trying to do the best he could as a dad, uncle and member of society finds love with a great young woman who is also trying to do the best that she can. It just seemed as though the writing of the book didn't have a whole lot of emotion in it. I wanted to care about the characters but I had kind of a hard time doing that with the wordy way that some of the parts were written.
This is a clean romance that while having a great deal of promise seemed to fall a bit flat for me. If you're a fan of Anita Stansfield, you'll probably enjoy it regardless.

I was sent a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Tracy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have read Anita Stansfield's books before and have really enjoyed them. This book felt forced somehow, like she decided on a hard subject about a dysfunctional family and kept trying to show how someone could overcome the odds. While I believe that is possible, this book made it all seem easy. Even the obstacles the characters had to face seemed forced. I guess I should mention that this is a sequel to Legally and Lawfully Yours, which I did not know about and had not read. Maybe I would have loved and understood the characters more with that background. The main character in this book is Greg, who had a terrible family life, jumped into a worse marriage, had two children, then got sent to jail for drug use. Now he's getting out of prison and facing the consequences of his actions. His sister, Shannon, has custody of his children and he goes to live with them. He's trying to adjust to living with a criminal record, not being the one responsible for his children, fear of committing to marriage again, and trying to overcome the past. These are all tough issues, but I'm returning to my stance that everything feels forced: the situations, the characters, the problems, the resolutions.

[Charissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a spin-off of Legally and Lawfully Yours, but is a stand-alone book. I didn’t read the first one, but that didn’t detract from this one (although it might have added some dimension to the characters if I had). Greg was imprisoned on drug charges and has missed a lot of his children’s lives as he served his time. Now he has just been released and his sister—Shannon—and her husband, Phillip (from book 1) take him in and support him as he gets his feet under him again and makes a good life for himself. This was an intriguing story line—the getting out of prison and how life is afterward for an ex-con. Rough. The romance between Greg and Celia is pretty sweet. They both have lots of insecurities (his with his rough past and her with an emotionally abusive father who always made her feel fat and ugly). Stansfield’s books always take on hard issues that educate me as I read. I liked the characters and plot. She’s a good writer and covers a lot of material in each of her books. This was no different.

*I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.

[Heidi · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was not a fan of this book. I finished it, but on more than one occasion I considered not. I started skimming sections because it dragged and frustrated me. They were all so emotionally healthy and perfect. No one ever said the wrong thing or had an emotional reaction. It was like a role play activity for teaching a counseling session, and it started to grate on my nerves a bit. It made it boring and very unrealistic. People are not that perfect and problems as big as their's do not get resolved so easily and perfectly. I did not know it was sequel and so I didn't read the first book. Maybe that would have affected my opinion or reaction to this one, but honestly everything happened so precisely and predictably, it did not matter at all that I didn't read the previous story.

[Kathryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book really resonated with me as many of Anita's books do. This is the continuing story of Shannon meadows, Neal, and Jeanne, her niece and nephew who she rescued from an abusive mother, when her brother, greg was sent to prison.
Greg is now out on parole and working to become a responsible father and member of society. He is working through the emotions of his absence in his kids life as well as the self doubt at his ability to change.
Some might find the counseling talk too much, with moving forward past emotional trauma to a healing place, but it was very realistic.

[Marisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I want to thank Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in return for an honest review.

I was happily surprised with the quality of writing it just flowed for me all the way through, the story was based on redemption and family love and prosperity of family, it had great characters built and the storyline was engaging for a Christian Fiction.

[Lacey · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ugh. I'm not sure why I continually think I will enjoy books by Anita Stansfield. Her earlier books I really did enjoy. This one though, I think has convinced me that I truly don't know if I will read another one. The story made me cringe, so many times. It was really unbelievable at how understanding everyone was, and no one was ever annoyed with one another.

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't even have to read this story to know where it would end up. NOTHING was a surprise. In fact, this could easily have been added to the first book to round it out a little---but then they wouldn't be able to sell another book. I keep hoping Ms Standfield will write more books like her earlier work, but I keep being disappointed! I may just have to stop reading her books altogether.