Have you ever read a book and thought … meh! It was okaaaaayy!!! Then you read it again and you devour it. You remember most of it, but it completely hits you in a different way than it did the first time. This is what happened with Argosy Junction.
I stumbled on Chautona Havig’s books Past Forward – Volume 1 and the first of the Aggie series, on Kindle under the Christian fiction freebies section. At some point early on in reading Chautona’s books, I found her website and found a chronological list of all her stories relating to the city in her mind, Rockland and its surrounding suburbs. So, I read ALL of the books, in Chronological order, even the ones I had already read. I think it took me about a year and a half, with some breaks. The breaks, if I remember, were for reading Chautona’s other non-Rockland related books. Argosy Junction is part of the line-up. Honestly, I forgot so much of it, it didn’t stick with me, like other books had. THIS time though, I loved it.
I enjoy Chautona’s romances, because few have anything to do with “electric cheese”. She digs into the real heart of matters and shines the light of the Lord’s truth into them. She’s not afraid to deal with the tough stuff, and she does not compromise. The tough stuff in this is related to the injury brought on by a cultic church that takes church discipline to its hardest extreme, puts a blight on the Lord’s name and bruises and injures people in its wake. I can’t say any more or I’ll ruin the story.
I enjoyed Patience, the little girl in this story. She seems simple of mind, but very astute in heart. She’s truly a little light of innocence and sensitivity and simple faith in the Lord. Makes me think of a song we sang when we were little:
“Jesus bids us shine with a clear, pure light.
Like a little candle burning in the night.
In this world of darkness, we will shine,
You in your small corner and I in mine!”
What I didn’t like … and this does sound very cliché, it ended so quickly. I kept swiping to see if there was more, but nope, no more. Another way you know you read a good book is, if you are looking for more!
DISCLAIMER: I received this book as a gift. The opinions I express are provided without obligation for a positive review. I receive no compensation for the review, other than a really good read.