Faith Beyond the Trials is a novel about John Taylor and the difficulties and hardships he faces after he is arrested for driving under the influence. One of the reasons I jumped at the chance of reviewing this novel was because it has 17 5-star reviews on Amazon.
The back cover says: “…the Taylors have achieved the American dream – prestigious careers, a sprawling home in Palm Beach and exotic vacations to locations around the world. Although John and Anna’s relationship seemed to be made in heaven, a tragic death followed by an unexpected arrest puts them through the fires of hell. These stormy trials will test their confidence in God and the strength of their love. Only time will tell if their faith – and their marriage – will endure.”
First for the good: I enjoyed the story and the faith themes. The author is a lawyer so the court scenes ring true to life. I worked as a court reporter for many years, so I especially liked these scenes. The cover is professional and eye-catching. The characters, for the most part, are well-defined and believable.
His debut novel, however, needs a lot of polishing and could have used more extensive copy- editing. Adverbs are overused and there is a lot of repetitive wording. His book contains a lot of back story. Perhaps most readers aren’t critical, but as an author and editor myself, I found it hard to ignore the writing flaws.
The bottom line, however, is that I enjoyed the story and faith themes, despite the flaws.
Copyright 2012 Ellen Gable Hrkach
Ellen, thank you for this review. I found your comments on the need for more copy-editing very interesting. Because you edited my manuscript, I am now very aware of the value of good editing and it is more noticeable to me when books haven’t been professionally or properly edited. Btw, I’ve sorted out some of my manuscript problems. You made me think carefully! Probably this comment needs some editing with its poor sentence construction but I am writing on my tablet and changes take more time than when I’m using my laptop! God bless!
You’re welcome, Sue and thanks for commenting! Your comment is fine!
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Great review, Ellen. It’s probably just me, but i really appreciate reviews from “real” (or should I say, published) authors like yourself. It carries a litte more weight in my eyes because authors who have gone through the ardous task of writing and publishing a book know all that’s involved and can review a book a little more objectively.
Thanks so much, Carol!