A House Full of Hope is sweet category romance from Love Inspired. No suspense, just the straight-foward romance novel, which usually leaves me wanting a bit more depth. But I found this story well crafted with great backstory that led into internal character conflicts and moved the plot forward through a series of incidents that drew the hero and heroine closer together. Actually, I recommend this book as a decent study of how to write category romance.
Mark Ryker returns to his hometown to make peace with his dad after a fifteen year silence. His dad isn't interested in forgiveness. But Mark meets Hannah Hughes, once the pesky little sister of a girl he dated in high school. Oops, Mark's wild ways had led the sister into a life-long addiction to alcohol … so Hannah isn't interested in forgiving Mark either. Toss in Hannah's mom who is held captive by a spiritual bitterness bondage, and we have a whole lot of Christians not willing to forgive the new Christian (Mark) who is attempting to obey God by returning to his home town. I guess you can tell who had my empathy.
But once Hannah got on board and realized Mark had no ulterior motives, my emotions engaged with the story, the main characters, Hannah's delightfully individual children (and dog), and the theme of forgiveness and reconciliation.
If you need reminded that money cannot buy happiness or love, you'll find A House Full of Hope just the ticket for a rainy afternoon.
