Books for Christian Girls: "Journey's End" by Renee Ryan

About this book:

“Having grown up on the mean streets of nineteenth-century London, Caroline St. James is used to fighting to survive. So when her beloved mother―abandoned and ignored by her wealthy family―suddenly dies, the scrappy twenty-two-year-old devises a plan to right this terrible wrong. With nothing to lose, she sails to New York to find the man who turned a cold shoulder to her mother’s suffering: Caroline’s grandfather. To settle the family score, Caroline infiltrates her grandfather’s privileged world, hoping to sabotage his business from the inside. But as she sets her plot in motion, she meets Jackson Montgomery, a virtuous man who is struggling to recover from a family scandal of his own. As their friendship grows, and Caroline begins to piece together the motives that led her family to turn its back, she is forced to make a decision: Should she risk everything in the name of justice? Or can she look toward the future and let love and forgiveness guide her instead?”

Series: Book #1 in the “Gilded Promises” trilogy.

Spiritual Content- Scriptures are remembered & quoted; Prayers & Thanking God; Talks about God & the Prodigal Son (a woman says she hates that story, but she’s missing the important part of it); 'H's are capital when referring to God; Caroline says she’s given up on prayer & thinks God has abandoned her (and calls Him a “vengeful, distant presence that allowed flagrant injustices in the world”; though she does yearning for having the faith others have and towards the end starts changing her thoughts on God); Caroline calls her friend naïve for being in God; Caroline decides that a good time to pray is when she feels attracted to Jackson; Mentions of God, faiths, & forgiveness; Mentions of prayers, praying, praising God, & thanking God; Mentions of Bibles & Bible reading; Mentions of those in the Bible (David, Samson, & the Prodigal Son); Mentions of Christian & their Christian duties; Mentions of blessings & being Blessed; Mentions of sins;
*Note: A couple mentions of evil.

Negative Content- Minor cussing including: Two ‘stupid’s; A couple mentions of curses (said, not written); Lies & Lying (and stretching the truth, done by Caroline); Caroline is determined to seek justice or revenge for her mother (she’s not sure which); Caroline tries to hit Jackson (who has her cornered) & later grabs a woman who grabbed her hair; Mentions of deaths & a murder; Mentions of gangs, crimes, criminals, jail, thieves, stealing, & pickpocketing; Mentions of gambling, gaming tables, & card games (for money, Caroline used to play and fleece others); Mentions of gossip & rumors; Mentions of hatred; Mentions of grieving (for a mother, for a daughter); A few mentions of wars; A few mentions of seeing someone threatened physically (up to semi-detailed); A few mentions of jealousy; A few mentions of drinking & alcohol; A couple mentions of blood; A couple mentions of cigars & smoking; A mention of an abduction; A mention of cheating;
             *Note: Caroline feels like she’s been abandoned (by her mother, by her family, and by God) & thinks she’s all alone.

Sexual Content- A (semi-detailed) hand kiss, two almost (semi-detailed) kisses, two barely-above-not-detailed kisses, five semi-detailed kisses, and two detailed kisses; Remembering kisses & almost kisses (up to semi-detailed); Wanting to kiss (up to semi-detailed); Touches, Nearness, Embraces, Dancing, Warmth, Shivers, & Smelling (up to semi-detailed); Blushes; Lots of Noticing (up to semi-detailed); Jackson is almost engaged to a woman and starts feeling concerned what he doesn’t feel passion for her (after meeting Caroline) & tries to keep his thoughts only on the original woman (as he feels like Caroline is tempting him); Caroline tells Jackson she has other dresses to wear in case he wants to kiss her and if her dress gets wrinkled; A young woman tells Caroline that she wants to be swept away by a man and passion; Two ‘harlot’s; Mentions of a married man running off with his sister-in-law & the man embracing his flesh; Mentions of a young woman running off with a man to get married; Mentions of temptations (Jackson thinks of Caroline as a temptation and rousing the wrong emotions) & passion; Mentions of kisses, kissing, & almost kisses; Mentions of reputations & a couple being alone together in her bedroom (Caroline & Jackson, but nothing happens besides a kiss); A few mentions of a wife becoming bitter and hating all men after her husband’s affair; A few mentions of jealousy; A couple mentions of adultery; A couple mentions of prostitutes & a mother having to turn to “other more horrible pursuits” to be able to feed herself and her daughter; A mention of some women might not minding a “little rule-breaking every now and again, especially in the areas of kissing and…whatnot”; A mention of a man’s possible “love child” (illegitimate child); A mention of a maid possibly receiving requests from male guests that were unpleasant; Love, falling in love, & the emotions;
             *Note: Caroline wonders what it would be like to be loved unconditionally; Jackson, Caroline, & another man are determined to not have love be a part of their marriages as they’ve each had unsetting events in their pasts; Caroline calls Jackson her “rock” towards the end.

-Caroline St. James, age 22
-Jackson Montgomery, around age 28
                                P.O.V. switches between them
                                            Set in 1901
336 pages

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Pre Teens-

New Teens-

Early High School Teens-

Older High School Teens-

My personal Rating-

Despite really being interested in this book, I did have a bit of a hard time getting into it. I’m not sure if it was my tired brain, the writing style, or a mix of both, but I didn’t get stuck into this plot like I was expecting.

Caroline & Jackson were basically instantly attracted to each other (which I’m not typically a fan of), but when identities are revealed, it turns into almost an enemies-to-more trope. This book really highlighted why I’m not a fan of that trope, I kept thinking, “if they would just hurry up and realize how good they are for each other, they would be an unstoppable team!” I want the cute, giggle-worthy romance, not the going back-and-forth about not falling for someone because of whatever their flimsy reasoning is.

That trope also added in more sexual tension and this story definitely had more than I prefer to read, which lowered the ratings for BFCG’s target ages.

It was…interesting in a way because Jackson (when reading in Caroline’s POV) came across as almost a brute or aggressive masculine in a (I hate to say it) predator (as in cat and mouse) way. I honestly didn’t find him romantic in that point of view. But then in his point of view, he’s aware of something he had said coming across the wrong way and just honestly feels sometimes like a different person? It was odd. So their romance wasn’t that romantic to me because of those reasons and how he kept getting into her personal space.

See y’all on Monday with a new review!