"Agape After All" by Katherine Robles

About this book:

  “When Vanessa meets Tony on a camping trip in Hickory Run State Park, she's not looking for love. She's already engaged to Collin, a man who checks everything on her list: smart, handsome, and a Christian.
    When, against Collin's wishes, she signs up for a Biblical Greek class, Tony inspires her, and a deep friendship develops between them. As she finds her voice, she begins to yearn for a different future than the one she had planned. Are her doubts just cold feet or is she about to marry the wrong man?”


Series: Book #3 in the “Romance in the Park” series. Review of Book #1 Here and Book #2 Here! Series is not connecting and can be read in any order.


Spiritual Content- A devotional at the end of the book has 1 Corinthians 13:4-5 quoted and a prayer; Scriptures are mentioned, quoted, discussed, & remembered; Prayers (including asking for a sign); Talks about God, testimonies, & Greek meanings of Scriptures;  'H's are capital when referring to God; Vanessa feels like she doesn’t have a testimony to share because of growing up in a Christian family, but Tony encourages that one of the greatest tests is the test of time; Many mentions of Greek origin words from the Bible & their meanings; Mentions of God, Jesus, & Christians; Mentions of sharing the gospel & testimonies; Mentions of Bibles, Bible reading, & Bible studies; Mentions of churches, church going, services, groups, teaching children in a ministry, & pastors; A few mentions of the Holy Spirit; A few mentions of those & events in the Bible; A couple mentions of speaking in tongues and prophesying; A couple mentions of sins; A mention of a baptism; A mention of feeling spiritually heavy because of a person.
 

Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a form of ‘dumb’, a ‘geez’, and seven ‘stupid’s; Eye rolling & Sarcasm; Vanessa says a handful of lies to her fiancé to avoid conflict with him; Mentions of lies & lying; Mentions of alcohol & a bar; Mentions of a winery (for a wedding venue); Mentions of tattoos (positively, including Vanessa and her friend teasing/talking about getting tattoos); A couple mentions of poo & needing to pee; A mention of a brain fart; 
             *Note: Vanessa’s friend asks if her fiancé laid his hands on her or assaulted her (he did not); Vanessa’s feelings get hurt by her fiancé’s words; Vanessa goes to Comicon with a friend and there’s mentions of people in cosplays of anime characters and fantasy creatures like faeries, elves, and aliens; A couple mentions of movies/TV shows that are implied but not named (Star Trek & My Big Fat Greek Wedding); A mention of Cub Scouts; A mention of a panel at convention about the “history of feminism in the fantasy genre”.
 
 
Sexual Content- A hand/fingers kiss, a forehead kiss, four cheek kisses, a not-detailed kiss, and two barely-above-not-detailed kisses; Remembering a kiss (barely-above-not-detailed); Some Touches, Embraces, & Hand holding (barely-above-not-detailed); Blushes; Noticing (not-detailed); Twelve ‘babe’s; Vanessa’s fiancé offers her a massage which she says no to because “a massage would turn to hugging would turn to kissing. Massages came with expectations”; Vanessa’s friends tell her that if she’s going to “look around” at other guys to do it before her wedding (adding “no looking after”; Vanessa is bothered by her friend joking about this, wondering if her friend meant that she thought Vanessa looked at other guys or if it means she should because Collin isn’t the best choice for her); Vanessa’s fiancé doesn’t like her to be with other guys or talk to them (thinking she will choose someone else over him or she’s talking to another guy because she’s attracted to him); Vanessa hasn’t told Collin about her friendship with Tony because she doesn’t think he would like her being friends with a guy and *Spoiler* she calls Tony to say that they can’t be friends anymore (which was her decision) to which he confesses to her about liking her and she deletes his number *End of Spoilers*; *Spoilers, but about manipulation* Vanessa realizes towards the end that Collin, her fiancé, is manipulating her because of how she tip-toes around him when she brings up another guy and has made her guilty for not doing anything wrong (as if she was capable to do some great evil thing towards him that she wasn’t aware of and she realizes he keeps her on a short leash because he was afraid); She thinks for a moment about cheating on him since she’ll earn a guilt trip from him just for talking to another guy, so she “may as well do something to deserve it”, but does not; She compares his actions to 1 Corinthians 13 and is mad that he doesn’t trust her despite her always showing him love; She tells him that she wants to break-up and he wants her to pray about it, but she knows that praying won’t change her mind because it would take an “act of God” to get him to be less self-centered and put her needs before her own; They break up and she writes unmailed letters to him to vent her emotions *End of Spoilers*; Mentions of dating, dates, boyfriends/girlfriends, break-ups, & exes; Mentions of cheating; A few mentions of Vanessa’s friend who got married to her boyfriend right out of high school because she was pregnant (she notes that this was before they were Christians); A couple mentions of being hit on; A couple mentions of cute guys; A mention of Collin being concerned about the “young studs” in a teen group following Vanessa around like puppies; Some love, & the emotions;
             *Note: Vanessa and her friend go shopping for panties and bras (her friend says that just because no one can see them doesn’t mean they have to be boring; Vanessa gets excited about it and wearing something special being like “walking around with a secret”; Vanessa tries on a few different bras in the changing room; A mention of one having a lot of support and it being “uplifting”); A mention of the words homosexual and heterosexual coming from the Greek words for “same” and “different”. 
 
-Vanessa
                               1^st person P.O.V. of Vanessa 
                                                        167 pages
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Pre Teens- 

New Teens- 

Early High School Teens- 

Older High School Teens- 

My personal Rating- 

It should be noted that I am so not a camping person. I had enough of that in my five years in American Heritage Girls, so I didn’t personally love those parts—but those that love camping will probably will like reading about it! It’s just not my thing. 

 

Based on the backcover, I was a little nervous about potential emotional cheating elements, but there wasn’t and not only was I grateful for that, it was all handled well. Vanessa realizes that she is spending too much time talking to the other guy (Tony) instead of her fiancé (Collin) and knows her fiancé wouldn’t like it, but it never crossed into her thinking anything more than Tony was just a good guy. For her, it felt like a platonic friendship and I thought so too. 

 

I have to admit that I didn’t really care for Vanessa for the first part of the book. I didn’t like how she wouldn’t communicate with her fiancé about wanting to unplug for her camping trip with her friends and was willing to lie to him about there not being time to call him when there was, she just didn’t want to call. I know their relationship was supposed to be…maybe not a red flag, but show that it’s probably not the best fit for either of them; it still bugged me though. That said, I didn’t like her with Collin either, so perhaps that was part of it. Vanessa figuring out that something was wrong about their relationship was very natural for the story and it made sense. 

 

I’ve never really been interested in the Greek language, but as a foreign language learner, I did find all of those parts interesting and I liked the joy it gave Vanessa. 

 

This plot wasn’t quite what I was expecting (and neither was that ending), but I liked it and thought it was paced well for the short length of the book. This series has been very different from the normal Christian Fiction contemporary romance book, but they’ve all had unique elements and good faith content.

 

 

See y’all on Friday with a new review! 

*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.

*I received this book for free from the Author for this honest review.

 

"Falling for Forever" by Katherine Robles

About this book:

  “Hillary needs a major change in her life. She's stifled by an entry level IT job in the Virginia suburbs and longs to move to Washington D.C. where she can make a difference in the world.
    When Javier comes to her rescue in Great Falls National Park, Hillary likes everything about him except for the gorgeous fiancé hanging on his arm. But things are not as they seem. He enlists her help to renovate a homeless shelter, and romance blossoms over paintbrushes and pipes until a career-launching opportunity arises.
    Hillary can chase her dreams, but they might cost her Javier's heart.”


Series: Book #2 in the “Romance in the Park” series. Review of Book #1 Here!


Spiritual Content- A devotional at the end of the book has 1 Thessalonians 5:15 quoted and a prayer; A handful of Scriptures are mentioned & quoted; Prayers & Thanking God; Talks about God, His plans, doing what God wants, & being significant to Him; ‘H’s are capital when referring to God; Hillary struggles with the idea of God wanting her to be at her current job because she thinks she is capable of doing so much more than that (Javier tries to talk to her about this); Hillary wrestles with a couple bitter and sarcastic thoughts about things not happening if it’s not God’s will; Hillary wants to scream to Heaven when upset; Hillary’s older sister talks to her about being significant to God; Mentions of God, listening to Him, & helping others; Mentions of prayers, praying, & blessings over food; Mentions of churches, church going, & hymns; A few mentions of those & events in the Bible; A few mentions of miracles; A few mentions of being blessed; A couple mentions of Mother Teresa; A mention of showing Christian Love; A mention of Lent; A mention of Christian music;
             *Note: Hillary lies and thinks “lying about the obvious wasn’t a sin, right?”; Hillary joins a campus ministry that organizes hikes for all the “religious groups in an effort to promote unity”; When Javier shares an upbeat attitude about something, Hillary thinks that she is “dating Dalai Lama” and adds “If your job sucks, don’t worry, you’ll reincarnate as a butterfly”; A couple mentions of Dalai Lama and reincarnation.
 

Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘crummy’, a ‘heck’, a ‘sucks’, two forms of ‘crap’, two ‘dumb’s, four ‘idiot’s, and eleven forms of ‘stupid’; Eye rolling & Sarcasm; Hillary lies a couple of times; Mentions of a civil war in Guatemala, Javier’s parents’ villages being destroyed, living in a refugee camp, and believing most of their families died; Mentions of lies, lying, & liars; A few mentions of wars & Nazis; A few mentions of a trucker having a “pee jar” (which makes Hillary wonders if it’s less gross for a guy because they “could aim” and hopes that someone created a portable seat for female truck drivers); A couple mentions of drownings; A couple mentions of a bar fight & someone being hungover; A couple mentions of a restaurant bar; A couple mentions of jealousy; A couple mentions of smoking & a pipe; A couple mentions of a mule pooping; A mention of college parties; A mention of a historical tavern; 
             *Note: Hillary struggles with the thought of being stuck in her day-to-day routine (the monotony of it) and wants more for herself (she feels this way particularly herself, but also towards her parents; She struggles to understand her parents enjoying what she thinks is a “stagnant life” and can be harsh towards them, which Javier calls her out on; *Spoiler* She realizes towards the end that Javier was right and she doesn’t treat them with the respect she should and tries to spend more time with her parents and learning their reasons for doing things; Hillary also tries to be more content with her job by the end *End of Spoiler*); A few mentions of politicians & celebrities (Thomas Jefferson, Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, & Martin Luther King Junior); A mention of NASA putting a man on the moon.
 
 
Sexual Content- A hair kiss and a border-line barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed kiss; Touches, Embraces, Hand holding, Shivers/Tingles, Nearness, & Smelling (up to semi-detailed); Noticing (including muscles, up to semi-detailed); Flirting, Winks, & Blushes; Hillary thinks that Javier is engaged but still flirting with her, and while she feels guilty for enjoying the attention, she shuts him down as she thinks he is either “the world’s sweetest man or an unfaithful rotten fiancé”; Hillary doesn’t want to be tempted further by Javier when she’s under the impression he is engaged; After Hillary realizes she didn’t have all the information about what she saw, she thinks Javier isn’t a two-timing jerk like she thought; Javier teases Hillary about playing footsies with him when their ankles accidentally touch; Mentions of dates, dating, boyfriends/girlfriends, crushes, & break-ups; Mentions of flirting; A few mentions of kisses & kissing; A few mentions of cheating & cheaters; A few mentions of Hillary not wanting to steal another woman’s man or drool on him; A mention of a couple making out; A mention of a forbidden romance (Hillary thinks about her and Javier not having one); A mention of men flocking to a gorgeous woman; A mention of a group of “hormonal young people”; A mention of a “testosterone-soaked” activity (demolition of a house); Love, falling in love, & the emotions;
             *Note: When climbing with Javier, Hillary notes that she doesn’t want to be in front of him or he will be staring at her backside, but she doesn’t want him to go first either, so they go side by side; Hillary teases her father about liking to watch baseball because of the players’ tight pants (she’s mostly kidding and tries not to think of Javier in tight baseball paints); A few mentions of butts; A mention of a woman’s “curvaceous figure”.
 
-Hillary Jacobs
                                P.O.V. of Hillary 
                                                  184 pages
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Pre Teens- 

New Teens- 

Early High School Teens- 

Older High School Teens- 

My personal Rating- 

While reading, I wished there was Javier’s POV because I think that would have been helpful to see! I was stressed about the thought of him being engaged and flirting with her, so once that’s cleared up, I enjoyed the book much more, haha! Hillary does have her moments of being prideful, but lessons are eventually learned. This was one of the few times I approved of the third-act break-up in a book because Hillary needed to figure out how important she is to God and not focus so much on what she’s missing. The ending was a bit rushed because of it, but it was overall a cute story and safe for older teens.

 

 

 

See y’all on Friday with a new review! 

*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.

*I received this book for free from the Author for this honest review.

"Whitewater Wishes" by Katherine Robles

About this book:
  “Bridget plans to spend her summer working as a white water rafting guide and studying for her beautician' s license exam. She isn' t looking for romance, and she isn' t impressed with nerdy nurse Drew when he steps into her raft. She' s looking for a strongman like the father she failed, but she finds it hard to resist Drew' s passion for life.
   As a hospital nurse, Drew loves helping people to heal, but after one of his younger patients dies, Drew feels the need to seize the day. So, he faces his fear of open water and goes white water rafting. He' s attracted to Bridget, but meeting his dream girl couldn' t have come at a worse time. His best friend is in trouble and Drew must decide how far he' s willing to go to keep his friend' s secret.
   When injury capsizes Bridget' s career, they' ll need strength beyond their own to keep their love afloat.”


Series: Book #1 in the “Romance in the Park” series. 


Spiritual Content- Scriptures are mentioned, quoted, read, & thought about; Prayers; Singing a hymn & a song; ‘H’s are capital when referring to God; Bridget volunteers at VBS; Bridget finds it hard to talk about her faith with her best friend and tries to explain to her that her faith is important especially in regards to a future husband, but her friend says that her mom is Buddhist and her dad is agnostic and “they make it work”; Later, Bridget tries to talk to her friend about God and something she learned recently, not knowing if her friend even believes in God but presses on because both Jesus and her friend are important to her; Drew is worried about talking to his friend about the friend’s serious problem when it was the friend who introduced Drew to God and going to church (*Spoiler* Though Drew thinks about Scriptures about noticing his own faults, Drew knows his friend’s marriage is in trouble and that is friend is disobeying Jesus, so Drew grabs another Christian friend to talk with him about it; They confront the friend together and he doesn’t take it well *End of Spoiler*); Mentions of God, Jesus, & the Holy Spirit; Mentions of prayers, praying, & thanking God; Mentions of churches, church going, trying to find a church, services, hymns/songs, youth groups, & VBS; Mentions of Bibles, Bible studies, books of the Bible, & events and people in the Bible; Mentions of God’s creation & being amazed by it; Mentions of sins; A mention of Heaven;
             *Note: Bridget’s friend says that a guy is “into God stuff” like her; A guy comments that another guy looks like a ghost who haunts a library (due to his pale skin).
 

Negative Content- Minor cussing including: an ‘idiot’, four ‘oh my gosh’s, and eight ‘stupid’s; Some eye rolling & Sarcasm; Pain, injuries, nearly passing out, a broken bone, a concussion, & short-term memory loss (up to semi-detailed); At their first meeting, Bridget thinks that Drew might be “on something” or high, but it turns out he is not and just sleep deprived; Drew is concerned a friend is falling back into a bad habit & wonders if he should talk to him about it or do a test to see what happens (regarding money and stealing; Drew feels guilty for thinking the worse of his friend and not believing that everything is okay; *Spoilers* The friend stole from Drew’s wallet and it’s later revealed he has a gambling addiction; It started when they went to a casino together during spring break and Drew feels guilt for being the one to suggest it (it’s recalled as being fun for a time, but Drew didn’t feel the pull that his friend did and still does, up to semi-detailed); Drew tells his friend that he needs professional help, but his friend brushes him off, though he had prior asked Drew to hold him accountable; When Drew and another friend confront the other with concern and Scripture, he doesn’t react well and is concerned that his wife will leave him if she finds out about his gambling addiction; At the end, we’re told he is in counseling and working on building trust back with his wife *End of Spoilers*); Bridget feels guilt for not being there when her father went through cancer (she was in high school and focused on everything else besides his diagnosis; *Spoiler* Towards the end she apologies to her father for being selfish and pretending that everything was okay *End of Spoiler*); *Spoiler* Bridget feels hopeless and useless after breaking her ankle and having a concussion (adding that she isn’t sure if it was depression, but she didn’t want to do anything) *End of Spoiler*; Many mentions of gambling & addictions (mostly in the latter half of the book); Mentions of the dangers of water rafting and possibly drowning; Mentions of deaths, how they happened, accidents, a broken bone and surgery, pain, injures, & blood/bleeding (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of cancer & chemotherapy (including when Bridget’s father went through chemo and patients losing their hair); Mentions of heart attacks, surgeries, pain, injuries (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of spouses leaving each other & the concern of it happening; Mentions of gambling, casinos, & an addiction to them; Mentions of lies & lying; A few mentions of death eventually coming to everyone (including examples of a virus or a car getting the person); A few mentions of alcohol, drinks, & drinking; A few mentions of throwing up; A few mentions of jealousy; A couple mentions of gossip; A couple mentions of dead pets; A mention of wars; A mention of money laundering; A mention of night clubs; A mention of eavesdropping; A mention of hunting; A mention of burping; A mention of peeing;
             *Note: Drew recalls as a child his new stepfather teasing and scaring him when they were in a canoe together (he can barely swim and was scared); Drew struggles with the feeling of disappointing his stepfather by being himself: Drew’s stepfather has ideas about what men should or should not do (they should provide and protect, but should not cook or cry; Also believes that nursing is women’s work and Drew should have became a doctor instead; Drew had to learn to listen to God’s voice rather than his stepfather’s); Bridget‘s mother left when she was young and her motto growing up about her mother was “you don’t want me, so I don’t want you”; Bridget is worried that she might be like her mom and bail on someone when times get hard (her friend encourages her that she wouldn’t do that) and wonders about her mother as they aren’t in contact; Bridget’s friend starting call her (Bridget’s) dad by his first name after turning eighteen as a joke, but it stuck; Drew breeds mealworms for his pet chameleon (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of a baseball team; A few mentions of TV Shows (Star Trek).
 
 
Sexual Content- A cheek kiss, a not-detailed kiss, and a barely-above-not-detailed kiss; Touches, Butterflies, Smelling (up to semi-detailed); Wanting to touch & embrace; Noticing (up to semi-detailed); Blushes; A co-worker flirts with Bridget (harmlessly and she doesn’t say anything because he’s handsome and it’s nice to be complimented by “someone like that”; Later she is bothered by him hanging around her and acting like her boyfriend, especially when Drew is around and trying to touch/be near her); A ‘sexy’ (Bridget calls a client’s new hairstyle “fun and sexy”); Many mentions of boyfriends, dating, dates, interest in someone, & crushes; Mentions of a flirt, flirting, winks, & blushes; Mentions of a cute guy; Mentions of jealousy; A couple mentions of married couples kissing; A mention of an affair in a TV show & the person being caught kissing another; A mention of someone teasing Bridget with a kissy face; Love, falling in love, & the emotions;
             *Note: Mentions of guys’ muscles; Mentions of butts (such as someone landing or falling on their butts); A mention of breeding & studs.
 
-Bridget Capo, age 22
-Drew Martin
                                P.O.V. switches between them 
                                                        176 pages

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Pre Teens- 

New Teens- 

Early High School Teens- 

Older High School Teens- 

My personal Rating- 

I wasn’t sure what to expect with this book, but I’m glad that I took a chance on it because it ended up being a pleasant read. I liked both Bridget and Drew, and how this was almost slice-of-life with their lives and how they meet and get to know the other. While, yes, it was a “romance book” it never felt heavy on the romance and they had other interests outside of thinking about the other. They both felt realistic and the progression of their friendship to more felt very natural and had that awkward stage. Speaking of awkward, Drew was so awkward but it was a cute, slightly doofus awkward. A nerd, you could call him—down to his pet chameleon. 

 

This book actually made me—a not-a-water fan—curious about rafting. I still don’t think I would ever do it, but being like Drew and his thoughts on boats, I was proud of him for conquering his fear. I do think that ending is a wee bit rushed, but I did really like that final chapter. 

 

I have to add that I always like seeing good faith content in the books I read, but this one had a really refreshing note because we have some pretty serious and also very important faith moments in this book. It wasn’t just the characters praying and going to church—which is great don’t get me wrong—but this book had more. More faith content and more serious discussions and keeping Christian friends accountable and witnessing to non-Christian friends, which I liked seeing. It makes me curious about the next books in the series even though it looks like those won’t be connected to this book at all.

 

 

See y’all on Friday with a new review! 

*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.

*I received this book for free from the Author for this honest review.