I like to see inspirational stories where people are led to examine their faith and their walk. I was also pleased to see nods to mentoring and outreach as a method of demonstrating Christ's love for us. Good book. I only did a couple of oops type notes. ( )

Joan has felt overshadowed by her two sisters for quite some time. She longs to have a relationship. Her gets her hopes up when a handsome single young doctor moves in next door. After a few bumps in the road they find their way to each other.
Other themes include:
Keeping an elderly family member at home vs. an assisted living facility
Sibling rivalry
Self Esteem
Comparing different types of church worship
Finding peace with God and past life struggles.

The main thing I had trouble with in this book was the treatment of a more traditional church in comparison with a more contemporary one. The traditional church was portrayed as stodgy and something that is out of touch with the times. While I don't deny that some may be this way, I didn't like the generalization implied here.

I probably will not continue with this trilogy. ( )

I really enjoyed the book until the end. I feel like the ending is missing. ( )

This was a really cute comic little love story. I love Ken and Joan and Joans sisters Tori and Allie and Grandma, you just got to love. A cute read. ( )

Joan is the middle (and boring) sister. She manages a furniture store and worries about her sisters and her grandmother. She seems only to be in her early 20s but acts and dresses like she is about 50. When a "hunky" new doctor moves in next door she becomes transformed to a man-eater. She seems to be completely desperate for a man, any man. When her sister also shows an interest she becomes even more competitive.

The second theme of the book is that Joan has a Christian life which is about church attendance rather than showing the power of God in her life. She finds herself challenged about this by some visiting missionaries but also by Ken, the doctor next door, who has a different view of these things than Joan has. She becomes involved in doing good deeds in the community.

The first problem with this book is that the two themes outlined above don't seem to mesh well. Joan behaves very badly in pursuit of a man and also very thoughtfully in looking to have a more challenging Christian life. Is this a romance or a spiritual book ? My answer would be that it isn't either - it is a bit of a mess.

I also found the good works done by the church group to be patronising in the extreme (doing good TO people, rather than talking to them about what they want and doing it WITH them). This part of the book made me cringe. The doctor was too handsome and spiritual to be true - and certainly too perfect to be attractive. Joan's spiritual crisis exposed how shallow she was but didn't really seem to change her at all. I really do not want to comment about God being asked to prove his existence by providing chocolate ice-cream !

I thought this book had a few good/funny moments but they were obliterated by the Christian preaching, the over-perfect hero and Joan's appalling behaviour when attracted by a man. I will not bother seeking out the sequels. ( )