Interrupted ~ Life Beyond Words by Rachel Coker ~ review

• Reading level: Ages 15 and up
• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Zondervan (March 6, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0310729734
• ISBN-13: 978-031072973

Publication Date: March 6, 2012

Can love really heal all things? If Sam Carroll hadn't shown up, she might have been able to get to her mother in time. Instead, Allie Everly finds herself at a funeral, mourning the loss of her beloved mother. She is dealt another blow when, a few hours later, she is sent from Tennessee to Maine to become the daughter of Miss Beatrice Lovell, a prim woman with a faith Allie cannot accept. Poetry and letters written to her mother become the only things keeping Allie's heart from hardening completely. But then Sam arrives for the summer, and with him comes many confusing emotions, both toward him and the people around her. As World War II looms, Allie will be forced to decide whether hanging on to the past is worth losing her chance to be loved.

My take on this book:

For the last six years it had just been Allie and her mother, but her mother is suffering with a brain tumor. When her mother dies just  days after Allie's fourteenth birthday everything that Allie knows changes. How does she handle all of the changes taking  place in her life? Will she ever be happy again?

I love historical fiction and with "Interrupted" the author easily pulled me back in to the 1940's.From the beginning pages I was completely drawn into the story. Allie was to young to shoulder the responsibility of taking care of her mother, but they only had each other so that's what she did. Allie's character was so easy to connect with.  I could  understand why she felt the way she did, but I also kept hoping that she would realize that by pushing people away she was only hurting herself more.She was very good at guarding her heart, shielding herself from further loss.I thought the relationship that slowly blossomed between her and Sam was very well done, and while I enjoyed the ending of the story, I do wish that we could have been given a few more chapters, because I hated to see the story end.

Overall, a great coming of age story with characters that kept me reading, and a plot that has a bit of mystery, and romance as well as emotional turmoil that also provides a christian message that is very well done. I look forward to reading more from this talented author.

A complimentary copy of this book was provided in exchange for an honest review.