Friends, this book wrung me out. So much so, I’m going to warn you about my rambling review. There was so much to digest and ruminate on. Finding Evergreen is definitely one read that left me with a book hangover.

In My Opinion

While I’m a fan of romance reads (and Hallmark movies and chick flicks), I’m also well aware that life continues past the first kiss, past the proposal, past the wedding.

In a market saturated with Happily Ever Afters and even Happy for Nows, writing about the pain and heartache of real life takes courage on the author’s part. Life is messy, filled with disappointments, disagreements, and pain. Especially during the first year of marriage where two people are struggling to learn to merge their lives. Add in a faster child with a chip on her shoulder and messy becomes chaotic.

In Finding Evergreen, Jennifer Rodewald takes readers into that difficult, tremulous time after the honeymoon and shines a light on the challenge and work relationships that last take.

Brandi and Ethan both have hang ups they haven’t dealt with. They each bring issues into their marriage which are compounded by their internalization and failure to communicate.

Yet God does His best work in us when we are broken. When we have nothing left to give of ourselves, He steps in and shapes the clay into the vessel He intended.

Bravo to Rodewald for taking the hard road. For writing character who are hard and unlikable at times but real and human. Characters who make mistakes and fall on their faces. Because there is no better place to be than on our faces before God.

Finding Evergreen is a reminder that people don’t live their entire lives on the mountaintop or in the euphoria of falling in love. There are dark valleys along the journey that require a tooth-and-nail fight to climb out of. Taking that journey with Ethan and Brandi is incredibly emotional, moving, and so worth the trip.

Disclosure statement:
I receive complimentary books from publishers, publicists, and/or authors, including NetGalley. I am not required to write positive reviews. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255. 

About the Book

He thought he’d found the thrill of his life; she, the romance she’d hadn’t dared to hope for. Falling in love had been easy. Being married? Totally different story. 

Married within a year of meeting, Ethan and Brandi add a foster daughter to their newly established family. Their story is enchanting—inspiring. Except when the fairytale fails. The stresses of unmet expectations and wounds from their pasts knife into their marriage, severing what they believed would be forever. 

Hope for a broken marriage. Healing for their wounded spirits. It would take both to find evergreen. Are they brave enough to try?

Amazon // Goodreads