Higher Hope - Robert Whitlow

This novel, set in Savannah, didn't have the hook I expected. Perhaps it's because this is Book Two in The Tides of Truth series. If I'd read Book One, Deeper Water, the characters might have grabbed my interest. I think I found myself somewhat invested in the story by Chapter Eight. The overuse of the word "was" annoyed me like a pesky fly buzzing around my head. And here's another published author who uses verbs as speaker attributes. When I'm not selling real estate, I work for a law firm. I found it hard to believe that this Christian girl, Tami, could find two Christian men (two SINGLE Christian men) working for the same firm. Most of the story seemed unrealistic to me, and the resolution in the end left me hanging in a fog of vagueness. I had no idea which of the two young men she chose, and really didn't care. Being a glass-is-half-full person, I always look for the sunshine that follows the rain. The one redeeming feature of Higher Hope is toward the end of the book when Sister Dabney explains what higher hope means: "It's hope that can't be destroyed by what happens on earth. Circumstances of life will challenge it, voices will deny it, but its walls can't be breached unless we open the gate." Absolutely true and an encouragement to me, personally. The realistic elements of the book are the subtle ways God intervenes for His purposes. God worked through the elderly lady with whom Tami lives and works as caregiver to show Tami He wants us to fellowship with Him, no matter our age or circumstances. He can heal us, as Tami saw when she visited a family friend in her home town. And He will defend His workers when we are persecuted, but it will always be in His time and His M.O. I would give this book two and a half stars. Others might enjoy it, but it didn't float my boat.