Thursday, December 10, 2020

The Confident Hope

Is there hope for this love between friends?

Pamela Hayes is a smart, successful business owner with a supportive family and a thriving bakery. She should be the happiest girl in the world. But she can’t shake the melancholy that accompanies every conversation she has with her best friend, Mark. Pamela doesn’t know how much longer she can hide her true feelings.

Why can’t Mark see how perfect they would be together? She would make a much better girlfriend than the one he currently has. Pamela prays he’ll come to his senses soon and realize he’s with the wrong girl. But when her dream comes true, it isn’t the fantasy she had envisioned.

There is trouble in paradise from the start, and all the red flags she’s been ignoring are starting to threaten her confidence…and her relationship with Mark. She’ll have to rely on family and her faith in God to help her secure the hope she so desperately needs.

My thoughts: I enjoyed this story and the hidden gems that readers can take away and apply to ones own life and marriage. I loved getting to know Pamela and Mark, and especially could relate to Pamela with working in a bakery! I could relate to some of the mistakes that they made along the way, and especially liked how this book shows that our childhood and past experiences can color the way we look at situations in a relationship.
This is an excellent book to pick up and enjoy!

I received this book from Celebrate Lit. This is my honest review and is in no way influenced by receiving a complimentary copy.

Purchase a copy here! This post contains affiliate links.

About the Author

E.C. Jackson began her writing career with the full-length play Pajama Party. For three and a half years she published the Confidence in Life newsletter for Alpha Production Ministries, in addition to writing tracts and devotionals. Teaching a women’s Bible study at her church for eleven years naturally led to her current endeavor of writing inspirational romance novels and teen and young adult fiction. Her mission: spiritual maturity in the body of Christ through fiction.

“The Write Way: A Real Slice of Life” is the slogan on my website and Facebook author page. If every person reading my book feels connected to the characters, my job is done.

More from E.C. Jackson

When I started writing The Confident Hope, I had an idea of the general story and little else. The only thing concrete was the book’s title and the main characters’ names. Which isn’t surprising. I develop my storylines by letting the characters take me where they will.

As I stared at the computer monitor, I suddenly knew how to begin. Once I had that idea, the first chapter came into focus; then, once again, the words trickled onto the page.

I then had to answer the questions that would direct the story. “Who are Pam and Mark?” and “Why is their story important to tell?” Unfortunately, Pam’s and Mark’s lives mimic what happens to us all. Our hopes and dreams either live or die. Each decision the characters made highlighted who they are and how they chose to handle their seeming successes and defeats.

They could rejoice over obvious successes. Become prideful. Or fail to recognize those blessings. The couple could thank God that some of their aspirations failed. Or pray that the ones they self-fulfilled wouldn’t bankrupt their lives.

Writing about Pam and Mark matured me in numerous avenues. That is what I most treasured about these beloved characters. Viewing their lives added substance to my own during the two years I worked on their story.

“Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed.”

That scripture fed my heart through each trial I faced when penning my fourth book of the standalone hope series. Writing about these cherished characters increased my faith in God’s victorious hand.