I wonder how many of us have or are reading this recently released book? I heard about it from my sister who discovered the audio books in her area had 900+ people waiting for it. Suddenly people in our reading groups were talking about it. The self-published edition released in 2023. The mass market edition released in October 2025.
Another first time author has made a HUGE hit. You will find several interviews with Allen Levi to watch on the internet. Not surprised he was able to get one of the most famous book agaents to market his book.
God is truly using this story to connect with those who do not believe in God. This story easily connects with all four parts of my church's mission: love, grow, serve, go.
Your thoughts and experience with this book?
Comments
It's hard to imagine anyone who comes to this web site not liking that book.
I totally agree and am so looking forward to the sequel, Ellen of Golden. He also wrote a memoir about his brother, who died of brain cancer. I plan to read that as well.
Does it not bother anyone about all the cursing and taking God''s name in vain in this book.
I noticed the foul language as well and opted not to place it in our church library since we have mostly very conservative readers. It's a clever story but I wasn't as impressed by it as some. Maybe because I had read so many glowing reviews my expectations were too high. I found myself wanting to skip to the end and find out how Theo ended up in Golden instead of wading through all the details.
I didn't notice a lot of profanity and certainly nothing really terrible. It's rated a 2/5 for mild profanity, so definitely in the PG range. As far as taking God's name in vain, this was done by the characters who did not have faith. I think it illustrates what people do. While I would have preferred it not be there, or that it were more directly expressed as not appropriate by other characters, I understand why it was used the way it was.
Yes -- it's the Big book, currently. Our Book Club, The Novel Bunch, will read it for our May book and I look forward to reading it soon & the discussion that we'll have the first week of June.
Thank you for this! I had not heard of it until recently but just assumed it wasn't appropriate for a church library. Good to hear otherwise--I'll go ahead and purchase it to preview since the waiitng list at my local library is ridiculously long. ;)
I appreciate the book idea. I'm just starting a revitalization of our church library and need some adult fiction that will be appropriate. This book sounds lovely.
My husband and I both loved this book! It is extremely well wrttten, with rich characters and settings. I thought the author did a great job tying in gospel truth at the end. Overall it was a beautiful read and I will be adding it to our libary's collection.
I just finished the book on Kindle (I highlighted 53 passages!) I loved it so much. It has such a great message of kindness. I was reading it for a book club I'm in. We meet next week to discuss it.
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