Tuesday, May 14, 2019

"Surrendered" by Jennifer Sienes Book Tour and GiveAway

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About the Book

  Book:
Genre: Christian Fiction, Contemporary Women’s Fiction, Romance
Release Date: April 30, 2019   Surrendered Cover
Her father’s will is clear; do what he demands, or lose everything, including guardianship of her younger sister. But there’s a force at work–an evil set on destroying her and her sister. If only she knew whether the enigmatic man helping them is friend–or deadly foe… After the reading of her father’s will, Tess O’Shay’s panic attacks return. In death, Sean O’Shay is attempting to accomplish what he couldn’t do in life—force Tess to finish her education, a dream she abandoned after being raped on campus. Unless she complies with her father’s wishes, she will lose all claim to the only home she’s ever known as well as to the family business. Worse, she’ll have to give up guardianship of her younger sister to Jake Holland, a secretive man fleeing from his past. Fine! She’ll show Jake and her father. She’ll muster whatever meager energy and strength she has, get her degree, and keep what matters most to her. No matter what. Then the man who assaulted her reappears, shattering what little strength she has left. Now she must dig deep to find the remnants of her mustard-seed faith…because that’s the only way she can face the past and right a wrong in order to secure the future.
Click here to purchase your copy.
"Surrendered" by Jennifer Sienes is a book that I want to say I liked but I have to be honest and say I have much emotions about, because well the surprising ending really made me cry. I wish I could say why but to do so would be a spoiled alert. I mean I understand the reasoning behind the plot set up but it still feels cruel to me.

I know this book is fiction but it hits to close to home for me right now and my "real life" cannot be changed. But since the book is fiction and such a good story and the ending was perfect for the characters in this story I am giving it 5 stars.

My favorite quote from the book " Life's not fair, ...But we're not promised fairness. At
least not here on earth. You can't take every hard knock and throw it back in God's face. It doesn't work that way." ....."I have to believe in God's promises. Until you're ready to see things from His perspective, you'll never receive them.". These few sentences really spoke to my heart because it made me really ponder what it meant and then I realized it was saying to me personally that God keeps His promises because He knows all and worked all things to my good because He knows everything and He knows things I never will.

This book has plenty of sarcastic wit in between the pages.

This book also deals with the subject of rape, not the actual rape but the efforts of keeping it a secret for ten years. Is seems all the characters but two in this novel have secrets.

The characters in this really pull at this reader's heartstrings. This reader was really cheering  these characters on and wanting them to end up happy ever after. I have no idea if this happens are not because this book is part of a series but does not end in a cliff hanger. And even if you don't read the other books after they are available, this book is enjoyable as a standalone.

I recommend this book with this warning, read this book, I think you will like it, but beware of it not being a light and funny read.

I was given a complimentary copy by the author and Celebrate Lit. These opinions are my own.


About the Author
Jennifer SiennesJennifer Sienes holds a degree in both psychology and education but discovered life-experience is the best teacher. She loves Jesus, writing and romance and puts it altogether in inspirational contemporary fiction. California born and raised, she recently took a step of faith with her real-life hero and relocated to Tennessee.

More from Jennifer

Since I was twelve years old, I’ve been writing stories. I even wrote fan-fiction before it was a thing—a Happy Days episode, which I’m sure dates me. I took every creative writing class I could, starting in high school, and even declared journalism as my college major until I realized I like fiction a whole lot more than truth, because I can create the characters any way I like.
Tess O’Shay, the main character in Surrendered, came by way of accident. She was a minor character in my first novel (which will be the last published in the series) and my critique group loved her. They wanted to know if she would have more scenes. She did not. In fact, she was deleted with the rewrites. But I couldn’t get her out of my mind—it was like she’d become a real person and refused to be ignored. I loved writing Surrendered because Tess O’Shay and Jake Holland ran away with the story and it was everything I could do to keep up.
The first two novels I wrote were inspired by actual events—my brother’s suicide in the first and my daughter’s near-fatal car accident in the second. These are dark themes, yet I wanted to present them with humor and hope—both of which have gotten me through some tough circumstances. I strive to create characters my readers can connect with—three-dimensional and human—but also fall in love with. I think the best books are those that leave us wanting more.

Blog Stops

Genesis 5020, May 6
Emily Yager, May 10

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Jennifer is giving away a grand prize of a $25 Amazon gift card!!
Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter. https://promosimple.com/ps/e1c0/surrendered-celebration-tour-giveaway

5 comments:

Jennifer Sienes said...

Thank you for your review. My heart goes out to you, as it sounds as if this novel hit some sore spots. My prayer is that this book gives hope of redemption even in the hard stuff of life. I appreciate your honesty.

Caryl Kane said...

Debbie, Thank you for the wonderful review.

Debbie P said...

This book sounds like a good and very interesting read.

Marisela Zuniga said...

Thank you for sharing your review, this book sounds really good

Rose-Marie said...

It does sound like a good book, and from what I've heard, some people do put requirements in their wills that can try to control people forever in ways that causes them grief to no end.