BOOK REVIEW: A GATEWAY TO HOPE BY E.C. JACKSON

RATING: 📚📚📚📚📚

I would like to start by saying this is a Christian romance novel. Christian romance is not everyone’s cup of tea, including mine. I am just now getting into romance. I am more of a dark romance girlie. The things I love to read about or my idea of romance would make you clutch your pearls and have me committed. With that being said, I liked it.

Another thing I liked, this book has a character guide. Ya’ll know I love a good reference guide.

Ya’ll, for a Christian book this pissed me off a lot. Now I know it may seem like I get mad a lot while reading (great thing when a book can make you feel something), but that’s my strongest emotion. I’ve looked at the emotion wheel (or whatever it is called) and it all comes back to anger. I’m sure there is an underlying reason for that, but that’s for another day.

This book consists of the Copelys and the Laceys. Of all the family members, I only liked two. James Copely and Nikhol “Neka” Lacey are our main characters. Even though I liked them, I was cursing them out most of the damn book. Their families got on my nerves so bad. You know the type, always trying to pressure marriage and relationship on the single folk. I hate that so much.

James Copely has been giving an ultimatum, get married or lose his seat in the family business. Apparently, you aren’t a real man until you’re married, yet marrying someone you don’t want seems to make you one. Make it make sense. Unfortunately, all his siblings are married, which only adds to the pressure. Teri, the fiancee, decides to leave James. A smart decision. I just don’t believe in marrying someone you don’t love, or being forced to marry just to gain something. It’s wrong on so many levels.

Neka Lacey is young. She is shy, awkward, and her faith is strong. Her faith is one of my favorite things about her. I love how she always wants to help others, but I don’t like how she sometimes seems to crawl within herself. Almost like she is dimming her own light to make someone else’s brighter. I don’t like that. Turns out James’ fiancee (ex-finacee) is friends with her older sister. So, she knew Teri planned to end the engagement with James. Being that James is her friend, she warned him and decided to fly out with him in place of Teri.

Prayer and scriptures are all throughout the book. It’s a lot of sound advice in this book, and it’s romantic James and Neka’s journey. I was against it at first, and I thought Neka was dumb and naive without a backbone. James was no better, because he craved his family’s approval so badly he would comply with their demands. They grew up differently and saw the world in different ways. I didn’t think it would work. I also couldn’t get over the whole pressuring your kid to be this way or that way. I don’t agree with manipulating kids or giving ultimatums.

My mom is the youngest, and she has five siblings. All her siblings are married, and my mom has never been married. She grew up in a two parent household, and her and my aunt and uncles all have the same parents. My mom was never pressured or forced to feel bad for not being married. I am 32 and I don’t want to get married. I have married friends, and I’ve seen what marriage looks like from multiple sources. I don’t want it. Those with a strong, healthy marriage, kudos, I’ve yet to see one.

This book shows what a relationship looks like or can be when you have a strong foundation through Christ. Is Christian romance a genre I’m going to pursue reading on my own? No. I did, however, enjoy this series a lot.

E. C. Jackson began her writing career with the full-length play Pajama Party. Thirty-one years later, she adapted the play into Pajama Party: The Story, a companion book to the second book in the five-book standalone Hope series.

Jackson’s favorite pastime is reading fiction. She enjoys taking the journey along with the characters in the books. That also led to her unorthodox approach to story writing. Her vision for each book she writes is to immerse readers into the storyline so they become connected with each character.

“The Write Way: A Real Slice of Life” is the slogan on her Facebook author page. She feels that if every person reading her books feels connected to the characters, her job is done.