Review: "Travelers Rest" by Ann Tatlock

Reviewed by *Katie McCurdy for Legacy of a Writer

3/5 Stars

THE BOOK:

A YOUNG WOMAN determined to honor her commitment...

AN INJURED SOLDIER convinced life is no longer worth living...

A RETIRED DOCTOR certain it's too late to be forgiven...

Jane Morrow has a dilemma. She's engaged to Seth Ballantine, a member of the National Guard's 30th Heavy Brigade Combat Team, and he's returned from Iraq severely wounded. Jane hasn't seen him for nearly a year, and with trepidation, she heads to the VA hospital in Asheville, North Carolina, where he is being treated.

Seth isn't happy to see her. He'd asked her not to come. He wants to end the relationship. But Jane loves him, and despite his injury, she's determined to convince him that they can have a life together. Her faith has never been strong, yet she hopes God will answer her prayers and tell her what to do.

Beautifully written, Travelers Rest takes readers on a journey through pain and tragedy to a place of hope and redemption.

MY REVIEW:

Having only read one other book by Ann Tatlock in the past, I wasn’t quite sure what Travelers Rest would be like. But one thing I knew for sure—it would be moving and emotional. And that is exactly what it turned out to be!

In one day, with one phone call, Jane Morrow’s picturesque “happily ever after” marriage she’s been looking forward to…changes. As Travelers Rest progressed, I grew to really admire Jane and how she didn’t waver in her love toward her fiancé, even though many people encouraged her she had the right to leave.

That said, not many chapters into the book I had a feeling how it all would end. And, while there were a few unexpected happenings in the middle of the book, my hunch proved to be correct. So I wasn’t as surprised by the turn of events within Travelers Rest as I usually like to be when reading a book.

I rode the waves of emotions—both high and very low—with Jane as she visits Seth every day in the hospital, meets extraordinary people, and sifts through her feelings toward her fiancé and life. I don’t think you can read Travelers Rest and not be challenged to think, to not take for granted the simplest things in life—like walking across a room. Travelers Rest is a moving read!

* I reviewed this book for the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance. Thanks to the publishers, Bethany House, for sending me my review copy. It was not required that I give a positive review, but solely to express my own thoughts and opinions of this book, which I have done.