Category: Adult Fiction 18+, 296 pages
Genre: Inspirational Romance
Publisher: E.C. Jackson
Release date: June 19, 2015
Content Rating: PG + M. These books contain mature themes.
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Twenty-one-year-old Neka is a bit of an introvert, she also happens to be stunningly beautiful.
When she discovers her friend James is about to be dumped, she sees the perfect opportunity to escape from her quiet life. Can she summon the courage to leave it all behind?
James Copley comes from a ruthless family. It’s rubbed off.
Years ago, he disengaged from his brother’s smear campaign, but now his father has offered him an ultimatum, “Get married or lose your seat at the table.”
Plotting to stamp his design on the family business, he proposes to a woman, even though he doesn’t love her.
But his carefully laid plans start to unravel when she leaves him on the day she’s due to meet his family.
Could years of planning his comeback vanish with her departure?
A possible solution comes in an unexpected form: Neka. She’s not only a friend, but the daughter of his benefactor. And she’s right there, offering to support him.
But will her support stretch to marriage?
He attempts to win her over to his plan but collides with her powerful father who wants to leverage the situation for his own gain.
In their fight for survival and love, they are forced to face some uncomfortable truths.
Can they overcome thwarted dreams and missed chances to find true love, or does forcing destiny’s hand only lead to misery?
A Gateway to Hope Offers Readers a Slightly Different Romance. I am not always a romance novel fan. The characters are often pretty unrealistic, and the love stories follow suit. This book and the characters are a little different. For fans of Christian romance novels, there is definitely a heavy-handed element of faith guiding the novel--but there is also a deeper story of the meanings of love pulling the characters along as well. Christian romance fans will find an inspirational story, perhaps for different reasons than they expect.
Readers may Not Like Many Characters. There is a lot of manipulation, greed, misguided family dynamics, and soul-searching dotting the pages of this book. I didn't really love any of the characters in this book--but the roles they played felt real in many ways. From family using faith and status as control tools to some almost hypocritical behaviors in even the main character, Neka, some behaviors and actions make the characters less than likable. Having said that, the characters developed and interacted well to create a well-done romance novel.
Would I Recommend A Gateway to Hope by E.C. Jackson? The novel began slowly, and some of the dialogue felt awkwardly placed at times--but I enjoyed the author's story and the messages delivered in this book. For fans of Christian romance novels, this one is well worth a spot on your reading list. In this novel, the author uses faith and love very well to create a hope-filled romance around a cast of less-than-perfect characters. I look forward to reading more books from this author and this series.
Book Title: Overflow With Hope: Hope Series, Book 5 by E.C. Jackson
Category: Adult Fiction 18+, 241 pages
Genre: Inspirational Romance
Publisher: E.C. Jackson
Release date: Nov 9, 2023
Content Rating: PG + M. These books contain mature themes.
Tempia Wade’s life had jumped the rails.
One fateful night, she believed a stranger’s lie rather than the assurance of a trusted friend. For her lapse in judgment, she paid an agonizing price.
Her now-bankrupt life featured shattered dreams, ruined friendships, and the loss of a promising relationship. Now, two years later, the twenty-three-year-old prayed for a second chance with the man she had fallen for at first sight.
Would Cory Sanders finally overlook her egregious mistake in accepting a next-day date and liaison with another man? Or would she have to truly accept life without him?
This is a worthy successor to Jackson's earlier novel, A Gateway to Hope.
-- review by Hog on Ice: Books and Independent Learning
It was a match made in heaven. Or so everyone thought. Sadie Mae Cummings is all set to marry her childhood sweetheart, Kyle, when she is assigned to tutor Lincoln, the new college football running back. This sophomore phenomenon has all the girls on campus knocking on his door. But Sadie isn’t interested in his advances.
Lincoln’s overblown ego doesn’t take well to being shunned, and he resolves to make Sadie his own. He pursues her relentlessly, until finally Kyle finds himself shut out of Sadie’s life, with their shared future crumbling around him.
After two years, Sadie’s relationship with Lincoln ends, and she is left having to put the pieces of her life back together. She desires nothing more than to recapture her relationship with Kyle. He has stayed true to the dreams they had planned together, living the vision even without Sadie by his side.
When she moves back to her hometown, she labors to rekindle their love. But things have changed, and Kyle has moved on. Sadie quickly discovers how hard it is to rebuild burned bridges.
Follow Sadie’s story as she fights for a chance to restore broken dreams. Will love endure?
This inspirational romance by E. C. Jackson is book two of the Hope series and is a standalone book.
Book Title: The Certain Hope: Hope Series, Book 3 by E.C. Jackson
Category: Adult Fiction 18+, 261 pages
Genre: Inspirational Romance
Publisher: E.C. Jackson
Release date: Dec 5, 2018
Content Rating: PG + M. These books contain mature themes.
Love at first sight. It’s every girl’s dream. But Tara Simpkins is finding out it’s not as easy as it seems. Is this truly the man God sent to be her husband, or is she just desperate to escape her loneliness? The recent loss of both parents has left her reeling, and close friends don’t think she’s in any position to make major life decisions. She and her new-found love are convinced they can live happily ever after in the home of their dreams. His family thinks he’s moving way too fast and might disappoint the kind-hearted woman he’s fallen head over heels for. And then there’s Leah. Leah is supposed to be part of his past, but what if she decides she’s his future? Tara’s match made in Heaven may be over before it truly begins.
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Book Title: The Confident Hope: Hope Series, Book 4 by E.C. Jackson
Category: Adult Fiction 18+, 271 pages
Genre: Inspirational Romance
Publisher: E.C. Jackson
Release date: Sep 15, 2020
Content Rating: PG + M. These books contain mature themes.
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.
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Book Title: Pajama Party: The Story by E.C. Jackson
Category: Teen & Adult Fiction (13 to 18 yrs), 241 pages
Genre: Teen & Young Adult Fiction / Teen & Young Adult Christian Fiction
Publisher: E.C. Jackson
Release date: Sep 30, 2017
Content Rating: PG + M. These books contain mature themes.
Most sleepovers are simple. Food, fun, and pillow fights. But sixteen-year-old Karen Duncan has bigger plans for her slumber party. Family troubles have changed her over the past year, and she’s no longer the petty, selfish girl she used to be. Now she’s ready to shake things up with her friends. The guest list comes as a surprise to some and a slap in the face to others. This popular girl has invited some not-so-popular guests. Even more shocking, she’s left out some of the girls she’s hung out with since middle school.
Diane and Evette are outsiders, nervous about being stuck in a house with the same girls who tease them at school.
Kathy, Lisa, and Joann come to the party with the confidence of the in-crowd, but they’re masking inner-turmoil that is bound to surface.
Sandy and Angela are usually the voices of reason…usually. And then there’s Linda, the friend that got away. She may not ever forgive the girls who abandoned her years ago. Karen hopes to change her mind. Her agenda is ambitious, and it could spell disaster. But Karen is convinced God will use this party to spark a new beginning for everyone involved.
This companion book to A Living Hope gives us the inspired story Sadie Cummings wrote for the girls of Shiatown.
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.
connect with the author: website ~ amazon ~ facebook ~ X/Twitter ~ bookbub ~ goodreads
Thank you for reviewing A Gateway to Hope. I look forward to your reviews.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like a great series great covers!
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