Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Sally John's Ransomed Dreams ~ Reviewed




Ransomed Dreams (Side Roads)
Sally John
Paperback: 416 pages
Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. (June 7, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1414327854



Description:

Sheridan Montgomery leads a charmed life as the wife of Eliot, U.S. ambassador to Venezuela. But an attack on their lives cripples Eliot, and they retreat to a remote Mexican village. As Sheridan quietly cares for her husband, she sees her dreams slipping away. Luke Traynor shatters their reverie when he arrives to tell Sheridan of her father’s heart attack and the evidence implicating him in a conspiracy. Sheridan returns to Chicago to untangle the web of her father’s past and is forced to confront her feelings for Luke, a trail of deceit, and the truth about her marriage.

Review:

Ransomed Dreams is a moving story of a life shattered by a sniper's bullet and the slow disintegration of a marriage between two people who no longer recognize each other. Consumed by chronic pain, Eliot no longer desires his wife nor is he able to comprehend her emotional needs while Sheridan is fearful, angry and reclusive. Sally John's writing is emotive and thought provoking as she lays bear the heartache of destroyed hopes and unmet needs. At times, the pacing slows but I did not mind the gentle unfolding of this couple's thoughts, the complications of Sheridan's dysfunctional family and the palpable tension as Sheridan wrestles with her commitment to her disengaged and physically altered husband and the magnetic pull of the man who saved her life on that fateful day in Caracas. For anyone who has had their life change in an instant or find themselves in a marriage they didn't sign up for, Ransomed Dreams is a powerful story of love, commitment and forgiveness.

Reviewed by: Rel Mollet

1 comment:

Barbara Ellen Brink said...

I read this book back in May and did a review too. I really liked it. Ransomed Dreams is a story that grows on you as you delve deeper. There are times I didn’t like the characters very much, other times I could feel exactly what they were feeling. Sally Johns has a way of getting to the heart, cutting back layers one at a time until her characters are revealed—bare, open, and needy. Which in reality is the moment Christ desires to cover each of us with his redeeming love.
Good review! I'd never read any of her books before, but now I'll definitely look for her in the bookstore.