BOOK REVIEW - RENAISSANCE OF THE HEART BY LORI M. JONES

[Sharon Martin]

BOOK REVIEW - RENAISSANCE OF THE HEART BY LORI M. JONES

'a well written and absorbing book with a realistic tone and deep subject matter' reviews The Book Review

http://cluereview.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/renaissance-of-heart-by-lo...

The first chapter sucked me into the story right away as I tried to imagine 15 years of marriage to a man who now confesses he is in love with someone else.. and no it's not another woman, it's another man. 
Amanda goes through the grieving process, but manages to pull her self up rather well, I thought , under the circumstances. She has a fourteen year old daughter and a sister who is both very supportive and very honest and who keeps her grounded.

When Amanda meets Bradley, the quarterback for a professional football team, she agrees to go out with him. Why not? However, there is a little bit of an age difference, but Amanda is trying not to let that bother her. However, her subconscious mind has other ideas which includes some rather vivid dreams. 

The main theme running through the book was that despite the way her marriage ended, Amanda is still going through a the painful divorce process and the author does a wonderful job of putting the reader in the midst that pain and angst. Remembering Derrick as he was when they first dated, then the signs she missed, the good times, the bad times, the bitterness, anger, confusion, the whole ball of wax.  Trying to keep comments and actions neutral for the daughter's sake, but not always succeeding, having Derrick be a class A jerk one moment and perfectly reasonable the next was adding to all the stress. One minute she was positively giddy when Bradley was around or when they were exchanging text messages and the next she was depressed over her failure with Derrick and doubting the relationship with Bradley. The problem was that she was jumped into the relationship with Bradley before she had her feelings settled about Derrick. It was about the age difference, but it was also about Amanda not being ready for something this serious so soon. So, what to do? Does she enjoy her time with Bradley now and let things run their course? Break it off before things get too serious and someone gets hurt? Will her head rule her heart or will love conquer all?