Review: good book but could have been better
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 04 12, 2013
I don't want to cut down this book because I liked it a lot.  It was well written, had a lot of emotion and I really got drawn into the story.  Having said that, I think it could have been better.  I am going to point out things that could be considered spoilers so don't read on if you don't want to ruin anything.I am not sure I understand the whole concept of the grandparents suing for custody from Kate.  It sounded like they had absolutely no part in their grandchildren's lives so after 9 years and 4 kids, why stick their noses in now?  NOTHING was said about it at all.  I could understand if they were after the kid's money or if they had always wanted to be a part of their lives but were not allowed....or if there was a religious or social reason, but there was nothing said about it. There was also nothing said about why it was so important to keep them away from the kids other than they had been horrible parents themselves.  There was no talk about what made them such horrible parents or why the kids needed to stay away from them....only that it was important.  Not even during the trial was it mentioned.  I think if the author wanted to have the conflict in the story about this custody issue, there could have been a ton done with it.  For a while I considered that the grandparents might be the bad guys here because their was so little said about them that they could be evil killers and not just crappy parents. Given the real conflict this whole custody issue could have been left out entirely.My second question is about why Kate was so broke.  In the plane crash, her father, stepmother, sister, and brother-in-law were all killed.  Even if the estate for Steve and Jen had been left to the children, was she not left something from her own father?  If nothing else, he had a home that she could have sold, I would think. She would have been the next relative in line for any of his estate since his wife and other daughter had died....unless he also left everything to the children which would not make sense.  Normally he would leave things to his wife, then his own children.  Nothing was said about any estate left behind by her father and Stephanie yet they appeared to have no other relatives who would have claimed it. Also, I would think that whoever had custody(even temporary) of the children should have been able to get some kind of support from the estate, social security, insurance....something.  It would be one thing if there had been no money in their estate, but Kate told Jared there had been money, it just hadn't been left to her.  Marcus should have made sure as their lawyer that Kate had enough to care for the children properly.Finally, since there is such a huge part of the storyline about forgiveness, then why....as a Christian, did Jared not forgive his parents for whatever it was they did to him and Steve?  These are the only living grandparents these children have yet they were not to be forgiven?  Since we don't know what they actually did, then it's hard to understand how he could be ok with asking forgiveness for his supposed sins, yet not even consider his own parents and trying to seek a relationship with them in some way.  Again, this left me feeling like the whole grandparent/custody issue should have been left out. I get that it was an easy way to get Kate and Jared married, but it left more questions in my mind than it was worth to have them as the excuse.I truly don't mean to pick this apart because it was a really good book.  I would totally recommend it and would likely read it again.  I just thought a few questions might give the author food for thought.