Review: “A Twist of Faith” by Pepper Basham ~ Blog Tour & Giveaway

Welcome to my stop in the Singing Librarian Tour for Pepper Basham’s contemporary release, A Twist of Faith. Read on for my review & to enter the GIVEAWAY!

Series: Mitchell’s Crossroads Series
Genre: Fiction, Romance, Contemporary
Publisher: Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas
Publication Date: April 6, 2016
Number of pages: 308

A witty, sweet romance with memorable, honest characters. Love does not have an accent …

Dr. Adelina Roseland has worked ten years in research as an accent reduction specialist to attain her dream job. But a secret wager to transform Appalachian cattle farmer Reese Mitchell into corporate material challenges Adelina in ways she never expected, threatening her new position.

For one, Adelina didn’t plan for the faith and friction of Reese, or the unexpected influence of his chaotic family. Now, drawn into a culture she’d tried to forget, Adelina finds the warmth of family, the hope of faith, and the joy of love melting away the deep wounds of her past.

But when Reese discovers that he’s a pawn in her climb up the academic ladder, will he forgive Adelina’s deceit or will their miscommunication end in two broken lives?

Purchase on Amazon

Pepper Basham is an award-winning author who writes romance peppered with grace and humor. She currently resides in the lovely mountains of Asheville, NC where she is the mom of 5 great kids, speech-pathologist to about fifty more, lover of chocolate, jazz, and Jesus, and proud AlleyCat over at a group writing blog, The Writer’s Alley. Her debut historical romance novel, The Thorn Bearer, released in May 2015, with the second arriving in February 2016. Her first contemporary romance debuts in April 2016.

Pepper has already achieved favorite-author status around here with her first two novels, both historical romances, set during WWI. (The Thorn Bearer and The Thorn Keeper). Well, with her debut in the contemporary genre, she does it again! A Twist of Faith is a fantastic “twist” on a My Fair Lady retelling, full of humor and heart.

I ❤ the little elements Pepper includes to make a story so rich! In this instance, it’s to-do lists, a theme of grace, vibrant secondary characters (my personal favorite being Mama Mitchell), and plenty of romantic spark!

“Ain’t” is not a word 🙂

Adelina, or Dee as she’s known to her friends, was the perfect combination of flawed, broken, and likable. I found her easy to empathize with, even when her assumptions were wrong. Reese was a timely friend with past heartaches of his own which had rooted him deeply in his faith. (Pepper includes a tiny bit of mystery here which kept me guessing as to just what he’d went through.) There is nothing quite as attractive as a man grounded in his relationship with Jesus. Combine that with his country charm, fatherly tenderness, and rugged charisma and you have a pretty perfect hero. It all might sound cliché, but Pepper presents these two in such a compelling manner you can’t help but root for them to find forgiveness, grace, and happiness together along the way.

Both points of view are written well, allowing the reader a glimpse into the personality and motivations of both Reese and Dee. My favorite view, though, was Reese’s! He was the one with THE accent — I could almost hear the Appalachian drawl of his thoughts.

Pepper’s passion for her “day job”, in speech pathology, shines through in a unique way in this story. Her character Dee shares her vocation and clearly, an eagerness to help others. This understanding and compassion in embodied in the Mitchell family, as well, and serves as a beacon to Dee in her search for peace.

It was a great experience watching Dee slowly start to realize the dream of her heart is something completely unexpected. And, instead of running from it, she tentatively embraced it — until the whole “My Fair Lady” parallel caused a few problems. Mostly, I loved Pepper’s simplicity in her message of Jesus. He’s the most essential remedy, the savior and friend who wants to meet you right where you are.

Thank you to Singing Librarian Books and Pepper Basham for a copy of this ebook in exchange for my honest review.