Love and the Silver Lining by Tammy L Gray Review

 Happy Saturday Friends :)

I pray you're all doing well, and I want to thank you all for joining me for another book review here on The Preppy Book Princess.

I can't believe we're already almost to the end of my week of daily blogging. I'm thinking I may do this for another week in July sometime, and I've got some ideas floating around for that.

In the mean time though, I'm excited to share with you all a review of one of my most anticipated releases for this year. 

Last year I read and loved Tammy L Gray's Love and a Little White Lie (review here), and I couldn't wait to read the next book in the series.

Today I'm excited to share with you all what I ended up thinking about it.

Love and the Silver Lining by Tammy L Gray:

Source: Publisher via NetGalley

Publisher: Bethany House

Publication Date: August 3rd, 2021

Genre: Christian Fiction/Contemporary

Series: State of Grace

Synopsis:

Darcy Malone's dreams of mission work are dashed on her eve of fulfilling them: The Guatemalan school she was to teach at has closed. Devastated because she's already quit her job and given up her apartment, she also loses the perfect escape from the aftermath of her parents' divorce. Stuck in her worst-case scenario, Darcy takes an unexpected offer to move in with Bryson Katsaros's little sister, despite the years of distrust that's grown between her and Bryson, the lead singer in her best friend Cameron's band. As she meets those close to him, Darcy realizes that Bryson is more than she believed.

Struck with the need to find a purpose, Darcy jumps at the chance to care for and train a group of dogs, with the aim of finding each a home before their bereaved owner returns them to animal control. But it's Darcy herself who will encounter a surprising rescue in the form of unexpected love, forgiveness, and the power of letting go.

(synopsis from goodreads)

My Review:

After reading and loving Love and a Little White Lie last year, I couldn't wait to dive into this one. I'd really enjoyed Darcy's character, and I was excited to hear she was getting her own story. I didn't expect to end up enjoying this one quite as much as I did the first, but I ended up surprising myself and loving this one even more. It's definitely one of the best books I've read this year, and Tammy L Gray is quickly moving up my list of favorite authors.

I loved how realistic and authentic this entire story is from start to finish. Darcy starts off as an emotional mess. Her dream has been to be a missionary for as long as she can possibly remember, and when that falls apart on top of her parent's marriage failing, she can't figure out how she's supposed to go on. When she unexpectedly ends up moving in with Bryson's younger sister, she finds herself spending more and more time with Bryson in the process, and realizes he's so much more than she ever could have expected. When a chance encounter with him leads her to a temporary position helping rehome foster dogs, Darcy starts to see her future in a different light. However, her longtime friendship with her best friend Cameron is causing tension and strain on her new relationship, and she can't figure out how she can have both of these relationships in her life, without sacrificing one over the other.

Love and a Silver Lining is heartfelt, emotional, and moving, and I could barely bring myself to put it down once I started reading it. Darcy's journey is rough, but she learns the valuable lesson of truly needing to wait on God's timing, and not take matters into her own hands. I loved getting to see a much deeper side to Bryson, and how he goes out of his way to show Darcy how much she truly means to him. This book overall focuses around healing, and growing your faith, and I think the author did a beautiful job of showcasing these processes to the reader.

The only negative for me was Cameron's character. I found him kind of selfish and juvenile in the first book, but he was even worse in this one. He came across as hostile and entitled for the majority of the story, and I think his character needs a serious turn around in future books if he is ever going to redeem himself in my eyes.

Overall though, I absolutely adored this heart wrenching contemporary, and can't possibly recommend it enough.

Final Rating: 5/5.

Thanks so much to Bethany House for allowing me to advance read and review this!

I voluntarily read and reviewed a complimentary advance reader copy of this novel from the publisher (Bethany House) via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own. I was not required to give a positive review.

Thanks so much for reading guys! I hope you have a great rest of your day, and I'll see you back here tomorrow for my last daily blogging post!