Call to Love is Mary A. Felkins debut novel. This is a story of Tracy, an ER nurse and Tom, a new cop in the city. Tracy lost her father at a young age and vowed to not marry, especially a cop. She is expecting a child and continues to turn down the father’s proposal. Having not been offered the job she applied for locally, she lists her home and plans to move a couple hours away.

Tom has recently moved to Laurelton from Texas to start over. He is a divorced father of a teen boy who is struggling in school. On his few off hours, he takes on the job of painting Tracy’s home to prepare it for sale. While he is working on her home, she tutors his son.

I enjoyed reading this story, it is an easy story to just get lost in. I really like the characters. I enjoyed the closeness Tracy’s family has and how they are looking out for each other. I liked that when Tom decided to move, he moved to be closer to his sister but has strong ties to his father and a grandfather. I also liked how both Tracy and Tom struggle with their past but still have faith and are learning to trust God.

I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book which I received from the publisher through NetGalley. All views expressed are only my honest opinion.

I loved this book! Call to Love by Mary A. Felkins is a wonderful story about love and second chances. I actually got tears eyed a couple of times, the Story also shows the Love of God and that nothing is impossible for Him.

This was a surprisingly good read. Far from your typical romance with lots of struggles. Enjoyed the realness of the story and flaws in the characters made it seem authentic. Will be reading more from her in the future.

Call to Love by Mary A. Felkins was a good story but a bit preachy. While all the pieces click together, she is pregnant and alone/ he is a single dad, the delivery could be a little more smooth.

I received an advance copy of this novel for a fair review.

Call to Love is a well written and entertaining inspirational romance. Good plot and character development. I recommend this book. I received an arc from the publisher and this is my unbiased review.

Call to Love by Mary A. Felkins

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

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Story Notes

Mary Felkins offers up a love story that has much to challenge the mind and heart, however, the telling of the story is a bit stilted.

This book created a love/hate draw to me that I’ve not had in a long time. I loved the characters and the storyline but the telling of the story was a bit too stiff for me. I also felt behind from the beginning, like I had missed a chapter somewhere that helped explain the situations that were going on at the beginning. The story starts with a young woman named Tracy, an ER nurse who is hoping to leave her small-town life behind her for bigger and better things. Having been passed over for a much desired promotion at work, Tracy is more determined than ever to move beyond the hurts of the past and into a new life for herself and her coming child. She has no desire to marry the child’s father, given their time together was a definite mistake. But she can’t hide the news forever and while she is excited for the new baby, she’s afraid her family will be very disappointed in her. Enter, Tom Delaney, a by-the-rules cop who is new to Laurelton and hoping to keep his teenage son safe from the hurts of his past. His ex-wife made life extremely difficult when their son, Stephen, was little and he is glad to have some space between them and the memories. Neither Tracy or Tom are looking for a new relationship but God has a way of giving us what we didn’t even know we needed. As Tracy tries to bring all her ties to Laurelton together into a neat bow before she leaves, one situation after another delays her departure. She never realized just how invested she was in her hometown and while a new life is going to be great, she still feels guilty over leaving her family. Tom is happy to help out a fellow officer but he never counted on both he and his son being welcomed into Tracy’s family by his boss, Tracy’s brother. Tracy’s mother and brother can’t stand to let anyone be without family around so they will offer any excuse to bring the Delaney guys into their fold. And as Tracy and Tom get to know one another better, they find themselves unexpectedly falling in love. But that can’t happen because they each have a plan that doesn’t include someone leaving. As the days creep closer to the time for Tracy to move, more and more situations pull the two closer together. But how can Tracy fall for a cop who might leave for work one day and never come home? And how can Tom set aside his long held anger and resentment towards those who leave others behind? Each of them will have to let God move in their lives if they are ever going to find the peace and love they are desperately seeking. I really did enjoy reading this book, for the most part. The story itself was very good – the characters were likable and the plot line easy to follow. It was the actual writing of the story that threw me off. At the beginning I felt like I was dropped into a story already happening and I didn’t have all the needed information to connect with it. It smoothed out some as it went along but there was still a feeling like I didn’t know everything I needed to understand the characters. Almost as if I was reading the second book in a series but hadn’t read the first one that had the required backstory. I did like how genuine everyone seemed to be and that the situations presented in the story were not so outlandish as to be unbelievable. Stephen, especially, was a welcome addition to the story with his sarcasm and quips. I liked that he was well developed and felt like he was a character I would like to know in real life. I will probably not re-read or purchase a copy of this book for myself, given it’s odd flow. I will, however, recommend it as a nice read for a trip or perhaps for the beach. It was an easy read and didn’t require lots of concentration to keep up with everything that happened.

I received this temporary complimentary E-book from Pelican Book Group/Prism Books via NetGalley in order to provide a fair and honest review. I will receive no fiscal compensation for this review and the opinions expressed herein are entirely my own.

Learning to trust in God and love:
Tracy is determined she's leaving town and never going to marry. She especially would never consider getting involved with a police officer which is a problem for Tom as he is a cop. Both are stubborn and have closed off their hearts to love and much personal growth is needed before these two can find a happily-ever-after. Personally I found Tracy's adamancy not to marry because "death might prematurely part a couple" rather ridiculous and annoying. Tom also has his own issues which led me at times to want to knock these two heads together!
I did like how Tom's teenage son was portrayed and felt that he added depth to the story. I also appreciated the reminder that we need to trust in the goodness of God's heart.
While there was much to commend this debut novel, overall it fell a little short. It requires further editing as some sentences were clumsy, grammatically incorrect or confusing. The story line got bogged down at times but too many details or descriptive sentences. I also found the main characters actions rather confusing at times as they acted erratically and inconsistently to the character development shown on the page.
I received a free copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review. All opinions expressed are solely my own.

A fair story overall, and one I would give 3.5 stars. Tracy is a nurse, who is pregnant. Tom is a single father of a teenage boy. Overall, I did enjoy the story, but it got bogged down with preaching a bit too much, and started to skim after awhile. I like christian stories, but want to see rather than read about it. A little didactic for my taste, but would still recommend it.