Review: All That it Takes by Nicole Deese

 

About:

When the ever-cautious Val Locklier moves cross-country with her son for a secure job, everything she'd planned unravels within the first week. After Val reluctantly agrees to rent an apartment from her best friend's brother, an unexpected chance at an elite filmmakers' mentorship ignites fresh hope for a dream career. But as Val's community begins to expand, so do her insecurities, especially those heightened by her growing attraction to a certain friendly landlord. 

Pastor Miles McKenzie returns home from a short-term mission trip to discover that not only does he have an intriguing new tenant living upstairs, he's also been reassigned to a local ministry on life support. Disillusioned and restless, he distracts himself by throwing his energy into a host of new projects--not the least of which is pursuing Val--without stopping to consider the future. 

As Val struggles to stop hiding behind the camera and Miles wrestles with shattered expectations, they'll find that authentic love and sacrifice must go hand in hand.

My Thoughts:

Miles and Val's story and journey was one that was eye opening and heart tugging. Both of these characters were sincere people, wanting to do what was right, help others, make the most of their lives, and to move on from past disappointments and mistakes.

Val is a woman with a profound limp, suffered from a careless act when she was ten, and she has been living with the consequences and feelings since then. She is also a single mother raising her little boy the best she can. She has made a big life change. She has moved away from her parents to start anew on her own. A new job and a new state, but nothing goes quite right, and then Val is offered something that could possibly be so much better.

Miles is an outreach pastor, who has had his wings clipped and his ministry defunded. He is not happy, nor does he understand all that is going on. Forming his own assumptions and looking for a way out to further his own dreams, he is looking for an escape. But as Miles learns, sometimes not all is what it seems and God can use us anywhere, if we are but open to His call.

I really liked Val and Miles. They were two mature characters just trying to find their way in the world. Like I said earlier, they are sincere and genuine people, not out for their own gain, just trying to survive in a world that seems to want to take away from them. Their journey together was beautiful to watch and has enough life lessons for all of us to take heed of in our own lives.

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher. I was not required to post a positive review and all views and opinions are my own.

About the Author:

Nicole Deese's (www.nicoledeese.com) eight humorous, heartfelt, and hope-filled novels include the 2017 Carol Award-winning A Season to Love. Her 2018 release, A New Shade of Summer, was a finalist in the RITA Awards, Carol Awards, and INSPY Awards. Both of these books are from her bestselling Love in Lenox series. When she's not working on her next contemporary romance, she can usually be found reading one by a window overlooking the inspiring beauty of the Pacific Northwest. She lives in small-town Idaho with her happily-ever-after hubby, two rambunctious sons, and princess daughter with the heart of a warrior.