Customer Reviews

Softly and Tenderly (A Songbird Novel)

5 star:		(41)
4 star:		(39)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Who knew that country singer Sara Evans was also a writer?! When I received this book, I knew that the name sounded familiar, but I didn't put two and two together until about halfway through! I have to say - she did a great job!

This story is about Jade, a woman whose marriage is thrown a curveball when her husband announces that he has a son and would like to raise him in their home. Confused - as anyone would be - by this big announcement and not sure where to go from here, Jade turns to the one place she can go to find solace: home. But there she struggles to take care of her sick mother, confront her fears about her marriage and deal with memories of her first love. Luckily, the best remedy for figuring things out is right in front of her: friends, family and God in all of his mercy and tenderness.

I read this novel without reading Sara's first book and still loved it. The language is very simple and easy to read and connect with. As most fiction stories are, some things are a little over-the-top, but it all connects well and leaves the reader feeling satisfied in the end. A good, easy read for anyone looking for a dramatic story.

A wonderful sequel that lives up to the first book and even more! After reading the first book, I was hestitant because I loved it in so many ways - can the second live up to how much I loved the first. It did and even more, it made me excited that there are rumored to be two more books in this series.

As the first book centers solely around Jade, the main character, I think the strong suit for this book was to share the central focus on Jade, her mother and her mother-in-law. Each of these three women had a journey in this book and there were similarities in each of their struggles. The reader was able to get to go both mother figures in a deeper way - some of the story was even told from their perspective.

A wonderfully heartfelt book that made me cry as I journeyed through the days with all three women. I am calling this the perfect series to curl up with this winter. The third book will be arriving early after the new year, I will definitely be looking for it.

When I started reading this book, I didnt realize it was the second book in a series, so understand that I am writing this review from a "stand-alone" perspective.

The characters are all very interesting and completely realized. There is plenty of witty and clever dialog between these women in this story and I absolutely loved the way the heroine, Jade interacts with her mother.

Although Jade does indeed have alot on her plate to deal with emotionally, I was impressed with how well she held herself together.

While I'm normally not a fan of Christian literature, I liked this because it is a book about faith, without being "preachy". I will need to get the first book in this series to see what I missed out on.

Softly and Tenderly by Sara Evans with Rachel Hauck

This book follows Jade as she wades through some of life's toughest issues. She says she feels like she's in the middle of a soap opera and I would have to agree. Some parts of the story and it's characters certainly weren't as believable as they could've been. "Jade begins to question everything she thought she knew about family, love, and motherhood", but in the end she "begins to see a future that doesn't rest on the power of her past, but in the goodness of God's tender mercies."

This book had an interesting story line that kept me guessing about what would happen next. However, I feel it focused too much on the negative and the bad things that happened and not enough on how God could be glorified through all that went on. I also feel like the story left me hanging - I finished the last chapter and was really wondering why the story was over right then. It was like my book was without the last two chapters! I appreciate the points made about forgiveness - there was forgiveness on many fronts in this book - and I think it makes you evaluate your own life to see if you, too, have secrets that need to be shared.

This book was provided free of charge from Thomas Nelson. All opinions expressed are solely my own.

After reading Softly and Tenderly by Sara Evans and Rachael Hauck I have a new appreciation for "christian literature". I found the book to be a good story with interesting characters. The christian aspect of the book was light-handed and was nicely woven into the personalities of the characters.

Softly and Tenderly is the story of Jade and the personal pressures and struggles she is going through - and there are a lot of them! Jade's mother is dying from cancer, she has recently discovered that her father-in-law is cheating on her mother-in-law, AND she just learned that her husband has a son that she didn't know about. She is also struggling with infertility and dealing with her husband's prior addiction to pain medication. (Whew......I guess the authors wanted to cover all the bases.) Jade ends up taking her mother home to Iowa so she can live out her finals days in the home she loves. While back in Iowa, Jade has to deal with her feelings for Dustin, her first love and ex-husband from a teen marriage.

I was initially put off by the fact that ALL of these problems were hitting Jade at once but after I put my problem with that aside I found that I was really enjoying the book. Jade is a character that is easy to become involved with and the story moves along at a very nice pace. The cast of supporting characters are pretty easy to like as well. I found myself rooting for those characters - even the cheating father-in-law. I wanted them to all redeem themselves and they pretty much did that.

I didn't realize this until about half way through the book but Softly and Tenderly is the second in a series of books by Sara Evans and Rachael Hauck. Prior to this book I had never read anything by Hauck and the fact that Sara Evans is a country music star didn't score points with me. I really wasn't expecting to enjoy this book but I was surprised to find that I did. I enjoyed the book enough that I searched out and read another book by Hauck and I plan on reading the other books in this series as well.

Thanks to BookSneeze.com for providing me with a copy of this book for review.

Softly and Tenderly, the second book in the Songbird Trilogy, was written by Sara Evans and Rachel Hauck, and it is the sequel to The Sweet By and By. I read the Sweet By and By nearly a year ago, and I was extremely excited to see the new book released this year. The book continues to follow the life of Jade who is struggling with issues such as anxiety, addiction, marital problems, and most of all infidelity. Her husband Max fathered a son who he wants to raise with Jade. This, along with other issues, causes Jade to question everything she has believed in her life, and I enjoyed seeing how she handled all of these issues which many people struggle with on a daily basis--although they typically only face one or two of the issues rather than such a large amount of issues at one time.

The book was an easy read, and I didn't want to put it down as I read it over Christmas Break from work. I did feel the book was a little "soap opera-ey" as other reviewers have suggested, but that's what I was expecting and anticipating when I began to read the book. I really enjoyed reading this book by country singer Sara Evans

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255 [...] : "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

I kept thinking, "this is a soap opera," while I read Softly and Tenderly by Sara Evans with Rachel Hauck. About two-thirds of the way through, the main character describes her life in the exact same way. Good to know we were on the same page!

Jade's life is falling apart. Guilt and shame from bad decisions in her teenage years, a rocky relationship with her mom, her in-laws' failing marriage, struggles with anxiety, the inability to conceive, her mother's impending death, her husband's addiction to pain pills ... and then she learns about her husband's infidility the week before their marriage and the son that was conceived as a result. As a new Christian, will Jade rely on her own ways or will she turn to Christ?

This is "chick lit" at its best. I found myself falling in love with this crazy, trouble-ridden family and wanted everything to work out for them. The story evoked real emotion in me and I found myself tearing up several times. The struggles were real. Jade questions her faith repeatedly as she faces trial after trial. I actually liked that things weren't tied up in a neat package at the end. That's how life is. But ultimately, I felt that there was a great message of hope in spite of her circumstances.

This is the second book in the Songbird trilogy (Sweet By and By available now and Love Lifted Me available Winter 2012). I am anxiously awaiting the conclusion to this gripping story.

I received a free copy of this book in exchange from Thomas Nelson Publishers for my fair and honest review.

I loved this book! Its that simple. I liked the first one - "The Sweet By and By" but I thought this one was even better.

This book was really 3 stories that all comes together in the end. It is about Jade, young, newly married, and finds out her husband has a child (which he kept a secret for 2 yrs!!!). Beryl is Jades mother, she is dieing of cancer and just wants to go home to live out her remaining days. June, Jade's Mom-in-law (whom I love) knew her husband had been cheating on her all these years, but when she literally catches him in the act, that is all she can take. The three of them decide to go on a "road trip" in Junes pink Cadillac. While taking Beryl home they all do some sole searching, and decision making, and bonding.

This book was great! If you think it sounds over the edge, well it is, but as Jade says "I married into a southern soap opera." It all just seems to fit and it all makes sense in the end, as crazy as it all sounds, I wouldn't change a thing. I am really looking forward to the third book coming out in 2012.

I read the first book - "The Sweet by and by" because I am a HUUUUUGE fan of Sara Evans' music and I was curious about her as a writer. I read the second book - "Softly and Tenderly" because the first one was pretty good. I will read the third one because I now love Sara Evans as a writer!

Thanks you Thomas Nelson Group for sending me this book to review. One of the best ones yet!

This book is the 2nd in a series, I had not read the 1st book - but I had no idea that it was the 2nd until after I read it and was going through other reviews. So in that sense, it was well written. I was able to pick up what was needed that I don't feel like I missed anything by not reading the first.

At first I was a little put off by the amount of drama in the book between characters and what I felt was too little reference to a relationship in Christ. However, in the end there were very powerful conversations between characters like "I've also learned the value of prayer. You can do more by talking to God about folks, than talking to folks about God." and "Can an ordinary man be a friend of Jesus?" "If not an ordinary man, then who? We're all ordinary compared to Him. Jesus called us His friends."

In the end, I sped through the book and was surprised when I got to the end at how easy it was to read. I look forward to reading the other books in the series. Overall I give it 4 out of 5 stars.

This book, at least for me, didn't draw or pull. It just was. There wasn't the profound Christian experience I had hoped for nor was it devoid of Christian life. It was a book about three women, but mainly Jade, dealing with the choices they've made and trying to move forward with them in the way that God wants them to.