If Memory Serves (Paperback)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: Johnnie Mae, Vanessa Davis Griggs, Pastor Landris (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Scandalous secrets, impossible choices, and supreme tests of faith combine in this thrilling new novel from bestselling author Vanessa Davis Griggs.

From the Back Cover

Memory Patterson has been hiding from her family for much too long. Her instinct has always been to run, and never more so than when a chance meeting with Pastor Landris and his pregnant wife, Johnnie Mae, leads to a shocking revelation as Johnnie Mae discloses the truth about Memory's mother.

Told her daughter had died at birth, ninety-year-old Sarah Fleming has spent the past three-and-a-half years searching for Memory. Sarah has been warned repeatedly by Memory's daughter and granddaughter not to trust the ever-conning Memory no matter how much she may claim she has changed.

Just as Memory attempts to convince everyone that she truly is saved now, the faithful woman responsible for reuniting her with her past finds herself suffering with troubles of her own. When Johnnie Mae experiences complications with her pregnancy, Pastor Landris learns he may have to make an impossible choice--one that will amount to true spiritual warfare. Meanwhile, Johnnie Mae's friend, Charity, finally comes face to to face with the painful truth and damaging secret of her own past.

For all those involved, secrets have done nothing but tear them apart and destroy their families. And--for Memory and Charity especially--only hope and the power of faith can mend these shattered, fractured lives...

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Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Dafina (October 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0758217366
• ISBN-13: 978-0758217363
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #371,773 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Facing The Truth Is Painful, November 9, 2008

By	Priscilla C. Johnson "bookmaniac" (Baltimore, Maryland USA) - See all my reviews

Vanessa Davis Griggs returns to Atlanta in If Memory Serves for the final installment of the Blessed Trinity Trilogy. Using the name Elaine Robertson, Memory Patterson befriends Johnnie Mae Landris as she once again tries to find out information about her mother, Sarah Fleming. Memory, who is now in her late sixties, is ready to show everyone that she is saved and ready to face the truth about her childhood; yet, everyone that has comes in contact with her is unable to forget her lying and deceitful personality. Meanwhile, Johnnie Mae's friend, Charity, has a breakthrough that could explain her split personality and she must decide if she is ready and able to handle the truth.

Griggs answered all of her readers' unanswered questions about Memory and Charity. She also added some additional twists and turns to keep the story fresh and intriguing. Griggs revealed secrets that have kept families apart. She shows how difficult choices are made and how a person's faith is tested. I enjoyed reading this book very much. The story moved a bit slow for this reviewer but it was still very intriguing and entertaining.

Reviewed by: Priscilla C. Johnson
APOOO BookClub

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If Memory Serves, November 6, 2008

By	Carmen Harris "Carmen Harris" (Decatur, GA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Ms. Griggs did it again.... If Memory Serves had me crying, chuckling, thinking... it ministered to me in so many ways. I always get so engrossed in her books I never want them to end. I always enjoy reading about Pastor Landris and Johnny Mae. Awesome job! Look forward to more of her work.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars No Where to Run, October 7, 2008

By	The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers (RAWSISTAZ.com and BlackBookReviews.net) - See all my reviews

Memory Patterson is a changed woman, no longer out to please herself. If only Lena, her daughter, could understand and forgive her past indiscretions. A chance meeting with Johnnie Mae Landris, wife of the infamous Pastor Landris, reveals to Memory her real mother is none other than Sarah Fleming. Since she found out her daughter was alive somewhere, Sarah has been searching for her relentlessly. But, somehow Memory has always managed to escape the clutches of anyone looking for her, in part due to guilt. But now that she knows, is it time to stop running and face the inevitable? Will she be able to have a relationship with her real mother? Will she be able to undo all the harm she did to her own daughter? Unfortunately, a family history of secrets and greed may make all this nearly impossible.

Pastor and a very pregnant Johnnie Mae Landris are praying for a restored relationship between Sarah, Memory and Lena. But as they do, complications arise for the two of them that will put Pastor Landris in a position to make a decision that only God can see them through. When it seems everyone is ready to give up and throw in the towel, Pastor Landris turns more and more to God. He becomes a living testimony for all on how the faithful, fervent prayers of the righteous are answered.

IF MEMORY SERVES by Vanessa Davis Griggs is the third book in the Blessed Trinity trilogy. Griggs does an excellent job of showing one how to trust in God, stand on faith patiently and be diligently prayerful. This was a very insightful and uplifting read. I loved her characters, both the returning and new. Griggs continues to have a unique way of delivering biblical truths with a splash of history to a story that astonishes, as well as captures the reader's emotions and mind. What's up next for this amazing author is a mystery I'm waiting on to be revealed.

Reviewed by Brenda Lisbon
of The RAWSISTAZ(tm) Reviewers