Review: River's End - Melody Carlson

Are you a fan of Melody Carlson's books ? Have you been following her Inn at Shining Waters series ? Get ready for Book #3 River's End.

Review: River's End - Book #3 The Inn at Shining Waters - Melody Carlson - August 2012

Unlike Melody Carlson's other novels , I always find The Inn at Shining Waters an interesting tale as most of her novels are set in the present world and target those edgy topics whereas still targeting the edgy topics , her The Inn at Shining Waters spans from the 1950's to 1970's. In Book #2 we read how Anna's daughter Lauren had fallen pregnant whilst at college and then had to toss and turn with the decision to either abort, keep the baby or give it up for adoption. In Book #3 River's End we discovered that Lauren had kept the baby but of course the past years for the child - Sarah was not all roses and peaches. When Sarah was 16years old , she ran away from home and now two years later where the novel starts it is her 18th birthday and they have not heard a peep from her. Grief-stricken, Anna believes that her granddaughter is dead but the family will be in for a shock of a lifetime as Sarah arrives home and not in good shape. It seems that Sarah joined a religious cult and has been brainwashed into their beliefs and into thinking that she is not good enough and clean enough for God's love and forgiveness. After an argument breaks out between Lauren and Sarah , Sarah is off again and the nights of worry start all over again. The novel then follows Anna, Clark and Lauren's search for Sarah , what they do find though is another scared girl named Jewel who was a part of the cult and is trying to escape. The foursome then go on a journey to rescue Sarah from the dangers of the cult. Can the foursome free Sarah and show her that no matter what happen's she is awesome in God's Eyes .One of the things I really enjoyed about River's End was that Melody Carlson had featured the 1970's tragedy of the Jonestown Cult where the preacher had poisioned the whole cult with Kool-Aid and hundreds of cult members died. 
As always if you are looking for a Christian fiction author and love to find one that can target those hard edgy content issues in a way that reflects Christianity, then Melody Carlson should be your number one choice.