Love And A Little White Lie By Tammy L. Gray

Love and a Little White Lie
by Tammy L. Gray
Publisher: Bethany House
ISBN: 9780764235894

Having never heard of this author before, I decided to apply to be part of her launch team simply because of the title. I mean, doesn't it pique your interest? I'm SO thankful I was chosen to participate and receive her book for review because it was EXCELLENT!

Summary:

There's a lot of irony in hitting rock bottom
After a heartbreak leaves her reeling, January Sanders is open to anything--including moving into a cabin on her aunt's wedding-venue property and accepting a temporary position at her aunt's church despite being a lifelong skeptic of faith. Choosing to keep her doubts to herself, she's determined to give her all to supporting Grace Community's overworked staff while helping herself move on. 

What she doesn't count on is meeting the church's handsome and charming guitarist. It's a match set for disaster, and yet January has no ability to stay away, even if it means pretending to have faith in a God she doesn't believe in.

Only this time, keeping her secret isn't as easy as she thought it would be. Especially when she's constantly running into her aunt's landscape architect, who seems to know everything about her past-and-present sins and makes no apologies about pushing her to deal with feelings she'd rather keep buried.

Torn between two worlds that can't coexist, can January find the healing that's eluded her, or will her resistance to the truth ruin any chance of happiness?

My Review:

Love and a Little White Lie is an excellent story! I wanted to be friends with January by the time I hit page two. With this book, I've been introduced to a phenomenal author. The flow of her words seem completely effortless, but we all know that's never the case for authors. I wanted to highlight every single line I wanted to quote in the story and share it with everyone, but I would've had to highlight the entire book and that would've just been plagiarism.

First, let's talk about January. She's SUCH an interesting character. She's got a photographic memory, but for things that most people don't recognize. I was very fascinated by her. After her break up she's staying temporarily at her aunt's cabin and that's where we get to see January in her brokenness.

I appreciated the author's take on January accepting a position at a church when she's agnostic and not interested in the least in faith. In fact, she's probably more antagonistic about it thanks to her mom, than anything. Her experience with the leadership at the church was great to witness, and the nuances that are brought up throughout the story that deal with church life are so REAL. You can tell Tammy brought her experience working in a church to the story. I was able to relate to so much with my husband being a Director at our church.

Then there's Cameron. How can we, the reader, not fall for this guy just like January does? He's the ultimate, available church guitarist who catches her eye and vice versa. Reading this part of the storyline, I feel like this could be happening at just about any church whose doors you might walk through. I think most of us would be drawn to him and why not? He's quite the catch.

My favorite part of this story is that EACH of the characters has a depth that I'm not used to reading about. Many of the supporting characters you get to know on the surface, but in Love and a Little White Lie I feel like we walk away having a full understanding as to where they're coming from. I couldn't even tell you which character I relate to more, but January is pretty high on my list. I also loved, loved, loved her Aunt Doreen. She's the kind of lady I hope to be one day.

And next, let's cover  Dillon. That's a guy who's dealing with a lot. Even while he's going through his own pain, he sees January's brokenness. He recognizes it. While they antagonize each other, it's fun to watch them interact because they seriously irritate each other.

The faith element in this story... I. Loved. It! January's agnosticism is covered very well and explained in a believable way. I was so thankful that Tammy didn't make January's lack of faith become wrapped up in a neat bow quickly or without making sense. There are a couple uses of the word h e double toothpicks, BUT, in a way that makes sense in the story and aren't gratuitous. I usually have an issue with words like that in a Christian story, but they work and make sense here. I'm just pointing that out because I want to always be transparent about something that a reader might not want to read.

Please, do NOT miss out on this book. I'll say it one more time. It was EXCELLENT! The author writes about the human condition and how we can struggle through life and life's decision through the characters of this story. This is absolutely one of my top reads of the year! My next task it to find the rest of Tammy's books and devour them.

About the Author:

Tammy L. Gray (www.tammylgray.com) lives in the Dallas area with her family, and they love all things Texas. Her nine modern and true-to-life contemporary romances include the 2017 RITA Award-winning My Hope Next Door. When not taxiing her three kids to various events, Tammy can be spotted crunching numbers as the financial administrator at her hometown church.