🎸🎼🎤 “Love and the Dream Come True” (State of Grace #3) (2022) 🎤 🎼🎸 – Book Review
MY REVIEW
Series: State of Grace (Book #3)
Paperback: 368 pages
Publisher: Bethany House (August 2, 2022)
Language: English
ISBN: 0764235931
ISBN-13: 978-0764235931
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“Their faith will face its toughest test yet.
Four years after getting the biggest break of his life, Cameron Lee's music career has taken a nosedive, leaving him two options: become a sellout or give up on his lifelong dream. He reluctantly returns home for his sister's wedding, hoping to avoid his past and find his love for music again.
Single mom Lexie Walters has suffered her fair share of tragedies and setbacks, but she has finally scraped together the money to achieve her dream of going into business with her cousin as an interior designer. When Lexie's life is at an all-time high, she runs into her teenage crush, Cameron Lee.
Lost in the emotional turmoil of failure, Cameron is immediately drawn to Lexie and her infectious smile and optimistic spirit. Moreover, he adores her mouthy, no-holds-barred daughter. But fantasies only last so long, and soon Lexie and Cameron must face the real world, the one fraught with heartbreak, disappointment, and questions that sometimes can only be answered by a leap of faith.”
Thank you in advance to the publisher, Bethany House (a division of Baker Books), for providing a complimentary review copy through the author’s review team. A positive review was not required nor requested, and all words are my own.
While this is the author’s 13th book, this is the first one I’ve read. And, this is the conclusion for the State of Grace series.
Some books in a series can act as standalones, this series is best read from the first book to this one. I have the first two, Love and a Little White Lie (January and Dillon’s story) and Love and the Silver Lining (Darcy and Bryson’s story) in my TBR stack and had wanted to read them prior to this one (I ran out of time).
Gray made sure to include some workings of the first two so that I didn’t feel as if I didn’t know what was going on.
This series has not only a recurring theme, but also a recurring cast of characters that appear in all three books. The main ones:
⛪ Darcy
⛪ January
🎼 Bryson
🔨 Mason
⛪ Pastor Thomas
🎸 Cameron
Darcy, January, Bryson, and Cameron all have significant roles in the previous two books which sets the stage for this book.
This is Cameron’s story along with Lexie.
Lexie is “mom” to 13/1- year-old Morgan, the daughter of her sister Annaliese who she hasn’t seen in ten (10 years).
As I haven’t read the other two, I can’t attest to their “depth”. This one is not a light read at all. It isn’t depressing – but it certainly has quite a bit of depth and tackles rough issues:
💊 Drug/Alcohol Addiction
💔 Child Abandonment
⚠️ Anxiety
⚠️ Panic Attacks
👣 Teen mom (by guardianship)
I’ll admit that this was a bit of a heavier read for me and the reason I chose it was I thought the premise sounded so beautiful. And, overall, it is.
What drew me right off was the cover. Since purple is my favorite color, I’m often drawn to purple cover books – this stunning one was NO exception.
But, inside the pretty cover is a deeply emotional, deeply reflective, poignant, and realistic read.
While the entire series is written from the first-person perspective, with the main characters being the POVs – this book lists who the narrator of each chapter is. After skimming the first two books, it appears they do not list the narrator.
Right off the author introduces (or rather reintroduces) readers to Cameron who has an issue with his record label. They want a more “generic” type of album for his new release, he wants to do his own stuff, though his attempt didn’t sell well. Contract wise? He is in a pickle – he can’t get out of the contract without serious financial consequences, yet he feels he cannot do what they are asking him to do.
He comes home for his sister Cassie’s wedding where he is reunited with his former love Darcy and her husband Bryson. Bryson was part of the band Black Carousel – leaving it to Cameron.
Cameron is also there to think his decision out.
Cameron also sees Lexie at the wedding and hugs her – happy to see her again. As it turns out – she had a crush on him, and still does. It is clear there is some affection from Cameron towards Lexie.
Lexie is having issues with her her 13-year-old (soon to be 14) daughter (niece)
In addition, Lexie is flipping a house as part of her new venture. Her partner is her cousin Mason, who isn’t too fond of Cameron as it is despite the two having been friends.
Cameron is renting a house that used to belong to a woman who let Morgan use the treehouse, and Cameron continues the tradition thinking he’d be her friend. Morgan has her own reasons for wanting to use it besides sentimental.
Cameron and Lexie become friends, which eventually develops into something more. Lexie offers a friendly critique about his music and he listens to her. She brings up his older music to re-explore.
As he does, he finds himself slowly drifting back to a faith he’d walked away from. He also begins to reconcile his relationship with Darcy and realizes the truth about what they didn’t have.
As Lexie and Cameron get closer – she begins getting mysterious calls from an unknown number which coincides with her deteriorating relationship with Morgan. The caller doesn’t leave a message though.
Cameron slowly looks at the entire picture regarding his friendships and his career. As he does, he helps Lexie cope with Morgan’s betrayal. Together they also learn how to forgive in order to move on in this touching conclusion.
Gray definitely closes out the trilogy with heart, grit, and emotion. There are, for me, no loose ends left to wrap up.
This was one of those books that grabbed me right off, lost me for a bit, came back, and ended up not being able to put it down. The shorter chapters were also a culprit in the long reading sessions. Obviously, as I have the first two books, I will likely read them someday down the road (I have SO many in my “priority” TBR stack). The writing and pacing didn’t lag too bad, though there were times I felt the author could’ve sped it up.
I do have to admit that Morgan’s attitude towards Lexie was inexplicably rude and at one point cruel. The cruel part was a months long deception she engaged in. This wasn’t too surprising given how her birth mother acted and I felt that Annaliese could’ve done a better job of contacting Lexie.
There was, in the beginning, a bit of age discrepancy between what Lexie’s age was as compared to what Morgan’s age was with me thinking Lexie was a “teen mom” (under 21). However, as part of the plot, it explained itself. Those who are wondering – it is easily explained and makes sense. However, Lexie was a bit young to be taking on the responsibility she did.
Speaking of Lexie – I had to relate to her issues in the kitchen, especially recipes from social media. I can follow it to the letter and it ends in disaster.
I didn’t particularly care for Cameron right off, and it took me a while to warm up to him. I am wondering how different he is from the first two books. I actually liked Lexie a bit more and felt that Mason was the more realistic and rooted member of the group.
There is an important lesson that Bryson teaches Cameron: “dreams change”. He says this as he has no regrets about leaving the group that Cameron found fame with. And, Cameron learns the true meaning behind the signature song that Bryson offered.
There are beautiful themes of redemption, forgiveness, and second chances.
As this is distributed by Bethany House, a primarily Christian publisher, there will be themes of the Christian faith in it. And, given that the band’s origins were from as a praise worship band – the element is fairly strong. There are strong mentions of God and his influence. These do not preach at the reader, but are part of the characters’ own beliefs and a small part of the theme of the series.
Those who’ve read the first two books will more than likely want to read this one to conclude the series.
I wouldn’t hesitate to read future books by the author and look forward to what she is planning next.
RATING:
4 ⭐⭐⭐⭐ /5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ – Goodreads
4 ⭐⭐⭐⭐ /5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ – Bookbub
4 ⭐⭐⭐⭐ /5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ – Personal Rating (see rating explanation in this blog: https://readingexcursions.blogspot.com/2020/01/rating-system-2020-changes.html;update https://readingexcursions.blogspot.com/2022/07/what-goes-into-my-reviews-2022-edition.html)
PREVIOUS BOOKS IN THE SERIES:
Publisher: Bethany House (August 4, 2020)
Language: English
ISBN: 0764235893
ISBN-13: 978-0764235894
⬅️ Click Photo for Purchase Information
“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?”
Series: State of Grace (Book #2)
Paperback: 384 pages
Publisher: Bethany House (August 3, 2021)
Language: English
ISBN: 0764235915
ISBN-13: 978-0764235917
Click Photo for Purchase Information ➡️
“This disaster may be just what she needed.
Darcy Malone's dreams of mission work are dashed on the eve of fulfilling them: The Guatemalan school she was going to teach at has closed, and she's already quit her job and given up her apartment. Stuck in her worst-case scenario, Darcy accepts an unexpected offer to move in with Bryson Katsaros's little sister, despite the years of distrust between her and Bryson, the lead singer in her best friend Cameron's band. But as she meets those close to Bryson, Darcy quickly discovers there is more to him than just his bad-boy persona.
Needing to find a purpose for all her sudden free time, Darcy jumps at the chance to care for and train a group of unruly dogs, with the aim of finding each a home before their bereaved owner returns them to animal control. But it's Darcy herself who will encounter a surprising rescue in the form of love, forgiveness, and learning to let go.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Tammy L. Gray lives at the edge of the hill country with her family, and they love all things Texas. Her many modern and true-to-life contemporary romance novels include 2021 Carol Award–winning Love and a Little White Lie and the 2017 RITA Award–winning My Hope Next Door, showing her unending quest to write culturally relevant stories with relatable characters.
When not taxiing her three kids to various school and sporting events, Tammy can be spotted reading her favorite authors and supporting her husband’s ministry at their hometown church. Learn more at tammylgray.com.
You can find her on the following social media accounts:
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/tlgraybooks
Instagram: http://instagram.com/tlgraybooks
Twitter: https://twitter.com/tlgraybooks
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