|
Ever been on the verge of buying your own engagement ring?
Ashley Wilkes Stockingdale still dates Seth, (who we met in book one – What a Girl Wants). Both still attend the same church and the Reasons Bible Study group. Ashley now lives with Kay. She’s landed a new job and it seems, for once, life is going to be smooth sailing. Wrong!
After nine months of dating Ashley and Seth are no closer to the marriage alter than day one. He can’t seem to bring himself to utter the M word, but he does present her with a lovely gift. Just what a girl needs – her own puppy. Ashley names him Rhett. Quickly it’s clear that Ashley’s life is too busy for a dog. It’s almost too busy for herself. And, just when she thinks she’s figured out the Seth and Marriage thing it’s revealed to her that an old flame is interested in her. Ashley struggles with her decision about breaking the relationship with Seth off. When he decides to accept a job overseas, she must decide if she’ll follow him.
Ashley’s new boss seems interested in her extra curricular activity as well as her job skills as a patent attorney. He dangles the position of general counsel in front of her. As she fights off passes from him, wants to break off the relationship with Seth, entertains the idea of an ex-flame re-entering her life, trying to raise a rapidly growing puppy, surviving the re-model of the house she now co-owns, Ashley realizes her life is rapidly spinning out of control. Can she put the brakes on and stop the downward spiral? Will God make it clear what she is supposed do to, not just with her job but with her relationships as well?
Author Kristen Billerbeck has hit the funny bone with this book. It was a joy to read. I felt like Ashley’s best friend, let into the secrets of her life. This book is a little deeper than the first one, and I’m not sure I like that better, but I felt more satisfied when I finished. The interplay between Ashley and the world is enlightening and I think every reader can relate to her. I know on the first book her outlook on the world sparked a fuse in a few readers, but if nothing else, Ashley is honest and her flaws show in spite of herself. I could relate.
(Taken from my review of What a Girl Wants) Ashley wants stuff she doesn’t need (just like me), she wonders at the Christians around her and the kind of testimony they are to the world (just like me). She walks through life doing mandatory things and not seeing the thing God has set out RIGHT IN FRONT OF HER (just like me). I guess that’s the charm of the story: I felt like Ashley and I connected. I highly recommend She’s Out Of Control and award it the Road to Romance Reviewers Choice award.
Reviewed by Linda Mae Baldwin
for The Road to Romance
August 5, 2004
|
