- Title: Judgment Call
- Author: E. B. Roshan
- Where to buy: Amazon (affiliate link)
- Genre: Romantic Suspense, Dystopian
- Would I recommend: Yes!
Synopsis:
Kiva is handsome, generous, and very much in love with recently-widowed Preen Enda. But the thought of becoming his wife fills her with dread—especially when men from her past—men who know too much—begin appearing in her peaceful town. It’s only a matter of time before her secrets are revealed.
If Kiva learns the truth about what happened to Preen’s first husband, will he still want to become her second?
My review:
Judgment Call was my first introduction to the Shards of Sevia series. (There I go, jumping into the middle of a series again!) E. B. Roshan’s writing style made the novella an easy read. I had a bit of a challenge wrapping my brain around the political structure of the world Roshan has created, but that may be because I didn’t start the series from the beginning. However, my lack of complete comprehension of the world’s politics didn’t keep me from enjoying it!
Roshan creates an intriguing world in the short space of a novella and fills it with believable characters. The depictions of day-to-day living and of the emotional struggles the characters face are well written.
The major theme of the book is one of reconciliation and forgiveness. Preen doesn’t think she deserves love. She feels like she is to blame for her husband Rama’s death – the husband her parents didn’t choose for her, the husband she ditched her promised, Kiva, for. She fears that if Kiva knows what really happened, he’ll blame her, too. She can’t forgive herself, so she can’t trust that he could forgive her, either.
The plot moves along nicely. There are some tense moments when someone from Preen’s past shows up and basically moves in next door. Is the danger he posed really in the past, or does Preen have reason to fear? Kiva’s reaction to this person is very realistic and very well done, and I can imagine a lot of men reacting the same way to a threat to the woman they love.
Roshan also does a great job of showing her characters living their faith and wrestling with issues from a Christian perspective in a realistic way. Forgiving yourself is hard. Trusting someone else to forgive you is hard. Fighting for someone you love is hard. Faith makes these things possible for Roshan’s characters.
I enjoyed the book, and I’d like to go back and read the first four. I want to know more about Sevia and the stories that its characters have to tell!
Disclaimer: Thanks to the author for a review copy of this book. All opinions here are mine, and I don’t say nice things about books I don’t actually like.
Good insights! I’ve read prior books in the series. The author does a good job with world building but it’s easy to get a bit lost in the politics.
I need to go back and read the earlier books. I need more hours in the day to read!