I featured this book awhile back as part of a blog tour.
After three years of marriage, Denise Hightower discovers that her husband, Pastor Bryce Hightower, has a secret addiction that not only jeopardizes his marriage, but impairs his ability to effectively preach the gospel.
Yielding to pressure from her mother and her husband, Denise agrees to keep his addiction a secret, although her self-esteem plummets. Her life as the perfect First Lady is falling apart at the seams. Denise suffers in silence until she is confronted with the addiction from a trusted member of the church.
Self-centered and determined to uphold his pastoral image, Bryce is oblivious to his wife’s emotional state. He’s convinced that he can overcome his “little problem” on his own, so he rejects the spiritual help God sends him. But when his secret is discovered, will he be able to come clean with himself, God, and his congregation before he loses it all?
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This book tackles an addiction that’s not usually seen in Christian fiction: pornography. Pastor Bryce is suffering from an addiction that’s affecting his occupation and his marriage. First lady Denise is stunned when she discovers her husband’s addiction, and he wants her to keep quiet about his problem. Playing the part of a perfect first lady takes a toll on Denise. Her mother’s attitude does little to help the situation. Denise doubts herself, wondering if she were prettier or thinner, maybe her husband would find her desirable.
As things spin out of control, both Denise and Bryce discover they need to hand everything over to God. Bryce learns that he can’t hide his problem, he needs to be honest about his addiction and trust that the Lord will help him.
This book teaches us that there’s no problem that God can’t handle. We need to repent and be honest about our sins.
Pornography in Christian fiction? That is an issue that I’ve never seen tackled in a Christian novel before!