{"id":980,"date":"2007-12-21T11:25:00","date_gmt":"2007-12-21T11:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ceceliadowdy.com\/blog\/2007\/12\/a-moment-of-weakness-by-karen-kingsbury.html"},"modified":"2007-12-21T11:25:00","modified_gmt":"2007-12-21T11:25:00","slug":"moment-of-weakness-by-karen-kingsbury","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/ceceliadowdy.com\/blog\/2007\/12\/moment-of-weakness-by-karen-kingsbury\/","title":{"rendered":"A Moment Of Weakness By Karen Kingsbury"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"id=\"BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5146386327822458370\"<\/a><\/p>\n

A Moment Of Weakness by Karen Kingsbury<\/a>
Paperback: 416 pages
Publisher: Multnomah (March 1, 2000)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1576736164
ISBN-13: 978-1576736166<\/p>\n

I LOVED THIS BOOK. I was up until two AM last Saturday finishing the novel. THAT’S MONUMENTAL FOR ME. I HAVEN’T STAYED UP SO LATE FINISHING A BOOK IN THREE YEARS!!<\/p>\n

I’m aching to talk to somebody about it. I kind of miss the book clubs I used to belong to. When I was in the book clubs, we would all read a book a month, then we\u2019d meet in a restaurant or somebody\u2019s home and discuss the novel. This is one of those times I wish I could have a discussion with somebody about this! <\/p>\n

From Amazon.com:
Book Description
Karen Kingsbury’s twelfth book, A Moment of Weakness, is a captivating story of human weakness and divine faithfulness. Jade and Tanner were childhood friends until scandal drove them apart. Then one golden summer they found each other again and shared dreams of forever. But in a moment of weakness they made a decision that would tear them apart for nearly a decade. Now, Jade’s unfaithful husband wants to destroy her in a custody battle that is about to shock the nation. Only one man can help her in her darkest hour. And only one old woman knows the secret about that summer — and the truth that can set them all free. Had they found each other again after all these years only to lose everything that matters most\u2026? <\/p>\n

As children, Jade Conner and Tanner Eastman were best friends\u2014until scandal drove them apart. Then, one golden summer, they find each other again. Through endless days they share their hearts and souls and dreams of forever. Then\u2014in a moment of weakness\u2014they make a decision that will tear them apart for nearly a decade. <\/p>\n

In their own separate corners of the country, Jade and Tanner have become fighters for religious freedom. Now Jade\u2019s unfaithful husband is determined to destroy her in a custody battle that will rock the nation and shake people\u2019s understanding of faith and freedom. Could Jade lose her only child because of her faith? Only one man can help her in her darkest hour. And only one old woman knows the secret about that summer and the truth that can set them all free.<\/strong><\/em>
===============================
On one of my writers\u2019 listservs, we were discussing the best book we\u2019ve read in
2007, excluding the Bible. Hands down, I felt that A Moment of Weakness is the best book I\u2019ve read for 2007. I\u2019ve read two of Karen\u2019s other novels, but I like this one the best. I plan on purchasing some more of her novels and writing my views about them on this blog.<\/p>\n

Although this is a Christian novel, I felt Kingsbury did an awesome job of showing the sexual tension between Jade and Tanner. Also, I loved the way both characters \u201cfound\u201d their way back to each other not once, but twice. Their relationship survived huge conflicts, conflicts that didn\u2019t seem easily resolved. This is a great novel to read for those struggling with the mistakes they\u2019ve made in the past, mistakes made from going against God\u2019s word, even though those mistakes were made after their salvation.<\/p>\n

=============================================
SPOILER BELOW:
Reading the novel got me to thinking about Christian dating relationships. Tanner and Jade, against their better judgment, made love the day before he was to leave to go to Hungary for three-week religious trip. I often wonder how many Christian couples are able to have a long-term dating relationship without having intercourse. I watched the couple struggling with their deep attraction during the course of their golden summer together, and I felt that Kingsbury did a great job of showing their attraction to one another.<\/p>\n

I also loved the way God brought the couple together as young adults. When they were reunited in their early twenties, it was refreshing to see them together, falling in love. Tanner\u2019s mother was a strong conflict in the relationship due to the bitter feelings she has for Jade\u2019s mother. Jade\u2019s mother has not only hurt Jade in the past, but has also hurt Tanner\u2019s parents.<\/p>\n

My heart cried as the couple was ripped apart again, leaving Jade pregnant and estranged from everyone. Her sudden marriage to Jim made her problems worse, not better, and her decision started me to thinking about how we sometimes take matters into our own hands, wanting to solve our problems without looking to God for guidance.<\/p>\n

When Jade\u2019s marriage falls apart, and she\u2019s in danger of losing custody of her son because of her Christianity, Tanner again appears in her life. I especially loved the courtroom scene at the end of the novel! It was powerful and moving. <\/p>\n

As I read the second half of the book, I had to wonder if Kingsbury added Tanner\u2019s older brother to the story after the book was written. I felt that Tanner\u2019s older brother, who was only mentioned a few times in the story (I can\u2019t even recall his name), was added to the story only to give Doris\u2019s (Tanner\u2019s mother) lies to Jade more credibility. What I mean is this: Doris hates Jade, so to break up her son and Jade, she lies to Jade, making false claims that her son is a womanizer and he has two children out of wedlock whom she sends money to each month. She shows Jade pictures of the children, who look just like Tanner. The photos cause Jade to believe Doris, making her abandon all thoughts of being with Tanner and hurriedly marrying Jim, so that she can have somebody to support her and her child. When Doris\u2019s lies are exposed, Jade discovers that the children whom Doris has mentioned are actually Tanner\u2019s older brother\u2019s children! Tanner\u2019s older brother is not in any scenes and when Tanner\u2019s and Jade\u2019s wedding occurs at the end of the story, Tanner\u2019s brother is not mentioned as attending the wedding. I felt he would have at least attended the wedding. I was wondering if Kingsbury added the brother on later, to create a reason (the children who look like Tanner) to make Doris\u2019s lies more believable to Jade. I emailed Kingsbury and asked her this yesterday, but, so far, no response.<\/p>\n

You should read this book, if you haven\u2019t done so already! I\u2019m sure you\u2019ll love this one!<\/p>\n

Cecelia Dowdy<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Moment Of Weakness by Karen KingsburyPaperback: 416 pages Publisher: Multnomah (March 1, 2000) Language: English ISBN-10: 1576736164 ISBN-13: 978-1576736166 I LOVED THIS BOOK. I was up until two AM last Saturday finishing the novel. THAT’S MONUMENTAL FOR ME. I HAVEN’T STAYED UP SO LATE FINISHING A BOOK IN THREE YEARS!! I’m aching to talk […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-980","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-talk"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paovYP-fO","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/ceceliadowdy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/980","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/ceceliadowdy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/ceceliadowdy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ceceliadowdy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ceceliadowdy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=980"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/ceceliadowdy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/980\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/ceceliadowdy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ceceliadowdy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ceceliadowdy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}