The Chance by Karen Kingsbury

When one man's rash actions break up the life of his daughter, can she see past the hurt? And can the boy she left behind ever find her? That's what The Chance by Karen Kingsbury is about.

Ellie Tucker had to move suddenly, when her dad found out her mom was pregnant with another man's child and kicked her out. And ever since, she's felt rejected by her mom and enstranged from her father. Meanwhile, Nolan, who's always loved Ellie, is searching for her. The night before they left, they burried letters to each other, and now, as the clock ticks down to the deadline, will they meet again?

I thought it was very interesting how Ellie and Nolan responded to suffereing. Ellie more or less abandoned her faith, while Nolan's faith was strengthened. It really just goes to show that how you respond to a bad situation is the most important thing.

Both characters were really well written. There was a bunch of other characters (like Ellie's family), but I was pretty much caught up in the story of the two of them. As the story progresses, you can just see the hand of God moving to bring Ellie back to him, and to bring Ellie and Nolan together. Ellie is very hurt, but through her daughter, she's slowly learning to forgive. Nolan is a famous NBA player, which is why Ellie feels like she's not good enough for him. But Nolan has been searching for her all this time. This is when I swoon over the romance. It's really sweet.

Apart from this, there is also the story of forgiveness. Ellie has to forgive her father. Her father and mother must forgive each other.

Another sub-topic was faith and celebrity. Nolan's a famous NBA player, and he uses that show others the good news of Christ. In one segment, a few commentors were talking about him, and one of them mentioned that someone so famous should keep his faith to himself. I really like the reply to that, so I'm just going to quote it, and leave out the description of the commentor while he was talking:

"People don't have to follow Nolan Cook. That's their choice. You follow a celebrity in today's world because you want an inside look at his life, his feelings. A deeper look at what drives him and motivates him. [...] Nolan, you go right ahead and tweet about God. This is America. [...] Last  I checked, freedom of speech was still our right. If it's our right, then it's Nolan Cook's right too."

Literally, an un-putdownable read. I loved it!

Disclaimer: I got a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for a free and honest review.