What I'm Reading: Fall from Grace by Ryan Phillip

About a year ago I was given a book by a friend, I have never really liked Christian Fiction because it tends to leave out God until there is a crisis and doesn’t show God in all of the writing; so I have stayed away.However,  I love supporting African-American writers and especially female writers, Ryan Phillips met both those criteria.

Saving Grace by Ryan Phillips

Book Description: As the only daughter of a successful businesswoman, Grace grew up with nothing but the best. Sheltered by her single mother and educated in an exclusive private school in Detroit, Grace was not ready for the harsh realities of an unforgiving world.

Grace's naivete coupled with her desire to experience life on her own terms leads her down a path of emotional devastation and physical abuse. Through a chance encounter Grace meets Mike, a successful design artist who introduces her to a relationship very different from her usual one-night-stands and affairs with married men.

Things take a turn for the worst however when Grace's roommate walks in on her and her married personal trainer in their apartment. This betrayal tears apart Mike and Grace's romance and shatters the trust and friendship between Grace and Trina.

In the midst of torn relationships, Grace's mother dies in a tragic plane crash leaving Grace with no one left to turn to except the God she thought had long since abandoned her.

This book was an amazing read and though I’m blessed to still have both of my parents, this book hit home. The friendship between Grace and Trina mirrors a relationship that I had growing up. The men in the book, I've encountered some of the same.  Ryan writes with an ease that shows growth and allows you to grow with the character. I was glad when I found out that she continued the story in Fall from Grace.

Book Description: 'GRACE fights the lump RISING in her throat. For a MOMENT she is LOST in thought, remembering WHAT IT HAS TAKEN to get TO THIS POINT...'

Grace Cambridge is a young Black Christian with a new husband, old friends, and a shocking moral dilemma.

A proverbial 'cat fight' opens the story and draws you into a complex relational web. The book peels through layers of dysfunction between Grace and Trina and follows their individual, sometimes intertwining, lives to reveal how they find their way back to Christ and to each other. Grace is intelligent, determined, well-spoken yet vulnerable. You want her to be happy, you want her to succeed. Grace's Christianity isn't sugar-coated. Her faith is real and so is her life---riddled with plenty of twists, turns, and conflicts.

As Grace's relationship with God is challenged she questions her identity and is faced with a life-changing decision. She deals with everyday issues, sometimes successfully, sometimes not.

Grace's experiences are not much different than yours---how she handles them might be.

Let’s see where this one takes me…if you want to read them they are available on Amazon.com