Perfectly Imperfect: A Chance at Forever by Melissa Jagears

Friday, April 13, 2018

Genre: Historical Fiction

Rating: Five out of Five hearts 🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤= excellent!

Book 3 in the Teaville Moral Society series

About:

Former school bully Aaron Firebrook, now an adult, has returned to Teaville in hopes of becoming a teacher- and also to make restitution for his former actions. His plans hit a snag, however, when he runs into Mercy McClain, one of his former victims. A malformed arm made her the brunt of his jokes and brought her to tears as a child, and she just doesn't think he's trustworthy. Not now, and maybe not ever.
When circumstances throw them together, Mercy finds she's going to be working with Aaron and seeing him a lot- maybe even on a daily basis. It's definitely not her ideal situation. She has enough trouble in her life, what with a wayward brother, an orphanage to watch out for, and one boy there that just seems to cause trouble no matter what. Why has God placed this troublemaker into her life again to just make life harder?

My Review:

Mercy is faced with a problem I think we can all relate to- believing a person can change so completely after they've done so much wrong to you. It's a tough thing, after being so hurt and having such a fixed opinion of them for so long, to not only forgive them, but to put the past behind you. Aaron, as a man struggling to forgive himself and move on, is a moving and relateable character as well. His story shows that yes, God finds it neither impossible nor improbable at all to change anyone. A good reminder for all of us. Jimmy (one of the kids at the orphanage where Mercy works), as annoying and impossible as he makes life for our characters, has a vulnerability and even a likability about him. Melissa Jagears succeeded in making characters that are realistically imperfect, but lovable anyway.

This being the final book in the series, I thought the author did a wonderful job of wrapping it all up in the end. (About halfway through, I did wonder how she was going to do it, how she would make a satisfying end out of it all, but she managed it. The epilogue is satisfying and sweet). She made Aaron and Mercy my favorite couple in the series- and, quite possibly, made this my favorite book of the series as well. One thing I also appreciated about the Teaville Moral Society series was the deep, hard things each character has gone through, yet their past doesn't define them. Mrs. Jagears touches on some things that aren't in a lot of historical Christian fiction, and I appreciated the what she added in this one.

Another aspect I appreciated- Mercy's malformed arm, or 'handicap', if you will, didn't define her character- in fact, the author didn't really bring it up a whole lot, and I tended to forget about it. A plus, in my opinion, since I notice some authors tend to dwell on their character's handicaps and therefore don't really let us see the character just as a person. I'm not fond of books that only show you the damage, not the human.

I think if you're looking for a Christian historical fiction novel that isn't quite like all the rest, one that hits (even if only lightly at times) on difficult topics such as prostitution and abuse, your search is at an end. I like the slightly different approach Mrs. Jagears takes in this series, the way she doesn't wrap everything up neatly, and hope that she continues to take this approach into her future books.

Note: I got this book from Bethany House in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.