Originally Published: 08-07-2020
When Forever Comes is 3rd book in the Trevor Family Saga Collection written by Anita Stansfield.
Book Details
When Forever Comes is classified as a contemporary romance but is also a Christian romance.
So because of that, you can know that there’s no sexual details to worry about when reading.
This story is about Hilary Smith and Jack Hayden.
Jenna and Colin, from book 1 and 2, play a role in this story as well as Ammon and Allison from the Hamiltons part of the Byrnehouse-Davies & Hamilton Saga. Their story is found in book 8 of that series, Home for Christmas.
Yes, this story is a romance, a romance between Hilary and Jack. But it’s more of their life story instead.
At first, Hilary and Jack were just best friends. They came together just after the death of Hilary’s brother Jeremy. Jack was welcomed into Hilary’s family home with her parents as they were adjusting to the loss of Jeremy and adjusting to life without him.
Keep in mind that Jack has secretly loved Hilary for as long as he can remember, so when she insists that they are just friends, a part of him is beyond heartbroken.
The span of the whole book is actually quite a few years. Enough so that they both go away to school, Hilary serves a mission and Jack actually gets married.
What we read is what happens along the way. And thru that is filled with what is called LDS content. LDS content is the way that LDS people think and act using terminology and language that coincides with living and being an active LDS person.
So if you’re actually LDS, you understand what certain things mean and what the purpose of other things are. If you’re not, then you can understand that this story is filled with faith building ideas and thoughts that bring us unto Christ as we go thru the struggles of life.
And that’s just what happens to Hilary and Jack. They both turn to each other and support each other during times that are hard and times that aren’t. They become each others best friend, not realizing the depth of their relationship.
And a lot happens in this story.
Book Summary
Hilary and Jack both go to BYU for school and see each other only a little. But turn to each other when scary and hurtful things happen. He turns to her and she to him.
He watches her date others, knowing that his heart is breaking every time.
Then his father dies, and she supports him thru that horrible trial and he learns to love her even more.
Then she goes on a mission and he gets married to another only to realize that he shouldn’t have.
Through getting a divorce and having his heart broken again, Jack is completely stumped when Hilary finally tells him that she does actually love him and that they needed to wait and go thru the things that they did to prepare them for things that will happen in the future.
Okay, so a ton of introspection and deep thinking happen along the way as these two characters get to this point.
And the intensity doesn’t end there.
Just before they’re to be married, Jack’s in a horrible accident that leaves him paralyzed from the waist down. And that in itself brings in a whole new aspect to the storyline.
So I can’t say that there’s actually one issue or problem for the plot, this book is just about the life of both of these characters.
If you know of anyone that has endured a horrible accident and has left them paralyzed in any way, you know that there’s a ton of emotionally aspects to this. And that happens in this story. Jack and Hilary go thru the ups and downs of learning how to live a different life they originally planned.
While they’re learn to love each other all over again as they adjust to the new changes that life has given them.
And thru it all they bring the different aspects of the gospel, like the Atonement of Jesus Christ, and how living the gospel and serving others can help to heal even the most broken of hearts.
To a non LDS person, some of these thoughts and ideas might be foreign but to a practicing and faithful LDS person, they’re common place and normal.
And that’s what makes this story different. It’s a story of struggle and redemption as they go thru the social, financial and emotional issues that come with just such an accident.
Conclusion
Anita Stansfield does such a great job of presenting all the issues and yearnings of the character’s hearts as they go thru the twists and turns that their lives give them.
And she gives a marvelous example of the peace and love that only come from our loving Heavenly Father. To someone that has felt that love, to read another’s thoughts brings tears to my eyes every time I read it again.
And that also endears the characters to us readers and make us want to know more of what happens to these characters.
And what’s fun is we get to see how other characters have been doing, even from other series as Anita Stansfield brings in from other books and how their lives have gone and moved forward.
Needless to say, this book was just as moving and poignant as the rest of the series!!
I enjoyed getting to know Hilary and Jack and learning to love them like real people. And that’s a talent that this author has, for us readers to be able to fall in love and live with these characters!!
Take a look at the next book in the series, A Christmas Melody!!
