Guest Review: The Envelope – Emily Josephine

Tragedy and guilt follow Sheila Carson around like a sick puppy, causing continual estrangement from her family and a heavy fear of getting too close to other people, especially other people of the opposite sex. She cannot bear the thought of accidentally destroying another man’s life again.
Then she meets Hank Johnson. At first, the new fourth-grade teacher gets on Sheila’s nerves, especially after a run-in between one of his students and one of her Kindergarteners. But Hank’s rugged handsomeness and fun-loving personality begin to win Sheila over when he ends up one day after school, helping her to search for her favorite student, Diana, who mysteriously goes missing.
Sheila’s faith in God compels her to take a personal interest in Dianas’s broken home life, and at the same time makes her begin to wonder if Hank might be part of God’s plan for her life.
But while Hank attends church and seems to have his own brand of faith, he is hiding his own past tragedy that has caused him to doubt God’s love for him during the past several years. So when Sheila’s heart begins to lead her in the direction of missions, Hank abruptly drops his relationship with her.

But it cannot end there. A mysterious envelope that Hank has forgotten about turns out to be an intricate and shocking connection between both their tragic paths.

Will Sheila ever receive the forgiveness she desperately needs? Will Hank ever admit his love for Sheila – and shake off the past hurt that threatens to keep them apart? “The Envelope” weaves together the lives of one man, one woman and an innocent five-year-old girl to bring about a heart wrenching story of healing, forgiveness and God’s persistent love.

Series:
Release Date:  July 11, 2012
Publisher:  JEB Publications
Source:  Provided by Author
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Reviewer’s Thoughts:

The Envelope is an inspirational read with many twists and turns.  The author introduced so many different elements I had problems keeping up with the story and difficulty seeing how they connected.

There is estrangement between the main female character and her family.  She has a special love for one of her students, and she leads her and her father to Christ.  She did all of this while also developing a relationship with a colleague, turning away the affections of the favored student’s father, fighting to keep her job, and resolving her own issues with her involvement in an accident.

The main male character is involved in a life altering event, leaves the call of God for his life, and arrives in a new town just in time to help our main female character with all of her issues.  However, he believes he has feelings for another woman and after wooing our main character decides he is no longer interested.  He arrives at her bedside in time to help her come out of a coma, and they live happily ever after.

The story is interesting and has great potential, but it fizzles because as you are getting into one storyline it’s on to another one and neither really goes anywhere.  The writer clearly had the best of intentions and is very talented.  It is a slow read with underdeveloped characters and multiple underdeveloped, overlapping story lines.