With weak referral points, people, old and young, often take blame/responsibility for their circumstances…rejection by family and others who should know better must be their fault. While C.J. Darlington lives in Pennsylvania, she writes about Colorado, Wyoming and other points in the West pretty well. I’ve traveled and lived in these areas and could relate to the scenery and other locations. Made the light weight story more believable for me.
In Bound by Guilt, young adults who have become ‘painted into a corner’ can find a point of reference to try to find a path out. Adults can learn discipline both social and spiritual from the lessons that came to the adults in the story.
The book is intent on dealing with the spiritual location of several characters, both young and old and moving those who can grow in their faith toward that higher goal. Through scenarios of petty crime, serious burglary, attempted murder and manslaughter, we see people learning and growing. The author takes the reader to a place of caring, but not through the court scenes to learn the fate of the criminals and their accessories in crime.
A pleasant, moving read for young adults, their parents and friends with no profanity or graphic violence. Puts you in a good place without a lot of complicated religious arm-twisting doctrine or personal convictions. The cover is, at noted by other reviewers, very attractive and along with the title reinforces the part of the plot that revolves around rare books. The author tells at the end of the book about incidents which led to the inspiration for this story.
There was quite a bit of brand placement with soft drinks. The protagonist, a teenage girl can get a lot of mileage out of a few dollars, and covered a lot of miles in a short time, but stories are spun of things like this. Again, a pleasure read that leaves the reader a little teary, but at peace.