My family bought this book at a local bookstore, interested in it because it was supposed be about martial arts in the book. When we actually sat down and skimmed through it though, it already had many inappropriate things in it.
No book should have junk in it first thing when you're just skimming and not even read, reading it yet.
A complete waste of $16.00. ( )

This book was really disappointing to me. It's marketed as Christian but there's so much behavior exhibited by the characters that's not Christian. There is a lot of alluding to cursing. There is drunkenness. There is lust and mentions of casual sex.
The main character was okay but she really ticked me off with how she treated Max. She kept leading him on and then pushed him away.
I might give this writer another chance. We'll see. ( )

After She Falls by Carmen Schober is a 2021 Bethany House publication.

Adri’s life veered off course when she married the wrong guy. Her career as a mixed martial artist fell by the wayside and she found herself living in a vicious cycle of abuse. She finally wakes up and gathers up her courage to leave, returning home with her young daughter, Eva. From this time forward, Adri hopes to get her life back in order and her first order of business is getting right with God.

Along the way she reconnects with her former best friend, Max, with whom she also has romantic feelings for, and resurrects her dormant career, all while trying to cope with the ever-present threat her ex-husband might be considering.

I liked many things about this book. One, Adri gets herself and her daughter out of a bad situation which could only come to a tragic conclusion.

From there, Adri realizes her hope lies in her faith, and her spiritual growth is one of the most wonderful parts of this story.

The one thing I had mixed feelings about, though, was Adri's career as a mixed martial artist. I was intrigued by her occupation, and thought it made the premise sound a lot more intriguing- but I also don't really get the attraction of watching two people punch each other until one of them loses consciousness. But, my curiosity won out in the end.

Initially, was a little surprised by some innuendo and actions of the characters which were not exactly the type of material, I’d have expected in a book marketed as Christian Fiction. On the other hand, as the story progressed, the messages became a little stronger, and I got a lot more about living a Christian living in this book than in my previous experiences with this genre, where the story might have been ‘clean’ but the ‘Christian’ part was barely detectable.

My one real complaint was that while categorized as a romance, I don’t think it truly fits into that category. There was the unspoken promise of relationship developments between Adri and Max, but that’s about it.

Mainly, the story is about Adri pulling her life and career back together, turning to her faith to steer her in the right direction, and committing herself fully to living a Christian life.

She still makes mistakes and errors in judgment, but eventually learns from her missteps- occasionally the hard way- but her will is strong and she triumphs in the end.

Despite my reservations about the mixed martial arts career choice, I confess to feeling the adrenaline and excitement of the matches and found myself cheering Adri on. There was a 'Rocky' like atmosphere during those passages, and the author did a great job of stirring the reader's emotions.

Overall, this is a solid debut novel from this author. I liked the characters, the mostly sound, positive spiritual messages, as well as the unique premise of the story.

4 stars ( )

This book was refreshing, I really enjoyed following the progression of the main character. Adri is a fighter - literally and figuratively. When the reader first meets her she is desperate - desperate enough to flee from her abusive husband and return to the home of her uncle. She and her young daughter find refuge there, but Adri is worried about returning to the place that she fled from as a teenager. She burned a lot of bridges when she left town suddenly and never looked back - but the biggest one with with Max. Max and Adri used to be best friend, and even more, but when she left to join the fighting circuit and married her ex-husband, She broke Max's heart, but now he may be the only one who can help her. Max runs a gym in town Adri's skill as a mixed martial arts fighter is her best chance for making a living. But can she work for Max? And how does all of this fit into her new found desire to follow God's leading?
I really enjoyed this story, it's definitely not a cookie cutter romance. Max and Adri have a lot of baggage to work through, and I even enjoyed learning more about mixed martial arts fighting, which is something I have never even watched before. Adri and Max were real and believable, and since I wanted them to succeed I got caught up in the story. I look forward to seeing more books from this author, and I would definitely recommend this one. ( )

After She Falls by debut author Carmen Schober was a stretch read for me. What does that mean? Well, there were a number of elements of this novel that are definitely outside my comfort zone. The characters in the novel are MMA trainers and fighters. That’s mixed martial arts for those who are as clueless as me. 😉 There are a number of fight scenes that realistically depict the sport including broken bones and blood. Really not my scene, however, I had heard enough buzz to be intrigued. The main thing that definitely was within my comfort zone was the highly realistic and relatable characters. No, I’m not ready to take up boxing or judo, but I appreciated the real-life struggles these characters faced. They struggled with being good enough, with overcoming mistakes (many life-changing ones), and seeking a good and gracious God of second chances. Second, third, and maybe fourth chances are all depicted as the characters seek to make sense of the world and their place in it. The book is full of messy lives — I told you, realistic. While most of the characters are the same ages as my kids, I loved that Schober had two strong mature secondary characters that could share their own failures and triumphs. Their wisdom and guidance was important to the main character’s growth and mirrored the necessity of mentors in faith for any age group. I did find the reading process slow — the book is told in present tense which caused me to re-read passages. I’m not sure why I had trouble with this, but I did. But After She Falls was intriguing, interesting, and worth the time it took me to read.

Recommended.

Audience: adults.

(Thanks to Bethany House for a complimentary copy. All opinions expressed are mine alone.) ( )