Until I Found You, by Victoria Bylin

From the Publisher:

Finding each other was only the beginning . . .

When Kate Darby swerves off a mountain road to avoid hitting a California condor, she ends up trapped in her car, teetering on the edge of a cliff. Terrified, she breathes a prayer that changes her life.

It's Nick Sheridan who comes to Kate's rescue. Nick is handsome and confident, and he seems to develop a habit of rescuing her, but Kate is in town only until her grandmother recuperates from a stroke. She's not planning to get involved with one of the locals.

Nick is a reformed veteran of life in the fast lane, a new Christian, and a travel writer. When he sees a car dangling on the edge of a cliff, the daredevil in him jumps into action. He doesn't expect to be swept off his feet by the car's occupant. He's made a vow--no dating for a year--but keeping that vow is going to be a lot more difficult now that he's met Kate Darby. . . .

My Review:

This was my first Victoria Bylin book and I really enjoyed it! There was a lot of suspense written into this story with Kate's accident and her grandmother's health and a few other things that kept me turning page after page wondering what happened next and where Nick would become the hero and how they would fall in love.

I feel like this story was very realistic in the way that it dealt with the struggles that a "baby" Christian goes through when leaving the old life behind. A relationship with God is a growth process and while you're no less saved at the beginning of the process than you are when you're further along in it, it's a gradient of growth that this book reflects. From the struggles of leaving the old temptations behind and counting the cost of your desire versus God's plans for you, to being ashamed of and disgusted by your old life, to accepting that it's your history and God has used it to shape you into who you are... this book was spot on.

The characters were very likeable. I preferred Nick over Kate, because he was less flaky. Kate was just very uncertain about everything and started to annoy me.

Overall, this was a very enjoyable book. I really only had one problem with this book... Nick had told himself that he wasn't dating for a year... and yet everything he did with Kate during that year implied that he was dating her... right up to the giant leap made from his no-dating vow to what happened when the year was up. The words of the book continued to stand by his no-dating vow, yet his actions in the book clearly showed otherwise. If you're not dating her, why are you kissing her all the time and well, dating her? I also have a problem with the frequency that Kate stayed at Nick's house, even though nothing happened. Why place yourself in that situation? At one point, she didn't go to her grandmother's house because she didn't want to disturb her or wake her... something like that. Not really a good excuse, and it seems like that was exactly what it was... an excuse. I can understand an emergency situation or at one point, the roads being too icy and it being too dangerous. But for a Christian book, I don't feel like this always demonstrated the highest of standards. I'm not sure I would recommend this book to a young (spiritually or age-wise) Christian based on the example set by the characters.

I highly recommend this book based on quality and based on the story, but suggest reading it with an understanding that as a Christian we should set our standards high and recommend using discretion when recommending it to a younger audience.

I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.