Inescapable, a book review

For the Bethany House Blogging for Books program, I reviewed Inescapable by Nancy Mehl. I received a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for agreeing to read the book in its entirety and publish a review of it on my blog as well as a consumer site. 

This is the first book I have read from Ms. Mehl, even though she has written over 13 books, but it won't be my last book.

Inescapable chronicles the life of Lizzie Engel, who at the age of 18 left her hometown of Kingdom, Kansas, a Mennonite community, because she felt unaccepted there, having a baby out of wedlock.  She escaped to Kansas City with her young daughter and made a life there for five years, but circumstances occurred there that prevented her from staying in Kansas City and the only solution she thought would be safe for her and her young daughter would be to return to Kingdom, not sure what her welcome would be or if she would be chased out of town.

Over the course of the story, she comes to find out that she was not shunned, but much loved and had a lot of support from other town members except they feared her overbearing father. She comes back to a town that is split in their beliefs of how they should practice their religion, some, like her father, do not embrace forgiveness, newer members embrace forgiveness and grace like Jesus extends to all people. 

Lizzie's mother gladly welcomes her back to the community, but her father refuses to have her and her young daughter live at their house. She connects with Cora, who runs the town restaurant, and is able to live above the restaurant and work for her.

In the meantime, she connects with a childhood friend who always vowed to  protect her, Noah, as well as has an encounter with the father of her baby, five years later, who had not seen her since he and his family had moved away shortly after she announced her pregnancy.

There is a lot of mystery in the story as she is being stalked and haunted by an event that happened in Kansas City that made her return to Kingdom. In the end, all is resolved and she finally finds happiness and love and decides to put down roots in Kingdom for her and her daughter.

The story happens over just a few weeks although does reference past events. It is predictable at times, but does have a few unexpected twists and turns.

My thoughts about the book? I liked it. I started it a week ago and found myself not able to put it down, reading pages here and there during my busy work schedule, etc. It caught my interest from the first few pages and held it through the whole book, always wondering who was behind the stalking she was experiencing and wondering what the final outcome of the story would be.

It was an easy book to read and flowed easily. A very enjoyable book to read. Included in it were study questions in case one read it as part of a book club, as well as a brief look into the next book of the series which is due out in 2013. I know I'm looking forward to reading that book when it comes out.

I would highly recommend this book.