Review: Steadfast by Sarina Bowen

I can say without a doubt that I truly loved this book and I could not put it down. I’m going to put this book firmly in the “responsibility shirker” category. I had work to do, places to go, meals to make, laundry to do, and I didn’t want to do any of it. And to be completely honest, I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel about this book because I loved the first book, Bittersweet so much. I wanted more time at the Shipley farm with Griffin and the Shipley family. I knew that Jude was heading home after spending a few months at the Shipley farm. It was a “safe” place for him and going back to his hometown was walking straight back into the belly of the beast for him.

As with so many things in our adult lives, we have to face things we don’t want to, things that will hopefully, make us stronger. That was my hope for Jude. Addiction is a beast that don’t have personal experience with but through Bowen’s evocative writing, I felt Jude’s raw desperation. I wanted him to go back to the Shipley from where he was safe and I wanted to hug him. Jude needed to stand on his own two feet but he also deserved tenderness and care. He didn’t get a whole lot of that growing up and I think that Sophie also provided that for him when they were together. There was no doubt in my mind that they were meant to be together despite the circumstances that separated them at the beginning of the book.

I have to say that this book required me to have faith in an author and the direction she takes a character. Weeks after graduation from high school, a guy I grew up with, dated and was friends with was killed in a drunk driving accident. He was the passenger. I’ll admit that my ability to forgive the driver could use some work. So, my first thought was, how do I read this book? I made a decision to separate myself from my personal experience and see where Bowen took Jude. I knew that I enjoyed an “unredeemable” character and I figured that Jude would be “redeemed” in some way. But what made me uncomfortable was, if I could forgive Jude, the character, how could I not at least work on forgiving the guy who killed my friend? A book that makes you examine your own deep dark issues or truths is a book to be reckoned with.

Sophie was an incredible character. As I mentioned before, she gave Jude the tenderness, love and compassion that he got no where else. And to her credit, she believed in him, flaws and all. She followed her feelings and gut instincts when it came to him and I feel sure that both of them are glad she did. In this same category is the Shipley family. Certain parts of Jude’s addiction battle merited him taking on things on his own. But, there were others that having friends and family to fall back on, was imperative. The Shipley family were a constant hand on his back, they only wanted to support him and he needed that.

Oh and it’s a ridiculously hot book on top of everything else. Holy crap.

I kept thinking that this book is completely (to steal a foodie term) “organic”. The struggles are real, Jude isn’t a millionaire and there are no quick fixes. There are no manufactured bits of drama to be thrown at him. He was struggling with an addiction and living in a town with the woman he truly loved but couldn’t have. Or could he? Some things are just meant to be…

See? I’m still completely spun by this book. You know a book is remarkable when you don’t want to do anything else… but read it.