Slow Moon Rising

Eva Marie Everson. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Revell, 2013. 376 pp. (Paperback).

If you’re a fan of Eva Marie Everson (and I definitely am), you may have been waiting for this book (I definitely was). “Slow Moon Rising” is the last in the Cedar Key trilogy, a series that delves into the lives of the fictional Claybourne family, who own a vacation home in Cedar Key, Fla. 

The book is a romance, but not your typical saccharine hearts-and-flowers romance; the series deals with tough issues in a way Christian fiction often fails to do. The final book seems even more gritty than the first two, taking on issues of infidelity, alcohol and drug abuse, and fractured family relationships, acknowledging that real families — even Christian families — deal with these problems. The main difference between Everson’s work and secular fiction is that Everson’s work is written from a Christian worldview rather than a politically correct secular one.

“Slow Moon Rising” may not be a mindless beach read, but it is entertaining. Riveting, even. And thought-provoking. And real.