Tiny Blessings: Giving Thanks for Baby by Terri Reed

by shewolf0316 on March 4th, 2009, 5:27pm Login or Register to post comments

I have been so busy I haven't had a chance to post my full reviews of just about everything I read in a few months. No, I'm not posting ALL of them, I'm just going to post the Harlequin Enterprises books to catch up and we'll see how it goes time wise for me in the coming months if I post other publisher ones too or not.

Harlequin Enterprises/Steeple Hill Love Inspired #420
Category Romance
Inspirational Romance/Contemporary
Mass Market Paperback
Rating: 4

Trista Van Zandt has recently moved to Chestnut Grove to start life anew with her baby, Aidan. It also helps that her brother, Ross, lives there already. Life for this single mother had been tough growing up and a failed marriage didn’t help. Now Trista’s goal is to provide the best possible life for Aidan. Romance is not in the cards for her so when her sister-in-law, Kelly, suggests Trista join an online singles group, she initially scorns the idea.

Scott Crosby is content in his life as assistant pastor. He hopes to someday find a woman who would understand his passion for doing God’s work, unlike his last girlfriend who dumped him when he decided to enter into ministry. He is reluctant at first when Naomi, the pastor’s wife, urges him to join an online Christian singles community but later thinks this may be a way for him to reach out to even more people in need.

Trista and Scott slowly become friends after they meet in the book store at a children’s event. They have struck up a friendship online, though neither realizes they are talking to each other. Scott reaches out to Trista, find the spiritual growth she needs but soon friendship grows and now they must decide if their faith in God is strong enough to overcome their fears.

I was in the mood for a Thanksgiving book, and after reading an online Tiny Blessings novella, I had to look up the books in the series. How perfect I found Giving Thanks for Baby since that’s exactly what I was looking for! I wanted a sweet and tender love story, with a hint of mystery, centered around the holiday, that reminds us what Thanksgiving really means.

The love brewing between Trista and Scott grows at a slow and gentle pace as they spend more time together and learn more about each other. Soon Scott finds himself enmeshed in the lives of Trista and little Aidan and begins to think that is where God wants him to be. Trista had long since decided God didn’t care about her. If He did, why did He let her suffer as much as she did? Scott helps her to overcome her doubts about God and it is through her relationship with him that she learns God does love her very much and that she had to go through trials to fully understand that. Scott loves being a pastor but always feels like he can’t measure up to his highly successful siblings. Trista helps him to realize that while he may not think his family is ideal, that he is blesses to have them and that they all love each other deeply.

I have only read Terri Reed's suspense novels before so I was glad for the mystery she weaves into Giving Thanks for Baby that enhances the overall story, since that was what first introduced me to the author. Granted, I figured out pretty quickly who the culprit was behind the vandalism and threats at the Tiny Blessings Adoption Agency, but enjoyed trying to figure out what was going on. We also receive a few more details behind the overarching story about the scandals at the Adoption Agency in the past which keeps things moving along nicely. Terri Reed also discusses the very sensitive issue of domestic violence in one of the secondary story lines. This adds another layer to the story in Giving Thanks for Baby.