Recently, I finished A Channel of Your Peace, the debut novel by Veronica Smallhorn. In addition to giving me a slight peep into life down under, it also qualified as a bit of a binge read for me.

And I’m not complaining.

Here’s the blurb:

Would a God who truly loves you allow things to get this bad?

Lapsed Catholic Erin Rafferty has the life she always wanted. Or at least she did, till the moment her fiancé of five years announces he’s leaving her for another woman. Heartbroken and humiliated, a further devastating development leaves her wondering if she can ever live a normal life again.

Mark Ashcroft is a devout Catholic looking for an equally devout Catholic wife. A chance encounter with Erin leaves Mark completely captivated, yet deeply unsettled, knowing Erin is not in a place to accept him, nor is she the model Christian woman he’d hoped to start a life with.

A tentative friendship begins, and Erin finds herself questioning her long-held rejection of her faith, while Mark finds himself healing from memories of his own wounded past.

But as love grows, further tragedy in Erin’s life threatens her burgeoning faith and her hope for a future with Mark.

What follows is a difficult journey of love, surrender, trust, and faith in the ultimate knowledge that Christ is always in the midst of our sufferings.

Smallhorn is an Australia native, and her writing about Canberra, the capital of Australia, gives you a peek into a place you may never travel outside the pages of the book. There’s some travel to Mexico in the book, too; it turns out Smallhorn’s husband is Mexican and she lived there for three years.

Her characters are raw and real, and she writes about love in a few aspects: the love of man and woman, as well as the love of God for each of us. The book has an underlying theme of hope, which I can’t help but think we all need.

I enjoyed reading A Channel for Your Peace, and if you’re looking for a good read and you like a bit of romance, a dash of Catholic, and some overcoming-of-hurdles, then give it a whirl. I’d have no qualms giving this to my teens to read, though I think it’s more a mom-read. (Sorry, guys.) Bonus: It’s free on Kindle Unlimited. 😉