Book Review: Cherished by Kim Cash Tate

How can you believe God cherishes you, when you can't forgive yourself?

That is the question that two women ask in this book.  Kelli London once dreamed of being a songwriter.  She dreamed about Brian, that they would have a forever love.  But choices she regrets dashed her dreams, and upended her hope.  But when her dreams come around again, she's forced to face her past, before she can live her future.

Heather Anderson's life is a mess.  First she has an affair with a married man, then a one-night stand with the drummer of a popular Christian band.  Broken and alone she cries out to the only One who can really save her.  But now she must leave the Old Heather behind, and discover who she really is.
These two women form an unlikely friendship as both are on the path for God's forgiveness.  "Will they ever believe that He loves them... and can still offer them a life where they are cherished?"

When I started reading this book I was immediately turned off.  The dialogue felt really contrived, there were too many characters too quickly without enough character development for me to keep them straight.  I love reading Christian fiction books, they are my favorite genre, but this one felt a little too 'preachy' in the beginning for me.  There were many times where it just felt forced, it needed to be a little more subtle, because it distracted from the story.  Then there was a major plot point which I felt was uncovered in a very unrealistic way, and had a theology attached to it that I didn't agree with.

ALL of that aside though, I did find myself continuing to read the book and wanting to see how it all ended.  The story was a little unreal, but the music lover in me enjoyed the main story line of the book.  After I got past my initial hesitations I really enjoyed the book.  It was a slow start, but a great ending.  A quick read that was enjoyable.  I even found myself bookmarking a few lines here and there to go back through and read again later.

I would recommend this book to anyone who can't forgive themselves.  Because this book is a reminder that we are all cherished.

Booksneeze graciously provided me with a complimentary ebook copy of this book for review purposes.  I was not compensated for my review, all opinions here are my own.