My Bookshelf: Until I Found You by Victoria Bylin

Finding each other was only the beginning…

        When Kate Darby swerves off a mountain road to avoid hitting a California condor, she ends up trapped in her car, teetering on the edge of a cliff. Terrified, she breathes a prayer that changes her life.

        It’s Nick Sheridan who comes to Kate’s rescue. Nick is handsome and confident, and he seems to develop a habit of rescuing her, but Kate is in town only until her grandmother recuperates from a stroke. She’s not planning to get involved with one of the locals.

        Nick is a reformed veteran of life in the fast lane, a new Christian, and a travel writer. When he sees a car dangling on the edge of a cliff, the daredevil in him jumps into action. He doesn’t expect to be swept off his feet by the car’s occupant. He’s made a vow—no dating for a year—but keeping that vow is going to be a lot more difficult now that he’s met Kate Darby…

Until I Found You is the first book I have ever read by Victoria Bylin, so I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect going in. I’ve had this book on my Nook for quite some time now, and it’s always intrigued me, but I never, ever, expected it to be what I found between its covers. I had an inkling, or at least a hope, that it would be interesting and well-written, but I never thought that the storyline would go the way that it did. That is a good thing, don’t get me wrong. Most stories that start out like this one are all the same, they fall in love, get in an argument of some sort or something bad happens to tear them apart, and then they eventually suddenly realize their mistake and then patch everything up and live happily ever after. That is not the case with this story, and I love that because it gives me even more of something different.

Kate Darby is running. Plain and simple. When the description says she “breathes a prayer that changes her life,” it’s not entirely in the way that you might think. Yes, she prays to God, but she doesn’t say a life-changing prayer asking God to be her savior. I don’t want to spoil how the book goes for you, but it is more about Kate’s struggle to accept God, put her faith in Him, and trust Him, than it is about any argument Kate and Nick might or might not have. And that is what is so refreshing about this book! Finally, there is a Christian fiction romance that focuses just as much on the Christian aspect as the romance, without ever going so far as to preach at you. I absolutely love that, and I commend Victoria for pulling that off, though Kate’s struggle to truly understand faith was extremely frustrating at times. I just wanted her to fall in love with God so she and Nick could be together already!

Nick Sheridan is one of the sweetest, most kind, loving, and patient men to have ever graced the pages of a book. Now, I’m not going to lie and say he never makes any mistakes, because he wouldn’t be human (fictional men are still human!) if he didn’t, but that doesn’t keep him from being about near perfect. He is such a rock for Kate, strong, steady, faithful, and ever patient, and I cannot help but wonder if real men like him exist in the world. And the fact that he struggles with faith too—more with his faith walk than accepting it but a struggle nonetheless—makes this story all the more perfect.

All in all, this story really touched my heart in a way that I will never forget, so I happily give it all five bookshelves. Victoria did a flawless job weaving together all of the aspects of this story, and I absolutely cannot wait to read more of her work. Namely, her new story that is going to release in May called Someone Like You. Victoria has definitely been added to my list of authors, and I know that I will devour more of her books in the future.

Happy reading!

To see where I’m linking up, check out my Where I Party page.

All credit for the italicized synopsis goes to Victoria Bylin and Bethany House Publishing.