My review of The Amen Sisters by Angela Benson

About the Book:

After witnessing the suicide of a church sister, Minister Francine Amen is disgusted with herself for turning against the young woman and refusing to accept her claim of sexual abuse by their pastor. Now, after a short stay in a psychiatric hospital, Francine is trying to pull her life and her ministry back together. But first she must face all of the people she has hurt so deeply--including her younger sister, Dawn. But can Dawn trust her? Francine used to date Dawn's husband, Sly--who now seems just a little too interested in Francine's recovery. As far as Dawn is concerned, Sly would be better off spending his time making amends to her for his own sins.

My review:

The Amen Sisters has a killer beginning and moves along at a pretty fast pace for a while. There is plenty of drama to move the story forward and the tension is realistic and well done. The story slowed a bit in the middle when it got heavy on the church scenes and talking a lot about forgiveness and issues from the past. Then the action picked up again.

I prefer to be in the middle of the action and experience conflict and agony along with the characters. There was potential for emotional suffering at first, but the slower parts were hard for me to get through. That's just the way I see things.

I enjoyed the conflict between Dawn, Sly, Freddy, and Walter. However, I'm a pretty forgiving person so Dawn's ongoing anger started bugging me. I was glad when she and Sly began seeking the Lord more in their relationship, which is the best way to heal from that type of rift. The point the author made about stepping out in faith to rebuild trust and choosing to love was excellently done.

Overall I enjoyed this novel. I liked how the author tied some scenes back to Genesis House, which was from an earlier book the author wrote. But it would've been better with a little less talk and more action in the middle to keep the story from sagging. Regardless, The Amen Sisters ranks high in edgy content, so I'd recommend it to people who enjoy reading about real life issues.

The Amen Sisters was published by Warner Books/Walkworthy Press and released in 2005.

The Amen Sisters