Book Review of Root Beer and Roadblocks

Root Beer and Roadblocks, book 4 of the Orchard Hill series

Susan M Baganz

Read an interview with the author here

February, Prism Book Group, an imprint of Pelican Ventures LLC

$4.99 eBook

$15.99 Print

Buy on Amazon

Buy on Barnes and Noble

Buy on Smashwords

About the Book

When God strips away all your hopes and dreams can you trust Him to give you something better?

Johnny Marshall's cancer is back . . . and so is the girl who broke his heart seven years ago. As Johnny struggles to find the will to live and fights his second round with the disease, he finds that hope comes in small packages with an energetic little boy named David.

Having bought in to her parents' narrow view of finding a man worthy of her, years ago, Katie abandoned the one man she'd ever loved. In all the years since, no one has ever compared to Johnny. Now as a single mom of a young boy, she wonders if their reunion right on time or is it too late for a future together?

My review

The stories coming from Orchard Hill just keep getting better and better, if you can call dealing with a lot of illness in various fashion “better.” Lots of emotion and a whirl of events help a young couple reunite under the most difficult circumstances.

Secrets come out of the closet in Root Beer and Roadblocks. Return of cancer for a member of a popular praise band puts Johnny in a funk. Even with the return of the woman of his dreams, he has a hard time willing a desire to grab life. Katie is just discovering who she is…or isn’t, in her opinion. When she realizes she’s turned herself “off,” so to speak, just to deal with being alive and handling devastating circumstances within a classically dysfunctional family, revelations of the stuff of nightmares aren’t as much of a shock. Together Katie and Johnny know they can win any obstacle course, especially with the fruit of their first love, David, and love for another child who comes into their lives and needs them, Khloe.

There’s a lot of ups and downs, tears all around, hugs and passion in this story of forgiveness and grace, and future uncertainties. Told in multiple viewpoints, old friends from the past stories haunt the pages in a good way, and it truly come around to needing a village to make life a good one for each other and our children. Nicely done, occasionally tear-jerking. Recommended for readers of contemporary romantic stories and couples learning to deal with the realities after the “I do.”