The Joy of Falling

Lindsay Harrel

Apr 2020 · Sold by Thomas Nelson

About this ebook

Eva and Angela must learn to live again. One step at a time.

It has been fifteen months since Eva and Angela lost their thrill-seeking husbands in a scuba diving accident. Both women are trying to navigate their way through the grief, but neither one is making much progress. Angela is barely making ends meet, angry at her husband for leaving her to raise three children on her own. Meanwhile, Eva is stuck, unable to move forward after losing the love of her life and her source of inspiration.

But then Eva gets a life-changing phone call. Before Brent and Wes died, they had signed up for a race of a lifetime—an ultra-marathon in beautiful New Zealand. Eva begs Angela to run the race with her in their husbands’ place, and Angela finally agrees, hoping to finally understand her husband's choices.

Training is exhausting, and the race is even more demanding. Their journey grows more complicated by the presence of two men—Marc is Brent’s best friend who is running the race with Eva and Angela, and Simon King is a writer who is covering their inspiring story. With every step, Eva and Angela must ask themselves questions that they haven’t had the courage to ask before. As the women literally put one foot in front of the other, they wonder: Is it possible to find their way forward in hope?

Ratings and reviews

I feel like I just took a trip to New Zealand, ran a 150 mile race and came back – Whew, I’m exhausted!! I’ve never read any of Lindsay Harrel’s books, but I remembered meeting her at CFRR (Christian Fiction Readers Retreat) in 2019, so I decided to give this book a chance… and I am SO glad that I did! Her writing style is different than most of the authors I’ve read previously and the way she wrote the book gives you the story from the perspective of Angela and her sister-in-law, Eva. This was especially interesting because the two main characters couldn’t have been more different in, their attitudes, their personality and in the way they each handled their grief. Having been single my entire adult life (as of right now), I can’t imagine the thought of losing your husband/significant other, but it was amazing to see the character’s grow and each learn to handle their grief differently. I also totally understand why they would be afraid of falling in love again, given what happened to their husbands but, in the words of Angela and Eva’s Mother-in-law Sherry, “New love is difficult for a number or reasons, but there’s nothing but beauty in it”. I also loved the message of hope and faith in a creator God, who gives us color and who should be our inspiration. This was intertwined so perfectly within the story, that you can’t help but want to praise the Lord for his amazing creation. The author also describes New Zealand in such a way, that I could picture the beautiful snow-capped mountains and hear the lapsing of the water in Wanaka lake. The only thing that I found disappointing was the end of the race. I LOVED the perseverance that Angela, Marc and Eva showed to run/walk/jog in this Ultra Marathon, but having participated in a race before (which was only 4 miles, not 150), I was hoping for more details about the end of the race. Like did they go home and celebrate, did the three of them collapse on a coach, order pizza and not get up for a week? But unfortunately, I’ll never know, because in the book, time fast fowards to when they are already home. Other than that, I really enjoyed reading this book and am going to have to go order “The Secrets of Paper and Ink” because I’ve heard so much about that one (and if this one was good as it was… I can’t wait to read her previous book!) Overall, because of the end of the story, I would give this book 4 out of 5 stars ****. Special thanks to Lindsay Harrel, Netgalley and Celebrate Lit for letting me read and review this book – all opinions are my own.

About the author

Lindsay Harrel is a lifelong book nerd who lives in Arizona with her young family and two golden retrievers in serious need of training. She’s held a variety of writing and editing jobs over the years and now juggles stay-at-home mommyhood with writing novels. When she’s not writing or chasing after her children, Lindsay enjoys making a fool of herself at Zumba, curling up with anything by Jane Austen, and savoring sour candy one piece at a time. Connect with her at LindsayHarrel.com.