Official Review: The First Lady by Darlene Grant

[Sam Ibeh]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "The First Lady" by Darlene Grant.]

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3 out of 4 stars

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After twenty-five years of running their ministry, Helen Roosevelt is confident in her love for her husband and the vision they have built. However, a storm is brewing, and hidden secrets are about to shatter Spirit and Truth Worship Center's lofty edifice. Will Helen overcome this spiritual storm threatening to annihilate all she has built, or will she succumb to the whims of the flesh? The First Lady by Darlene Grant follows a journey to redemption and a testament that the blessing of God makes rich and adds no sorrow.

Helen Roosevelt discovers a secret that threatens to shatter her perfect world. Her husband has changed drastically, as the lust for power and money ensnares him and leads to spiritual manipulation. At first, Helen is determined to run away from this threat, but the will of God calls her back to stand and truly become a pillar of strength in a time of turbulence. As she undertakes this task, she discovers that there is more to it than meets the eyes, and backing down is not an option.

This book really attests to the fact that no situation is hopeless. It is natural to lose sight of what is important in the face of success, and then it takes a 'tragedy' to bring us back to our senses. This book portrays the power of love — love for God that manifests in obedience, and love for one's spouse that manifests in commitment even in troubled times. Helen's courage is inspiring and hopeful. She is human in her responses, and her pain is heartbreaking. She is an example of how a decision to choose fight instead of flight can have a tremendous effect.

The arrangement of this book is neat. There is a quick and easy flow of the narrative from one chapter to another, and there are no frivolous scenes. The suspense is also drawn out such that I'll have an idea of what is happening, but the details will still be unclear. The desire to find out what is going on drives the narrative. The author's description of the emotional turmoil of Helen is apt, and the reader will feel her struggles. When she was considering leaving everything behind, her reasonings were understandable, such that I felt supportive of her. The message of the book is clear and direct.

The errors in this book were its major bane; there were so many of them. I also found the lack of details into the affairs of the pastor unsettling. The author only gave ideas of what might have happened. This made me wonder if his sins were actually as grave as they were portrayed. However, I suspected that this was deliberate, as it was not the book's main focus. The focus was on redemption rather than transgression. There were also repeated cases of broken-up sentences, where the ending of some sentences fell on another line. This book could use another round of editing.

I recommend this book to readers who are interested in stories of redemption. The book is purely Christian fiction, but the message is universal; it can serve as a handy book to rekindle one's faith.

The theme and arrangement of the events' sequence are awe-inspiring, but I am rating this book a 3 out of 4. It deserves a perfect score, but a few niggling issues take away from its rating.

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The First Lady
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