God still loves you when the world around you crashes.

Love and Other Mistakes exempifies the belife that “God is with you in the middle of the storm” and demistrates it in one of the most dysfuntional families I have ever read about in CF. Jessica Kate, a new author, does an exceptional job showcasing God’s love and the need to forgive, no matter the offence.

The first thing I noticed is Nat, Jem, and Lili have major “daddy” issues but for compleatly different reasons. One wants to make daddy proud while the other two just wants daddy to accept them. My heart broke as Jessica described the brokenness these characters felt as they wrestled with the constant nagging of “You’re not enough”. (How many times do we hear this on a daily basis?) Dads have no clue, I think, how valuble they are to their kids, even when they become adults.

The second thing I noticed was the lack of attentivness in the mothers. Except for Nat’s mom, I found my self compleatly irritated with the mothers of this story. These women needed major “Come to Jesus” moments. Let’s just say, I am glad these characters are fictional though we all know moms like theses. Mom’s who put image, job, or significat others over their children have no idea the damage they are causing. (If that wasn’t how the author meant to portray them, I apologize for reading them this way.)

The third thing I noticed – Olly is adorable!

Fourth – the COVER!!! I wanted to read this story, at first, stricktly based on it’s cover. That doesn’t happen often, I like to read the synpsis first, but that red just pulled me in.

It is said that “If a story invokes a wealth of emotions, it is a hit”. Well, Love and Other Mistakes will definitly take you on a rollor coaster ride of emotions. Jesisca Kate has a way of crafting words to make you smile on one page and then break your heart the next. I would most definatly say that she is an author worth adding to your “Must read” list.

**This book was provided by the publishers throguh CelebrateLit. This review is entirely comprised of my own opions.

****I was given permission from the author to share this.

When I read these paragraphs, I had to stop and read them a few more times. These words are ones I needed to see. I love when a book speaks to me, don’t you?

About the Book

Book: Love and Other Mistakes

Author: Jessica Kate

Genre: Romantic Comedy

Release date: July 31, 2019

Love and Other MistakesThere’s a fine line between love and hate . . . And for the last seven years, Natalie Groves hashated Jeremy Walters.

Natalie Groves was meant for great things. But soon after her fiancé left, Natalie’s father was diagnosed with cancer. Suddenly her grand plans evaporated . . . and God felt very far away.

Fast-forward seven years, and an internship presents Natalie a chance at her destiny—but she needs a job to work around it. And the only offer available is worse than a life sentence. Her ex Jeremy, now back in town, is desperate for help with his infant son and troubled teenage niece, Lili. And Natalie may be just the one to help Jeremy . . . provided they don’t kill each other in the process.

When Jeremy and Natalie join forces, sparks fly. But will either of them get burned along the way?

Get your copy here!

About the Author

Jessica KateAustralian author Jessica Kate writes inspirational romances with wit, sass, and grit. Jessica is a screenwriting groupie, cohost of the StoryNerds vlog and podcasts, and her favorite place to be—apart from Mum and Dad’s back deck—is a theme park. She has traveled North America and Australia, and samples her favorite pasta wherever she goes—but the best (so far) is still the place around the corner from her corporate day job as a training developer. She loves watching sitcoms with her housemates and being a leader in a new church plant.

Jessica Kate brings rom-com fans a reminder that love has its own timing in her breakout novel, Love and Other Mistakes. Kate is best known in the book world as the cohost of StoryNerds, a vlog and podcast about all things books and pop culture, recorded from her home city of Toowoomba, Australia. Now, she’s carving her own place in the Christian fiction arena and helping to fill the rom-com genre gap with a novel full wit, sass, and grit.

More from Jessica

A romance that makes me laugh and snort my strawberry milkshake across the keyboard when I sneak in chapter at work – that’s just the best. My loftiest career aspiration is to create that experience for someone else. There can never be enough of those books in the universe, especially novels that include deep faith and emotion, as well. I adore love-hate romantic comedies like The Hating Game by Sally Thorne, and I spend my days dreaming up plotlines that force characters who hate each other to work together as a team. But, Natalie’s journey came from a real place for me—that feeling you’re missing out on your purpose and you don’t know how to fix it.

Read an excerpt at https://jessicakatewriting.com/books/love-and-other-mistakes/

Blog Stops

Book Reviews From an Avid Reader, July 31

Among the Reads, July 31

All-of-a-kind Mom, July 31

Reflections From My Bookshelves, August 1

Through the Fire Blogs, August 1

Wishful Endings, August 1

Emily Yager, August 2

Godly Book Reviews, August 2

The Christian Fiction Girl, August 3

CarpeDiem, August 3

Livin’ Lit, August 4

Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, August 4

Genesis 5020, August 5

Carla Loves To Read, August 5

Happily Managing a Household of Boys, August 6

Pause for Tales, August 6

Back Porch Reads, August 7

Christian Chick’s Thoughts, August 7

Britt Reads Fiction, August 8

Hallie Reads, August 8

For Him and My Family, August 9

Living Life Free in Christ, August 9

Real World Bible Study, August 10

Remembrancy, August 10

A Good Book and Cup of Tea, August 10

Ashley’s Bookshelf, August 11

Texas Book-aholic, August 11

A Reader’s Brain, August 12

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, August 12

janicesbookreviews, August 13

Inklings and notions, August 13

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Jessica is giving away a grand prize of a finished paperback copy of Love and Other Mistakes!!

Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter. https://promosimple.com/ps/e563/love-and-other-mistakes-celebration-tour-giveaway

7 Comments

  1. Trixi

    Books that “evokes a wealth of emotions” (love how you put this) are some I eagerly look for to read for myself! Messy family relations overlaced with God’s grace & love are some of the best ones in my book (No pun intended)!

    This is already on my want-to-read list! I watched her FB live video on release day where she talked about her inspiration for “Love and Other Mistakes” and had Rachel Hauck, Melissa Tagg and another author as visitors (I can’t remember who now, that’s terrible). I loved it and I know I’d love Jessica’s book! ?

    Thank you for participating in the blog tour and your lovely review!

    • MelissaWardwell

      It was quite the ride, but with every minute.
      Thank you for stopping by the tour.

  2. Amanda Tero

    Wow, your review makes me intrigued. It’s not that I “like” to read books about dramatic families, but I do think that it is an important topic authors should write about to help their readers, if handled properly. 🙂

    • MelissaWardwell

      I hope you find you like this as much as I did.

    • Jessica Kate

      Hope you enjoy the story Amanda!

  3. Jessica Kate

    Thanks so much for your wonderful review! Can’t wait to take you to Australia in A Girl’s Guide to the Outback!

    • MelissaWardwell

      I will be in line to read it.