The Road to Mercy is an excellent book. Josh Harrison, a Christian singer, is on the road most of the time. Bethany, his wife, has a life threatening health issue along with being pregnant. Even though an abortion was recommended, Bethany decides she wants to maintain the pregnany. She also has a secret she is keeping from her husband. Trust and mercy is stressed throughout the book. Kathy Harris has done an excellent job with this being her first book. I will continue to follow anything she writes.

I recieved this book from The Book Club Network in exchange for my honest opinion.

The Road To Mercy is a tale that is relevant in our day and age. It first starts out with a plane crash some years before in the prologue and then we are dropped into the lives of Josh and Beth Harrison's lives in the present day. Josh is an up and coming singer, songwriter in the Christian music business and currently on tour when Beth is rushed to the hospital. We find out that Beth has a very serious conditon, one of her arteries is partially dissected. Beth is in a great amount of pain and her life is in danger. On top of that they find out that she is pregnant with their first child. The doctor, Dr. Ben Abrams, suggests an abortion as his first concern is Beth. Beth is adamant that that will not happen and Josh stands by her side. There were so many areas in this story that I thought Kathy Harris described well. The pain from Beth's affliction and her body's dependancy on the pain killers, Josh's tour on the road and the dealings with his band mates, to the next door neighbor and the paitence she had in becoming Beth's caregiver when Josh could not be there. I felt for Beth and became frustrated with Josh. However, I did understand how Josh would feel then I would become frustrated with Beth. All in all this was a page turner and had so much more going on than I have even mentioned. I really liked how the author really showed us the lie that so many women are fed today and how this lie really does affect them for the rest of their lives. I also liked that in this story everything happened for a reason even if it seemed very tragic in the beginning. I recieved this book from The Book Club Network Inc. and the opionions are my own.

Once you pick this book up you won't be able to put it down. It is a compelling read.

The story begins with a Prologue, and I felt like I have read this part before? As we travel on we get to almost the end of the book before the pieces fall into place.

The theme of this story is about forgiveness, whether it is forgiving oneself...as Bethany has been unable to do. Or as in Josh forgiving Bethany and then himself.

We deal with a lot of uncertain happenings. Will Beth survive long enough to salvage her relationship with Josh? Will the baby make it. Then there is Josh's Christian Rock Star status. Will he find out who has been stealing from him, and will he be able to forgive?

This is a really great read, and I recommend you taking the time to read it.

I received this book through Pump Your Book Publicity Tours, and was not required to give a positive review.

I find in life that sometimes despite our abilities to leave our pasts behind, sometimes it's not possible. Sometimes that past comes calling again, but we have a choice as to whether to open the door and deal with it or keep the door close and hope it stops knocking. In the debut novel, The Road to Mercy, by Kathy Harris, the readers are in for a journey that will outline what it really means to trust in God and learn to walk by faith, faith defined as believing in things we don't see. In each circumstance that the main characters are challenged with, Josh and Bethany Harrison, are tested in a wide variety of ways. The faith will come into question and will at times be doubted in some areas, and whole-heartily accepted in other ways.

The book begs the reader to ask their own question of where their life of faith stands. When hard times or unexpected circumstances come upon us, will we fall apart or fall on our knees. This book is perfect for these hard times we have all fallen upon lately, with job losses, health issues, financial strains, marriage problems, and more, I find if we don't have faith as our foundation, we will fall apart. We will look to fix things ourselves and at times will come up far too short. We must in fact, put our trust in God, because storms will come in each of our lives, our faith will be tested to points of breaking us sometimes, but it's how we weather our storms that makes us stronger and better prepared to deal with what happens next.

In The Road to Mercy, the reader gets to also know what true mercy is. Mercy is when we completely deserve punishment for something we have done wrong, but are instead given a clean slate, a new start, we get what we did not expect in return. I found myself wondering as I read along with Beth's health issue of being on the brink of death and learning she is pregnant, what decision I would make if I were in the same situation. While the well-meaning Dr. Ben Abrams tries to convince Beth and Josh that terminating her pregnancy is the best option, Beth and Josh choose to trust that God can handle the issue and will accept whatever consequences happen by their decision. Sounds like stuff that happens in real life all the time. Josh and Beth also find that dealing with the health issues and the pregnancy that it places them under tremendous personal stress of their own, each wondering if they are doing the right thing, which at times places them at odds with one another. Yet deep within the past are some secrets that may undermine their faith and completely destroy them. You'll have to read the book to see how this all plays out but trust me, it's well worth the search!

I received this book compliments of Pump Up Your Book Tours and Abingdon Press for my honest opinion and love that Kathy Harris chose this as a debut novel to write. In this tough times, we need books like this one to remind us of the cost of maintaining our faith. It may not be an easy road to walk but it will be one that pays off unexpectedly in ways we never imagined for our good in the end. For that reason I rate this book a 5 out of 5 stars.

The Road to Mercy

By: Kathy Harris

This is my first book by Kathy Harris I really enjoyed it. It kept me wanting to read and not put it down. Great Characters. Josh and his wife Bethany are faced with some major decisions they need to make. Can they make these decisions based on being Christians?

Not knowing if Bethany will make it through the decision they make. The decision they make is based on faith. Only god's mercy and their faith can get them through this trial in their life. I love Christian fiction Kathy did a wonderful job with this story. Looking forward to her next book.