Book Recommendation - A Perfect Weakness

I recently had the pleasure of being a part of a launch team for a work of romantic historical fiction, which is a genre that is slowly growing on me (as long as the romance isn't super gushy). Jennifer Davids is a "new to me" author, so I was a bit hesitant. But I didn't need to be. The book was very well written and the characters were delightful. I was immediately drawn into the time of 1860s England, where we meet our heroine, Penelope Howard, at the grave of her uncle who had recently passed. He was the lord of Ashford hall in the village of Woodley. His heir is an American doctor who must be convinced to come to England and become a lord. Here we meet John Turner, who has given up medicine for a reason unknown to us at this time. He appreciates the opportunity to escape his troubles and find his way to England. He plans to settle the estate, hand the reigns to another, and hide away in England. The story focuses on the lives of these 2 main characters, John and Penelope. Both of them have committed grievous sins in their past that they attempt to keep hidden. John struggles with the possibility of God's grace and believes he has fallen too far. While Penelope has accepted God's grace, she still struggles with the repercussions of her past mistakes and believes that her sins will keep her from finding true happiness and seeks contentment in her current circumstances. Throughout the story, various circumstances come to light and they seek to help each other come to terms with their pasts. 

While parts of the story felt predictable and I was fully convinced I could see the ending coming a mile away, the author brought along a few surprises throughout and the ending was so sweet! This was a lovely romance story, but it was made more so because of the resounding theme of grace. The theme verse of the book is 2 Corinthians 12:9 where God says to Paul "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness" (hence the title), and that theme came through loud and clear. God used both of their weaknesses to bring about a great result in the end. 

I was able to have a little Q&A with the author of this one as well. Here's how it went:

1. Where did you get the inspiration for the book? Is there any specific inspiration for the setting, the characters, the overall theme?

The inspiration for the book came from my second Heartsong book, Wounded Heart. A Perfect Weakness was originally intended to be a Heartsong length novel but the line shut down before I could get it finished. And it had become too long at that point anyway. The character from Wounded Heart I drew from was a secondary character who is a doctor and a victim of unrequited love. I had always wondered what happened to him after the close of the book and that is the seed from which A Perfect Weakness was born.

2. Do you relate to any of the characters in particular? Why?

I do relate to John Turner, my hero. We both have a tendency to be too hard on ourselves. Plus we also both need our peace and quiet and we enjoy the same woks of fiction. 

3. Is there anything interesting that happened during the writing process that altered the course of anything in the book?

I had an opening scene derailment of sorts. In it, the heroine, Penelope Howard, is standing over a recently deceased relative’s gravestone. I had it all set and worded exactly how I wanted when I re-watched the first episode of Season 4 of Downton Abbey. I got to the part where the Dowager Countess is speaking about Matthew’s gravestone and how they don’t set it in place for six months to allow the ground to settle. I realized that since Penelope’s relative had not been deceased that long the gravestone she was standing over would not be there yet. So I had to rewrite that scene and briefly explain the lack of a gravestone. Ah, the trails of historical writers! Lol!

4. Any other fun facts that would be fun to share with readers?

I did spend some time researching various contagious diseases in the Victorian age. And for the record, no, I’m not going to say why – read the book and you’ll understand. ;). Anyway, I would expound on the symptoms of said diseases to my husband and kids. Eventually, we latched on to one disease in particular – cholera – and whenever one of us would come down with a cold or something we would joke that ‘it must be cholera’. Yeah. My family and I have a strange sense of humor. Lol!

Jennifer's next book will be in the WWII era. Nothing like skipping around timeframes! She's currently working on that while moving her family from one home to another (she's a fellow Ohioan as well!). You can learn more about Jennifer and her works on her website: https://www.jenniferadavids.com/