Awakening

Title: AWAKENING
Author: JoAnn Durgin
Publisher: Torn Veil Books
November 2010
ISBN: 978-1-926712-56-7
Genre: Inspirational/contemporary romance

Lexa Clarke signs up for a TeamWork Missions assignment, expecting to be assigned to some faraway, exotic land. Instead, she’s assigned to sweltering San Antonio, Texas, to help rebuild homes destroyed by floods. But on the way there with handsome blue eyed Sam Lewis, she is accosted by dusty roads, a flat tire, a spitting goat, and more. Not only that, but Sam seems the master of inquisitions.

Sam is the director of the TeamWork project. He’s not really trying to infuriate the pretty, feisty and witty Lexa, he’s just trying to figure out where to assign her on the job site. She seems to know her way around numbers, but she doesn’t seem to know which end of the hammer is up.

Lexa defies Sam at every turn and appears that she might be more at home on a cruise ship than a construction site. A chain of incidents challenge their faith and their relationship.

AWAKENING is the debut novel by JoAnn Durgin. Ms. Durgin is a master at bringing the scene to life. I could taste the dust, and almost could feel my throat closing along with the characters. I could feel the goat spittle along with the character. The writing is witty, sarcastic, and fresh.

I really liked Ms. Durgin’s play on “Lewis and Clarke” adventures, and she says in her author notes that this story is loosely based on her own romance with her husband. I enjoyed reading AWAKENING and look forward to many more books by this talented author. $12.99. 247 pages.