I first stumbled upon Tari Faris last year with her book, Until I Met You, which featured a character running a library. After my mom read and raved about it, I picked up the first two books in the Restoring Heritage series and after reading Since You've Been Gone, I am kicking myself for waiting so long to get to Faris' books! Read on for my review! 

© Revell Books

About the Book:

"Leah Williams is back in the quaint town of Heritage, Michigan, and ready to try again to make her business a success. But blank slates are hard to come by, and a piece of her past is waiting for her there. Heir to the Heritage Fruits company, Jonathan Kensington is the guy who not only made Leah's past difficult, he also seems determined to complicate her present as well. 

Jon is trying to prove to the Heritage Fruits board that he, not his manipulative uncle, should be running the business. The board insists Jon find a new owner for the building that will house Leah's business. To avoid forcing a buyout of Leah's part of the building, Jon strikes a compromise with Leah, and the two go into business together. With her vision and his know-how, it might work. And Leah might realize he's loved her since high school. If only he didn't keep on shooting himself in the foot by boxing her out of important decisions. 

 Sparks fly in this romantic story of two people who must learn to trust both each other and the one who called them to this journey."

The Artist Librarian Review:
The latest book in the Restoring Heritage series, Since You've Been Gone, features four more singles discovering love in the small town of Heritage, Michigan. Though I hadn't read the previous two books, You Belong With Me and Until I Met You, it wasn't too difficult to acclimate myself to the setting and characters. Despite some (what I'm assuming are) cameos and perhaps slight spoilers regarding couples from the earlier books, considering that these are contemporary romances, I felt comfortable reading Since You've Been Gone as a stand alone though that may be different for other readers. 

The character I connected to first was Leah. She's a creative, flighty type, and I very much related to her fears regarding falling in love and reluctance to starting a relationship even though she really wanted to. While there were moments where I got frustrated at Leah's jumping to conclusions, it was understandable considering her past assumptions. Jon is a steady, responsible type whose clashes and banter with Leah are rather entertaining.

Love is a risk, but a risk worth taking (with the right person), is one of the themes throughout the book that stood out to me and is highlighted not just with our main couple, but side characters Madison Westmore and Colby Marc.  Both end up in Heritage not by choice, but by necessity: Madison to settle the affairs of her late estranged father and Colby to hide out after a scandal breaks up his popular music group. Like Leah, Madison is also reluctant to the risks of love, but her character arc was even more poignant to me and a reminder of how important our reactions as Christians are --Do we respond with grace and love or sanctimonious judgement and presuppositions? Seeing her grow to trust others and vice versa made me want to cheer. Meanwhile, Colby's heart and character reminded me of Hosea. He didn't care about Madison's past reputation, but saw her as she was now and how she changed even if others in town didn't.

As Tari Faris solidly closes out her debut series, I will eagerly await her next book (after I go back and read the other Restoring Heritage novels)! I would recommend this book to fans of Christian contemporary romance authors such as Becky Wade, Julie Lessman, Carla Laureano, or Susan May Warren. My fellow librarians should also take note of this new Christian fiction author!

Can you think of a book that has the same title as a song?

"Tari Faris is the author of You Belong with Me and Until I Met You. A member of American Christian Fiction Writers and My Book Therapy, she is the projects manager for My Book Therapy, writes for learnhowtowriteanovel.com, and is a 2017 Genesis Award winner. She has an MDiv from Asbury Theological Seminary and lives in the Phoenix, Arizona, area with her husband and their three children. Although she lives in the Southwest now, she lived in a small town in Michigan for 25 years. Learn more at TariFaris.com."