Book Review: The Mailbox

The Mailbox

By Marybeth Whalen

The Mailbox is a Christian fiction book about second chances. Teenage lovers Lindsey and Campbell are grown up now and find their separate lives far from what they had dreamed of. Lindsey returns to peaceful Sunset Beach, the location of her fondest memories, to regain her identity after signing divorce papers. Campbell finds himself bringing his estranged, anorexic daughter home with him to heal at Sunset beach. Both Campbell and Lindsey discover God has a great plan for their broken lives and has given them opportunities for second chances.

This Christian love story would probably make a good beach read. It's the debut novel of author Marybeth Whalen, and while it's definitely not one of my favorite books, I thought she did a great job on her first novel. I found myself somewhat nervous throughout this book as both the main characters are divorced (from different people), have children, and are seeking to rekindle a flame they once had with each other. Lindsey's husband tries to come back to her at one point in the novel and there was a blurry line of wanting her to be with her "true love" Campbell versus wanting her to reconcile with her ex-husband. Some dangerous ground to walk in my mind. The saving grace was that both Lindsey and Campbell were married to non-Christians who cheated on them and left them, so finding new love seemed justifiable in the end. 

Overall, this was a decent book and I would probably enjoy another book by this author, but I'd read the back cover carefully to make sure the plot is not morally compromising (which The Mailbox ended up not being, but I had to process it some before I was completely ok with it).

I received this book free from The B&B Media Group in exchange for my honest review.