Crossed Lines - Review

Crossed Lines (Love Along the Wires, # 2)

By: Jennifer Delamere

Publication: August 3rd 2021 by Bethany House Publishers

384 pages

Genre: Adult, Historical Fiction, Christian Fiction

Source: Personal Kindle Library

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Goodreads description--Emma Sutton knows she should be satisfied with her position at London's Central Telegraph Office. But ever since she was orphaned young, she's longed for a family of her own. Things look up when a handsome engineer is thrown into her orbit and he sends Emma the love note of her dreams.

Mitchell Harris's sharp wit and facility with a pen have enabled him to thrive despite serious obstacles. That the woman of his dreams works just one floor above his should make life perfect. But a childhood accident has left Mitchell convinced he'll never draw a woman like Emma Sutton's attention. When his best friend--who once saved his life--falls in love with Emma, too, and asks for help writing her love letters, Mitchell is torn between desire and loyalty.

Believing the writer of the letters is the answer to her prayers, but confused over her growing attraction to Mitchell, Emma's heart must decide where to call home.

Retellings can go one of two ways for me. Either I'm excited to see how the author takes essential aspects of the original story and uses them in the new story. Or I get frustrated that the new story is essentially the exact same as the original. Seeing that Crossed Lines was basically a retelling (or inspired by) Cyrano de Bergerac was part of what excited me about reading it. Yet, I was frustrated when the parts that truly mimic the original came to pass because those moments felt too predictable. But also, I tend to dread watching a trainwreck you can't avoid. Knowing one character is writing in the place of another character has to lead to an inevitable crash.

Mitchell has worked himself from being a child laborer in a factory/mill to being up for a promotion to manager at the CTO. He is proud of his hard work, but he also feels unworthy when it comes to relationships because of an injury. He spotted Emma while riding the bus to work as she was walking and has been seeking an introduction ever since. He has a bit of love at first sight. But when he finally does meet her, he sees her character and personality are even better than her beautiful face.

Emma is a romantic. You could almost say that she has her head in the clouds. She has a love-at-first-sight experience with Mitchell's best friend. Except Christopher isn't as eloquent or wordy as Mitchell. And even though Christopher is a great guy, he isn't what Emma is ultimately looking for. Emma gets trapped in a pretty face and doesn't see what's right in front of her. How many of us can relate to that?

I think one reason I felt like this was a trainwreck is that forgiving someone for a betrayal as big as someone's identity is a tall order. I say it all the time, if you've ever watched Catfish I think in all the seasons there might have only been a handful of people ever willing to even keep in contact with someone who catfished them. This shows in general most people can't get past a lie like this, especially in a romantic relationship. However, this is a Christian book, and Christians are called to forgiveness. Yet forgiveness and reconciliation aren't the same thing. Anyway, just something to ponder.

Favorite quotes:

-In Emma's view, if a lady would be equally happy with either of two men, surely that meant neither was the right one.

-He refrained, however, reminding himself, as he often did, that living his own life well was the most satisfying way to spite the people who enjoyed belittling him.

-He should not be falling in love with Emma Sutton, but his heart continued to insist it was impossible to do anything else.

-Mitchell had learned over the years that it was often easier to butter up irascible people than to push back.

-Mr. Frya would say that was evidence of how God was looking out for her. He'd once remarked that life could be messy at times, but even the prettiest gardens needed weeding. It was in putting forth that diligent effort to tend the garden that its blooms were able to flourish.

-"You're coming at it from the wrong direction. To believe in God is not to say that bad times will not come. Rather, it's the knowledge that God will always carry us through them."

-"Everything looks better from the river. What a difference it makes to change one's vantage point."

-"We may pray to God for things, and He is often gracious enough to grant them. But how He does it is for Him to decide. Over the years, I've found that it rarely happens in the way I'd direct it if I were running the operation. But that's the interesting part. He always seems to have a better plan than I could ever come up with."

-"'The quality of mercy is not strained. It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven upon the place beneath. It is twice blessed; it blesseth him that gives and him that takes.'"

Crossed Lines was an easy and fast book for me. Emma and Mitchell were both characters that were easy to like. I felt a little bad for Christopher and I wouldn't mind stumbling upon his story one day. Some parts of the retelling were a struggle for me because how they end was obvious and felt a little like a train hurling toward the inevitable crash. Crossed Lines gets 3.5 Stars. Have you read Crossed Lines? What did you think? Let me know!