Review by Marta Landeros -- Grace Revealed

[Marta Landeros]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Grace Revealed" by Frederick J. Sievert.]

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3 out of 4 stars

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Grace Revealed: Finding God’s Strength in Any Crisis is a collection of real-life events and stories as told by Frederick J. Sievert. The stories navigate through the life experiences of various individuals who share how their lives were affected and how these experiences shaped their beliefs of the true meaning of grace. In these stories, Sievert touches many sensitive topics. These stories consist of topics covering depression, addiction, emotional and physical abuse, career roadblocks, and family conflicts.

There are many positive aspects to this book as you read each narrated story. You are able to connect with each person chapter after chapter as you read about the difficulties and challenges they experienced while navigating through difficult times. Sievert cannot stress enough in his narration on the recollection of stories in Grace Revealed that each story shared is a reflection of grace. Sievert did an exceptional job with the individual experiences he was able to capture in this book. Almost every story is narrated by the individuals who shared their experiences allowing us to see and feel the authenticity of their stories, the challenges they faced, and how they learned and were able to find the answers they were looking for to overcome the challenges they were experiencing.

The only negative aspects of this title are the poor aspects of narration. The overall content of the book is good and the collection of stories are well written. However, the stories could have been introduced more professionally. I feel they were introduced lazily. On few occasions, the narration between stories appeared to sound repetitive and redundant by restating the obvious of what was previously shared in other chapters. Per my observation, this did not appear to be a tactic of repetition to restate something important or to help the reader remember certain statements or facts; rather it appeared to be repetitive and unnecessary verbiage which did not facilitate or accommodate the transitions between chapters.

The stories shared in this book give the title a purpose. The book is well put together minus a few flaws in the development of introducing each short story. Therefore, I rate this book 3 out of 4 stars. There were a few grammar errors throughout the book. Some narrations which introduced these short stories were too casual and consisted of some grammatical errors. A thorough edit would have made for a well-written book. The overall content of the book was great.

Grace Revealed is not suitable for all ages due to the fact it touches delicate subjects such as sexual and physical abuse that may require adult supervision or discussion with younger audiences. This is a recommended read for anyone going through life struggles or who needs some inspiration of faith. Not only are these stories uplifting, but they are also reminders that no matter how hard life can be it always gets better. In summary, Grace Revealed expresses that without struggle, we wouldn't know how to find our life's purpose.

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Grace Revealed
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[MsH2k]

This sounds like a powerful collection of experiences that will encourage readers. The issue with the transition between chapters is analogous to issues in passing a baton in a relay--the overall result is not as good as the strength of its individual parts. Thank you for your thorough take on this read.