Overall Grade: A-/B+
Tropes: brother’s ex; preacher’s daughter; cheating; small town; 80s vibes
Jewel E. Ann surprises me. Over and over again, she writes stories that challenge the thinking of her readers. Sometimes, I wonder why her books don’t explode on “the charts,” and I’m certain it’s because they are hard to qualify or quantify. I’ve listed tropes above in this review, but honestly, her romances transcend tropes, oftentimes only focusing on a specific trope: cheating. She finds ways to write stories that play with the boundaries of cheating, challenging our views on it, especially for a reader like myself who typically eschews books that handle this topic. However, it’s Jewel E. Ann’s interrogation of this trope that constantly challenges me and helps me determine what I’m willing to accept. Her newest book, Sunday Morning, plays with this trope as her MMC and FMC circle the complications of it as their relationship evolves.
However, that’s but a small portion of the significance of this newest book to her book list. Ann’s characters are fated with a chemistry clear from the beginning of the story. The MMC, Isaac, falls deeply for the FMC, Sarah, before she can understand or reconcile her feelings. They walk a balancing act of emotion and attachment for much of the book until their attraction becomes undeniable, and the chemistry overflows the page. Then, in true JEA form, someone dies, and their worlds are upended. Co-mingled with the journeys of her characters are themes about God (if God is in control, why does he allow bad things to happen to good people or good things to happen to bad people), the importance of living out your dreams on your terms, people pleasing, the complications of family relationships, etc. As her FMC, Sarah, begins to know herself, she challenges the beliefs of her parents and her small town society, and it’s her character growth that provides the “meat and potatoes” of JEA’s story.
Throughout Sunday Morning, Jewel E. Ann shows us her capacity for storytelling as she weaves her tale with the gravity of her messaging. You are pummeled from all sides with her challenges. If I have any criticisms of this newest book, there are two. I’m still trying to determine why she decided to set this story in the late 80s other than to provoke nostalgia from her readers (or because she simply wanted to write about a time that is nostalgic for her). Additionally, her prose felt starker than her previous books. Her penchant for crafting reflective, quotable sentences is still in Sunday Morning, but more simple sentences and fewer transitional expressions sometimes cause an almost staccato feel to the story. It made it difficult to get lost in her story.
Jewel E. Ann is a must-read author for me, no matter the story, no matter her insistence on bleeding the cheating trope on the page. I love that she forces me to unpack my thoughts and feelings about complex topics through the scope of her stories, and Sunday Morning dares us to upend our restrictive, inherited views of God, faith, and love.
In love and romance,
Professor A
Professor Romance 