Anne Robey-GrahamRezensionen

The author, Anne Robey-Graham, died before the book was published so there is a certain poignancy to the legacy of this book. It was a very enjoyable yarn with some unusual twists as the story progressed. Alicia had made some bad choices in her life and found herself in a place where happiness was just there beyond her reach. The church sign board became a beacon of messages from God. The story follows her journey to resolution, freedom, and finally happiness. Well worth the read. It's one I would pass on to friends.

I was not expecting a romance novel when I received this. Perhaps I didn't pay close enough attention to the description when i requested it. That being said I committed to read and review this book and that's what I'm going to do. Since I don't really read romance novels I don't have much to compare this story to. As far as the writing goes I thought this book was well written and I found the characters both believable and compelling enough that I didn't dread picking this book up. I would recommend this book to anyone who really enjoys romance type novels½

'The Church Sign' by Anne Robey-Graham, is a nice, simple romance book that is easy and fun to read. The classic boy-meets-girl and fall-in-love story is the theme for this book, where most of the story revolves around their meetings in front of a church sign, and the ever changing messages on the sign. This is a good book for when you want to relax and unwind, and don't want to add more complication to your life!

I read The Church Sign in exchange from honest review from Library Thing Early Reviewers Program. The book was written by Anne Robey-Graham and published by Kirkdale Press.

The book was Robey-Graham's last book before passing away in 2011.

The book starts off with a man and a dog, stopping in front of a church. He is looking for someone. The first scene really grabbed me. It was dramatic and intense, even if it's a few short sentences. Robey-Graham did a good job opening up the first scene.

The book focuses on Alicia Zimmerman, a researcher for an University. She makes a mistake and ends up hiding. She meets Eric and a friendship develops, but she has her past to worry about.

Alicia also had faith in God. She desired a relationship with God. "If only she could soak in his stained-glass presence, she knew her problems would shrink. Surrounded by others as their prayers floated towards heaven, she just knew she would be able to breathe again". This was a wonderful passage early into the book.

Next, the church signs help guide Alicia and Eric in the book. The cute, creative signs are wonderful such as "Why not pray about it?". I have seen church signs, which have seriously helped me. I remember one night I leaving work and had to go pick up my son from the babysitter. I was driving down one dark country road to get to his aunt house. I was not in the best mood. As I was approaching the road into Pike County, two churches had posted two church signs, which got me out of my funk. I don't remember what each sign said, but I remember I was happier.

I highly enjoyed reading this book.

Alicia Zimmerman is on the run, although she didn't do anything wrong unless you count falling in love with a lying scoundrel somehow as her fault; she's scared, lonely, and suffering from a broken heart. She's managed to find her way to Prescott, Arizona to a group of unlikely friends and thankfully a sweet new church to call home. Alicia found a job, not a great one, but one to help pay the bills and put food on the table until she is presented with the opportunity to take on a new and for the most part, better job. It's not perfect, but its certainly better than working at the grocery store. At least it puts her back in a library doing something she enjoys. Unfortunately, her past catches up with her and the new job is threatened. Alicia had run away from Calgary, Canada and her Finance' Andy, and as the plot thickens we understand why she ran, what she's afraid of, and ultimately her plan to remedy the past so that she can move on. Thankfully Alicia has found a new friend, Dr. Eric, and hopefully he won't let her down. Written with adorable quips from a Church Sign every few chapters that naturally apply to the towns residents and their daily lives. In Prescott, with Dr. Eric and her new found job, Alicia prays to find hope and peace. The entire book is filled with romance and mystery and is thankfully written in a manner that you can pass it along to a teenage daughter or friend from church with ease; its a good read without bad language or embarrassing scenes. The Church Sign is a good, clean, quick, and enjoyable read.

The Church Sign by Anne Robey-Graham is a work of Christian (Evangelical Protestant) romance fiction -and part thriller- that uses church signs as a way of conveying God's message of faith and forgiveness. Although the characters are Evangelical, there is no sectarianism in the book. I did not observe anything that might be off-putting to other Christians.

I received the ebook through LibraryThing's Early Reviewer Giveaway. I was intrigued by it because the title reminded me of a now defunct humor blog I used to read, "Crummy Church Signs." The Church Sign is a nice contrast to the snarkiness of the blog, but both have their place. The moral of both is that the signs can be a quick way to grab someone's attention, but church leaders have to be careful not to put people off with their signs.

As for the book itself, the story progresses at a good pace while still allowing time for the development of the main character, Alicia. As I read her story, I became more and more intrigued about her mysterious past, which ends up putting her in a fair amount of trouble. It is an enjoyable book that I recommend, but it is far from perfect. The characters other than Alicia are rather flat, and the treachery of one character is never explained.

The book also has several editorial flaws. There are some paragraphs that seem out of place and words that are misspelled, not the least of which are characters names: Katarina became Katrina for a while, and Kat became Kate at one point.½

Funny, provoking church signs showcasing life lessons or adverts for the local services serve as pivots in this love story. Alicia Zimmerman, a brilliant researcher at a Calgary, Canada university is engaged, but finding out that her bethroded is cheating her with another woman, both her professional and personal life is messed up. She migrates to the US again and finds a new job...and a new man, Eric, a widower, also working at the Prescott, Arizona University.
Eric and Alicia have both to overcome their recent tragic past. Their friendship quickly grows into something more substantially. And when rumors on her past catches attention, transparency is needed not to loose each other. The Church Sign is a novel about letting go and learning that God forgives, no matter how great our mistakes. The author did her best to insert twists, humor and flashbacks to retell the story in different order than pure chronological. An enjoyable read.

Very good storyline, but I wanted the book to last a little longer. I need closure on what happened next. The Christian themes were accurate and well presented. I liked the characters but really wanted to follow their story a little longer to see the complete resolution about Alicia's career and her marriage to Eric.

Has a bit of romance, mystery, and Christianity all rolled into one book. With colorful characters, and several twists and turns it was enough to keep me interested and anxiously waiting to see what the next page would bring. Anne Robey-Graham does an excellent job of sharing the message of prayer and forgiveness.

I wavered between wishing I would like the book and moderate interest. The story line kept my attention, a bit of mystery mixed with love. However, the religious dimension of the novel felt superimposed, like it was an attempt at a good book aimed toward American evangelical Christians. The references to prayer and God were necessary to carry that desire, but felt inauthentic to me.

The characters felt very one-dimensional. As each was introduced they were described surrounded by things and clothing that would immediately conger their life circumstances, socio-economic status and profession. Those "things" surrounding them did not make any of them feel authentic, and in fact felt like they constricted building a depth of person-hood that would have made each character more appealing. I am drawn most to character in a story, and so without the benefit of depth and believe-ability in the characters, it was impossible to become invested in their story.

There were also multiple glaring typo's in the novel, easy misses, but still, when a book has been published, even as an e-book, these should have been smoothed out. Maybe that will be addressed before it is made available to the public