Review: Raising Redemption by R.A. Russell

Title: Raising Redemption: A Novel of Shame, Secrets, Sacrifice, and Struggle
Author: R.A. Russell
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Langdon Street Press
Publish Date: May 7, 2013
Source: I received a copy from PR; however, this did not affect my review.

Why You're Reading This Book:

• You're a fiction fan.
• You like family stories.

What's the Story?:

From Goodreads.com: "For Alicia Tilman, a seventeen-year-old girl on her way to Radcliffe, meeting her parents' expectations means everything. But when Dickey Samson comes around, Alicia defies her father's longstanding rule that she stay away from the boy, and is unprepared for the consequences that rain down upon her: a baby, a near shooting, estrangement. Learning the dark family secret behind her father's warning, Alicia leaves her home in Chesapeake, Virginia, and heads for San Francisco. Alone, pregnant, and homeless, Alicia makes a decision that will alter her relationship with her family forever.

Chronicling the hardships and triumphs of four generations, Raising Redemption is a sweeping tribute to the salvation we can only find from within."

My Two Cents:

"Raising Redemption" is the story of four generations of the Tilman family told over about 30 years. Each generation of the family has had to deal with some hardship in the past. When the book opens, teenaged Alicia Tilman finds out that she's pregnant so she runs away, which sets off a chain of events that make up the story arc of this book. This book is a fascinating look at families and how love often overcomes all of the bad things in life.

Alicia really becomes the main character in this book and I really liked following her story. She's very bright but when she gets pregnant as a teen, she has a much harder road to follow. I love strong, smart characters and that's exactly what you get with Alicia. In this book, she has a lot of really huge, life-altering decisions to make and each one seems to lead her on to a new path. Because the book follows Alicia for such a long time, you really do feel like you get to know her through her leaving VA for the West Coast, giving up her child, and finding a new career path. You also get to see how she changes and grows. You're definitely pulling for her throughout the book!

The writing in the book was okay. There was a lot of telling rather than showing in this book. I like to be able to come to conclusions myself as it engages me a little bit more with the book but in so many places in this book, every single thought a character had was said rather than shown and the book really got bogged down in all of this. That being said, overall, the story telling was great!