Beguiled by Deeanne Gist and J. Mark Bertrand

After the last book I read by Deeanne Gist, I wasn't too anxious to begin this one...until I realized that it was set in Charleston. I may not be a South Carolina native, but I truly enjoy any glimpse I can get into my new home. Unlike the last novel, which was set in the past and focused on the romance of the story, this novel is set in modern Charleston and focuses on a series of unexplained burglaries.

Rylee is a woman trying to hold her life together, the victim of a tragic past. A past that tortures her present as she is tied to a string of thefts throughout the city. As all evidence begins to point to her guilt in the crimes, the feelings of guilt and abandonment that plagued her childhood begin to resurface. Her feelings of abandonment intensify once she is thrown in jail. Thinking back on her grandmother's promise to protect her "An impossible vow. A vow no one could keep. Unless they were God. God. She scoffed. Even He was gone. She couldn't remember the last time she'd felt His presence. Not here. Not anywhere."

Sitting in the jail she realizes that it isn't God who has abandoned her, but she who has abandoned God. "She might go to church and read her Bible, but she was just going through the motions. On the inside, she'd quit. Quit spending time with Him. Quit telling Him her secrets. Quit saying her prayers." While I enjoyed the suspense of the storyline, this was the part of the novel that most impacted me. I couldn't help but wonder how many times and in how many ways I have quit on God only to later feel like He had abandoned me.

Rylee later discovers the truth behind the robberies, she discovers the truth behind her childhood abandonment by her parents, she discovers the security of a love that will never abandon her, but is the discovery that she will never be abandoned by God that gives her future more hope than her past.