Review: Over the Rainbow - Trinity Lakes Romance #8

Reading books like this make me realize just how much I have to learn about accessibility and what can look like to encounter challenges in navigating an able-bodied world.

I appreciate that Meredith Resce brings Arianne's disability to life in a gracious and encouraging manner as we meet her in Over the Rainbow, the eighth book in the Trinity Lakes Romance series.

Book Synopsis

What a difference a year makes.

Last year, Arianne Rayne was playing college basketball and looking forward to a permanent future with her boyfriend.

This year, she is learning to live with disability.

After walking away from an accident he’d caused by reckless driving, her boyfriend walked away from her. The uncertainty of how life would look now that she had lost mobility was enough for him to break the relationship, and her heart.

Coming to Trinity Lakes to live with her stable, unflappable grandparents is hope for a new beginning and a chance to heal her heart. Away from her parents’ cloistered, cotton-wool approach, she hopes to learn how to live independently with the help of physiotherapist and trainers at the local gym.

Until she meets Matthew Kennedy. He might be buff and good looking, but he has no idea how to relate to someone living with disability. He’s eligible, and he is certainly accessible, given he is one of her personal trainers, but will he ever see beyond her wheelchair? Arianne’s heart tells her it’s unlikely.

Until she is stranded, and Matthew is her only hope of getting home.

Source: Amazon

Book Thoughts

I appreciate that the author helps readers better understand accessibility and inclusion in this Christian romance about a woman who suddenly finds her life upended after an accident. This is a book that doesn’t promise easy solutions, diving into the work that is required to be sensitive and accommodating to others with different needs. After botching things with Arianne, Matthew has the opportunity to start afresh, and it's through his journey of understanding and deeper concern that we can catch a glimpse of how we can learn to be better in our treatment of others. His humility and earnest desire to improve make this an enjoyable read.

Additionally, the theology that is tackled regarding how believers can view faith and healing is one that is necessary to address. Meredith Resce carefully balances hope and expectation, along with confronting the hurtful things that well-meaning Christians can say. Combined with social media influencer Heidi airing her candid opinions, it's a story that isn't afraid to get messy to show us what both forgiveness and an acceptance of God's plans can look like. Readers who are interested in the perspective of a main character in a wheelchair will find Over the Rainbow to be eye-opening as it raises questions on how our churches can care for all of its members.

Book Summary

• Format of book: 📱
• Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
• Recommendation: 👍

Book Quotes

“I experienced one situation when I was angry at what a person had done. My life wasn’t completely destroyed, but what had happened was wrong and there was a high level of disappointment and broken trust. I did not want to forgive this person. At all. But I knew Jesus’s teaching. I needed to forgive, so my prayer became, ‘Lord, help me to come to a place where I want to forgive.’ I kept this prayer up for several months, still avoiding the person who had done wrong. Then one day, after a Christmas service, I saw the person, and realized my emotions had caught up with the truth. The anger was gone, and forgiveness had begun a healing in my spirit.”