About the Book

Book: Road to Freedom

Author: Leigh Lincoln

Genre: Christian Literary Transformational Fiction

Release date: October 16, 2020

A marriage which shouldn’t be. The path to forgiveness begins in unlikely places. And love can bloom among the thorns.
Immigrant Francisco has escaped the cruelty of Cuba, but has been a man without a true home. Now terminal cancer has driven him into the arms of Stacy.
Traveling half-way around the world together, they each have a journey to take. Francisco confronts his past. While Stacy tries to open her heart after a devastating first marriage. Both pushing each other in ways they are unwilling to accept.
Can he make amends and say he’s sorry for his wrongs? Can she learn to let go and be free to love again?

Click here to get your copy!

About the Author

Leigh has spent the better part of the last thirty years involved in homeless and poverty advocacy in one way or another. Her first novel – Road Home – was born out of this work. She wanted to make people think about their lives and how they live. But most importantly, about how they treat others and how they want to be treated. Her second novel – Road to Freedom – looks at how our lives don’t always follow the path we choose. But yet somehow we must pick up the broken pieces and move on. How we grow and where our strength comes from is what’s most important. These two novels form the basis for her series – Broken Roads. Each shows how life is raw, painful and often leads us on journeys we never expected or imagined. While each book doesn’t seem to relate, the final book in the series will connect the dots of how these characters have touched the lives of each other in ways they never knew. Keep watching for updates on when new books will come out!

Leigh loves to travel, paint and hike. You never know where she’ll end up next, for she’s on her own journey of discovery.

More from Leigh

I wrote this book as my pandemic project – with all this time on my hands I needed something to do. No traveling, no meeting new people, no leaving my house, no, no, no. Fine, I thought to myself, I’ll sit at my computer and remember people I’ve met on my journeys, places I’ve been, things I’ve seen, foods I’ve savored. And then cram them all into a book. For those of you who want to be adventurous, I’ve learned how to make paella. It works best in a heavy skillet on a gas stove, but a non-stick pan or an electric stove will work as well. Ingredients: 1 1/2 cup stock, 1/8 cup olive oil, 1/4 large onion finely chopped, 1 clove fresh garlic minced, 1/3 cup tomato sauce, handful of fresh peas, 3/4 cup pearl or valencia rice, 1 large bay leaf, 1 cup meat (chicken, Spanish chorizo or seafood – or go crazy and do a mix of meats), salt, pepper and saffron to taste. Instructions: Saute onions, garlic, bay leaf in olive oil until soft. Add rice, continue to saute for 3-5 minutes until rice is a golden brown. Add about a 1/4 cup of stock, tomato sauce, peas, and spices. If you are using chicken add it at this point. Cook on low or medium low, shaking the pan from time to time, making sure the rice ends up level. Slowly pour about 1/4 cup of stock evenly around the pan every 5-10 minutes. Do not allow it to come to a boil, do not stir and do not cover. When the rice is almost tender, add Spanish chorizo or seafood if that’s your meat of choice. I often serve paella with fresh bread, a bowl of olive oil to dip the bread in and a few slices of lemon if people want some tang added to their paella.

MY REVIEW

The book was hard to read at times because some of it was in Spanish. The author at times translates for readers and other times does not. That led me to be discouraged at times in trying to figure out the story. I didn’t give up and found between the pages a gritty, emotional journey that two people take to find peace and forgiveness.

It wasn’t easy to like Francisco because he was an angry miserable man. Therein lies the reason God loves Him. He sees past his flaws and never leaves Him. Francisco was not having anything to do with God and blames Him for everything. I think we all may do this at some point in our life when our world falls apart. I did like the part where Francisco desperately wants to make amends to those he has hurt. The pain his children must have endured knowing their father left them was painful. The author does do a good job of focusing on scripture as she unwraps the road that would lead to freedom.

Stacy really surprised me when she made her decision to marry Francisco. She hasn’t always had an easy life and I was shocked when she resigned from her position at church. That really speaks of faith to me, to give up everything to help Francisco in his last days find peace. It was hard for her to see her husband try to speak to his son. The anger was so thick a knife would not have cut through it. The emotions are strong during their exchange of words and I cringed when Francisco spoke of his wife as , “She’s nothing more to me than a nurse.”

The book does have a few words I thought were not appropriate for a Christian fiction book and had hoped the author would have found another way to express those words . I don’t know why but I was angry throughout the book. I soon realized I was understanding Francisco more as he faces his faults. The anger he has let build up comes out in hurtful ways. I wanted to like him, to sympathize with him, but I needed to wait till I read to the end to come to grips with my feelings for this character.

The author takes us to foreign lands where survival was hard for Francisco. His hope was to seek forgiveness and along the way feel at peace. The road he travels is not easy and at times I wondered how he survived. I have come to the end of the book and can now say, “Francisco I felt your pain and now understand why it was so important for you to find love.” The author wrote a character that bothered me and now I understand why. He reminded me of someone who holds on to bitterness and finds reasons to blame others. I see myself in him at times and though our journey is different, we both desired forgiveness and unconditional love.

“God is always here, even in the broken pieces we make of our lives.”

I received a copy of this book from Celebrate Lit. The review is my own opinion.