Seventy Times Seven, by Doralyn Moore, is the story of a young woman who leaves an abusive situation and learns the power of forgiveness. Merisela lives in Mexico with her brother, mother, and stepfather. After an encounter with her stepfather, Merisela leaves Mexico and travels to Canada, where she hopes her aunt still lives. Leaving her home is only the first step in Merisela’s journey.

The main character flees her home in Mexico, after she believes her stepfather’s sexual abuse is worsening. Merisela arrives in Canada on her aunt’s doorstep seeking help. She encounters many obstacles while figuring out how to make a life for herself. Throughout the book the point of view switches to some other minor characters, which helps to develop various character backgrounds, while still intertwining them with Merisela’s story. Merisela meets Michael and a blossoming relationship is formed that kept me engrossed in the story. Michael helps Merisela find her faith and forgiveness, which helps her obtain closure in dealing with her past.

Author Doralyn Moore discusses mature topics throughout the book, but the underlying themes woven in the pages is faith and forgiveness. Though Merisela has had many trials, she learns to accept that God has a plan and no matter how many times you have been hurt you must learn to forgive. This is an emotional story with engaging characters that really drive these points home in authentic and relatable ways.

The writing style throughout the book is light, and Moore changes the tone so that each character’s point of view is in their own voice. Although the chapters sometimes switch in the point of view, the story is told in full and the variety of voices bring great emotional depth to this contemporary romance novel and colors Merisela’s story.

The characters and voices were written so beautifully. Moore created a novel bursting with relatable characters and prudent life lessons. This book contains mature content, but it is delivered in a thoughtful way that sheds light on the dark topics while still making it easy to process. Seventy Times Seven is a poignant romance novel that will appeal to anyone looking for an emotional Christian fiction story.

Pages: 306 | ISBN: 152558409X