I have found a few romance books recently that cover someone recovering from or dealing with PTSD (HERE). All For Anna, the first in the Letting Go series by Nicole Deese combines the hardships of surviving a devastating car accident with the knowledge that someone else didn’t and the need to find one’s faith and forgiveness. Forgiveness from the other survivor (necessary or not), from one’s self,  and from God. 

This is a story of recovery, of taking the steps to rebuild one’s heart and soul and regain a full life. Tori, a nurse, has survived a car accident where she could not save the child in the other car… could not save Anna. With a broken faith in God and a heart not mended she ran as far as she could to work at a distant hospital. 

Circumstances change over time and it is time to return to her home town to help her pregnant sister while her husband is out of country. It is here that Tori meets Kai the ambulance driver with his strong faith in God and his willingness to love and have patience while she works through her issues, insecurities and fear. 

The faith of others is there for Tori to observe and while she fears and avoids, over time her PTSD is healed, or at least improved by following their example and allowing love and acceptance of others into her heart. There are bumps in the road along with a revelation that could potentially shake all of Tori’s new foundations. 

What I loved about this story is that Tori is not a pathetic thing hiding in a corner… she is fighting (sometimes for the wrong reasons or in the wrong way) to come to grips with who she is and how she can accept that others COULD even partially understand and love her broken or not. You follow her in her journey and feel her pain, her sorrow and her love. Kai is a rock in troubled waters with an interesting history and culture that he shares with Tori as he also shares his faith. 

The Christian message is not subtle but neither is it overwhelming. You really do see how a belief in something greater than her helps heal the void in her heart in a situation where she did her ultimate best. All For Anna is a heart touching contemporary Christian romance and well worth the read. Be sure to read the Amazon blurb for the book (linked above).

All For Anna