The Renovation: A Project Restoration Novel

Kraus, an interior designer who has coauthored multiple inspirational novels with her husband, Jim, offers a fairly standard but likable Christian romance in her first solo effort. Ethan Willis is a 40-ish widower in smalltown Franklin, Pa., who builds his life and his living around holding on to the past. As a restorer of Victorian homes, Ethan craves historical accuracy. In his personal life, he cherishes the memory of his beloved wife; he has neither recovered from her tragic death nor discussed it with his young teenage son. Cameron Dane is a pretty young newspaper reporter doing a story on Ethan's current restoration project, with a tragic past of her own. Of course, a newspaper interview leads to lunch, which leads to dinner, and readers will be able to do the math and find everything they expect and nothing they don't. (There's no sex, and there's a simple but sincere conversion story as the characters recover their faith.) Kraus focuses on the theme of forgiveness throughout, with quotes at the beginning of every chapter. Ethan's incessant insistence on historical detail may grate on readers' nerves the way it does his client's, and the comparison between holding on to the past in his work and his life is a bit overdone, but the story is enjoyable and will please Christian romance enthusiasts. (Mar.)