About the Book

Book: Matching Points

Author: Nancy J. Farrier

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Release Date: September 9, 2020

She doesn’t hold his past against him…can he forgive hers?

Fresh out of prison, Asia Jessup wishes she could change her past and maybe her future. She has no family and no one to turn to. All she has is her newfound faith. She returns to the town where she spent a couple of idyllic summers to find family she didn’t know she had. Her devastating secret won’t bring a joyful reunion. Will it destroy her last hope?

Ian Kittridge has his own thriving restaurant, is a respected business owner, and is active in his community. Thanks to a teenage Asia’s empathy one summer he’d been pulled back from the brink of ruining his life and ending up like his father—a murderer. He is working hard to eradicate the past and rise above the murmurs of “like father, like son.”

When Ian runs into Asia he can’t believe she’s returned to their coastal California town. Although he’s eager to reconnect, he isn’t looking for a serious relationship—he can’t take the chance of becoming his father. Asia is wary of Ian’s friendship because of her shameful past and the sins of her mother and father. As Asia’s secrets quake the family she hoped to find, can she and Ian find their way through the storm, to a peaceful resolution, and look toward the future?

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About the Author

Nancy J Farrier is a best-selling, award winning author of over twenty-five books. Nancy has written both historical and contemporary fiction, as well as nonfiction for the Christian market. Her Southwest fiction is filled with characters who face real life issues, which she hopes will encourage her readers. Nancy lives in Arizona in the Sonoran Desert and loves the sunshine and most of the time enjoys the heat. She lives with her husband or thirty-seven years, four cats, and dog. Nancy enjoys early morning hikes, spending time with her family, reading, and going to church.

More from Nancy

From the moment I first pictured Asia standing across from that quilt shop, I knew I had to tell her story. She carried so much emotional baggage and such longing, but I didn’t know why. Going on that journey to find where she’d come from and why she was here at this place, in this moment, was such a rollercoaster ride.

Exploring the theme of family and how our families impact our past proved both exhilarating and painful. I remember hearing a man say he couldn’t help being the way he was because of his father’s influence. That man was a Christian. My first thought was that he has a new Father and he is to be like Christ. Like God.

This is why both Ian and Asia struggle with the concept of having a parent they were compared to in an unflattering light. Ian couldn’t change what his father did, he could only make his own choices and be a different person. To be like Father, like son. Asia, too, had people assume she would be her mother’s daughter, but she wasn’t. Her choice was to live a different life, despite pressure to be as immoral as her mother.

Our choices are what make us who we are. How we choose to live. How we choose to forgive. How we choose to love. And Who we choose to love and follow.

Exploring these themes in Matching Points kept me on my toes. Seeing Asia and Ian work out their choices and their journey proved exhilarating. I hope my readers find encouragement in the pages of this book and the lives of the characters.

My Thoughts

This is the first full length book that I have read by this author. She has had some shorter stories in some of the Barbour Collections. I am glad that I got a chance to read this book. The author has created real feeling, flawed characters. Asia has been recently released from prison. She harbors a lot of pain and baggage. While she was in prison, she found God. She knew she needs a fresh start and returns to a town where she spent summers at years ago. However, she is still hiding her past. She hears the rumors about her mother -and some of the things that others are saying to her are very hurtful. She just wants to know her family and start fresh.

Enter, Ian. He also carries around a bunch of pain. He is terrified he will end up like his father. Ian and Asia have known each other from their pasts - and Ian cannot believe that she has returned. He is drawn to her. He wants to reconnect with her - however he is terrified of a relationship. Ian makes sure that he consults with God about the direction that he needs to be taking with all decisions in his life, especially everything with Asia.

I love how the author has chosen to write about family, sins, secrets and so much more. This book was different then other books that I have read. I love the biblical messages through it. We need to remember we are not our parents or their sins. The author did a great job presenting this.

I received a copy of this book through the Celebrate Lit blogging program.