All in One Place
by Carolyne Aarsen
Published by Hachette Books
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Reviewed by Susan Palmer
Most often older sibling are more independent and ready to take on the world—while the younger sibling is rebellious of the restrictions and hard headed enough to challenge them. Main character Terra Froese is the older sibling, yet acts like the younger child. Terra has worked job to job, lived from place to place, and loved from man to man. Leaving her current boyfriend, she wants to find how her sister Leslie is doing. Leslie is already married and a mother of two. Terra doesn’t understand how Leslie can find solace in rural Montana—and wants to find out if she can change her sister’s mind and have her travel the world with her. Terra underestimates the life and love Leslie has with God, her husband Dan, and children.
Leslie’s first encounter with her sister after many years is to bail her out of jail. Terra stopped at a local bar on the way to Leslie’s house and gets into a fight with a local man. As Terra finds out later, the bail money was much needed on the farm. Terra must earn the money to pay Leslie back and to wait for her trial date for the assault charge. As the days go by, Terra begins to enjoy her waitress job at the local diner and the companionship of fellow diners Father Sam and Cor. Cor is the father of Jack, the sheriff who arrested her for the assault charges. Terra prefers the company of Cor over Jack, simply because she is aware of her attraction to a good looking man and is scared about what would happen. Soon through the interaction of the both Terra and Jack, Terra begins to have feelings for him.
Ms. Aarsen brings a delightful story of the relationships Christians face today with each other and with God. She takes high-strung Terra and brings the character down to earth by living the way life should be, and not the way Terra was doing it. I was so in touch with Terra’s character that any time she shared a sad moment in the book, I cried.
Armchair Interviews says: Her characters have a certain depth that makes them more real than just a character in a book.