Unconditional Love

The One Who Sees Me by Melanie Tillman is a powerful Christian contemporary novel. It is the second book in The Front Row series but can be read as a stand-alone.

The novel has alternating chapters between 1998 moving forwards and 2000 moving forwards as we follow some teens through their formative years. The leading characters come from two families – one with two boys, the other with two girls. We witness the pressures of being a pastor’s kid as their actions reflect onto their parents as some in church judge the family.

Within both families there is the ‘good’ sibling and the wilder one. Both experience pressure and bullying from their peers.

There are always the temptations of alcohol and dating for the young people. At times the consequences are disastrous.

God is our rescuer. He rescues us from harmful situations if we let Him. Within the novel we witness a rescuer stepping in twice to prevent harm. This creates shared secrets which also weigh a character down. Some things are heavy burdens that we were never meant to carry alone.