I am not a fan of football, but when the opportunity to read A Life Intercepted by Charles Martin presented itself, I jumped at it. I have found Charles Martins books to be beautifully written and always thoughtful. Their settings in the Georgia/Florida area are consistently of interest since that is where I live.

A Life Intercepted did not disappoint. Football is a big part of the story, but it is more about injustice, loss, forgiveness, and redemption. Matthew, The Rocket, is a great quarterback. He has had more notoriety than most young men who play in both high school and college, but he remains a really good guy. He has now signed a big professional contract and endorsements. The one who keeps him tethered to the ground and centered is his wife, Audrey. Now they are about to have the life they have dreamed about and worked hard to achieve. Those dreams are destroyed by charges of a heinous crime which Matthew cannot explain and cannot find a credible defense. Consequently, Matthew spends the next twelve years in jail. Only his old teammate/representative, Wood, and Coach Ray continue to keep in touch with him.

When Matthew is released from prison, he must maintain contact with the authorities. He decides to return to his hometown, searching for his wife. He confronts much antagonism and hatred, but he also finds redemption in a new challenge and possibly answers to his deepest questions.

This was a highly engaging book. The characters were very real and sympathetic. Charles Martin always portrays his heroes/heroines honestly with all their character flaws. It was so hard to put down that I read most of it in one sitting.

I received this from NetGalley in return for my honest opinion.

Although this book is filled with all sorts of football references, of which I know nothing, I was hooked once I gave myself permission to skim over those parts. At its most basic level, this novel is about the forgiveness and it is a wonderful story. Read it...you won't be disappointed.

Although I do love me a good Charles Martin book, I was a little surprised at how completely sucked in I got, for two reasons. I will warn you, like a reviewer I work with warned me, if you don't like football, you may struggle just a bit. I abhor football. I do. And there is a lot of football detail in this book. The other reason is, who can love a main character who is a convicted sex offender, especially when a victim is a minor?

The writing is so good that neither of those two reasons matter. Stop screaming that I've lost my mind and that I am a horrible person to even think such a thing. Give me a minute to explain. If you read the cover copy, you'll see that he's falsely accused! That's how you can like the guy! It is possible to cheer on such a character.

But, no one believes him. Not his best friend, not his wife, not his lawyers, no one. One redeeming element is that there is a news personality in the book you can hate even more. Someone more obnoxious than an actual certain victims' rights person on a network that shall remain nameless because I do work with them on occasion, so I cannot speak ill of them. #jobhazard #yesthatwasthegrammarnazisworsenightmareofasentence

Will Matthew be able to prove his innocence? Will he be able to coach the next great quarterback from Gardi to be greater than him? Will he get caught and go back to prison?

The reason you can get through all the technical, tedious football talk is because the book reads like an autobiography. Men will love the football story and women will just love a good story.

A story of redemption and second chances. A messy love story where everything is not perfect. Heart wrenching.

My only gripe is the resolution comes together just a little too quickly after the tension throughout the book. Some things could have started coming back together a little sooner. That's just me being a critic though.

(I did receive the book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. However, I have bought every one of the author's other books, so don't let the blog tour fact sway you.)

I loathe football...maybe more than anyone else on earth...... but I had read a Charles Martin book a few months ago (Long Way Home), and found it to be incredible, so I had to read more of his books. This was one I put on my Christmas wish list and did get for Christmas.

I'm not a fan of first person point of view books, and that seems to be all Martin writes....which is one reason I never read anything by him until I reviewed and read the book I mentioned. I still think he'd do better at third person, but this was a phenomenal book. Yes, there were times my eyes glazed over from football play descriptions, but I still go into the book and the characters. It had a great plot, and I bonded with the main character and felt his pain and victories. I cheered at the climatic moment that I thought was coming, but it came in a different way than I expected and carried with it a big surprise I didn't see coming.

The book has little Christian content... probably because of the publisher, not the author.... but there are Christian themes of hope, forgiveness, love, redemption, and others throughout the book. Though t he book is fictional, the message is not: that God can redeem anyone and any situation and bring good out of it. If you love football, you will likely enjoy this book even more than I did. I highly recommend.

I know very little about the game of football, but I loved this story! It was an excellent read and kept me on the edge of my seat. It stirred many emotions and kept me totally interested.