Review: Cooper Moon: The Calling

Author: Cheryl Shireman

Title: Cooper Moon: The Calling

Description: Cooper Moon is a philandering drunk who gets into a barroom argument with a friend who claims that a person can just say some words and God will enter that person. In order to prove him wrong, Cooper says the words and finds himself not only converted, but obsessed with having his own church.  

Review source: I was sent the book in exchange for a review.

Plot: The book follows Cooper and his wife and their friends and acquaintances in their small Michigan town. Cooper’s quest  to build the church is central, but there is also TJ’s quest to win a television reality show, Frank & Violet’s disintegrating marriage, and every woman in town’s burning desire to take Cooper away from Sally.

Characters: On the positive side, the characters are a little quirky and pretty memorable. Cooper is a problem, though. I think that the author was trying to show how radically faith can change someone, so she imagined the most disgusting character possible (when we meet him, he is dead drunk and has wet himself). She has to put temptation in his way, though, so she makes him irresistible to women. That was hard for me to wrap my head around; I found him disgusting. He does put his whole heart into changing his life, though, and it’s engaging to watch him blunder around as he learns what it means to be a believer. One more note: the villain is way over the top and the book would have been better without him.

Writing style: I’d call it character-driven and quirky. I enjoyed reading the book.

Audience: This is Christian fiction, but I think even non-Christians who wonder about the life-changing consequences of a decision that wasn’t even really intended would enjoy this book.

Wrap-up: The author promises that this is the first book of a four-book series, and to drive the point home, this book ends with a cliffhanger. I would have preferred the ending without the cliffhanger. If someone gave me the next book in the series, I would probably read it, but I don’t know that I’ll go looking for it. It was a cute, enjoyable read, though. 3.5/5*