Justified by Varina Denman

Justified is book 2 of the Mended Hearts series. After the weekend I read Jaded and when I finished Jaded I just had to read Justified which focuses on Fawn Blaylock. In the first book she was the spoiled daughter of the rick cattleman, Neil Blaylock. Toward the end of the first book Fawn had just told her parents that she was pregnant and was promptly kicked out of the house with nothing but the clothes on her back. Neil Blaylock was a hypocritical Christian from the first book. He was a so called pillar of the Trapp, Texas church.  In this book we saw all the townspeople from the first book. In the first book I didn't care much for Lynda Turner but in this book she softens up quite a bit. She's still cynical but a little smoother on the edges. I loved Ruthie in this book. She is so down to earth and helped Fawn adjust to being poor. The toxic church from the first book is back and is a little better now that Neil Blaylock is no longer an elder but still has people in there who gossip and look down their noses at people who fall from grace but that is typical of any church.  And then there is the biological father of Fawn's baby Tyler Cruz. Fawn does not know if she should be with the baby's father. She thinks a baby should have both a mother and a father but Tyler has let her down several times. He's cheated on her, denied paternity and even slapped her around yet she takes him back six times. Will there be a 7th?  There is a growing friendship with JohnScot. At first he was there for her to help her out but the more time he spent with her he began to see the good in her that she did not see in herself.  The main problem with Fawn is that she kept putting herself down. She knows God has forgiven her for her past mistakes but finds it hard to forgive herself.

I highly recommend that you read Jaded first before you read Justified. You will enjoy the story more if you know some of the backstory of some of the other characters.

At the end of this book I got to read the first four chapters of the next book Jilted. This book will focus on Linda and Clyde. I'm looking forward to this one and have put it on my to be read list.

Thanks to David C. Cook and Netgalley for providing me an e-copy to read and review. Justified is due for release on June 2, 2015