"God is constantly using broken, messy people to restore the world and bring Him glory."

This quote from Mr. Christiansen in You're the One That I Want aptly sums up the entire Christiansen series. None of the family members are perfect; in fact, they pretty much spend the entire series making the mistakes the reader wanted them to avoid. They're complex, not cookie cutter, characters with many layers. I was emotionally invested and could not stop reading even when I wanted to knock their heads together.

I was seriously wondering if I would be able to enjoy a book about Owen, after the first five books made him out to be quite the villain, but his heart started to soften before the book began and we were able to root for him pretty quickly.

My main concerns are: several of the books involve believers falling in love and pursuing relationships with nonbelievers (who eventually come to have faith, but never till the end of the book and it never gave the believing MC pause); lots of physical attraction before any other kind; and I think 3 of the relationships were insta-love. And love triangles abounded.