The Encounter by Stephen Arterburn

I received this book from BookSneeze in exchange for my honest opinion. The Encounter by Stephen Arterburn is about a wealthy businessman named Jonathan Rush who travels back to his home town of Fairbanks Alaska to figure out why his mother abandoned him and left him at an orphanage when he was just four years old. During Jonathan's journey back home (at the encouragement of his pastor) we learn a lot about his character including how confused and resentful he is of his mother. He is haunted by the fact that his mother abandoned him, but he soon learns that things are never what they seem and how important forgiveness is. After many dead ends to finding his mother he reluctantly teams up with a press journalist who helps him out in a big way. This was an incredibly easy read that I finished in a couple sittings. It could have used a little more background and character development because I felt like the story moved a little too fast for my taste and I found myself wanting to know more information about the characters. The overall message was very inspiring and I would definitely recommend this book to a friend. I give this book 4 out of 5 stars.