This review is very long overdue as I received a copy of the book via Member Giveaways several months ago and began reading almost immediately. Then, unfortunately, several family matters including major surgeries and funerals interrupted my ability to concentrate on many routine tasks, including reading. Nevertheless, having finally finished the whole story, I find it an engrossing personal account, a worthwhile autobiography with insight into the author's personal character and dedication to public safety and service. ( )

Some of her stories are interesting. Don't see a TV show coming out of it. I only made it a little over half way through the book. Lost interest. ( )

I really enjoyed this book. It was really good to see a look into what goes on in the police force. I recommend it if you ever wanted to go behind the scenes in policing. Easy to read. Yes there is a christian perspective in the book, but it isn't what the book is about. ( )

I chose this book because I thought it would provide an in-depth, firsthand look at the life of a police officer. My uncle recently retired from the local police force, and as such I was looking forward to discussing the encounters author, Natalie Vellacott, had versus what he experienced here in the U.S.

This book opened with a note from the author. This note detailed her religious beliefs and her path after the police force (missionary work). As a reader, I was EXTREMELY turned off by the religious tone of this note and thus began the book on a sour note. As I read on, particularly in the back half of the book, this sour taste returned with a vengeance. At one point, the author describes someone as “non-Christian,” for starters I was perplexed that a police officer would dole out such labels, but it was also painfully clear the author looked down upon “non-Christians.” It was also transparent she was not afraid to discuss her beliefs with her co-workers. Discussing beliefs with co-workers is fine on all accounts, but it is necessary for professionals to understand they represent their employer whether their uniform is on or not. Especially as a police officer, your actions outside of work are important, so when the author thought protesting was okay and even detailed her protest of a local gay pride parade I should have shut the book right then. I will admit I appreciate the honestly and vulnerability the author portrays in her book, but nonetheless people need to maintain respect, especially when you are an officer of the law. It is clear in her portrayal the protesting was unsafe, as police quickly asked her group of religious followers to leave.

Christian, non-Christian debate aside, this book was amateur at best. It read more like nonsensical ramblings of a friend in a pub. The stories were haphazard, jumped around in the timeline and were not fully formed. The encounters discussed lacked the background necessary to understand why they were important and stood out to the author, each seemed like something one would tell another co-worker in passing, not something worthy of an entire book.

Ultimately, this was not an enjoyable book, between the rambling stories and “non-Christian” discriminatory view point, I was left with a sour taste.

For the full review, please visit: https://fortheloveofthepageblog.wordpress.com/

*A review copy of this book was provided to me by LibraryThing, in exchange for an honest review.

This is the third e-book [mobi.file] I won as part of a collection of several books written by the author through a giveaway she recently had on LibraryThing, and the following is my honest opinion.

Natalie Vellacott in this book has written a poignant memoir of this part of her life.

As a child she had been brought up in a Christian home with all of the appropriate values being ingrained into her being. However, when she became a teenager she had gotten corrupted by her “friends” and had moved away from the religious commitment she’d been following. Natalie eventually became a police officer, fulfilling a childhood dream.
We all know being a police officer is a job in which one cannot simply fulfilled its requirement of making sure the laws of the land are obey, they need to exhibit some sort of feeling and compassion with dealing with problems and issues the citizens are having to deal with. And it had been component of her job which brought Natalie back into the service of the Lord.

The only problem with this had been the more she became involved with her Lord, the more conflict between the responsibilities of her job and her increasing devotion to all of the Christian teachings she’s begun to follow, started to appear.

The biggest conflict she wound up having to deal with had been the one involving her participation in a peaceful protest against the annual Gay Pride Parade in Brighton. Since those police officers who were known to be gay were allowed to march in the parade during working hours and while in uniform, Natalie felt she could participate without any problems in the protest off-duty and in civilian clothing.

Unfortunately, she got found out and wound up having to face one of her superiors who advised her that her behavior was unacceptable as some of the public disapproved of her political views and that more over she had aligned herself with the homophobic population of Brighton; an action which created a discriminatory action of a job title which should show no discrimination at all.

At this point, given this and medical issue, Natalie had applied for a six-month unpaid leave of absence. During this time, she tried applying for other jobs but with no success. She returned to work but resigned a short time afterwards. The conflict between her job and her religious beliefs had become too great for her to continue working. So, right now, Natalie is totally happy and at east with herself and all of her religious beliefs, doing the missionary work she’s doing; and her writings can be attributed to the life she’s living now.

For allowing her readers into her personal journey of a return to her Christian roots, I’m happy to give Ms. Vellacott the 5 STARS she deserves. ( )