Afloat

This review of Afloat by Erin Healy is a hard one to  write.  She has been one of my top favorite writers and I have read everything she has written and loved them until now.  The teaser to the book really tweaked my curiosity and requested this book.
I don't really know where to start this review since most of my reviews are very positive and I have loved the book.  The storyline centers on and interesting project of apartments floating in the cove of a river. It is to be a wonderful idea and an investors dream.  A sinkhole happens and the problems begin.  Rain and lots of rain flood the cove and the people who are not dead are left and cut off from everyone.  How will they survive and is this the end of the world?  The ones left are very divided on how to survive and get to land.  There is the developer, project engineer, single mom and her son and others who all have different ideas on rescue.
Add to the storyline-power failure, daytime darkness, explosions, murder and dark histories.
I realize this book was to be about the supernatural possibilities and the human spirit but it left me not really ever figuring out who was who and what was what. The storyline jumped from plot to plot and I never felt the character development happened.   I did like the character Zeke and how he related to Vance.  Seemed like the most Christian part of the book. In the story the young son saw beautiful shining lights in the dark ocean. I felt the author never explained these and   I never did understand what they were. It seemed the story had good intentions but never really "happened" and the ending just left me glad it was over.
Thanks to Thomas Nelson for sending me this book for free just for my honest opinion.

Gone South

This review is not a glowing account of how I liked this book.  I absolutely loved Meg Mosely's first book
and was thrilled to get this book to review.  I really thought that I would love this book, but it fell short in so many areas of me liking it and just being able to finish it.
The storyline evolves around Tish McComb who is single with her dreams of marriage and family killed when her fiance was killed five years ago,  She is going about in a dead end job and has the opportunity to buy her
great-great-great grandparents' Civil War house in Noble Alabama.  The only problem is, she is a northerner and her grandparents were not "the best of people" and there is a lot of animosity toward Tish. Two people come to her aid-a local antique dealer willing to give her  a chance and a prodigal looking for acceptance.
These are the three main characters in the story with the plot weaving from each to each which left me totally bored and waiting for "something" to happen with the storyline.  Unfortunately for me, it never materialized and I hung in till the end and felt relief when I finally ended this book. 
I am not one usually to find fault with the books I read-I love Christian fiction and enjoy a good plot that holds my interest and I hope her next book is one that fits that criteria for me.
Thanks to Waterbrook for sending me this free copy for my honest opinion.

Shattered

I loved book one of the Alaskan Courage series and could not wait till number two came out.  It was well worth the wait!!. Fantastic read.  This book was one I could not put down (not many happen like that) and it was one book I did not want to end.

Piper McKenna's brother shows up at her house with blood covering him.  A woman has been murdered and her brother Reef is the main suspect.  Her brother has been gone and now with his return, he is charged with murder.  Piper is determined to find the killer and protect Reef.  Enter-Landon Grainger who loves the McKenna family and is falling in love with Piper throughout the investigation.  Lots of different story lines with each of the McKenna's which kept the book so interesting. That is just a snippet of what the story is about.  There are so much twists and turns and you think you have it figured out-then something else changes.  Dani Pettrey has weaved a masterful storyline full of interesting characters, family squabbles, great suspense, romance and a wonderful blend of  Christian forgiveness and thoughts by Piper.  Cannot wait for number 3-it will be another winner.

Thank you to Bethany House for this free copy for my honest opinion.

Avenged

Finished number 3 in the Pacific Coast Justice series and this too was a "winner".  I have enjoyed each one of Janice Cantore's books immensely.  She is a retired police officer and her books hint at the type of work she did and I can see Carly Edwards as her in these books.  They are written to entertain as well as show you the backstage of law enforcement and she throws in suspense to boot.

Carly Edwards comes upon three gangbangers shot execution style and fears that her city might be on the verge of a gang war. To compound the tension Carly finds weapons from a gang leader and finds out they were stolen from a military base.  She and her husband Nick, head of the gang unit, are trying to find out the culprits behind all of these problems.  In her investigation, her reputation is questioned by a reporter trying to discredit her professionally. 

I found myself thinking I knew the culprit, then he was murdered off, so I went after another one and guessed wrong again. Loved the cat and mouse of the storyline, but loved that Carly's faith and trust in God had grown since the last book. She was fighting God for control in her life and finally figured out to "let go and let God".  Loved how Nick and Carly have grown as individuals and a couple since the last book.  I hate to see this series end since Nick and Carly were such great characters with lots of flaws that all of us have.  Pick up her Pacific Coast Justice series and you will not be disappointed-promise

Thanks to Tyndale publishers for this free copy for my honest opinion.

A Matter of Trust

There are your favorite authors that can't write fast enough.  Lis Wiehl is one of my favorites and was thrilled to see she had written a new book.  She keeps getting better and better with each book.  This is one of the best suspense books I have read.

This is a Mia Quinn mystery.  The storyline starts with a intriguing  murder that sets this book into many plots, twists and remarkable characters.  Mia is talking with a friend from the prosecutors office and hears a gunshot over the phone.  She realizes her colleague is dying and heads over there while her son stays on the phone in case she says anything-bad idea.  She wants to head up the murder investigation but with so much on her plate she needs help and the storyline unfolds.  Mia is a new widow with lots of debts, troubled teenage son, a four year old who wakes up screaming at night and just trying to keep her job.  As they dig deeper, more complications unfold and she finds herself a target.

I was so absorbed by this story and the different themes.  She touched on being a successful prosecutor, trying to be a mom and holding it all together.  Appearances can be deceiving and Mia learns this from the strong characters throughout the book.  This is one book I will keep and cannot wait for the sequel.  Please Lis-write faster!
Thanks to Thomas Nelson for this free copy for my honest opinion.

Breath of Dawn

My latest book was Breath of Dawn by Kristen Heitzmann was very interesting.  I have read other books of hers and knew I would not be disappointed.

Storyline covers a corporate turnaround specialist named Morgan Spencer.  Everything he touches turns to gold in the business world but not in his personal world.  He lost his wife and has not fully recovered her death.  He has a two year old, Livie, who is "his life".  Enter Quinn Reilly who comes to care for the Spencer family. She was involved with putting a man in jail with her testimony and goes to great lengths to shield and protect herself, but threats start surfacing against her.  She puts the Spencer family in danger but she need Morgan to help her fix problems.  He has a counterproposal that takes them in a direction neither is ready to handle.  Confronting the past is one hurdle but a future together is questionable.

Good story for the most part.  I felt the story was too long and places in the middle of the book were being drawn out and not  holding my interest.

Thanks to Baker Publishing for sending me this copy free of charge just for my honest opinion.

The Girl's Still Got It

The Girl's Still Got It by Liz Curtis Higgs is an enlightening read about Ruth.  Loved the cover copy-take a walk with Ruth and the God who rocked her world.  This would make you read the book just by that.  I am a huge fiction reader but love how Liz writes, so I read her non fiction as well.
We travel with Ruth from Moab to Bethlehem and watch how God works in Ruth, Naomi and Boaz's lives. She has made this book of the bible so much more understandable and how God uses this rags-to-riches redemption story and how pertinent this is to my own life.

Love how she goes thru each chapter and thoroughly explains it and then throws a modern day Ruth in real life story in and how they tie together.  That was really a neat way to add to the storyline.

After reading this book you can never read the story of Ruth in the bible the same way after reading this book.  Liz has included a great study guide in the back of the book which is very helpful. Pleas look in the very back for a priceless rendition of the "Righteous Ruth Rap"--priceless and worth the price of the book just for it.

Thank to Waterbrook Press for my free copy just for my honest opinion.