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Book Review: Target Acquired by Lynette Eason

I loved Double Take, the first in the series. And I’d encourage new readers to read that one first before diving into the second even though Target Acquired can easily be read as a standalone.

Kenzie King and Cole Garrison are part of the same social group that we witnessed in Double Take. Kenzie is a medic as well as a fully trained SWAT member, so she can perform both jobs. She’s recently joined the team that Cole leads and being the first female on the team, feels like she has to work extra hard to prove herself worthy. Most of the guys on the team are happy to have her and she soon convinces them she has what it takes. Except for one, Butler, who just won’t give her a chance because his mate, Oscar, missed out because of Kenzie.

The story pivots around the stories of three families across 80 years: Kenzie, Cole’s and Oscar’s. Eason even takes us back to the 1940s to show us the beginnings. I enjoyed reading the snippets of the 1940s, and the tough time Eliza Crane, Cole’s grandmother, had with her father.

I enjoyed both Kenzie and Cole, they’re good characters. Perhaps Cole wasn’t as “Shemar Moore’ as I would have liked in terms of leading his team and he was often conflicted by his feelings towards Kenzie. Kenzie meanwhile comes across as a great team player, courageous and willing to go the extra mile to get the bad guy. She happens to be the ‘target’ in this story and for most of it, it’s a bit of mystery as to who is responsible for targeting her and why. But it gets to the point when there are no more possible candidates and one can guess who the likely person is.

This story doesn’t have the same oomph that Double Take had. It didn’t keep me riveted as much and it lacked that extreme sense of danger that a great thriller has. But it is a very good read and I’m looking forward to the final in the series, where a third member of the girl’s social group, Jesslyn, takes the lead. She’s a fire Marshall so it will have a different bent once again.

I’m appreciative having received an early ebook copy of the story from Revell as part of their Revell Reads program via Net Galley. This, however, had no bearing on my review.

Book Review: Between the Sound and Sea by Amanda Cox

Amanda Cox has become a must-read author for me. Her stories reflect the reality of human emotion and the gracious tenderness of God. This is a story of restoration of a physical place, a lighthouse, while we witness the restoration of relationships and characters hearts.

Cox has a beautiful mastery of crafting a story that weaves the wonder of God’s grace in transforming characters. Joey Harris is an event planner living in a small town in Tennessee. Her business is struggling, her family is a little broken and she’s not really sure what the future holds. Her best friend, Sophie, encourages her to apply for an odd position restoring an old de-commissioned lighthouse. BTW, Sophie, in the sparing moments we see her reflects the characteristics of a special best friend.

Surprisingly, Joey gets the gig and relocates to the coast of North Carolina, the lighthouse situated on an island a 30 minute boat ride away. Walt O’Hare is an 81 year old and Joey’s employer. He’s seeking to put right a perceived wrong of his teen years. Finn O’Hare is his grandson. A thirty-something pilot who is grappling with his own brokenness while thinking he needs to take care of his grandpa.

It’s marvellous how Cox weaves the multiple layers of restoration through the story. Meanwhile, the legacy of Cathleen McCorvey or Cay, as Walt knew her, is ever present in our story. Cay was Walt’s best friend and he left her to join the war effort in 1942. Cay apparently died soon after along with her father who had been suffering from what we now know as dementia.

Not a word nor scene is wasted as the story progresses, the physical restoration of the lighthouse soon slipping into the background as we witness the beauty and wonder of broken, estranged and seemingly lost relationships lovingly being restored. It’s beautiful to read.

As I read it, I kept thinking about ‘What the Crawdads Sing’ and think Amanda’s story would make an equally beautiful movie.

Once again, I feel blessed to have had a chance to receive an early ebook copy from Revell via NetGalley and I know will treasure its memory. My review has not been influenced by this blessing and I suspect I’ll buy my own copy so it can sit proudly on my bookshelf.

Book Review: ‘Her Part to Play’ by Jenny Erlingsson

There is lots to like in this debut! Erlingsson demonstrates her history of writing through her story telling craft and her own experience in being in an interracial relationship. I really enjoyed the fact this story featured such a relationship and Erlingsson presented it in such a way that it felt natural.

John Pope is an actor, not getting the best roles at present, and now trying to get a leg up by making a movie in small town Hope Springs, Alabama. His usual make-up artist, Doris, is on leave caring for her ailing sister and in steps Adanne Stewart, a gusty local Hope Springs young lady.

The connection between the two feels at times a little forced and I felt for parts of the story that the author was creating something between them so she had a story to tell because not a lot happens in the first two thirds of the book.

But John becomes more engaged and senses something in Adanne and her heart for her town and community centre, established by her deceased parents. The centre is struggling to survive and perhaps one of the reasons is Adanne tries to do it all, her brother, Daniel, caring for his son, who is going through cancer treatment.

The faith element in this story is very good. John’s story of repentance and seeking after God is lovely to read. His preparedness to make significant changes to his life is a strong demonstration of what a life living for Jesus can be about. I also loved Adanne’s extended family’s faith. There is one scene late in the story when her two cousins come around Adanne and the three of them pray in surrender to God. Erlingsson captures the beauty of this sacred moment wonderfully.

The romantic twist at the 80 percent mark really bothered me. I felt it was disingenuous to John after all he’d was doing to impress and give to Adanne. Movie stars receive inappropriate approaches from fans, in this case, from an ex-girlfriend of his, and it bothered me that for the twist he was made out to be the bad guy. I’m not sure how he could have responded differently without insulting his ex. which didn’t fit with his character. It made me wonder whether Adanne would ever be able to deal with the attention John would receive from female admirers.

However, the story does end beautifully and I love how the town got around Adanne to show how appreciative they were of her and her unyielding devotion to the community centre.

I was fortunate to receive an early ebook copy from Revell as part of the readers program via Net Galley. This has had no bearing on my review.

Book Review: ‘The All-American’ by Susie Finkbeiner

This is an absorbing story of 2 sisters, Bertha and Florence (or Flossie) growing up in 1952 small town America. Bertha, the 16 year old, is level headed but from an early age has a dream of one day playing professional baseball in the all girls American league that has been operating for almost a decade. She’s very good and matches it with the boys she plays with.

Flossie is a precocious 11 year old. At times, she acts a little younger than her age, but she is blunt and in your face in such a charming way that she’s hard not to fall in love. Flossie has a lovely relationship with her dad, William Harding. Dad happens to be a very well known author with a number of bestselling books under his name. He spends most of his time writing in the shack in the backyard, inspired each day by a bust of Shakespeare watching over him. Dad is very restrained, mild-mannered and devoted to his daughters and their mother, Mam.

The Harding family’s stable life is uprooted as a vengeful neighbour publicly accuses William of being a Communist. This makes the news and the family are effectively run out of their Bonaventure Park home. Fortunately, for them William’s brother, Matthew lives alone in a big house about an hour’s drive away and is happy to accommodate them.

Finkbeiner has a wonderful way of writing an engrossing story when not a lot happens. It’s very much character-driven and the manner in which the various characters interact with each other keeps you turning pages. These are tremendously drawn characters, all very realistic in their portrayals.

I enjoyed the baseball scenes, not just the games, but pre-and post-game interactions between the various players. Once again, very realistic and absorbing.

But it’s Flossie who will linger long in the memory. She’s such a character, playful, loves hard and has a fun sense of humour. Her willingness to learn, to sit with her Dad and listen to his restrained wisdom and insight is beautiful to behold. I especially enjoyed how Flossie closed the story with a snippet of her in the future.

I was fortunate to receive an early ebook copy of the story from Revell via NetGalley. This had no bearing on my review.

Book Review: ‘Critical Alliance’ by Elizabeth Goddard

I’ve enjoyed this series and Goddard leaves the best one til last. Mackenzie Hanson, a cybersecurity expert with a criminal past, makes for a tremendous protagonist. She’s arrived at her family’s estate in Montana on a tip from an old colleague on a mission to save the family business, Hanstech.

Hanstech specialises in drone technology and is now run by Mackenzie’s older siblings, Rowan and Nora. Something shocking happens on her arrival which throws Mackenzie deeper into discovering what’s going on behind the scenes in the business.

Alex Knight, a DSS supervisor, is holidaying in Montana at the ranch run by childhood friends. Alex and Mackenzie have a history (a very short one) but neither has forgotten the day they spent together in DC three years prior.

Goddard sets up the suspense with a shocking death, Mackenzie being shot at while being chased by a drone while going on a trail ride. Alex takes it upon himself to be her protector before he realises the magnitude and security implications of what Mackenzie has gotten herself caught up in.

The pace is good, the cybercrime detail is sufficient to make it interesting without being an unwanted distraction, and the threats on Hanstech and Mackenzie ratchet up. As does the heat between Mackenzie and Alex.

It’s a fun read that keeps you on your toes, the resolution perhaps ends a little too easily and stretches believability, but overall I enjoyed Critical Alliance and would recommend it for romantic suspense readers.

I was fortunate to receive an early ebook copy from the publisher via NetGalley as part of Revell’s early reader’s program. This had no bearing on my review.

Book Review: Elysium Tide by James R. Hannibal

I so enjoyed Elysium Tide. It was clever how Hannibal used an overworked English neurosurgeon who lands in Maui at a medical conference only to become an amateur sleuth in investigating a murder. This one criminal episode morphs into something much bigger involving wealthy businessmen and gang leaders.

Dr Peter Chesterfield is the classic super smart and egocentric neurosurgeon. When it comes to solving problems and healing patients he’s best of breed. You want this Dr to be the one who is going to open up your head. But he’s become too self-absorbed and rude to members of his operating team. He needs a break, to recharge and self-examine his bedside manner.

Lisa Kealoha has recently relocated from the mainland to head up the Gang Unit in Maui. She;’s a good detective. She’s got lots of history in Maui as it was her home until she left for the mainland to train to be a cop. She knows the people, the customs and the families. She also ran with a bad crowd as a teenager and knows how criminals think.

Lisa and Peter become a oddball team. She doesn’t want him interfering but he can’t help himself, especially when he becomes the key witness in a murder at the hotel he’s staying in.

With many twists and turns, Hannibal constructs a tremendous crime story where it’s not always easy to see who are the bad guys and who committed what crime. We’re kept on our toes as Lisa and Peter go deeper into the heartland of Maui chasing the activities of two nefarious characters new to the island.

Lisa and Peter are strong characters. There’s professional chemistry between them which I appreciated. They worked well together. Peter is also given much to think about as he’s faced with some extremely dangerous situations. I liked Hannibal’s gentle reflections through Lisa and her family on faith and how God works in one’s life.

I wonder if there’s another story for the two of them. Perhaps separately or together. It would be fun.

I was very fortunate to receive an early ebook copy from Revell via NetGalley as part of their Readers Program. This had no influence on my review.

Book Review: “Deadly Target” by Elizabeth Goddard

I’d read the first one in this series but this could be read as a standalone. The main characters in the first story are really just ‘bit’ players in this one and the plots aren’t related.

It took a little while to get into this story as the initial inciting event didn’t connect for me until later in the story. Goddard makes this quite an involved story with various potential possibilities for the antagonist which keeps you on your toes but also perhaps could have been connected with a little more precision.

I liked Erin Larson and Nathan Campbell. I particularly appreciated Erin’s anxieties and we spend a bit of time in her head as she grapples with her past and also running away from Nathan once before. Nathan is a good cop chasing after his father’s killer when specifically asked not to by his boss which makes him wonder whether his boss knows more than he’s letting on.

There’s some dramatic action with dam’s being blown up and chasing down mines which really keeps us guessing especially when everyone’s in darkness.

The suspense ratchets up in the end but it wrapped up a little quickly for me and the fact we need to be ‘told’ the who, what and why tells me the plot could have been more precise and easier for the reader to determine all the connections.

I enjoyed reading it and I look forward to the final in the series.

I received an early ebook copy as part of the Revell Readers Blogging Program via NetGalley with no expectation of a favourable review.

Book Review: “Secret Keepers of Old Depot Grocery” by Amanda Cox

Oh my! What a beautiful story Amanda Cox has written for her sophomore novel. It’s quite remarkable. Set over two different time periods: the present day and the years from 1965 into the 1980s, we meet three generations of Clearwater ladies: Glory Ann (or Nan), her daughter Rosemary and the latter’s daughter, Sarah. Cox weaves a compelling small town story of kept secrets, parental expectations, familial loss and forgiveness through the lives of these strong women. All so alike in many respects but also unique I warmed to each of the three for different reasons.

The three ladies lives pivot around the Old Depot Grocery which Glory Ann ran with her husband and both Rosemary and Sarah grew up working in from an early age. It serves as a physical statement of so much life shared between the three but it also served as a mechanism for the three to ‘hide’ their secrets and ‘hide away’ from the possibilities of doing something different with their lives.

It was powerful reminder of the importance of truth but also unconditional familial love that allows forgiveness and redemption. There’s also a strong side note regarding the difficulty of war vets adjusting back to normal life which I enjoyed reading too.

I appreciated how we saw quiet strength in some of the male characters too. Clarence Clearwater was a superb character demonstrating unconditional love not just to his wife and daughters but the community as well. Clay Ashby also was a beautiful illustration of a man of quiet strength, who didn’t push himself onto Sarah, giving her the time and space she needed to grieve her loss and reconcile her past and future aspirations.

Cox managed the different POVS well and I always felt confident in who’s voice I was reading and the time period each scene/chapter was set.

I’m so looking forward to Cox’s next story. She might have become a ‘must read’ author for me.

I received an early ebook copy as part of Revell Reads blogger program via NetGalley with no expectation of a favourable review.

Book Review: The Paris Betrayal by James R. Hannibal

This novel started with a bang just like you want a spy thriller to start. Bullets flying, bad guys fleeing, good guys mission isn’t as successful as planned and the fate of the world is in Ben Calix’s hands. Plus, we get some inside tips from the ‘How to be a Successful Spy Training Manual’ (in italics) which I really enjoyed.

We’re soon taken on a series of fast chases throughout Europe and Hannibal’s descriptions of the various settings were tremendous in helping us feel we were in the scene. Having travelled a few times to Paris I particularly loved ‘going back’ especially to my favourite cathedral, Notre Dame, and to be taken inside while it’s being repaired was a special treat.

The pace is relentless as Ben’s mission keeps being thwarted by both the bad guys but also apparently by his employer who has ‘set him afloat without a paddle’. The obstacles he confronts become increasingly dire especially as his support crew seem to have abandoned him or get seemingly eliminated.

In the background, we get a very cagey sense of the bad guys, a nefarious organisation dubbed Leviathan led by someone that goes by the moniker, Jupiter.

Surprisingly, I found after the first 100 or so pages I was struggling to stay interested. And this stayed with me for most of the novel which bothered me. As I would usually love this kind of story. By the end of the story I realised why I had this strange experience. Three reasons:

  • I really wasn’t that invested in Ben and his mission. I think all the action and obstacles denied Ben and the reader sufficient time to breathe so we could get to know the guy.
  • the bad guys were too nebulous for me. They only appeared a handful of times in discreet conversations between Jupiter and his side kick, Terrance, so we really didn’t get to know why they were doing what they planned.
  • the supporting cast were many and only flitted in and out of the story for a short period so again we never invested in them. Ben has a love interest in Giselle and then Clara, and perhaps did a few years back for Tess, but we really never learn much about any of them. I really wanted to like Clara, in particular, and we get some insight into her when she gets to tell the story for a chapter or two, but it didn’t continue to maintain my interest.

I thought the ending was clever as it surprised me. The author’s note at the back gives some insight into the background behind Ben’s development but it didn’t quite gel for me.

Overall, this is a quality spy story and judging by the many other positive reviews is one that appeals to many people.

I received an early ebook copy from Revell via NetGalley with no expectation of a favourable review.

Book Review: Ottoman Dominion by Terry Brennan

I will say from the outset this is my sort of read! Full of intrigue, action, edge of your seat suspense, political conspiracies, historical theories and fiction, the tinderbox of the Middle East and the active involvement of angels and demons. This has it all.

Written in very short, sharp scenes I actually struggled at first to catch up, to understand what was going on. This surprised me having read the first two in the series relatively recently but there seemed to be too many players and too many separate plot points that had me rolling my eyes a little. But after about 50 pages, everything fell back into place and I settled in for the ride. The pages began turning very quickly.

There are so many elements to like in this story, yes, Brennan uses fictional licence which may bother some readers when it comes to the supernatural but I like how he used the ‘thin veil’ and the roles both Bayard (the angelic warrior) and the Turk (the Man of Violence) played. His cast of characters were all developed across the three stories with particular emphasis in the final instalment on Brian Mullaney and Atticus Cleveland. Some of the supporting cast were tremendously depicted: Father Poppy and Rabbi Herzeg being two very engaging characters.

Brennan wraps the series up well bringing all the moving pieces together like a master story conductor. I’m wondering if he’s left a few crumbs that may form the basis of a spin-off but that’s for us all to ponder.

Congratulations, Terry Brennan. May I encourage any new readers to start with Book 1 in the series, as the backstories and action builds from it. And now the 3 are available, may I also encourage you to read all three with minimal breaks between them so you don’t spent too much time in ‘catch up mode’ at the beginning of the next one.

I received a complimentary copy from Kregel as a result of being a member of the Audra Reads program via NetGalley with no expectation of a positive review.