Into the Whirlwind, Elizabeth Camden

This review is part of a book review program with Bethany House. The Bethany House book review program is simple: I request a book from the links from the links they send via email, then I read the book they send and write a review on this blog and a retailer's site (such as Amazon). If this sounds like something that interests you, you can get more information and/or sign up here: www.bethanyhouse.com/bookreviewers.

Mollie Knox has everything neatly lined up and a bright future ahead for her watch-making business until the night the Chicago fire burns up her entire world. As the flames die down, and the rebuilding of Chicago commences, Mollie will do whatever she has to do to rebuild her business. But when she locks horns with Zack Kazmarek, an influential attorney for one of Chicago's finest department stores, she finds herself pushed beyond her comfort zone. And Zack will do whatever it takes to win this beautiful and beguiling businesswoman's heart. With her heart on the line, will Mollie step out of her comfort zone to find her happily ever after? Or will all her dreams rest with her company's rebuilt future?

Camden has once again written a great story (see my Against the Tide review here). With each twist and new development in the story line, I was kept on the edge of my seat waiting for what happens next. Camden's characters, like in Against the Tide, are intriguing, headstrong, at times frustrating, and very believable and real. As is more historically accurate, some of the incidents, cultural oddities, and happenings in the book are very realistic to the historic setting.

Though there were some twists and turns throughout the book, I hesitate to say that it was fairly predictable... but I have to own up to that admission - I think it lacked that bit of surprise that I expect from a new book.

I would rate this (on a 1-10 low/high scale) at about a 6. Camden has a gift for storytelling and I was pleased with the result of the second book I've read from her. I would recommend this book to anyone that likes a love story and a story of new beginnings.

Shattered, Dani Pettrey

This review is part of a book review program with Bethany House. The Bethany House book review program is simple: I request a book from the links they send via email, then I read the book they send and write a review on this blog and a retailer’s site (such as Amazon). If this sounds like something that interests you, you can get more information and/or sign up here: www.bethanyhouse.com/bookreviewers.

Shattered is the second book of the Alaskan Courage Series, and the sequel to Submerged, which I reviewed last year. Like Submerged, Shattered is a story of mystery and suspense with a side order of (clean) romance. 

When Piper McKenna's brother, Reef, is charged with murder, she is determined to prove his innocence. Enter the love interest; Deputy Landon Grainger has been a part of the McKenna family forever. But when all evidence points to Reef, Piper can't understand why Landon doesn't believe in her brother's innocence. Charging off into the wilderness of Alaska and Canada, as well as the California coast, Piper and Landon launch their own investigation into what actually happened to cause a murder. But with so many things unsaid between them, how will Piper and Landon work together? And as the web of intrigue thickens and twists in a tangled knot, is it love or disaster that's brewing?

I have very mixed emotions about this book. I loved the intrigue and how many tangled threads were woven into the plot. I also loved the characters and how different they all were and how all of them together somehow make a wonderful, loving family. But the characters' reactions to certain events in the book were sometimes awkward or stifled, and the love story was sweet - but was it too sweet? 

But the plot was the true driving point of the whole book. With so many twists, turns, and near dead-ends, I never would have guessed the ending. Pettrey's voice is still fresh and new. Her perspective is focused and she's amazingly detailed. Despite a few things I may have overanalyzed (again), I didn't want to put the book down.

So, enough said - I loved it. Overall, I would recommend this book and anything else Pettrey writes. She's fresh, distinctive, and has some major talent that I can't wait to see develop even more. If you want a good read, this is definitely the book for you.

The Full Armor of God, Larry Richards

This review is part of a book review program with Bethany House. The Bethany House book review program is simple: I request a book from the links they send via email, then I read the book they send and write a review on this blog and a retailer’s site (such as Amazon). If this sounds like something that interests you, you can get more information and/or sign up here: www.bethanyhouse.com/bookreviewers

Covering spiritual forces from a Christian perspective; how they are at war against the world and how to fight back. Using Paul's letter to the Ephesians to help illustrate and guide his defense plan, Richards also covers how God can help us fight against such spiritual attacks.

I wasn't sure about reading this book at first, since it had been a long time since reading Ephesians. After a refresher in Ephesians, however, I found myself completely swept up in Richards' engaging and straightforward approach. Though I can't find enough words to say how interesting, helpful, and awesome this book is, I hope that all my readers put it on their must-read list.

Out of a 1-10 (low/high) rating, I'd rate this book at about a 7. I loved his perspective on this subject and particularly loved his use of Paul's experiences in Ephesians.

The Tutor's Daughter, Julie Klassen

This review is part of a book review program with Bethany House. The Bethany House book review program is simple: I request a book from the links they send via email, then I read the book they send and write a review on this blog and a retailer’s site (such as Amazon). If this sounds like something that interests you, you can get more information and/or sign up here: www.bethanyhouse.com/bookreviewers

(Photo from Julie Klassen's website: http://www.julieklassen.com/Books.html)

Emma Smallwood is (as the title of the book suggests) a widowed tutor's daughter. When her father receives a request from a noble family for private tutoring for the family's two younger boys, Emma packs her trunk full of books (and a few clothes, I suppose) and heads off to help her father in this new teaching enterprise.

But a stormy past with one of the two older brothers, a strange love interest (perhaps) with another of the older brothers, mysterious happenings, and ill-concealed secret keeping make Emma's time away from home more danger-fraught than she could possibly have imagined.

The back of the book ends its summary by saying "Filled with page-turning suspense, The Tutor's Daughter takes readers to the windswept Cornwall coast--a place infamous for shipwrecks and superstitions--where danger lurks, faith is tested, and romance awaits."

If you want to see the trailer to the book (though I do not recommend it, as it's rather badly put together and acted out in my opinion), you can find it here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZi5NQbkb0A&list=UUOTCh77FT1ZAyg-Mrj97HWw&index=4

Okay, so maybe you've picked up on the fact that I wasn't overly thrilled with this book. I started reading and almost quit around page 90 or so. By that point, I had pretty much figured out what was going to happen at the end of the book with a few small, yet notable (and spoiler-ridden) exceptions.

I'm not going to post any spoilers here, but there was one piece to the puzzle I hadn't guessed at that surprised me (hint: it starts with an "A"). One point, out of the whole book = not impressed.

Klassen's characters are frankly uninteresting, semi-two dimensional, and not-very-real. I didn't really believe in the characters as "real" people, there was something missing ... there wasn't a lot of depth to them that intrigued me. They improved a bit as I kept reading, but not in any notable way, unfortunately.

The story line was predictable and tame - I expected a bit more from all the raving reviews I've heard about Klassen and the blurb on the back cover. Before I reached page 100 (as I mentioned earlier), I had figured out most of the book and any twists and/or turns Klassen could have thrown on the page (there was a sad lack of twists and turns, unfortunately). I was a bit disappointed on that front.

I would rate this (on a 1-10 low/high scale) at about 5. Klassen has talent, but I didn't see her whole potential on the page with this book. Her developing lead female character gets her bonus points, but still isn't what I would call a strong character. The dialogue was intriguing at a few points in the book, but most of it was fairly ordinary and (dare I say it?) mostly dull. The plot was predictable, tame, and (again) fairly ordinary. I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone looking for suspense, drama, romance, or a good mystery.