Into the Fire by Irene Hannon – An Interesting and Satisfying Read

Irene Hannon has become one of my favorite writers.  I enjoy her romance stories and suspense novels.  That is why I was excited to read her newest book Into the Fire, the first book in the Undaunted Courage series.

 

Bri Tucker was scheduled to meet with retired arson investigator, Les Kavanaugh, to review several cases he thought merited further investigation.  Instead, she finds herself at Les’ home investigating a fire that has taken his life.  The next day Bri reluctantly accepts help from ATF Agent Marc Davis.  After Bri and Marc examined the scene, both agree that there wasn’t much of anything to suggest arson.  Just that nagging feeling that something is not right.  Though Bri and Marc find each other attractive, each has their own emotional baggage that may make developing a personal relationship difficult. 

 

I really liked this book.  I found the investigation of a fire very interesting.  What makes a fire suspicious vs accidental, and what information is relevant in an arson case.  I liked the characters.  At first, I wasn’t too keen on Bri.  But as her background was unveiled, I grew to appreciate her.  Marc was a wonderful character, kind, caring, wise, and protective.  Also enjoyed the Bri’s sister and brother and their close, and supportive relationships.  Loved Marc’s grandmother, such a sweet, wise, and caring woman. 

 

I did not suspect who the bad guy was.  Interesting that the story begins with the perspective of the arsonist.  About two thirds of the way through the story the bad guy is revealed, which causes the reader to look forward to seeing how the characters will solve the case.

 

Faith was part of the story, especially with Marc’s character.  I would like to have seen it even more with other characters. 

 

With the mix of an interesting plot, likeable characters, mystery, suspense, and romance, Into the Fire by Irene Hanson was an interesting and satisfying read.  I recommend it.  The book will be released on October 17, 2023.  

 

I would like to thank Revell Publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity to read a complimentary copy of Into the Fire by Irene Hannon.  I was under no obligation to give a favorable review. 

 

Promised Land by Robert Whitlow – Intrigue, Suspense, Interesting Characters Mixed with Fascinating Cultures

When author Robert Whitlow writes a book, I want to read it.  That’s why I was excited at the opportunity to read his newest book Promised Land and I loved it.

Readers are reintroduced to characters from his last novel Chosen People.  Hana Abboud, a Christian Arab attorney from Israel who is living in the United States, her husband Daud Hasan a Christian Arab from Israel, friend and colleague Jakob Brodsky, and dear friends Ben and Sadie Neumann.  While reading this book, I felt like I was being reunited and catching up with old friends.

The story begins with Rahal Abaza in Qatar, five years earlier he had a jarring experience that set his life on a new course that will intersect with Daud and Hana.  Hana is at home and awakens for her night watch, a time of prayer, reading Scripture and worship.  While she does not know the specifics of all that’s going on with her husband Daud, she is praying for him while he is in Egypt on a mission for the CIA.  He will need those prayers for what he’s about to encounter. 

From the get-go, Promised Land is off and running.  There’s a lot of suspense, intrigue, and action, but it doesn’t interfere with the development of characters or take the place of an interesting storyline.  It’s well balanced. 

My favorite thing about Robert Whitlow’s writing is how he develops characters.  Hana is one of the most interesting characters.  It’s fascinating to see and consider what it’s like to be an Arab Christian who is from Israel.  You would think that there might be conflict, but Hana is a very gracious woman who takes her faith seriously.  She loves her family and is a faithful friend.  I found Daud intriguing and felt on edge with all the situations and people he encounters.  Jakob is an interesting fellow.  He always seems to take on cases that look impossible and that will require a lot of work and research to see if they will pan out.  Ben and his daughter Sadie…absolutely love them.   

I don’t want to spoil the story about what happens, so I’ll leave it with a brief intro into the storyline and characters.  But I hope that you will pick up a copy of Promised Land by Robert Whitlow.  It’s the second book in this series but is a good stand-alone book.  You may want to go back and read Chosen People so you can have a richer connection with the characters. 

Robert Whitlow is a gifted writer.  He tells a good story and develops rich likable characters.  I highly recommend Promised Land by Robert Whitlow.  If you like action, suspense, intrigue, and interesting likable characters you will like Promised Land. 

I would like to thank Thomas Nelson Publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity to read Promised Land by Robert Whitlow.  I was provided with a free copy of this book and was under no obligation to give a favorable review. 

Close to Home by Deborah Raney – Interesting Characters and Relationships

Close to Home is the first book I’ve read by author Deborah Raney.  Even though it’s fourth book in the Chicory Inn Series, I didn’t feel like I had to start with the first book to enjoy it.  Enough background information is woven into the storyline, so even a reader new to the series won’t be lost.

Close to Home tells the story of Bree Whitman, who has been widowed for five years.  Since her husband Tim was killed in Afghanistan, she has remained close to her in-laws and extended family, who have shared a common bond of grief.  But there is a desire stirring in Bree.  She is still young and now contemplates marrying again and starting a family.  Those feelings are intensified when Aaron from work starts showing an interest in Bree.  How will romance with a new man affect her relationship with people who have been her family these past five years?  Will she have to cut off those ties?  Will those feelings of betraying her husband and his memory ever fade?  Is Aaron the right man or has the Lord planned someone else for Bree?  To find out, you’ll want to read Close to Home by Deborah Raney. 

I really enjoyed the relationships between Bree and the other characters.  I thought the author had some good insights into people, emotions, what’s going on under the surface.  I liked the characters, with the exception of one person who seemed rather narcissistic, but that’s probably why I didn’t like him. 

There were a few times that the book seemed a little slow and dragged a big.  Especially when it came to Bree getting a clue on what she needed to do about a relationship. 

There was a little bit of faith woven into the book, but it was very minimal with a couple of references to prayer and church.  There was one point in the book when Bree and Aaron were having lunch and they independently bowed their heads to pray.  That just seemed really odd.  Why wouldn’t they pray together? 

Personally, I think the book would have been richer and fuller if the author would have done a bit more with faith.  Have a person pray out loud, or even show how they are impacted from reading the Bible, hearing a sermon at church or through relationships with other believers. 

I did appreciate that the book is clean.  There are no sexually inappropriate scenes or language, nor situations that are offensive.

All in all, I really liked Close to Home by Deborah Raney.  She is gifted in developing characters and relationships and is insightful.  I recommend this book and I would like to go back and read the first three books in the Chicory Inn Series and look forward to future books by this author. 

I would like to thank Abingdon Press and Net Galley for the opportunity to read Close to Home by Deborah Raney in exchange for an honest review.  I was under no obligation to give a favorable review. 

Cracked to Death by Cheryl Hollon – So-so

I enjoy reading a good mystery book, especially during the summer.  That’s why I selected Cheryl Hollon’s newest book Cracked to Death.  This was the first book I’ve read by this author and I had some mixed feelings about it. 

On the positive side, I liked the character Savannah Webb and her boyfriend Edward Morris.  Both characters seemed likable and cared about others.  I found the premise of a mystery involving the art of glasswork interesting.  A few of the characters had disabilities and Savannah was quite caring towards them.  Homicide detective David Parker was interesting, but not fully developed.

What I didn’t like:  Some of the characters (Rachel and Faith, SueAnn, Officer Boulli to name a few) seemed like caricatures not real people.  There were a lot of politically correct, edgy things included in the book, to the point of distraction.  It took away from the storyline.  For example, when a homeless person urinates on the side of an art studio, Edward suggests that America needs to build more public toilets.  I don’t read mystery books to have PC views shoved in my face.  There was one curse word but it was unnecessary. 

Previously I mentioned that the story included characters with disabilities.  The one I didn’t understand was Arthur who had Crohn’s disease.  He was not a major character and he goes into a detailed explanation about the disease.  Since his character was a minor part of the story it wasn’t value added to the story.

I thought it was interesting that the two overweight characters where portrayed negatively.  An emphasis was made on their physical appearance and one is incompetent and the other is rather stupid.    

One of the most obnoxious characters was Amanda.  There is a reference to her sexting.  Thankfully the book didn’t go in to detail.  But it was not a good or necessary part of the story.  I felt like it was thrown in to be edgy.  This character makes some ridiculous choices and it gets tiring after a while.  Bad choice after bad choice and of course she’s “sorry”, weepy and didn’t mean it.  She felt like people where judging her.  Perhaps they were just astonished at her bad nonsensical judgment. 

I didn’t care for Savannah “smiling down at these two absurd looking elders.”  Really?  That was uncalled for. 

Later when Amanda is telling about her relationship with Martin, she is assured by Edward and Savannah that her friends wouldn’t judge her.  Perhaps instead, Amanda needed friends to lovingly speak up when they see her exercising lack of wisdom and discernment. 

Another edgy reference:  “You know how liberal this community is.  It’s not quite as diverse as deliberately quirky Gulfport.”

Amanda wasn’t the only person using poor judgment.  Savannah had her fair share of bad choices, most of which revolved around her acting as a “consultant” for the police.  There were times when she should have called the police and given them information and not talked to a witnesses or suspects.  This wasn’t very realistic. 

All this adds up to the story not being really believable.  Many people and references seemed like they were thrown in just to make the story edgy or politically correct.  The character of Amada was irritating rather than interesting.  Savannah overstepping her bounds as a consultant about glass seemed to go too far to be believable.  

There may have been a few errors in the book.  Location 625 - screenedin should have been screened in.  Location 1049 – references a third bottle that was found that was an original Bristol blue bottle, like the first one.  A little later, in location 1111, the third bottle is referenced again, “Jacob noticed was also a copy.”  Location 1155:  the word should have been “frequented” instead of frequent. 

All in all, I found the story in Cracked to Death, by Cheryl Hollon, so-so.  Some of the storyline and characters were not believable or they were downright annoying.  At the same time, there were some characters that were likeable and the setting in a glass art studio was interesting. 

I would like to thank NetGalley and Kensington Publishing Corp for the opportunity to read Cracked to Death by Cheryl Hollon in exchange for an honest review.  I was under no obligation to provide a favorable review. 

Medical Judgment by Richard L. Mabry – Mixed Emotions

I’ve read several of Richard Mabry’s novels and looked forward to reading his newest book Medical Judgment.  I like suspense and books where Christian writers include faith as part of the character’s development.  Richard Mabry includes the element of medicine which is drawn from his years of experience as a medical doctor.  Unfortunately, I have some mixed feeling on this book. 

I liked and appreciated faith of not only the main character, Dr. Sarah Gordon, but also the several other characters including Detective Bill Larson who was investigating the threats against Sarah, her friend Kyle Andrews and Pastor Steve Farber.  I liked the character Connie, a nurse in the ER.  She seemed like solid Christian who truly cared about people.  She was honest and open with her faith. 

The narrative at the end the chapters, from the perspective of the stalker, was effective in creating a suspense.  I also appreciate that the author doesn’t resort to filthy language or sexually inappropriate scenes.  Also, I really liked the character towards the end of the book veterinarian, Dr. Brad Selleck, he seemed like the most well-adjusted and healthy of the bunch.

Now to some of the things that I didn’t care for. 

The main character Dr. Sarah Gordon got a little irritating after a while.  She seemed slow to admit she had a serious problem and that she needed to take steps to protect herself.  She whined about setting her security system just about every time she set it.  Enough already!  It was a little repetitive.  It surprised me that the security system did not include cameras.  At times Sarah seems scatterbrained which doesn’t really seem in sync with someone who is an emergency room physician.  It didn’t ring true to me that Sarah could have had a dog at home for less than a day and that she misses him so much when he’s being treated at the vet’s office. 

I struggled with the character Kyle Andrews who seemed very presumptuous, obsessive and bordered on creepy at times.  He talked about his faith, but not until the end did he seem to recognize that perhaps his actions were not done with the purest motives.  At times I wondered if Kyle was really a true Christian.  When he is obviously sinning he didn’t have the Holy Spirit reining him in.   

Theologically, there were a couple things that were off.  On page 181, Kyle is recalling what Pastor Steve told him about grief and when bad things happen.  Specifically, I take issue with this sentence, “He’d assured Kyle that God didn’t cause bad things to happen, but after they did, God would provide the help needed to get through them.”  This doesn’t quite square with the sovereignty of God.  Also, on page 184, Detective Bill Larson prayed for someone who was dead. 

I think this book could have been a little shorter and left off some of the repetitive actions and thinking of the characters.  The ending seemed to occur really quickly after a longtime getting there.  There were a lot of potential suspects and I couldn’t figure out who done it.  I would like to have seen the Pastor not included in the list of suspects, and instead just been a stable and good solid influence. 

Medical Judgment by Richard Mabry is not great and not horrible, it’s okay.  While this book wasn’t his best, I still look forward to reading future books by author Richard Mabry. 

I would like to thank Net Galley and Abingdon Press for the opportunity to read Medical Judgement by Richard Mabry in exchange for an honest review.  

None Like Him by Jen Wilkin – An Effective Tool To Help You Become a God-Fearing Woman (Which is the beginning of wisdom)

It was my privilege to read Jen Wilkin’s newest book None Like Him – 10 Ways God Is Different From Us (and Why That’s a Good Thing).  As a student in her Bible study class I was excited for the opportunity to read her latest release.  If it was anything like her Bible studies, I knew I would be challenged and indeed I was. 

In None Like Him, Jen takes a look at God through His unique attributes: Infinite, Incomprehensible, Self-Existent, Self-Sufficient, Eternal, Immutable, Omnipresent, Omniscient, Omnipotent and Sovereign.  I felt like she was holding up a gem and looking at the different facets of God as the light shines through them.  She does this through comparison looking at what God has revealed about Himself in Scripture and contrasting that to how different we are as humans. 

Jen effectively helped me to see God more clearly and look at myself in the mirror of God’s Word (not always a pretty picture).  Because she is open and transparent, it makes some of the hard things she shares and confronts the reader with more tolerable.  Especially in light of the good goal of becoming a God-fearing woman. 

There were times I felt like Jen had been reading my diary because what she expressed captured my thoughts, feelings and experiences.  I highlighted many passages in this book to look back on.  I especially appreciate the tools she has at the end of each chapter.  She includes verses to meditate on that highlight the attribute of God studied in that chapter.  Also included are thought provoking questions for reflection and the invitation to write out a pray to God. 

I highly recommend None Like Him by Jen Wilkin.  This is a wonderful book.  Even though I received a free copy of the e-book, I’m going to purchase a hardcopy so I can go through this again at my own pace and take a closer at each attribute of God.  This summer I am hoping to join with friends as we go through None Like Him during our break from Bible study.  I also want to purchase some additional copies of this book to share with family and friends. 

I would like to thank Net Galley and Crossway Publishers for the opportunity to read None Like Him by Jen Wilkin in exchange for an honest review.  I was under no obligation to give a favorable review. 

Waiting on God by Charles Stanley – Very Encouraging

In Pastor Charles Stanley’s newest book, Waiting on God – Hope for Today Strength for Tomorrow, I found him to be very compassionate towards hurting people.  He’s realistic about the struggles believers face and encourages us to trust God no matter what. 

Readers learn what it looks like to wait on God.  There are times when it may seem like what we are waiting for will never happen.  Even then, we are reminded that there is meaning and hope during the times of waiting and that the Lord has a purpose and plan He is working out in our lives. 

One of the definitions Charles Stanley shared is that when we wait upon the Lord it’s demonstrated with a directed, purposeful, active and courageous attitude of prayer.  He shows examples from scripture what waiting on God looked like in the lives of King David, Abraham, Jacob and Joseph, what lessons they learned and the work that God was doing in their lives and behind the scenes.  Throughout this book he also shares experiences from his own life. 

Charles Stanley goes in-depth to examine God’s character and who He is.  He helps us to look at: what our focus is on and potential idols; how we can discern God’s will; stand firm on God’s word and His promises to believers; how we can wait courageously; and experience joy and reap the rewards of waiting. 

I especially appreciated the prayers at the end of each chapter.  They are beautifully written with an attitude of humility, thanksgiving, praise, confession of sin and weakness, reminders of God’s greatness, wonder and sovereignty and submission to God’s will and His purpose and plan. 

Readers are challenged at the end of each chapter with Points for Active Waiting which included scripture memorization, taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ and questions to help us examine ourselves. 

In chapter 5, Claiming God’s Promises, I wish that early on Charles Stanley had warned readers about taking verses out of context and claiming promises that were not intended for us.  In the chapter, he does go into understanding God’s promises and if they are limited vs. general and conditional vs. unconditional.  However, with the abuse of the name it and claim it mentality of some churches today, I think it is imperative for Christians to understand God’s word in context and not misapply it. 

I would have also liked to have had smaller chapters.  There’s a lot of meat to chew on in each of the chapters.  Having smaller chapters would have helped break it down into bite size pieces to chew on.  

I recommend Charles Stanley’s newest book Waiting on God.  I think it will help strengthen and encourage believers who are waiting on God or going through various trials.  

I would like to thank Net Galley and publisher Howard Books for the opportunity to read Waiting on God in exchange for an honest review.  I was under no obligation to give a favorable review. 

Love Gently Falling by Melody Carlson – Missed the Boat

It’s always easier and fun to write a review on a book that you really like.  Unfortunately, this review is a little more of a challenge.

When I first became a Christian I had read some books by author Melody Carlson that I really liked.  So I was excited at the opportunity to read Melody’s newest novel Love Gently Falling (available January 6, 2015).  But that excitement was short lived. 

Let me start with what’s good about the book.  When the story’s main character Rita gets the news that her mother has suffered a stroke she quickly makes arrangements to travel home to be there with her mom, dad and brother.  I appreciated how Rita made amends with an old friend with whom she had a falling out and their friendship was restored.  I appreciated the character examining herself to see if she was a snob when she found herself liking a man who was a janitor.  I appreciated that the book did not include sexually immorality or filthy language. 

One of the main things I struggled with is that there was really nothing in this book that would lead me to conclusion that it was from a Christian author.  I came back to a question I ask when reading books published by Christian authors.  If a Christian writes a fiction book does that make it “Christian fiction”?  I would say no. 

In the book, Love Gently Falling, prayer was mentioned several times, but the author didn’t show Rita or the other characters dealing with issues of their faith.  There were some plot developments that would have made good platforms to share the gospel message and what God’s word says.  It would have been good to see characters work through the challenges they are facing through the grid of their Christian faith.  But Melody Carlson didn’t take the opportunity to weave Christian faith into her newest book Love Gently Falling.  Something else that bothered me was the way the main character Rita “came to the rescue” to help save her mother’s outdated and failing beauty salon.  It smacked of the world’s view often seen in movies with children being wiser and smarter than their parents. 

Apart from my criticism about this not being “Christian fiction”, the book is not overly deep.  It was on the anemic side, but could have gone deeper with the storyline.  I think that Melody Carlson missed the boat with Love Gently Falling and I was disappointed. 

I would like to thank the publisher FaithWords and Net Galley for the opportunity to read Love Gently Falling in exchange for an honest review.  I was under no obligation to write a favorable review.