Book Reviews

The Big House on Adams Street by Alberta Sparks

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I received this ebook free from BookLook Bloggers in return for my honest review.

The Big House on Adams Street by Alberta Sparks is a wonderful book about one man’s dream.  There are many characters in the book who are easy to love and care about, many who have experienced hardships, some who have cause hardships for others.

Fritz, whose birth could have been considered an abomination, grew into a Godly man who had a dream; a dream for helping others.  He traveled by boat to America in hopes of fulfilling his dream, and on the way, met some people who took an interest in his dream and expressed a desire to help him.

In America, he built The Big House on Adams Street, otherwise know as “Huber Haven”.  Not long after the house was finished, it’s first occupants arrived, and Fritz assigned rooms to them.  He explained is plan for those who live in the house to work together to run the household.  Everyone must do their part.

In no time at all, “Huber Haven” had established a wonderful reputation, and in just a few short years, the house was filled with adults, children and babies.

I encourage you to read The Big House on Adams Street by Alberta Sparks if you enjoy heartwarming stories about family and people with struggles who overcome and people who have a heart for helping others.  You will find all of those things between these pages.  I assure you that by the time you are finished reading this book, you will have a desire or, maybe even a longing, for a place to live — a place to belong — like “Huber Haven”, or, maybe you’ll want to create your own “Huber Haven”.  This story touches both the heart and the soul.

When Mockingbirds Sing by Billy Coffey

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I received a free ecopy of this book to review for BookLook Bloggers.

What marks the boundary between a miracle from God and the imagination of a child?

Leah is a child from Away, isolated from her peers because of her stutter. But then she begins painting scenes that are epic in scope, brilliant in detail, and suffused with rich, prophetic imagery. When the event foreshadowed in the first painting dramatically comes true, the town of Mattingly takes notice.

Leah attributes her ability to foretell the future to an invisible friend she calls the Rainbow Man. Some of the townsfolk are enchanted with her. Others fear her. But there is one thing they all agree on-there is no such thing as the Rainbow Man.

Her father, the town psychologist, is falling apart over his inability to heal his daughter . . . or fix his marriage. And the town minister is unraveled by the notion that a mere child with no formal training may be hearing from God more clearly than he does.

While the town bickers over what to do with this strange child, the content of Leah’s paintings grows darker. Still, Leah insists that the Rainbow Man’s heart is pure. But then a dramatic and tragic turn of events leaves the town reeling and places everyone’s lives in danger. Now the people of Mattingly face a single choice:

Will they cling to what they know . . . or embrace the things Leah believes in that cannot be seen?

I found When Mockingbirds Sing by Billy Coffey very intriguing.  Leah’s family are not church goers and her father doesn’t want to hear anything about God or religion.  Her mother has interest in the idea of spiritual things but not necessarily in a God who is in control of the things that happen in life.

Therefore, when Leah begins talking about The Rainbow Man and insisting he is real, she can see him, and he sings to her and tells her what to do, her father is frustrated with the idea.  Her mother sees it as a normal part of a child’s life, inventing an imaginary friend.  But, when Leah starts to paint pictures with incredible detail, both of her parents are baffled.  When the event depicted in her first painting comes true, her parents begin to question what is causing this new, surreal ability their daughter seems to have.

Her parents aren’t the only ones struggling to figure out what is enabling Leah to paint these pictures.  The town minister suspects that instead of hearing from God, Leah may be connected to evil forces instead.

Is Leah good or evil?  How could Leah be prophetic when she knows nothing of God?

Read Billy Coffey’s When Mockingbirds Sing to find the answers to these questions.

I enjoyed this book.  I couldn’t wait to get to the end because the story drove a desire within me to know if Leah was evil or good because as I read the plot, I kept flip-flopping in my opinion, so I just wanted to know, so it definitely kept me turning the pages.  I also was pleased to find study questions at the end of the book because the story left me with a couple of questions about the author’s thoughts in writing the story, and when I read the study questions, I found the answers to the questions I had.

I recommend this story to anyone who enjoys stories that involve the supernatural and give cause to think about the spiritual realm and stories that hold your interest and keep you turning pages.

Centralia by Mike Dellosso

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Picture

Things are not what they seem.

Peter Ryan can’t find his wife and daughter.  Everyone keeps telling him they died, but he doesn’t believe them.  He does, however, have memories of their funeral.  When his house is invaded, he discovers that he has survival skills he was not aware he had.  He doesn’t understand what is going on, and do the disconnected memories have anything to do with what’s happening?  And, what about the nightmare he has almost every night?  Is it significant?  Centralia is a fast-paced, edge-of-your-seat suspense story where “things are not what they seem”.

This story is very well-written and the characters, down to the very minor characters who only appear in one chapter, are very well-developed.  One of the best minor characters in the book is Ronnie.  He’s only in one chapter, but Mike gave me so much information about Ronnie that I immediately cared about this character.  I would like to see Mike continue Ronnie’s story in another book sometime.

The story grabbed my attention right from the start and held it in a strong grip right up until the very end.  Mike Dellosso has a talent for giving great descriptions of people and settings without making it too wordy or slowing the action and suspense down.  The story is action-packed, suspenseful and frightening.

I’ve been a Mike Dellosso fan for a year now, and though I haven’t yet read all of his books, I think this could be his best work yet.  I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes to be kept up late because you just can’t put this book down; to anyone who loves a story packed with action and suspense, you won’t want to miss this one.

20 Short Ones by Dan Salerno

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I received an  ecopy of 20 Short Ones by Dan Salerno free from BookLook bloggers to write a review for them.

I haven’t read very many short stories, and I had read that romance stories don’t really work well as short stories.  However, in 20 Short Ones by Dan Salerno, Dan debunks that statement.  The stories in 20 Short Ones are all relationship stories — some friendship and some romance.  His characters are interesting and his plots are sometimes quirky, but between his characters and his plots, he kept me reading.

I loved how in these stories offered so many different aspects of relationships and the problems that can be part of a relationship, whether that problem is caused by both people, an external force, or an internal conflict in one of the two people or even both of the people in the relationship.  These short stories did a good job of exploring many different relationship conflicts and possible resolutions.

There were a couple of stories in this collection that seemed a bit difficult to follow either because the author bounced from one character’s point of view to the other’s quickly and without warning or offering a page break or something to alert the reader.  Also, sometimes long passages of dialogues caused me to have to go back and figure out which character said which part of the dialogue because there were no tags or beats to help clarify who was speaking.  I understand too many tags take away from a story, but beats can actually add to the story.

I thoroughly enjoyed nine of the stories and felt that nine of the stories were good.  There were only two stories in the collection that I found I didn’t really care for and two that I absolutely loved.  I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading stories about relationships with characters and situations that may remind them of relationships in their past or present, or maybe one that they hope will be part of their future.  I will definitely hold on to this collection and read most, if not all, of these stories again.  I found that short stories can satisfy me and can be a pleasure to read.

A Heart’s Danger by Colleen Coble

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A Heart’s Danger, Book three in the “Journey of the Heart” series by Colleen Coble finds Sarah wanting to move on with her life at Fort Laramie.  Christmas is coming and relations with the Sioux have turned colder.

Will Rand really go through with the wedding to his fiancee, or will he declare his love for Sarah once and for all?

I received this book for Free from BookLook Bloggers to write a review.

In A Heart’s Danger, Sarah learns how difficult life with the Sioux can be, as well as how painful it is to watch what happens to the Sioux while more white men and women move into their territory.  Another soldier also begins to express interest in Sarah, and she wonders if she could ever learn to love him.

Sarah finds herself in danger several times throughout this story, sometimes because Ben Croftner is a sore loser and a cruel, evil man, and sometimes because she takes risks she shouldn’t take.

A Heart’s Danger is filled with danger, excitement and suspense.  It is well written and is, in my opinion, the best book in the series so far.  As the first two in the series ended with a definite cliff hanger, A Heart’s Danger seems to have resolved enough issues to have a good, solid ending.  However, it is not the end.  There are three more books coming, and though the first two ended with cliff hangers, this one has me more curious and intrigued, wondering what Ms. Coble could possibly do in the next book.  I can’t wait to find out.

I would highly recommend this book to women who love a good romance story filled with danger, excitement and suspense.  If you like a book you can’t put down, this book is for you.  I read this book in one sitting.  I just couldn’t stop reading until I knew how it ended.

A Fine Piece of Chocolate by Jacqueline R. Banks

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I received a free copy of this ebook to review for BookLook Blogger.  I am sad to say this is the first review I am writing where I cannot say that I enjoyed anything about the book.

This is the book description:  Showing that love doesn’t have to be a four-letter word and that redemption is possible, this novel follows three women all involved in the universal search of finding love. Instead, they find lust, betrayal, compromise, and finally, redemption. Banks sends a powerful message through these characters, encouraging readers to know their values, love themselves, and never compromise what is near and dear to them.

However, the novel was not written about three women.  It was three separate stories and all of them were interrupted with paragraphs analyzing decisions the main character was making, or to give advice to young women who may find themselves in a similar relationship/circumstance.  The characters were not well developed.  I did not feel as though I was in the story or in the characters’ heads, but that I was an outsider simply being told about relationships these women had gotten involved in.  There were many grammatical and spelling errors as well, and her descriptions of intimate details were crude and a bit more explicit than I find appropriate for a Christian book.

I noticed that this is Ms. Banks’s first novel, and I strongly suspect that she self-published without having a proofreader or editor look it over.  I would suggest that she seek an editor in the future.

It is clear that Ms. Banks has a heart for helping young women avoid bad relationships.  I believe that her writing style is better suited for script writing, as I often felt as though I were reading a script for a play.

I am sorry to say that I would not recommend this book to anyone.

A Heart’s Obsession by Colleen Coble

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I posted a book review on A Heart’s Disguise by Colleen Coble on March 16, 2015.  Well, this is Book Two of that series.  I am writing this review for BookLook Blogger and received a free copy of this book for review purposes.

A Heart’s Obsession picks up where A Heart’s Disguise left off, with Rand on his way to Fort Laramie as a cavalry man and Sarah remaining by her father’s side because of his failing health.  Both Rand and Sarah are miserable without each other, and when Sarah’s father succumbs to his illness, Sarah and her younger brother, Joel, make the arduous journey to Fort Laramie, Wyoming, with Sarah hoping to finally be with Rand, whom she has loved for a very long time.

However, the reception Sarah receives at Fort Laramie is nothing like Sarah imagined.  Rand seems to be involved with Jessica Dubois, the daughter of the post commander, a cunning, scheming woman.

Things get even more difficult for Sarah when her ex-fiance, Ben Croftner arrives, insisting that he will have her back.

I care about the characters and I long to see Sarah and Rand together, so I continue to read to see how things will end for Rand and Sarah by the time this series ends, and each book ends with a cliff-hanger that leaves you wanting more.

However, I was surprised that this story isn’t as well written as A Heart’s Disguise.  I was also surprised that, since these books are being re-released after ten years, the author would re-release them without updating them (at least that’s the way it appears).  There are places in this story where the pronouns are late, making you look back and reread some paragraphs to link the pronoun with the correct character.  It’s written in third person omniscent, and since I have just finished reading about writing in Deep POV, this book is not written in Deep POV, but has a narrator telling things about characters’ thoughts and feelings, which isn’t wrong, but I just know that Deep POV is the preference for today’s writing.

I do enjoy the plot of these stories, though, and they are short, easy reads.  I believe they would really be labeled as novellas, as I do not believe they are long enough to truly be novels.  I do recommend them to anyone who enjoys entertaining, short, easy-to-read, romance stories, and I will look forward to the next one in the series, as I still want more.

A Heart’s Disguise by Colleen Coble

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A Heart's Disguise

I received this book free from the publisher through the BookLook Bloggers book review bloggers program.  To find out how you can become a book reviewer, click here.

USA Today bestselling author Colleen Coble has written several romantic suspense novels including Tidewater Inn, Rosemary Cottage, and the Mercy Falls, Lonestar, and Rock Harbor series. Visit her website at http://www.colleencoble.com Twitter: @colleencoble Facebook: colleencoblebooks

A Heart’s Disguise by Colleen Coble is the first book in the “Journey of the Heart” series.  It takes place in the tiny town of Wabash, Indiana just after the Civil War.  Sarah Montgomery harbors a deep sadness in her heart because the man she loves with every ounce of her being, Rand Campbell, has not returned from the battle front.

With her father’s health failing, he and her brother encourage Sarah to marry Ben Croftner so that she will be settled before her father’s death.  However, when she finds out that Rand is still alive and that Ben knew it, she breaks off the engagement.

Ben doesn’t take the rejection lightly, and he plans to abduct Sarah.  Then Rand comes to her aid, but informs her that he is leaving, as he is still in the Cavalry and has been posted at Fort Laramie, Wyoming.  He asks Sarah to go with him as his wife.

What will Sarah do?  Will she be able to leave her dying father’s side to travel west with the man she has always loved?

This book grabbed my emotions from the first page.  My emotions ranged from sympathy, to anger, to pain and hurt.  The characters in the story grabbed my heart and I cheered them on throughout, except for Ben Croftner who simply made me angry, and I wanted someone to teach him a lesson.  Of course, Sarah’s brother, William, isn’t very likeable either.

The story was romantic and sad.  It is an easy read at just 90 pages, and it left me wanting more.  I cannot wait for the second book in the series.  This is the first book I have ever read by Colleen Coble, but it won’t be the last.  I will anxiously await A Heart’s Obsession, and I’m sure I’ll look for other books she has written as well.

If you love a good romance story with a bit of danger, you’ll enjoy Colleen Coble’s Journey of the Heart.

A Thousand Sleepless Nights by Michael King

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A Thousand Sleepless Nights

A Thousand Sleepless Nights by Michael King is a wonderful story.  It is about a family that is broken.  It is about a woman’s struggle with cancer.  It is about what happens to the woman, the man who loves her and her children as she faces a very aggressive cancer.

This story is so realistic, and it’s a wonderful story because the characters and the issues they are dealing with could happen to anyone.  Therefore, the reader becomes captivated from the very beginning.  The story made me laugh and made me cry, and I always say those are the best stories.  They are the stories I always remember the most about.

The book was well-written.  The characters were rich and believable and I began to care about them from the beginning.  Not only did I begin to care about the characters from the beginning, but I could feel the hurt and pain that each of them was dealing with.  I could relate to these characters, not to the woman with cancer, as I have not had to face that, but some of the issues her children were dealing with were definitely things I could relate to, things I had dealt with in my life, either directly or indirectly.  The dialogue was believable and realistic.  Mr. King did a great job describing the setting and the scenes just enough to give me the information I needed, to feel as though I were there, but not too much as to make the story feel bogged down.

In my opinion, this book has something for everyone.  To watch how the characters dealt with the issues they faced was inspiring and thought-provoking.  I think I would re-read this book if I ever faced cancer.  I recommend this book to anyone who has faced, is facing, or knows someone who has faced or is facing cancer.  I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading realistic stories with believable characters and resolution.

River’s Edge by Terri Blackstock

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This is Book #3 in the Cape Refuge Series.  If you remember, I already reviewed Book #4 of this series here.  I know, I seem to be reading this series in reverse, but it still makes sense and is still very suspenseful and enjoyable.  I received a copy of River’s Edge free from the publisher through the BookLook Bloggers book review bloggers program.  I am not required to write a positive review.  The opinions I have expressed are my own.

Official Book Description

The man Lisa Jackson loved most may have betrayed her.

Another used deception to manipulate her.

But did one of them kill her?

Ben Jackson is sure to defeat Jonathan Cleary in Cape Refuge’s mayoral race, until his wife turns up missing the day before a major debate. Suspecting foul play, Police Chief Cade launches an island-wide search. But it takes a psychic’s “vision” to point police to the riverside-and Lisa’s body.

The evidence implicating Ben in his wife’s murder is convincing. But as a local scandal escalates into a national media circus, Cade’s instincts tell him to dig deeper. And he’s not the only one. Blair Owens of the Cape Refuge Journal is using her investigative skills to uncover a rat’s nest of dirty secrets-and more than one person with a motive for murder. But Blair’s methods are jeopardizing her relationship with Cade, and an unsolicited prediction from the psychic only adds to her troubles. Is the man’s so-called gift truly from God, as he claims?

Did Lisa’s murder have anything to do with the mayoral race, her husband’s alleged affair, or her decade-long struggle with infertility? Whoever the killer is, he’s about to take his evasion of justice to the next, lethal level. And someone else is going to die.

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This story is well-written and deals with some difficult issues like infertility.  It is realistic and the characters are people who will draw you into the story and make you care about them from page one.  The suspense of who killed Lisa Jackson will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very end, and there are enough suspects to keep you guessing.  I love to read suspenseful novels and try to solve the crime and figure out who the guilty party is before it is revealed, but Terri Blackstock in the Cape Refuge series (the two that I have read so far) always surprises me, and to me, that says the author did a great job with the story because it was intricately woven in a way that I thought I knew who dunnit, but I didn’t.

This series also includes a recurring group of townsfolk who keep you coming back to each book of the series.  Their storylines include suspense and romance as well as real-life issues.  Blair Owens’s walk of faith is a joy to watch as it grows and she faces some of the spiritual struggles we all deal with.

I would recommend this novel to anyone who loves a well-written story about realistic characters dealing with realistic issues.  I also recommend this novel to anyone who loves a fast-paced suspense novel, as well as a mystery that keeps you guessing until the very end.