Book Review

Mermaid Moon by Colleen Coble

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I received a free copy of this eBook to write a review (my personal opinion) for BookLook Blogger.

This is the first romantic suspense novel I have read by Colleen Coble.  I read her “Journey of the Heart” series last year and thoroughly enjoyed it.  You can read my reviews of each of those by searching for “Book Reviews” under Categories on the right sidebar of this blog.  They were western romance stories.  They had a bit of suspense, but not like Mermaid Moon.

Mermaid Moon is a Sunset Cove novel by Colleen Coble.  I have not read Inn at Ocean’s Edge which is the first book of this series.  But that is one thing I really like about Ms. Coble’s writing.  Even when she writes a series, you can read them out of order, or read one from the series and not the rest, and because of the information she includes in each book of the series, you do not feel lost or confused about the characters or the plot line.

Mallory Davis left her home on Mermaid Point in Maine years ago and never looked back. But when she receives a mysterious call from her father and later is informed of his death, she heads back to Mermaid Point immediately.

She suspects that her father was murdered, and a Downeast Maine game warden, Kevin O’Connor, confirms her suspicions.  Mallory doesn’t want to spend too much time with Kevin, but he wants to help her find out what happened to her father.  Mallory broke Kevin’s heart when she left Maine 15 years ago, and the history between them is something she believes cannot be repaired.

Mallory’s friend and neighbor, Carol brings her daughter, Haylie to Mermaid Point much sooner than planned and informs Mallory that someone showed up at her house in Bangor, Maine looking for her; someone who seemed quite threatening.

As the story continues, more questions arise and more suspicious characters emerge.  Whenever I thought I knew who was guilty, something else would show me I was wrong.  The story kept me guessing almost to the end.

Colleen Coble did a great job creating deep characters that made me care for them and cheer for them right for the start.  The plot line was suspenseful and kept me guessing.   The plot line kept me turning pages.  I look forward to reading more romantic suspense by Colleen Coble.

I recommend this book to all Colleen Coble fans, to anyone who enjoys a real page turner, to anyone who enjoys romantic suspense, and to anyone who likes a story with rich characters and a fast-moving plot line.

 

 

A Lady of Devices by Shelley Adina

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Lady of Devices

I finally got to read one of Shelley Adina’s steampunk adventure novels!  I am not reviewing this book for any particular group.  I am reviewing it simply because I read it, and I like to write reviews for books I read.  This isn’t even the newest book in the series.  There are actually seven more after this one.

Lady of Devices is the first book in Shelley Adina’s “Magnificent Devices” steampunk adventure series.  It is the first steampunk novel I have ever read, and I must say that in the beginning I wasn’t sure I was going to like this genre, but as I read and began to care more and more about the main character, Lady Claire, I couldn’t put it down.  I finished the book in four evenings.  (I only have time to read for two or three hours an evening, and not every single evening either.)

In Lady of Devices, Lady Claire comes from a well-to-do family, but Lady Claire is more interested in science, chemistry to be exact, and inventions than she is in having her “coming out” party to find a husband.  Well, that gets put on the back burner anyway, when tragedy strikes her family, and her mother and little brother move to their other house some distance away.  Lady Claire is to follow after packing up the current house and wrapping up some loose ends.  However, other things happen to keep Lady Claire in London longer.

Lady Claire ends up in one adventure after another, and becomes of some interest to two young men, but one behaves quite oddly toward her.  I do really like the other young man and believe he is the type of young man that Lady Claire would find appealing, which she might if she weren’t distracted by other circumstances.

Shelley Adina did a wonderful job creating Lady Claire and the other characters in the book.  It is easy to like some of the characters and dislike a few of the others.  I also found myself reminiscing about Dickens’ Oliver Twist during certain scenes.

I liked this book very much and was a bit taken aback when Ms. Adina left me hanging at the end.  Smart marketing, leaving the reader wanting more when you’re writing a series.  🙂     Therefore, I cannot wait to get Her Devices and continue to follow Lady Claire on her further adventures.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes a good adventure, and to anyone who likes steampunk.  Also, anyone who likes a quick, easy read, and anyone with a love for Dickens will find reminiscences here, but this story definitely has much more action.

A Just Man by Helen Daniel

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I received a free copy of A Just Man by Helen Daniel in eBook form to write an honest review for BookLook Blogger.

A Just Man follows several generations of the Matthews family through farming, shipbuilding, the Civil War and other circumstances.  I enjoyed the characters, though I think they could have been a bit more developed, as stories with well developed characters who face sad issues never fail to make me cry, and the sad issues in this story tugged at my heart but brought no tears.

I liked the story and the characters.  I found the book very simply written and easy to read. The story was sweet and enjoyable, although I found it a bit unrealistic.

A Just Man is also very clearly written in third person with a narrator.  The story is mostly told by the narrator rather than shown by the characters’ thoughts, dialogues, and actions.  After reading for a while, however, this became less noticeable to me, as I enjoyed the story.

It was mentioned either on the back cover or in a Preface that Helen Daniel had written stories to illustrate Sunday School lessons, and that is exactly what the chapters of this story reminded me of.  They are sweet stories of generations of one family and their struggles, as well as their faith.

I would recommend this book to anyone who is looking for something about faith in God that is easy to understand.  I would recommend this to parents who want a good, faith building, encouraging  story to read and discuss with their elementary age children.  I would also recommend this story to anyone who enjoys a good, family friendly, easy-to-read book.

The Golden Braid by Melanie Dickerson

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I received a free eBook copy of this book to write a review for BookLook Blogger.

This is the first story I have ever read by Melanie Dickerson.  I have never been familiar with the story of Rapunzel, so I do not know if Ms. Dickerson’s story is too much like the original or not.  What I do know is that Ms. Dickerson captured my attention and held it throughout the book.  She created rich, deep characters.  Good characters that I fell in love with and cheered for, and bad characters that I wanted to see get their comeuppance.

Ms. Dickerson’s descriptions were brief but clear.  I could easily picture both characters and places in my head.  The story takes place in Medieval times complete with knights and castles.  I’ve always enjoyed romance stories from Medieval times, and I thoroughly enjoyed this story by Melanie Dickerson.

The fact that the story is a spin off of a fairy tale was intriguing to me.  I have only read one other such story by a different author.  I really liked that though Ms. Dickerson’s story ended happily, it was not presented as “happily ever after”.  That’s the one thing about fairy tales and Disney that I find quite frustrating, because when you grow up with those stories, you expect to find and experience that kind of romance and love, which is not true to life.  True to life love/marriage requires a lot of work and give and take, communication and understanding on the part of both people involved.  Therefore, I loved that Ms. Dickerson hinted that not every day would be “happily ever after” because of the personality differences of the characters and their past hurts.  Thank you, Ms. Dickerson for that.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who would like to read a fairy tale type story that’s a  bit more realistic, and to anyone who loves historical fiction novels, Medieval times, knights and castles, and romance stories, or anyone who just wants to read a good book.

A Heart’s Promise by Colleen Coble

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I received a free copy of this book from the publisher to write an honest review.

This is book 5 of the Journey of the Heart series.  In this book, Emmie Croftner is struggling with her secret and her mistrust of men.  However, Isaac Liddle remains determined to win her heart and her hand.  Then another woman sets her bonnet for Isaac and Emmie realizes that she does have feelings for Isaac.  But, how will he react if he finds out about the secret Emmie holds inside?

I am really enjoying this series by Colleen Coble.  She does an excellent job at creating characters that you care about.  Again, this book left me yearning for the next and final book in the series because I want to see what happens to these characters that I have come to love.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys historical romance stories from a time period when the west was still young and dangerous.

Beneath the Pines by Sandra Gowan

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I received a copy of this book free from the publisher to write an honest review for BookLook Blogger.

The year is 1914, and Amanda Jane Horseman is unexpectedly homeless, without a dime to her name. In a state of desperation, she applies for a job on Ministers Island in southern New Brunswick, Canada. What begins as a fresh start to her life quickly takes a turn for the worse when she receives threats on her life. With nobody to turn to, Amanda will go on a hunt for answers that could cost her everything, including her life.

Sandra Gowan has a good story idea with Beneath the Pines.  However, I felt that if she would have given it one more edit, she may have noticed that the plot was rushed, the characters, with the exception of Amanda Jane, were not well developed, and she needs to review the rule of “show, don’t tell”.

The above description of the book certainly fits the book and is true of the story.  It’s just that the “happenings” in the story could have used more action and more detail.  There should have been more time spent drawing out the plot a little more.  For example, if she had developed her characters a bit more, it would have been more fun for the reader to attempt to figure out who the guilty character was while walking with Amanda Jane as she investigated the mystery.

There were also abrupt changes sometimes that seemed out of place or caused me to reread these sections to try to figure out what was going on.  She also did some occasional “head-hopping” — changing the point of view character without warning.

I would love to see her take the time to really develop this story and the things that happen to Amanda Jane when she gets to Ministers Island, and during the time she is away, and again when she returns and begins her sleuthing.  If there were more details and more action and the plot were fully developed, as well as the other important characters, especially Thomas, I would love to read this story all over again.

However, as it is currently written, I felt disappointed and empty throughout much of this book.  I found myself thinking, “oh, this scene would be better if . . .”  I would only recommend this story to people who enjoy a fast, easy read as long as they don’t mind missing details.

I would also encourage Ms. Gowan to read books by other successful author who write the same genre, and keep writing because the more you write, the more you improve; and in Beneath the Pines, it is easy to see that Ms. Gowan has raw writing talent.  She just has to cook it a little longer.  😉

A Heart’s Betrayal by Colleen Coble

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I received a free copy of this book from the publisher through the BookLook Blogger program, in exchange for my honest book review.

A Heart’s Betrayal by Colleen Coble is Book Four in the “Journey of the Heart” series.  Each of these books is a quick, easy read.  Each contains romance and suspense.  In A Heart’s Betrayal, we get to know more about Emmie, the sister of Ben Croftner, who was a thorn in Rand Campbell’s side.

Emmie learns some shocking news about her husband of only three months, after he is killed in an accident; news that will negatively affect her life in many ways if she remains in Wabash, Indiana.  She has no family near to help her in any way, so she remembers that someone in town mentioned that Sarah Campbell was lonely for some woman friends, as she was living at a military fort in the west with her husband, Rand Campbell.  So, Emmie decides to go west.

When Emmie reaches the fort, she is not impressed with the surroundings, although she does think that men in uniform are attractive.  However, she has decided that she will never trust another man and wants nothing to do with one.  But then she meets Isaac Liddle, and her resolves starts to waiver.

Then she is hit by more news that she sees as negative for her situation — she’s pregnant!

I really enjoyed this story.  I finished reading it in about two or three hours.  I couldn’t put it down.  I just felt so bad for Emmie and all that she is going through in this story.  I couldn’t wait to find out how things will work out for her.  Then I reached the end of the book and found that Colleen Coble left me hanging again!  This was the norm when these books were first published — writers would end a book in a series in a cliff hanger, to assure that his/her readers would not be able to resist the next one in the series when it came out.  It’s definitely effective for a writer, who can pull it off well, and Colleen Coble is one of those writers.

If you haven’t read any of the “Journey of the Heart” series, I highly recommend it.  If you have been reading it, I highly recommend you read A Heart’s Betrayal, even though, A Heart’s Danger – Book Three seemed to have a good ending.  You won’t want to miss Emmie’s story.  It’s just as good as Sarah’s.

I recommend this book to anyone who has read the first three books in the “Journey of the Heart” series.  I recommend this book even if you haven’t read the first three books, as this is about a new main character, even though many characters from the first three books are a part of the story.  I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a book that is easy to read and doesn’t take a lot of time to finish reading, as well as anyone who enjoys stories of the old West, and stories of romance and suspense.

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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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.