Seek and Hide by Amanda Stevens

MY REVIEW

The story grips you from the first sentence. That is very rare. Then the tension slacks off a bit and you wonder where you are and what's going on. I think there is just a tad too much backstory, but then this is what a lot of writers do. They try to prolong the mystery in order to keep a reader turning pages, when all they need do is raise questions and answer questions that lead to more questions. THAT is the sign of a well designed, well told story.

However, there are great characters that are very well developed. It doesn't take too long to get the feel for each one and their personality. Although one policeman turns out to be really evil, which is part of the storyline.

A really disappointing romance is underway when the tale opens, only you don't find it until well into the book. You basically start in the middle of it. While that could work, it really doesn't work well here. There is absolutely zero reason for the "hero" to love his broken girl. I do mean zero. Then about 3/4s of the way in, you "get it". However, the big question is: Is it really true love?

All that said, I really did like the story. The flow is good, the transitions from head to head are well done (that is very rare these days, too). And above all the characters don't jump out of their skin and do something out of character. For me that is crucial for a story to work well. The collage of characters work well, too. They abrade each other to fine points, but the abrasion only works to make one character grow. I guess we'll have to wait for Book 2 to see if the stubbornness of two characters will wear away enough for their souls to stretch.

It is very much a page turner, and a read that will keep you up at night. A word to the wise, don't start this book at 10:00 PM thinking you'll just read til you get sleepy. You won't. Then when you finish the book, you realize there is much more to the story. It really leaves you hanging with a LOT of holes left empty and gaping.



ABOUT THE BOOK

 Six years ago, the government took control of the church. Only re-translated Bibles are legal, and a specialized agency called the Constabulary enforces this and other regulations. Marcus Brenner, a new Christian, will do anything to protect his church family from imprisonment—including risk his own freedom to gain the trust of a government agent.

Aubrey Weston recanted her faith when the Constabulary threatened her baby. Now released, she just wants to provide for her son and avoid government notice. But she’s targeted again, and this time, her baby is taken into custody. If only she’d never denied Him, maybe God would hear her pleas for help.

When Aubrey and Marcus's lives collide, they are forced to confront the lies they believe about themselves. And God is about to grab hold of Marcus’s life in a way he’d never expect, turning a loner into a leader.

Hello from the Gillespies by Monica McInerney

MY REVIEW
I was happily reading thinking this book is going to be good. We have a nice mix of characters, some a little whacky. We have one point of view, which I love! I just hate head jumping, different from head hopping. Head jumping is when the reader is jerked about willy-nilly to get the BIG picture, regardless of how it affects the story flow.

McInerney was doing a fine job pouring out the heart of Angela. It drifted very close to depressing, but still excellent writing. You could almost feel her muscles clinching, and hear her thunderous sighs. Great writing.

Then it happened. A head jump, then another, and another. Admittedly, this was done rather well because the transitions took you quite smoothly from one point of view to another. I was impressed. Okay, so we have some head jumping. I'll get over that. Maybe...

Then here comes the gratuitous sex. It really did not make much sense at that particular point in the story, then I got it, the character had zero self-control which was flagrantly exhibited in how she lost her job. Not a spoiler alert because the back cover tells you the whole family comes together, and this daughter is in New York, so somehow she has to get to Australia to a ranch, which they call stations.

No foul language so far, but we have head jumping and we have sex scenes, not graphic, but still... then we find out what's going on in the husbands head with another head jump and I gave up. Who wants to read a book that has no anticipation? In the back of your mind, you are worrying with Angela. "He can't be having an affair... can he? Surely, not. But if he is..." Then boom, you know the answer and are completely deflated. I did not read anymore.

There has to be a little drama to keep the pages turning. The build up in the first few pages of this book promised plenty of drama, and some really good writing. But, for me, it fell flat on story planning. Good character development for all the characters. Nicely done, but still fell flat on story flow.

I give it 2 stars. Good writing, bad story planning and flow. Loses this reader's interest on page 122.


ABOUT THE BOOK


For the past thirty-three years, Angela Gillespie has sent to friends and family around the world an end-of-the-year letter titled “Hello from the Gillespies.” It’s always been cheery and full of good news. This year, Angela surprises herself—she tells the truth....

The Gillespies are far from the perfect family that Angela has made them out to be. Her husband is coping badly with retirement. Her thirty-two-year-old twins are having career meltdowns. Her third daughter, badly in debt, can’t stop crying. And her ten-year-old son spends more time talking to his imaginary friend than to real ones.

Without Angela, the family would fall apart. But when Angela is taken away from them in a most unexpected manner, the Gillespies pull together—and pull themselves together—in wonderfully surprising ways…

A matter of heart by tracie peterson

MY REVIEW
This novel has such great possibilities, and lived up to the promises on the back cover. Tracie Peterson usually does live up to her promises!

I'm not sure that someone can be so convicted of selfishness like depicted in this book without somehow knowing/feeling the Holy Spirit's conviction. Then again, maybe Jessica was feeling the conviction of the Holy Spirit and I somehow missed that connection. She definitely has a heart change before inviting Jesus in, and that could be a theological problem for some.

At any rate the story is a good one, but has too many characters for there to be solid character development of them all.  The two main characters are well-developed. They most definitely have reasons for falling in love with each other. They also have definitely characteristics, and they do not behave contrary to those characteristics. For some readers that doesn't seem to be a problem, but for me it is a reading deal breaker. I especially like the way consequences for actions are interwoven into the storyline. That kind of detail is rarely used to advantage in telling a tale, and Peterson does well with that.

 The secondary characters such as Jessica's mother and father have sort of wishy-washy development. However, you do see some character growth towards the end of the book. It is a bit start-stop so it isn't as smooth as it could have been. Sometimes it is best to have secondary characters have a firm foundation so you can measure the growth of the primary characters. This start-stop doesn't hurt the storyline too much. All in all it is a fairly good read.


ABOUT THE BOOK
Texas born and raised Jessica Atherton is a wealthy young woman whose heart was broken when the man she intended to marry wedded another. But her world is upended when two new men come into her life, and both manage to stir her heart.

Harrison Gable is a successful young lawyer with ambitions that match Jessica's dreams. His warm, attentive manner and thoughtful gifts make her feel special.

Austin Todd, a former Secret Service agent, enjoys working now as a Texas Ranger cattle inspector. But after learning of forged gold certificates and missing printing plates, he's drawn back into the world of intrigue and agrees to help solve the case. Jessica is drawn to his kind nature and the unspoken pain she sees in his eyes.

If Jessica follows her heart, where will it lead?

Tracie's website

In the Heart of the Dark Woods by Billy Coffey

MY REVIEW

First, I think a 12-year old is too young to have to face some of the things Allie has to face. But then, there are numerous children younger than her who face things far worse.

Also, I seriously doubt that a man could possibly understand how incredibly awful and uncomfortable it is to have one's first menstruation, but Billy gives it a good try. Although, I do not understand why that had to be described in such vivid, living color right at the beginning of this book. Perhaps if I had read the first one, it might have made more sense. In fact, the whole book probably would have made more sense to me, so reader beware. I really think you need to read the first one.

I have loved Billy Coffey's writing since I first discovered his blog. He is so poignant, and on target with his writing about ordinary things. He makes the inanimate animate, emotions take on a life of their own and stir the soul when he is talking about real life things. His fiction has a different depth, and is slightly more on the dark side than the light. I have a hard time understanding that this comes from such a word-weaver. I'm thinking that is why God made us all so unique and or souls so deep.

Check out his blog and check out his books. You'll be glad you did.

ABOUT THE BOOK

A motherless girl hungry for hope . . . and the dream that could be leading her astray.

Almost two years have passed since twelve year-old Allie Granderson’s beloved mother Mary disappeared into the wild tornado winds. Her body has never been found. God may have spilled out his vengeance on all of Mattingly that day—but it was Allie’s momma who got swept away.

Allie clings to memories of her mother, just as she clings to the broken compass she left behind, the makeshift Nativity scene assembled in Allie’s front yard, and to her best friend, Zach. But even with Zach at her side, the compass tied to her wrist, and the Nativity characters just a glimpse out the window, Allie cannot help but feel lost in all the growing up that must get done.

When the Holy Mother disappears from the yard one morning, Allie's bewilderment is checked only by the sudden movement of her mother's compass. Yet the compass isn't pointing north but east . . . into the inky forest on the outskirts of Mattingly.

Following the needle, Allie and Zach leave the city pavement behind and push into the line of trees edging on the Virginia hill country. For Allie, the journey is more than a ghost hunt: she is rejoining the mother she lost—and finding herself with each step deeper into the heart of the darkest woods she's ever seen.

Brimming with lyrical prose and unexpected discoveries, In the Heart of the Dark Wood illustrates the steep transition we all must undergo—the moment we shed our child-like selves and step into the strange territory of adulthood.

"The Devil Walks in Mattingly . . . recalls Flannery O'Conner with its glimpses of the grotesque and supernatural. The story unwinds slowly and with a convincing voice that draws the reader deep into the unexplainable." —BookPage

“Billy Coffey is one of the most lyrical writers of our time . . . we leave his imaginary world hungry for more, eager for another serving of Coffey’s tremendous talent.” —Julie Cantrell, New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author of Into the Free and When Mountains Move (on The Devil Walks in Mattingly)

Playing by Heart by Ann Mateer

 An engaging and charming novel. I love the premise: Local girl coaches a basketball team, and teaches music. She is also a award winning math scholar. She thinks she wants one thing, but finds out she's quite happy with another thing.

How often we have goals and motivations that seem to be our own devise, but actually turn out to be thrust gently upon us by someone else. Sometimes we find out before it's too late, and other times we never find out until we wonder why we're not happy with our goal met. That has happened to me before. I've worked hard to get to a certain place, and when God yanked the rug out from under me, I found out that I would never have been happy on that particular rug.

This story is extremely well written. The time is after the turn of the century, and everything is on target. There's no modern day jargon, nothing out of sync with 1910 or so. There is such smooth transitions from one point of view to another you don't realize the view has switched. There's not stop start jerk at all. Story flow is very good, you have the calm deep waters and the white water excitement. The pages almost turn themselves. You will probably find yourself thinking of the storyline if you can tear yourself away from it long enough to do something mundane like go to work (or school). The plot is a bit predictable, but then what romance isn't?

The character development is extraordinary. I would have liked for the music teaching aspect to have been developed a bit more, but all in all there were no disappointments. The character descriptions were in the proper place so you weren't jerked out of the story because you had pictured one character one way only to find out half way through the story that character didn't look that way at all. (Something that happens far more often than it should!) Lula slowly comes to realize her goals may have been a bit skewed. Chet slowly understands why Lula is so fascinating (and it is not because she seems aloof to him.) The love develops with plenty of reasons for them to fall in love. Perfect!

ABOUT THE BOOK: When Chet, a local coach, agrees to help Lula with her new teaching responsibilities, she'll learn more than she ever expected about life and love