Review: Drawing Fire

Drawing Fire by Janice Cantore
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Great story. A good page-turner.

The characters are very well-developed. I'm not a fan of keeping the reader in the dark while the characters know everything... but that seems to be a trend these days that I wish publishers would kick out of the habit.

I think the fact the author was a policeman herself lends a great deal of realism to the story. Another thing that is good is that Cantore doesn't keep rehashing the story line in the thoughts of the characters. Plus the two main characters carry the narrative rather than jumping in the heads of numerous characters, and the mystery stays a mystery to both the characters and the reader (which makes up for the muddy waters the reader has to wade through at the beginning of the story.)

Great read... I'll be recommending it to others

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Review: Mail-Order Marriage: 5 Historical Stories of Marriage Arranged by Letters Between Strangers

Mail-Order Marriage: 5 Historical Stories of Marriage Arranged by Letters Between Strangers by Tracie Peterson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Admittedly, I was disappointed in this collection. The story by DiAnn Mills was the only one that I read all the way through. Tracie Peterson, whom I generally always enjoy reading, fell a little flat. The other three authors need to work really hard on their research. I found so many modernisms mentioned that I gave up reading. When reading a period story, I expect dialogue, story elements, and characters to all reside in that period. The story flow grinds to an abrupt halt when a modernism pops out, and that is disturbing to readers, at least it is to me. My Mom enjoyed reading every word of every story, so I guess it doesn't effect every reader.

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Review: Huckleberry Hearts

Huckleberry Hearts by Jennifer Beckstrand
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a sparkling star in a gloomy night of the Amish stories flooding the market. I deeply dislike the sickly sweet Amish stories. This book rises above the tide.

The characters are very well developed. In fact, maybe too developed in that the character motivations are repeated over and over. Other than that, though, the story is exceptional. Funny, heart rending, and very diverting describe this story. Dialogue is very good with just the right amount of Amish verbiage to make it all real without stepping over the line of incomprehensibility.

Great story. I highly recommend it.

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Review: Trial & Tribulations

Trial & Tribulations by Rachel Dylan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Even the numerous grammatical errors could not rein in the story in this thrilling story about good and evil. I do not like cliffhanger endings, but this one is not exactly a cliffhanger... but there are numerous things unresolved. That's why this one gets 4 stars instead of 5.

I'm impressed with the story telling, but this story needs a good editor to really streamline the story, to tighten it up to help create more tension, and to make the dialogue a bit more believable.

The characters are fairly well developed, although there is very little back story. There is some trouble alluded to that happened to the protagonist early in her life. This tactic doesn't work here. It's like the wizard behind the curtain only it does not move the story forward. It just makes the reader wonder what happened and distracts from the story at hand.

Other than those few things, the story is great. I'll probably read the next installment.

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