Beauty for Ashes by Dorothy Love

MY REVIEW
 
This is the first book I've read by Dorothy Love. I didn't know it was the second in a series, and if I had, I would not have ordered it.

I do not have a lot of patience with works that need better editing. I can certainly appreciate deeply that an editor tries to keep the author's voice. I'm not talking about a professional editor, but editing by the author herself. The only place where convoluted sentences are acceptable to me is in the Bible. After the 4th chapter, I quit reading it because there were characters I did not know; there were things not explained; there were places not described. As far as I am concerned this book should not have been cut in half and published as two works. Keep the thing as a whole if this is what will be presented to the public as a second work. On second thought, I give this work only 1 star.

Book Description

She’s a beautiful young widow. He’s a Southern gentleman with a thirst for adventure. Both need a place to call home.
After losing her husband in the Civil War, Carrie Daly is scared she will never have the family she longs for. Eligible bachelors are scarce in Hickory Ridge, Tennessee, but Carrie Daly has found love. Not the weak-in-the-knees kind, but something practical. Still, she isn't quite ready to set a wedding date with Nate Chastain.
Griff Rutledge is a former member of Charleston society, but has been estranged from his family for years. He’s determined to remain unattached, never settling in one place for too long. But when asked to train a Thoroughbred for an upcoming race in Hickory Ridge, he decides to stay awhile.
Despite objections from the townsfolk, and her fear that true happiness has eluded her, Carrie is drawn to Griff's kindness and charm. It will take a leap of faith for them to open their hearts and claim God's promise to trade beauty for ashes.

Deadly Disclosures by Julie Cave

This has an excellent story premise and the suspense is top notch. However, there are so many things that are disturbing.

The number one thing is when the suspense is building, we've got a lot of good questions that are sure to be answered at the turn of a page and then BOOM, a snippet of "past life" is dropped in the first paragraph of the page which totally wipes out the entire suspense thing, ruining any delicious feeling of anticipation and mystery, snatching the storyline's flow and shoving the reader into a swirling eddy sideshow. It doesn't work because it is manipulation of the reader and the story. Either decide the focus will be the past of the heroine and use the job as the FBI agent as a backdrop story, or be up front in a prologue and spill the whole bean pot about the protagonist's history. Do not spoil the show since the history of the protag does not mean beans to the plot of the murder of the Smithsonian Director.

This story goes in way too many directions to be coherent. It would have be a great thriller if we didn't that this pitiful angst of the protag which is medicated with alcohol to the point of a clear need for intervention. This is written like one of those CSI episodes which has two character's solving one crime and another two solving a different crime. It's okay that the two are parallel and never meet into one big crime because we have the continuity of the two sets of characters. When you switch, you know which story you are in because of the characters. Here we don't have such relief. We've got two main plots with one character. It doesn't flow well.

One plot is extremely melodramatic. While I can appreciate Cave is trying to be sensitive to alcoholism and showing there is good cause for people to want to medicate on alcohol, it is obvious that she has not lived with an alcoholic nor has suffered from it. I can say this because I have lived through both. This part of the story is two dimensional at best and some of it reads like a rehab center's brochure, and not at all like a character study. Another problem is the back story for Thomas who was the guy kidnapped, then murdered. It is written in italics and that's when you know... OH, here's more about Thomas. That is a story flow stopper and just does not integrate well with the other two plots. We get seasick from the flipflop, teeter here totter there, bait and switch. I'm thinking this is the poorest editing I've seen in a long time.

The other plot is GREAT! It has wonderful development, great suspense, really evil characters, really nice characters, and some characters that don't have a clue which all work very well within the texture of the story. So here, you'll have to take the bad with the good if you want to read this book. For me, it was Skim City.

I give it one star out of five.

This week, the

Christian Fiction Blog Alliance


is introducing

Deadly Disclosure New Leaf Publishing Group/Master Books (February 15, 2010) by

Julie Cave

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Julie first heard a creation science speaker at her church when she was just 15, igniting her interest in creation science and sparking an enthusiasm for defending the Bible’s account of creation. She has obtained a degree in health science, and is currently completing a degree in law. Julie is married with one daughter and lives on the east coast of Australia.

ABOUT THE BOOK

A Suspense-filled mystery which answers an ominous question: How far will some go to silence an influential Christian voice?

Thomas Whitfield, proud Secretary of the Smithsonian and its extensive scientific influence, has disappeared from his office with foul play suspected. Dinah Harris, an FBI agent struggling with alcohol and depression, is seeking answers amidst the fallout of her own personal issues.

Whitfield's body is eventually found, and other people connected to him begin dying as well, ultimately exposing a broader conspiracy connected to Whitfield's recent conversion to Christ and promotion of a biblical worldview in an academic world of financial gain hostile to this concept.

Will Dinah be able to experience the redemptive power of Christ before it's too late? Or will the ominous danger stalking her investigation claim another victim?

If you would like to read the first chapter of Deadly Disclosure, go HERE.



Watch the Video Book Trailer:

Becca by the Book by Laura Jenson Walker

Here is a good example of a successful novelist getting a bit lazy. Laura Jenson Walker has written some truly excellent prose. This isn't one of them.

The Getaway Girls Club is a group of bookworms who go on trips that illustrate the novels they read. Quite a wonderful concept. This novel focuses on one Becca Daniels who is not a Christian but belongs to the group anyway. Walker leads us on a merry chase of Becca and her commitment woes. The story starts out incredibly exciting. Jumping out of an airplane is exciting, but breaking an ankle is not so thrilling. This sets up a delightful scenario for a story that truly can go places. There is a lot of fun expected when she makes this wager with her group that she can maintain a relationship with the "next guy that asks her out" for a full three-months or 25 dates which ever comes first.

So, the set up gives the reader the hairy anticipation that this story could go literally anywhere and be fun. Unfortunately, it did not turn out to be very much fun. Wisecracks will only go so far before they get a bit annoying. I couldn't tell you if Becca learned anything or not, or even if she overcame her commitment phobia. But, there was one character that shined like a beacon and that was Lucy. She was more than a two-dimensional character in a book. She lit up the page in such a quiet way that you'll miss her if you aren't watching for her. She isn't a member of the Get Away Girls and is by far a minor character. Yet, she is worth reading the book for. Isn't that strange?

At least the reader is given hope that Becca will turn out well, but you must read to the very last page. I give this is a one star story.

This week, the



Christian Fiction Blog Alliance



is introducing



Becca By The Book



Zondervan (January 1, 2010)



by



Laura Jensen Walker

ABOUT THE BOOK

Sales clerk, barista, telemarketer, sign waver...



At twenty-five, free-spirited Becca Daniels is still trying to figure out what she wants to be when she grows up. What Becca doesn’t want to be is bored. She craves the rush of a new experience, whether it’s an extreme sport, a shocking hair color, or a new guy. That’s why she quit her bookstore job, used her last bit of credit to go skydiving, and broke her leg.



And that’s why, grounded and grumpy, Becca bristles when teased by friends for being commitment-phobic. In response, Becca issues an outrageous wager—that she can sustain a three-month or twenty-five date relationship with the next guy who asks her out. When the guy turns out to be “churchy” Ben—definitely not Becca’s type—she gamely embarks on a hilarious series of dates that plunge her purple-haired, free-speaking, commitment-phobic self into the alien world of church potlucks and prayer meetings.



This irrepressible Getaway Girl will have you cheering her on as she “suffers” through her dates, gains perspective on her life’s purpose, and ultimately begins her greatest adventure of all.



If you'd like to read the first chapter of Becca By The Book, go HERE





ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Laura Jensen Walker is an award-winning writer, popular speaker, and breast-cancer survivor who loves to touch readers and audiences with the healing power of laughter.

Born in Racine, Wisconsin (home of Western Printing and Johnson’s Wax—maker of your favorite floor care products) Laura moved to Phoenix, Arizona when she was in high school. But not being a fan of blazing heat and knowing that Uncle Sam was looking for a few good women, she enlisted in the United States Air Force shortly after graduation and spent the next five years flying a typewriter through Europe.

Her lifelong dream of writing fiction came true in Spring 2005 with the release of her first chick lit novel, Dreaming in Black & White which won the Contemporary Fiction Book of the Year from American Christian Fiction Writers. Her sophomore novel, Dreaming in Technicolor was published in Fall 2005.

Laura’s third novel, Reconstructing Natalie, chosen as the Women of Faith Novel of the Year for 2006, is the funny and poignant story of a young, single woman who gets breast cancer and how her life is reconstructed as a result. This book was born out of Laura’s cancer speaking engagements where she started meeting younger and younger women stricken with this disease—some whose husbands had left them, and others who wondered what breast cancer would do to their dating life. She wanted to write a novel that would give voice to those women. Something real. And honest. And funny.

Because although cancer isn’t funny, humor is healing.

To learn more about Laura’s latest novels, please check out her Books page.

A popular speaker and teacher at writing conferences, Laura has also been a guest on hundreds of radio and TV shows around the country including the ABC Weekend News, The 700 Club, and The Jay Thomas Morning Show.

She lives in Northern California with her Renaissance-man husband Michael, and Gracie, their piano playing dog.