Book Review - Among the Innocent

Ten years ago, the peaceful Amish community outside St. Ignatius, Montana was rocked by a family’s gruesome murder. Leah Miller is the only survivor, left orphaned and taken in by the town’s police chief and his wife. Now Leah is an officer on the force and responding to a phone call about a missing girl, a girl whose family farm sits right next to the one that belonged to Leah’s family. A girl whose secrets and circumstances seem a little too familiar to Leah. She’s not the only one who recognizes the similarities; her new police chief, Dalton Cooper, is holding on to the secret that he was best friends with the man who took the blame for those murders. And there’s no way Harrison could have been responsible for what happened to Leah’s family and what has now happened to Beth Zook, since he’s dead now. One thing is certain, though: the murderer is not finished with Leah Miller.

Mary Alford pens intense suspense in Among the Innocent. My attention was piqued from the very beginning and held throughout the entire pulse-pounding sequence of events. This was the first I’ve read from this author, but it certainly won’t be the last.

Among the Innocent is available now from your favorite local bookseller or online:

Baker Book House        Christian Book        Barnes & Noble        Amazon

Thank you to the author and publisher for allowing me a copy to read and review. All opinions expressed here are my own and are completely genuine.

Book Review - Sunburst

There’s a reason why Kingston triplet Ranger is known as Danger Ranger, and it is solidified by his absolute devotion to his team and his career as a SEAL and a sniper. Danger Ranger Kingston does his duty, even on the occasion when his duty was to walk away from the only woman who had ever managed to open his heart to the what-ifs. When that duty involves slipping into the Nigerian wilderness to rescue hostages from the Boko Harem, Ranger knows he and his brother Dodge will be rescuing their triplet Colt, but he is surprised to find the hostages include the woman he never should have lost. Noemi Sutton is determined to escape and find help for her fellow hostages, but her loyalty to Blessing is a weapon their captors can wield effectively against her. When Ranger and Dodge slip into the camp and rescue them, she is unprepared to face a savior who had so deeply wounded her in the past. Getting split from the rescue team is just further proof that she is not good for him, but they have to work together to get away from the terrorists who pursue them and make their way to safety. If that means Noemi must keep up the pretense that the wounded warrior traveling with her and Blessing is her husband, then so be it. At least, until the moment they find themselves face to face with her uncle, a tribal king with resources to keep them safe and an opportunity for Noemi to know her mother’s family. The friction of the push and pull between desire and self defense between Ranger and Noemi creates a delicious heat that burns from their first encounter and doesn’t stop.

Sunburst is the second Sky King Ranch novel from author Susan May Warren. Warren is an excellent storyteller and it is particularly enjoyable to read her novels as familiar characters we already know and love help drive the story. For example, our Jones Inc. buddies from the Global Search and Rescue series are back again to facilitate the rescue of Colt, Noemi, and the others kidnapped with them by the Boko Harem. Another particularly enjoyable element of Warren’s novels, which is displayed in full glory in Sunburst, is her dedication to research of the places and cultures represented within. I read Sunburst with a search window open at all times as Ranger, Noemi and Blessing made their way across Nigeria and as Uncle Efe and Aunty Precious throw a traditional wedding to celebrate the marriage of their dear departed sister’s only child. Kola nuts and jollof rice, the path of the Forcados and Niger rivers, the locations of the towns named along their escape route all came to life between Warren’s rich storytelling and the searches. And don’t skip the dedication on this one; SMW fans will have a greater understanding of how precious this one is after reading the dedication.

Sunburst, the second novel in the Sky King Ranch series by Susan May Warren, is available now from your favorite local bookseller or online:

Baker Book House        Christian Book        Barnes & Noble        Amazon

Thank you to the author and publisher for allowing me a copy to read and review. All opinions expressed here are my own and are completely genuine.

Book Review - Elysium Tide

James Hannibal has firmly established himself in my must-read list and Elysium Tide is the latest addition to the collection. Dr. Peter Chesterfield, senior attending neurosurgeon at Royal London Hospital, is plummeting toward burnout and a forced vacation is just what the chief medical officer ordered. Detective Lisa Kealoha has worked hard to overcome the circumstances of her youth and return home from L.A. to head up the gang task force for the Maui Criminal Investigative Division. Things are already getting hot on the island when the two collide after Peter tries to save the life of Lisa’s friend, and then continue to collide through the course of her investigation into Kelly’s murder and a host of other criminal activity surrounding it. Peter has his own investigation to conduct after he fails to save the woman he found floating in the surf outside his luxury hotel, and he will conduct that investigation with or without Lisa’s help. 

Sabotage and auto theft, murder and intrigue keep the plot flying like a modified Mustang over hidden smuggler’s tracks toward a satisfying conclusion. Written with great still to keep the reader engaged until the very end, Hannibal has delivered yet another gloriously successful action novel, further solidifying his must-read status.

Elysium Tide by James Hannibal is available now from your favorite local bookseller or online:

Baker Book House            Christian Book            Barnes & Noble            Amazon

Thank you to the author and publisher for allowing me a copy to read and review. All opinions expressed here are my own and are completely genuine. 

Book Review - Where The Road Bends

After losing both her father and mother to illness, Norah King finds herself engaged to a man she hardly knows in order to save her family’s land. As her only option for her future, things are set quite clearly for Norah until she finds vultures circling a wounded creature on her land and discovers that the creature is, in fact, a severely wounded man. A rather large severely wounded man, penniless and lost, searching for direction toward a life he hopes will look very different from the one he had before he was beaten and left for dead. While tending to Quincy’s physical wounds, Norah finds that Quincy brings a comfort to her life even as she brings comfort to his. However, they both must move forward into whatever may come, and he is compelled to leave as soon as he has recovered enough to travel. Neither one aware of what has transpired in the other’s life, the two are brought together in desperation again years later. Will the bond they unintentionally shared before be strengthened by the events that took place in the interim? Or will their hardships and secrets be too much to overcome?

Rachel Fordham writes with great detail a compelling story of loss and of love in Where The Road Bends. Without a family, Norah’s great yearning is to grow one of her own. And yet, some wounds are hard to heal. By crafting a cast of cast-offs with great heart, Fordham explores themes of forgiveness, as well as redemption and hope. Where The Road Bends is romance and more as Quincy and Norah, Alice, Mrs. Dover, Nels, and others learn that who they were does not negate who they have become.

Where The Road Bends by Rachel Fordham is available now from your favorite local bookseller or online:

Baker Bookhouse        Christian Book            Barnes & Noble        Amazon

Thank you to the author and publisher for allowing me a copy to read and review. All opinions expressed here are my own and are completely genuine.