Wild Montana Skies

wild-montana-skies Author: Susan May Warren

Series: Montana Rescue #1

Publisher: Revell

Release Date: October 18, 2016

Rating: 5 Stars

Reviewer: Jessica Higgins

With romance, broken hearts, and a cowboy on a mission, Wild Montana Skies reads better than a country western song sounds.

Kacey Fairing has decided she needs some time away from the military life she has called home for twelve years. She returns to Montana to help with the Search and Rescue team and tries to avoid a past she has tried hard to forget. During her time in the military, her parents have been raising her now teenage daughter. She has been the ‘fun mom’ seeing her daughter in between being deployed and trying to make up for time away. It doesn’t take long being back to realize she isn’t the only one who has returned to their childhood home. Ben King spent the last decade away from Montana building his life as a Country Music star. He left when Kacey shut him out of his life. His mother has died and his father has been injured and now needs his help to run the local Search and Rescue mission. He comes home to help but has no intention of staying. As soon as he sees Kacey walk back into town and his life, he realizes his father has an agenda beyond wanting to see his son in calling him home. Mercy Falls, Montana has had severe flash floods and Kacey and Ben reluctantly work together to save the lives of those in their hometown. It is going to take all the skills Kacey learned in the military to be able to work with Ben, and he might find new material for his songs working with Kacey, and possibly save a few lives.

Writing a romantic suspense story is a difficult task. You have to find that balance of a good love story but also one that brings the tension to ultimate levels at just the right moments. Susan May Warren has done a tremendous job with Wild Montana Skies. The story grabbed me at the beginning and didn’t let up till the last page. I particularly enjoyed the last few chapters where the suspense was top notch and I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough. Kacey is a tough, no-nonsense kind of gal who didn’t need a man in her life when so many others would have crumbled if they found themselves in her position. When writing Christian fiction, you have to be careful about some of the topics you address, such as sex outside of marriage. With Kacey getting pregnant and not being married, it could have been written many different ways, some good, some not. Warren approached the subject in a way that made it flow and be incredibly believable at the same time. Ben might have been a country singer but played the part of ruggedly handsome cowboy that wanted to do the right thing regardless of what he sang about. I liked the way their relationship played out, nothing felt forced with them, or any of the characters for that matter. I love the fact that this is the first in a series and we will get to dive deeper into the lives of some of the other characters touched on here. A fun read that I think many will enjoy, not just those that love romance novels, it goes much deeper than that.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher. The views and opinions expressed within are my own.

Child of the River

child-of-the-river Author: Irma Joubert

Publisher: Thomas Nelson

Release Date: October 18, 2016

Rating: 5 Stars

Reviewer: Jessica Higgins

Joubert’s stories open my eyes to parts of history I’ve never explored! Child of the River is no exception and I love the historical accuracy she brings to the table!

Persomi is a poor, white sharecropper living within the bushveld of South Africa. Her father is a drunk who beats the kids and her ma, who is one day taken away by the police for having an improper relationship with her older sister. The welfare officers also take her two youngest siblings away as one is sick and the baby doesn’t have enough food to eat. But they recognize that Persomi is clever and work to get her accepted to a boarding school to advance her studies rather than staying at the farm. As she attends high school during World War II, she begins to learn about politics throughout South Africa. The current prime minister is an English sympathizer, something that many throughout the country do not share. When the change in power comes in the country, so do many laws restricting the rights of non-white people throughout the country. Persomi has been friends with some Indian shop keepers in her town and believes that this is not right. After all, they’ve had the land since before 1900.

Persomi gets accepted into the university and earns her law degree. She gets established back in her hometown at the firm of De Vos and De Vos, where she suddenly finds herself with a case to try and circumvent the law that forces non-whites to relocate their homes, schools, and businesses out of an area that has been zoned for whites. As she works this case, she makes many discoveries that affect not only her career, but her life as well.

I absolutely love reading Irma Joubert’s stories because they are so historically accurate. Further, she opens my mind to histories that I’ve never explored, particularly about South Africa. I really enjoyed The Girl from the Train and it led me in direction that I didn’t think it would. Similarly, I thought this book was going to focus on World War II more, but it really didn’t spend much time on that event. It really delved more into the South African politics during and after the war, which in itself was really interesting. Joubert also makes me do research throughout the novel to find out more about the events she is writing about. Thankfully she started the book with a glossary for South African words and phrases or I would have had to spend even more time on the research, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Joubert also has the ability to really bring her central character to life and have the reader enter into a very personal relationship with her. I felt like I had known Persomi my entire life, but as a true friend, not as an outsider who would see her as a sharecropper’s child. It takes a lot of skill to create this relationship and she does a great job.

As with The Girl from the Train, this novel has tremendous scenery creations that take the reader to different parts of South Africa. I could see Persomi’s mountain, feel the sand blowing down the main street, and sit in the cave with Persomi and Boelie.

I recommend this book for lovers of historical fiction as well as those who just love a great story.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher. The views and opinions expressed within are my own.

Finding Libbie

finding-libble Author: Deanna Lynn Sletten

Publisher: Lake Union

Release Date: September 6, 2016

Rating: 4 Stars

Reviewer: Jessica Higgins

A bit like The Notebook on a roller coaster ride, but even more emotionally taxing!

Emily Prentice is spending time helping her grandmother box up her home when her world is rocked by finding out that her father had been married before he met her mother. As her grandmother tells the story, she learns her father Jack and Elizabeth “Libbie” Wilkens were high school sweethearts. Libbie was from a family with lots of money and Jack had aspirations of being a mechanic, which did not sit well with Libbie’s mother or older sister. Even so, a year out of high school they get married. But the Cinderella story ends there. During wedding preparations, Libbie found herself being stressed and was giving some Valium pills to help ease it. But when she accidently mixed it with alcohol, she blacked out and started acting horribly to Jack. When she learned what she had done, she apologized and tried to stay away from alcohol. But after things get hard, she continues to need help from alcohol and pills to escape her version of reality. Eventually, she and Jack are driven apart, never to see each other again.

As this story greatly saddens Emily, she decides that she must try and find this woman that made her father so happy once, if she is still alive. She sets out on a journey that changes her life and her family’s as well.

This book was very painful to read at times. The emotion that Sletten is able to draw out of the reader makes it want to work out so bad. But if there isn’t conflict, there isn’t much of a story. The story of Jack and Libbie was happy, then sad, then a little happier, then much sadder, then even worse, then just please make it stop, but I can’t stop reading because I have to know. However, in the end, it was justified. So, I am satisfied, I think.

Even more compelling was the story of Emily and Jordan. I pretty much knew what was going to happen there, but it was still interesting to see how it played out and how he only used her. If it hadn’t been for finding out about her dad, she may have ended up being used by him her whole life. The hidden lesson in that portion of the story was well worth it.

There was some occasional foul language, but not much. I think this book would be suitable for YA and up, especially if you like romance like The Notebook.

I received a complimentary copy of this book through the TLC Book Tours. The views and opinions expressed throughout are mine.

Tangle Webs

tangled-webs Author: Irene Hannon

Series: Men of Valor #3

Publisher: Revell

Release Date: October 4, 2016

Rating: 4 Stars

Reviewer: Jessica Higgins

As the Men of Valor series comes to a close, the last of the McGregor men fall in love in the least likely places with danger surrounding them at every corner!

Finn McGregor needs time to decompress after the disaster he was involved in overseas. He sets out for a peaceful month in the woods to enjoy the solitude and figure out where he wants to go next in his life. He enjoys the peace until he is awoken one night with bloodcurdling screams. He races across the woods and into the closest cabin to his to find Dana Lewis, a publishing executive who has escaped to the woods to deal with her own demons. As they become closer, someone else is trying to not only drive a wedge between them but also drive Dana out of her cabin altogether. Finn and Dana join together to figure out who is behind the pranks bent on pushing her from her safe haven. With danger at every turn, Finn finds himself back in the action sooner than he had planned.

I really enjoyed this series when it started out. In fact, I thought that Buried Secrets was the best book written by Irene Hannon that I had read, which made me look forward to the next book. Thin Ice didn’t hold up to the first in the series, but it was still really good and I kept looking forward to Tangled Webs. After all, the McGregor boys have been some of my favorite characters. Tangled Webs is a really good book, but I felt like it was more of an effort to complete the trilogy. It was a good read but there was a lot less suspense than what I was hoping for. It even had several places it could have been very suspenseful and just petered out. There just wasn’t much to draw me to it. I’ve not written a trilogy before, but am in the process of it and I am finding out how difficult it can be to continue a story along through three books.

I feel that if Dana’s backstory had been explored more as well as her situation that drew her to the woods put in at a different time and played up more it could have really helped the story. She came across more helpless than the typical female lead in a Hannon book, until the end. I did enjoy the way she came out of her shell when it really mattered. The characters themselves were good. The McGregor boys have developed over the series and it is always nice to see how they come out for each other when they need one another. Hannon is a very good romantic suspense writer and has great potential, I just didn’t feel this one lived up to that potential. I will however still be recommending to readers that enjoy romantic suspense as a quick, clean read!

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Baker Publishing Group in exchange for an honest and thorough review. The views and opinions expressed within are my own.

When Love Arrives

when-love-arrives Author: Johnnie Alexander

Series: Misty Willow #2

Publisher: Revell

Release Date: September 20, 2016

Rating: 4 Stars

Reviewer: Jessica Higgins

Getting revenge is never as easy as it sounds, something Dani Prescott is about to find out.

Dani Prescott has grand ambitions of getting revenge of Brett Somers, the man who bad mouthed her mother, the pilot of the plane crash that killed his parents. Her mother died in the crash as well. After watching him in an interview that blamed her mother, she set out to find something on him that would make him look just as bad. Now she finds herself out on a date with him. Not what she had planned. As things progress she starts to think he might not be the man she thought he was and her plans quickly unravel. Brett knows Dani is hiding something, he just isn’t sure what. He doesn’t want to push her, he has secrets of his own. As both of their secrets come to light, they have to decide if what they were starting to feel for each other will outweigh the truth of the past.

When Love Arrives is a story that readers of the Christian, contemporary romance genre will really enjoy. The story starts with Dani and Brett meeting and Dani’s plans falling apart as she finds herself on a date with Brett. Thinking maybe she can use this to her advantage, she agrees to go and has an unexpectedly nice time. I can understand being upset if someone bad mouths a family member you care about, but the extremes that Dani goes to, or plans to go to, in order to get back at Brett are a little farfetched. She sets out to get revenge on him and instead falls in love with him. I can kind of see that happening but some things just didn’t fall in place as well as they could have.

Overall there is nothing that stands out in this story as something that will really grab you and hook you. I liked the aspect of Brett finding out he had a son and the way he played that out. In trying to establish him as a good guy instead of the young, immature, screw-up he had been in the past was a nice way to go about showing his changes. The story had a nice flow and didn’t take very long to read. I didn’t realize until I was finished that this was the second book of the Misty Willow series but I didn’t see that as a problem. Having not read the first, I don’t think it would matter if you read them in order or started with this one. The overall theme of finding forgiveness instead of looking for revenge was nice. The only way to be happy is to find those good positive things instead of hanging onto the negative. A lesson we all need to remember from time to time.

Lead Me Home

Author: Amy K. Sorrels

Publisher: Tyndale

Release Date: May 3, 2015

Reviewer: Jen Roman

Lead Me Home tells the story of two very different people in Sycamore facing some similar and real struggles. Reverend James Horton has just been told that because of unsurmountable financial debt, his small Midwestern church will be closing. His congregation has dwindled to just a dozen or so regulars anyway, and he feels that he is just going through the motions of being a pastor. He is dealing with the recent sudden death of his wife, Molly, and trying to keep his teen daughter Shelby from going wayward as she tries to deal with losing her mother. He feels responsible for the closing of the church and blames himself for the congregation’s decline; he noticed people leaving for the megachurch down the road but did nothing to bring them back into his church.

Just down the road, Noble Burden has his own issues. While he is glad that his abusive, alcoholic father has left the family, he is now responsible for running the family dairy farm. His loyal older brother, Eustace, is good for providing muscle to help, but he has some kind of undiagnosed disorder that prevents him from really taking charge of life on the farm. Just as Noble thinks he is getting caught up on all the chores and the repairs, something else puts him behind.

The plot of Lead Me Home is not original, but the characters and the overall message make it a worthwhile read. James is a pastor, yet he is also portrayed as a real person with his own flaws and struggles. He believes that, as many people do, a church leader is a strong person who solves all problems and who makes everything right. In this case, he ends up losing the church due to modern challenges. Noble wants to be a country singer and is given the opportunity to record in Nashville; the signing contract alone is more money than he’s ever seen, and the agents promise a new home and more services to help Eustace. With so much on the line, he doesn’t know what to do, yet he knows he has to stay true to himself. When he connects more with a custodian at the studio than he does with the people who want to make him famous, he has some serious thinking and praying to do.

The title is perfect for this book because both characters, as well as a few others, use this time of challenge as their way to find their paths in life. Whether it be a career, a family matter, or a literal place to call home, the characters draw on their strength and their faith to find their true meaning of home. Along the way, they make their community part of their lives and demonstrate grace to their neighbors.

Lead Me Home contains mild profanity and brief mention of domestic abuse, but nothing too graphic. It is well-written with developed characters that are easy to like. It focuses on accepting grace in one’s life and extending it to others. I recommend this book for mature teens and adults. I enjoyed reading about the daily spiritual and physical struggles of the characters, and I am sure others will as well.