Authors: Dee Henderson, Dani Pettrey, & Lynette Eason

Publisher: Bethany House

Release Date: May 3, 2015

Reviewer: Jessica Higgins

Three short stories by three of the top Romantic Suspense Authors brings a sure fired hit!

Dee Henderson writes in Missing about a Wyoming Sheriff who is searching for his missing mother in Chicago.  Dani Pettrey digs into the roots of her Alaskan courage series with Shadowed, the tale of the parents of the McKenna clan.  Lynette Eason gives us Blackout, the story of a woman trying to piece together lost memories that someone is willing to kill to keep her from remembering.

This is an interesting book. The stories themselves have nothing to do with one another but go together none-the-less.  I think one of the things I liked best about this collection is each story was just the right length.  It might seem that it wasn’t enough to flesh out the story, but I found just the opposite to be true.  I enjoy all three of these authors but sometimes feel their individual works can be a bit wordy, especially Henderson.  With these being novellas, they didn’t have the chance to become drowned out with too much detail that takes away from the story.  Of the three stories, I think I enjoyed Shadowed by Dani Pettrey the best, probably because I am a fan of the entire Alaskan Courage series and enjoyed seeing how the McKeena clan got started.  That and the story itself was fast paced and exciting all the way through.

Romantic Suspense is a hard genre to write in. For me, I am much more a fan of the suspense aspect than the romance.  I do enjoy the relationships and watching how they develop, but if they totally take away from the suspense that can kill the story for me.  In this collection, the stories didn’t have a chance to delve to deeply into the romance so the relationships either went at just the right speed, or went unbelievably fast.  With Missing, I felt the focus should have been totally on the search for the missing mother instead of the detective and the sheriff playing off of each other’s feelings.  I also didn’t find the story itself fully believable.  I think if this one were a full fledge novel and had more time to work out some of those details, there would have been more for me to believe about the story.  I thoroughly enjoyed Shadowed and could see that developing into a future novel with more story to tell. Blackout had good potential and could also be further developed.  Overall all three stories were enjoyable, some more than others, but I think that could also be personal preference.  These three authors are at the top of their field for a reason.  They are good at what they do and many people, including myself, enjoy reading their work.

Author: Kathryn Cushman

Publisher: Bethany House

Release Date: May 3, 2016

Reviewer: Jessica Higgins

Great read for anyone experience inner conflict or self-esteem issues!

Lauren Summers is living her dream career. She has been given a prestigious intern position at a well-known Los Angeles fashion house.  She even managed to work on a dress for the current hottest teen sensation.  She gained her trust and made some last minute modifications to the dress to give the young girl a sense of adulthood, but keep her appearance innocent for her publicity.  On awards night the dress looks great until during an award presentation, an accidental step on the dress causes it to come ripping off exposing the young girl in her underwear.

Within minutes, Lauren receives a text message that she is fired and soon her name is publicly humiliated across television. With no other options, she takes a position as a costume designer for a high school drama group in Santa Barbara.  It has less than meager pay, but fortunately there is a theater donor that allows her to live in a house so that she can babysit the contractors working on it.  There is a mysterious, reclusive neighbor next door that doesn’t seem to want Lauren around and tries multiple times to have her removed from the neighborhood.  But Lauren feels that she is somehow supposed to help this elderly lady.  Has everything happened just to have her meet this lady that is tied back to Hollywood sixty years ago?

Once again, Kathryn Cushman has an awesome story on her hands! I have also read her book Finding Me and the story lines were similar.  The main character is a young girl that has experienced recent trouble.  She relocates to a new area and befriends an elderly person that needs some sort of help.  And in the end, the young girl has a romance kindled.  Even so, the circumstances and stories were completely different.

I really enjoy the California coast, so anytime I have the opportunity to read a book that is set there, the scenery always comes easily. I also identify with the Lauren’s character.  Recently I have gone through events that have really challenged the identity of my career of choice.  So much so that I thought I was going to lose any footing that I had in it.  But then, I’ve found that the new path I’ve taken has really opened several more doors for me.  Thank you for helping me realize that my journey is going in a positive direction along with Lauren’s.

There were several spiritual elements in this book. Many uplifting verses as well as some that constitute warnings.  The prayers in this book were very powerful and it also helps to see how much you need friends in the faith.  Readers will not be disappointed in Fading Starlight!

Author: Alison Love

Publisher: Crown

Release Date: April 19, 2016

Reviewer: Jessica Higgins

A story of forbidden love set in war torn England.

Olivia and Antonio have a chance encounter one night outside a London nightclub known as the Paradise Ballroom. When Antonio learns the truth about something that Olivia has just done, he is shocked, but has problems of his own to worry about.  He lives in Soho with his father, sister, brother, and his wife, who is about to have their first child.  As his brother and father pledge allegiance to the Fascists party for Mussolini, Antonio gets grief for not joining.  He is mostly interested in developing his singing career for a new patron.  At the first meeting, Antonio finds out that Olivia is his wife.  Scared that Antonio will tell her secrets to her husband, she tries to avoid Antonio at all costs.  She finds that she cannot and eventually learns that Antonio has secrets as well.

Overall, this was a really good romance set in World War II London. The setting was well depicted and the characters were adequately flawed (some even insufferable).  It’s good to have antagonist throughout the novel, but a couple of these characters I couldn’t wait to be rid of.  Even so, the relationships that they developed played out well.  There were definitely a couple of times that Love took me by surprise with what happened.  In those instances, she tapped into my emotion for the characters and it takes a talented story teller to do that.

However, I felt that there was a little bit of telling the reader the story instead of showing the reader the story. There were times that it told me something that the character being portrayed could not have known.  I wish that she would have let the character and reader figure that out together.  I also felt the pent up frustration between Olivia and Antonio was diminished too quickly.  Other than that, I thought it was a worth read.

Author: Dee Henderson

Publisher: Bethany House

Release Date: May 3, 2016

Reviewer: Jessica Higgins

A cold case that has sat unsolved for too long is about to expose secrets that will affect the lives of many!

Gabriel Thane is the sheriff of Carin County and is proud of his job and his town. When Evie Blackwell comes to town to help launch a new task force whose goal is to solve cold cases, their paths cross and sparks fly.  Evie wants to find Mr. Right and settle down but has always been driven by her work more than her personal life.  Now as she works closely with the sheriff, she finds herself drawn to him as their work uncovers more secrets that lead to potentially solving more cold cases than she originally thought possible.  Secrets throughout the town and its residents make the work more difficult for both of them, who are determined to find answers at all cost.

One thing I have found from reading Dee Henderson novels is she is much better at the romantic aspect of writing than the suspense. I did find several suspenseful moments throughout the story that kept the pages turning quickly, but I also found areas when the tension dialed down with the romance scenes.  These areas were just too slow with too much narrative that weighed the story down bringing it to a standstill at times.  I have a strong feeling this is the first in a series.  I believe this because throughout the book there were SO many second hand characters that got more time than they needed, which makes sense if they will be the focus of stories yet to come.  Even so, several of the characters were needed to bring different aspects of the story together.  I am curious to see where they might lead if they get their own story next.

Overall it was an enjoyable read that I recommend to romance and romantic suspense lovers!

Author: Billy Coffey

Publisher: Thomas Nelson

Release Date: May 3, 2016

Coffey probes deeper into the darker part of the lives of the citizens of Mattingly. His new book will leave you questioning whether or not your own daily routine is really just a routine!

One night, Bobby Barnes is riding through the mountain roads behind Mattingly with his twin boys Matthew and Mark. As usual, he is drunk and every night he and the boys take a drive, but he is not worried because there is never anyone else out on these roads.  Suddenly, headlights appear around the corner and he can’t get his truck out of the way.  There is the sound of screeching metal and he tries to grab one of his sons before the other is thrown out of the window.  The last thing Bobby remembers before everything goes black is there will be stars.

The next day starts the same as the previous, or so it seems to Bobby. He can’t put his finger on it, but it feels like he has done everything before.  He knows where people will be on the drive to the gas station and he knows who he will have to talk to at the gas station.  But when he doesn’t whistle at Laura Beth as he drives by, she suddenly takes off her sunglasses and starts yelling at him and coming out in traffic to his truck.  Scared, he drives off to the gas station.  Eventually, things start falling into place and Bobby begins to realize that he is living the same day over and over, always with the same ending.  To his surprise, he finds that there are others stuck in the same loop and they believe that this is heaven.  But is it really?

First off, thank you Billy Coffey for writing another fantastic novel!. Second, thank you for writing Bobby Barnes’s story.  He has been a constant character through several of the books.  He is also one of the first citizens of Mattingly that Billy introduced to his readers.  In his first novel, Snow Day, there is a chapter dedicated to Bobby Barnes and how he went from being one of the most respected citizens of the town who decided to help with missionary work in New Orleans after hurricane Katrina, which led to his downward spiral and eventually becoming the town drunk.  In true Coffey fashion, even in There Will be Stars, you will need to read that one chapter in Snow Day to get the rest of the story.  Unfortunately, the prettier picture that is painted for Kayla and the boys in Snow Day doesn’t quite work out that way.  Lots of new findings are brought to light.

Coffey continues to write with such prose that it is hard to ever turn the book away. He is not afraid to write about the darker parts of today’s world.  With each book he tackles something new and this one is no exception.  Readers will be shocked to learn about Laura Beth’s unfortunate heaven with regard to what she wakes up to and continual ending.  Readers will also be shocked to find out who has been stuck in the loop the longest and who actually sends those messages from God.

Aside from being a great suspense/thriller, this book also has great redemption qualities. Finding the truth of your life and changing what you need to in order to make amends is always a great part of his stories.  If you never have read a book by Billy Coffey, you really need to start now.  I promise you won’t be disappointed.

Author: Susie Finkbeiner

Publisher: Kregel

Release Date: October 27, 2015

Ever so often you discover a book that is so wonderfully written that it could be a classic in its own right. A Cup of Dust is such a book!

Pearl Spence has been enduring the dust bowl in Red River, Oklahoma for over two years of her ten on this earth. She remembers the times when everyone had plenty, but now she sees everyone suffering.  Her family is fortunate because her father is the sheriff and has a steady income, but all of the share croppers have to rely on the government relief trucks and handouts because of the cursed earth.  Pearl’s world gets even more distraught when a stranger jumps from the train.  Somehow he knows her name and tries to make her think that her family is not what she has known all her life.  She tries to avoid him, but somehow he keeps showing up in her life claiming that he is going to teach her the truth.  But does the truth really matter?

Susie Finkbeiner has spun a master tale dealing with the dust bowl era. While reading this book, my husband’s grandmother who had survived the dust bowl in northwest Texas passed away.  I remember her recounting stories of the dust bowl from stuffing towels under the cracks in the doors and hanging wet blankets over the windows that made the houses stuffy.  She even talked about when her younger sister was born that they would put her in a clean bassinet and two hours later when they took her out there was a silhouette with half an inch of dust around it.  Finkbeiner brought all of these stories back into my head while reading her book.  She even captures events like jackrabbit roundups and the government paying ranchers to kill their cows.  This is such an undocumented era of our history that I’m glad she took it on to bring it to life.

From the opening phrase, I knew this book was destined to grab my attention. The prose throughout was astounding.  Told from ten year old Pear’s perspective, I connected immediately with her.  Her struggle to be more of an adult was evident throughout the book.  Yet, she still longed to be a child and to be loved.  The hardships are brilliantly depicted by the characters, but not stereotypically.  I would equate this novel to Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath concerning this time in history.  I would love to see this come to the silver screen one day!

Release Date: April 19, 2016

Publisher: Thomas Nelson

A psychological thriller that played on my love for profiling the antagonist, even if it was a little predictable.

Allie has spent the last ten years of her life in the Arrendale State Penitentiary in Northern Georgia for a crime she didn’t commit. Accused and convicted of the murder of her hometown’s high school football coach, Allie watched her dreams of medical school and seeing her daughter grow up get washed away.  Now she is back in Brunswick and is shunned by those she once called friends.  Even her own daughter doesn’t want to see her, which kills Allie on the inside.  Her sister Emma was the only person who came to visit her every month of those ten years.  But how well does she know her sister.  She has been raising her daughter in her absence, but this have changed now that Allie has come home.  Her behavior has gotten more erratic and unpredictable.  Perhaps her sister dear has more to the story that has turned her life upside down.

I always enjoy a good mystery, especially a who-done-me-wrong kind of story that I found with Sister Dear.  The book is told from five different viewpoints to give the reader multiple perspectives.  This really helped in developing the characters.  Even so, I feel that Natalie’s point of view, which only occurred once, could have been condensed with that of Sheriff Gaines to not have an additional person to follow.  Aside from that, everyone’s personality was very believable.  Especially 15 year old Caroline, who really played her part quite well.  The book jumps around between viewpoints quite a bit and jumps back and forth between past and present, but McNeill does a good job of indicating when this happens and what time period that you are visiting.

The setting for this is south coastal Georgia, which is a beautiful place. The way the McNeill described it took me out to the islands and felt the breeze blow the pages across my fingers.  Even so, my main qualm with the book was the predictability of it.  Within the first fifty pages I had correctly guessed who was actually responsible for the murder.  However, there was definitely a twist between the coach and the sheriff that I didn’t see coming.  Recommended for those who like psychological thrillers.

Author: Patricia Bradley

Publisher: Revell

Release Date: April 19, 2016

For the final book in the Logan Point Series, Patricia Bradley gives a suspenseful story that will keep readers hooked till the end!

Bailey Adams has been serving as a missionary in Mexico for the past two years. She felt called to go, or at least she thought she was called.  Now she is questioning if she was just running away from her past.  She is about to return to Logan Point with one of the children from the mission when they are both almost kidnapped.  They barely escape with the help of Danny Maxwell, the one person she never expected to see in Mexico.  She doesn’t know who is after them and is afraid to let anyone else help them for fear that they too might be in danger.  Throughout the chaos of running for their lives Bailey realizes she still has feelings for Danny.

This is the fourth and final installment in the Logan point series and even though it is a series, it could be a stand-alone. I have only read book three and four in this series and don’t feel you have to read the series to enjoy each individual book.  At times I felt like I might be missing something from the previous instalments but not enough to hinder the enjoyment of this book. Silence in the Dark was a fast paced read with very little I didn’t enjoy.  The interaction between Bailey and Maria was well played as well as the scenes between Bailey and Danny.  Most characters were well played and believable, which is unusual.  Usually I find at least a few characters I have a hard time believing either their dialogue, mannerisms, or both.  Bradley did a fine job with both the dialogue and prose throughout the entire story.  I enjoyed up to the final few chapters what was going to happen and how it played out.  Overall it was a very enjoyable read and I would recommend.

Don Brown has brought about another intriguing story with Code 13.

Caroline McCormick has just been assigned to the prestigious Code 13, a special section of the Navy JAG division where many aspire to work. On top of the nerves of starting a new duty assignment, Caroline has to deal with being around her former flame, P.J. MacDonald.  They are still friends and she is hoping more can come of it as they get the chance to work together again.  He has been given a special assignment he tells her about, working on the legality of a proposed drone-sharing contract with Homeland Security that would allow the sale of drones for domestic surveillance.  It is a fine line and he is tasked with determining if it violates the posse comitatus set forth to keep the military from intervening with civilian matters.  The contractor wants clearance but the mob wants the proposal stopped before it can make it past his desk.  Things quickly get out of hand as P.J. is gunned down and the next in line to review the proposal is also killed.  Caroline is bent on finding P.J.’s killer and goes to her commanding officer and volunteers to write the legal opinion herself, knowing full-well it puts her right in the crosshairs.  Caroline is determined to see things through no matter the price she has to pay.

Code 13 is the second book in the Navy JAG Series by Don Brown. I enjoyed the first and equally enjoyed this novel.  I am a big fan of military thrillers and both the Television shows, JAG and NCIS, and enjoyed the references to the shows.  There is a lot to follow throughout and at times can be a bit confusing trying to keep up with all the characters.  A few secondary characters could be left out and not hurt the story at all.  The main characters however were enticing and enjoyable to follow.  The romance scenes were not as well done as I would have liked, but the action scenes were very well done.  The dialogue flowed smoothly and the action scenes were the fastest in the whole book.  I don’t want to give anything away, but one of the last twist was a little hard to believe.  I didn’t feel there was enough build up to believe what was trying to be conveyed.  Having become a Lieutenant Commander in the Navy and worked as a lawyer in the JAG division, Brown has the experience to write about this branch and its inner workings.  This wasn’t the best book I have ever read but it does rank high on my list as a very enjoyable read.  I will recommend this book to those that enjoy military thrillers.