It's me, Charity

  Unknown Threat is the first book in Lynn H. Blackburn's new Defend and Protect Series. This series focuses on the men and women of the Secret Service and I found it FASCINATING!! I'm a big fan of law enforcement and crime books, and getting to see the innerworkings of things I will never be a part of. So getting to learn a ton about the secret service and how they operate, and even just how their careers work was beyond interesting to me.  Ms. Blackburn always does a phenomenal job of mixing intrigue, murder, danger with romance and God's truth. I highly enjoy the fact that she can write an awesome Christian Romance, that gives you all the feels, but still keeps it clean and Godly and Christ honoring.  She writes flawed individuals who are trying to do their best in following God. She's not afraid to write about the hard stuff or the fact that, GASP, Christians are not perfect! Her books are always spiritually sound and leave you better than before you read the boo...

Today I am excited to talk about a recent book I received from Revell to read and review. All opinions are my own and I thank Revell for providing me with a free book in exchange for my honest thoughts and opinions! So the Way of the Brave is the first book the new "Global Search and Rescue" series by Warren.  I have been reading her books for years and I always amazed at how much technicality she writes in her books. This book focuses a lot on mountain climbing, and by mountain climbing I mean hard core mountain climbing that takes weeks and months. Her last series, which was the Montana Rescue Series had a myriad of different characters with extensive rescue training. One character was a snowboarder (Or skier, can't remember which) and she wrote about that in extensive detail. It boggles my mind how much research she must do to write these books because they are so detailed and technical. I always walk away learning things that I had no clue about after reading one...

My latest review is on a quick read by Melody Carlson. I have read many of her books, Back in the early 2000's she wrote a lot of christian chick lit that I loved. So i was excited when her name popped up on my monthly books to request email. This is a quick little read, at just a little over 160 pages. I read it in an entire evening. And still had time left over! Its a sweet story about a Mom and her teen son who are going back to where she spent summers with her grandparents. Her grandpa recently passed away and left her a cottage. She intends to fix it up quickly and sell it for some much needed income for her and her son. But of course it doesn't quite go that smoothly, and her son is desperate to live there. Add in a cute dog, some little girls who are neighbors that they befriend, a cute guy ( of course! ) and your requisite woman who thinks she has dibs on the aforementioned cute guy. It was a little predictable. But it was sweet and like I said, a fast little rea...

Y’all. I think I have a new favorite contemporary author! Any author who can tell you about something you don’t know much about and that doesn’t sound all that fascinating, and make it super interesting. That my friends is a winner. And that my friends is what Lynn H. Blackburn did! This book is the first in a series (HURRAY!!!!!!) about a group of Dive Team Investigators that work for a law enforcement agency. I bet you never thought about the police having a dive team investigation section now did you? I sure didn't! I love a good mystery, and I love a good romance, and when they are put together and in a Christian book. Well, it’s rare. It’s rare that it is done well. Other than Dee Henderson’s books I really haven’t found many romance mystery Christian authors that I really like. But now I am adding Lynn H. Blackburn to that list. This book was filled with a good mystery that kept me on my toes but also allowed me to sleep at night. And I appreciat...

Justice Betrayed pulled me in from the first chapter. This book is a continuation of her cold case series.  This book focuses on Detective  Rachel Sloan that we met in the previous book. As well as Lt. Boone Callahan. They used to date, but broke up and now work together in the homicide division. Boone is determined to win Rachel back, and she is as determined as he is to NOT fall for him again.  I think we all can see where this is headed. But it was entertaining to be along for the ride! As is the way for these books it goes between two mysteries, one in present day, and one in the past. The present day mystery is several Elvis TRIBUTE ARTISTS, Not impersonators mind you, are being murdered. The cold case mystery is Rachel's Mother whom was murdered several years ago. It delves into Rachel's feelings of what happened that night and the guilt that she has carried with her for years. Are these two mysteries connected? Well, You will just have to read the book to...

Storm Front is Book 5!! in the Montana Rescue Series by Susan May Warren. I'm starting to wonder how long this series is going to go, but when you add in as many of natural disasters as there are I guess the series could go on for quite some time!! I felt like this book was more my speed than some of the others in the series. This one centers around a tornado and the after effects of that, which is definitely something I can relate to, more so than the others with snow avalanches and all that good stuff! I always have a hard time doing recaps on these books because I don't want to give any spoilers away! Suffice it to say it keeps in with Susan May Warren's genre of action and Romance. YESSSS ROMANCE. And just a little bit of intrigue to keep you guessing. And even more guessing at the end, will there be a book 6 in the series?? What other natural disasters will happen in Montana??! ;)

Just when you think everything has been wrapped up nice and tidy, Susan May Warren throws something else at you! That is basically the theme of this series of books, for me at least! I'll admit I really do like it when books tie up all loose ends at the end of the book. It drive me a little crazy when they don't, kind of like a TV show that has something crazy in the last minute and you have to wait until the next week to find out what happened. (I'm looking at YOU Shonda Rhimes!) Troubled Waters is the 4'th book in the Montana Rescue Series by Ms. Warren, and it follows the same thread as the other books in this series. The Mystery of what happened to Ian Shaw's niece is FINALLY and I do mean FINALLY revealed (it only took 4 books....) And of course along side the mystery comes rescue missions, because, hello, it's Montana Rescue. I get that they are in the business of saving people, but it's kind of funny to me that whatever can go wrong...

This book draws you in from the first chapter. I had put off reading this book, and then got an email reminder that my review was almost due. So I opened it up Sunday afternoon and was immediately swept into the story. I really didn't expect to love it, yes I said LOVE IT as much as I did! I read half of the book Sunday night, and the rest on Monday! And I will say, for a book dealing with heavy topics, Race and Racism in the 1960's, the divide between rich and poor, this book was surprisingly funny. Now just to be clear, they don't joke about those topics, those topics are met with much respect and not taken lightly. But the characters do have some funny moments and funny thoughts in their heads throughout the book. I was actually laughing out loud at several parts, which again, given the subject matter, not something you expect to be doing. This book was just beautiful. It spoke of the love, affection and friendship between Isaac and Pete and his family, an...

Y'all. I LOVE me some Patricia Bradley! If I know a book of hers is coming out soon I obsessively stalk my email around the time that Revell sends out their monthly book review sign up. Lest I miss the chance to get her next book!  This is another book in her Memphis Cold Case Series, which I am really enjoying! I feel like the series has really hit a good groove. In her typical fashion she does have many characters, and the perspectives go back and forth. But I fee like it's gotten to a place where I can remember the old characters that make cameos and what their stories were/are. I appreciate that she brings them back, as many of them have on going stories that didn't finish in their particular book and I want to know what happened!! My friend Bekah , over at Bekahsbits.blogspot.com has two podcasts, one being the Conversation Cafe and recently she interviewed Ms. Bradley on her podcast! It was really interesting and made me love her even more! She has a f...

So this book review is going to be a little bit of a struggle, because I feel like I can't say much without giving the plot away!! This book was a fairly large book, at 388 pages. The first two pages were nothing to get excited about and then WHAMMY!!!! 4 pages in and you've got massive action! I wasn't quite expecting that since most books build up a little bit. I have to say this book kept me wondering, which in turn kept me turning the pages trying to figure out what was going on. It had more twists and turns than a mountain road. If you start reading this, do it during the day, because you will have a hard time putting it down if you think you're going to read for a little bit before bed. #NotAGoodIdea #BringOnTheCofee If you like action and want to be on the edge of your seat, pick up this book! Thanks to Revell for providing me with a copy in exchange for my honest opinions!

I love Susan May Warrens Books. The Deep Haven series is a favorite of mine. I have read the previous books in this series and devoured them, but for some reason I really had a hard time getting into this book. I would pick it up. Read a little bit. Set it down, and repeat. That's not my reading style! Usually I pick a book up and read it as much as I can until I have finished it. But I just had a hard time getting fully immersed in this story. I think part of the issue is that there was a lot of carry over from the previous books. (This book is the Third in her Montana Rescue Series) I struggled remembering each couple and their issues, and the mystery(s) that had went through all of the series. I really like it when story lines are wrapped up in one book, and not carried all the way through. I'm guessing she wanted to build interest and make sure people kept coming back for more, but for me, I would have preferred that each story line was wrapped up in one book. Its jus...

Well it's Officially Summer Reading Program time, so I will be reading like a doggone fool until July 31'st, in hopes of winning more awesome prizes from my Library again this year! Today we're going to talk about What Hope Remembers, by Johnnie Alexander. This is Book Three in her "Misty Willows" series, and while I have not read any of the previous books (or any of her other books!) I found that I was able to follow along easily without reading the previous books. She did a good job of introducing the characters that had already been in the books,And summarizing it quickly and easily, which I liked! I did think that the pace of the book was kind of slow. It took me awhile to really get into it, and sink my teeth it. I would have liked things to move along quicker, and perhaps have less descriptive parts, and less of the characters thinking in their heads, between dialogue.  I did like that she wrote characters that were flawed, and actually ha...

Spoiler Alert- I Loved this book! And you will too! When I got the email of books to pick from for the month, I saw Patricia Bradley's name and didn't even read the rest of the email. I immediately hopped over to sign up for her newest book and hoped and prayed it wasn't out of stock! Needless to say I was really excited when I found out I was one of the reviewers! This book centers around Andi Hollister, and Detective Will Kincaide, and the mystery of her sister's death. Is the man in jail, who just happens to be related to Will, really the killer? Or is someone else out there responsible? This book was really easy to read and follow along. The chapters bounce back and forth between characters but I found it very easy to follow along. One of my friends also read this book and had a different opinion. I think if you have read any of Patricia Bradley's books you will like this and find it easy to follow along, as it really is in her normal styl...

Confession: I tried Really, REALLY hard to like this book.  I thought the premise sounded really interesting, seeing as I'm a fan of Scandal and Madame Secretary, it seemed like it would be right up my alley. A Shady, potentially evil and corrupt President. The Attorney General who has a moral compass and wants to do right. No matter what the cost. It sounded great!! But alas, it was not my favorite. The Book switched off characters point of views in every chapter. I had a seriously HARD time following along, remembering who was who and keeping track of what was happening. This book was also book three of "The Worthington  Destiny" series. Some books you can pick right up in the middle of a series, but for this one I think I really needed to have read the previous books. I think it would have made much more sense to me. And I would have understood what the characters were talking about. They seemed to reference a lot of things that had happened previously, and t...

Oh my goodness I was SO EXCITED to get this book to review! I LOVE LOVE LOVE Susan May Warren's Books! She is one of my must read authors. I thought this book was really good! I was a little concerned at first because it was about a rescue team, and helicopters and saving lives and I wasn't really sure how interesting I would find that. There were details about helicopters and rescuing but it wasn't overwhelming. Ms. Warren always writes very layered characters in her books. I love that they are never perfect people, and have different things going on in their lives. They don't always have a perfect personality and a squeaky clean life and thoughts. It's a great representation of grace, because we are all flawed, but God forgives us. I'm trying really hard not to give details about the plot line. Trust me when I say it is MUCH more than what is written on the back cover! I think I was two or three chapters in and I was saying OUT LOUD "Whatt???!!...

Without Warning This book is book 2 in a new Series that Lynette  Eason is writing, called Elite Guardians. The cool thing about this book is that it is about a female bodyguard! Not something you read about, or even heard about often! I thought that was really cool! I have read some other books by Ms. Eason and she always writes with a mixture of romance and mystery/excitement. This is not a book you want to read late at night, unless you have the time to finish it!  (If you’re not a wimp like me, then by all means, go ahead :)) I like that her writing is really easy to follow. The conversations between characters are much like a conversation between two people in the real world. It’s just very easy to read and understand! This is random, but I loved that in the book when characters text, it had a part of the page that actually looked like a text block. Some writers just have texts throw in, in the regular writing, and I loved that she had it look more li...

Whooo!! Get Excited! It's time for my very first book review! Now, I have never written a legit blog post in review of a book, so I am sure my first time won't be as stellar as others. But good news for me at least, I have signed up and requested several books to review so there are many more to follow! Thanks to Bekah over at Bekah's Bits , my fellow Indiana blogger, I found out you can sign up to revew books for free! Seeing that I love books and reading and free :) I was alll about that! My first book is from Revell, thanks for the copy Revell! "What Matters Most" is by Kellie Coates Gilbert, and it is part of her Texas Gold Series. These books are stand alone books, so you can pick up any one of them and read without needing to read one before another. I have actually read two of her books, "A Woman of Fortune" Which I LOVED, and "Where Rivers Part" which was also really interesting!  I had high hopes for "What Matte...