I'm Reviewing at Suspense Sisters!

Today I'm reviewing Hidden Agenda by Lisa Harris at Suspense Sisters. 

Exciting Conclusion to Series

Journalist Olivia Hamilton has been receiving mysterious emails, emails which suggest her father, Antonio Valez, is more than just a real estate developer: he’s actually involved in a drug cartel. She visits his private island to find out more, but finds herself in danger after her younger brother witnesses her father’s head of security murder one man … and torture another. Ivan convinces her that they must leave the island, but they have to rescue the stranger, or he will be murdered in the morning ...

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Review: Heartsong by Nicola Furlong

Meh

Some families have hope. Others have faith. The Shepherds of rural Oregon have Faith, Hope and Charly, three quirky sisters whose lives change forever when they reluctantly answer a personal calling to help other make amends.

Thirty-something single parent Charly Shepherd is satisfied with her life raising two children and thousands of plants in her family owned Sweet Shepherd Nursery. Then tragedy strikes. As she and her siblings struggle to keep the nursery going, Charly begins to believe her family’s destiny is greater than raising flowers. When the three sisters reluctantly delve into family secrets to help their ailing father fulfill a promise, their lives change forever as they pursue a new inspirational path of discovery, heartache, humor and redemption.

Heartsong is the first novel in the proposed Sisterhood of Shepherds series. The characters are interesting and the writing is solid, but I found the story didn’t really deliver on the promise. It seemed to take a long time to get into the story, to the point where the plot wasn’t actually clear. It wasn’t about the Shepherd family recovering from the hailstorm after their insurance cover accidentally lapsed. It wasn’t about the mysterious vandalism occurring around the Sweet Shepherd Nursery.

It eventually got around to the idea that the Shepherd girls had some kind of spiritual destiny to help others, but this seemed like a minor subplot rather than the whole point. Their first “project” was to help their father make right a wrong committed many years ago. However, even this was underwhelming, as the leadup to the big reveal made it sound as though Barry had done something awful (had an affair and a child out of wedlock at the very least), but the actual secret was something much more low-key, and I felt his level of guilt was misplaced.

I did like the relevant quotes at the beginning of each chapter, especially this one from Cicero:

If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.

Overall, Heartsong was a nice story, but it wasn’t a compelling plot, had a weak ending (which hinged on one coincidences too many—really, how many widowed-and-remarried retirees still send Valentine’s cards to the guy they didn’t marry over forty years ago?), and it didn’t deliver on what was promised in the blurb.

Thanks to the author for providing a free ebook for review.

ARCBA Blog Tour: Swallow Me Now! by Melissa Gijsbers

2 - 6 March 2015

Australian Christian Readers Blog Alliance

is introducing


Swallow Me, Now!
(Lilly Pilly Press, October 2014)

By

Melissa Gijsbers

 

About the Book

All Sam wants to do is to fit in at her new school. Feeling alone, and desperately trying to find her place in the world, she concocts an AMAZING story - BUT it backfires on her, and she becomes known as the 'Evil Genius's Daughter!' Can her life get any worse?

About the Author

Melissa Gijsbers started writing when she was in High School during the 1990s, even winning some awards for a short story and a script. For many years, life got in the way of creative writing, however she did start blogging around 2006.

She currently lives in Melbourne, Australia with her two sons and a pet blue tongue lizard.

My Review

I think Sam is a character most children can relate to—starting a new school (or job) can be a scary experience. Sam has grown up in a missionary family, so isn't prepared for some of the behaviour of the children in her class, which leads to her making some bad decisions ... like not telling her parents when she has a problem, and lying to the other children in an attempt to fit in. 

I found myself getting frustrated with Sam at times, and had to remind myself she is only ten (or thereabouts—although we were told what grade she was in, I don't know exactly what age that is in Australia). 

Swallow Me Now! makes interesting points about school bullying—I think what impacted me the most was the different types of bullying, and how Sam didn't see the way the other girls were treating her was actually bullying. She put up with it for a long time before saying anything, which I guess is because she didn't know. But I knew, and I was getting cross with her, wishing she'd make better choices!

This would be a good story to share with primary-aged children, to help them understand what bullying is so they can tell a grown-up if it happens to them or to a friend, and hopefully show them that sometimes not doing something (like making friends with the new kid in class) can be just as bad as being mean. 

Thanks to the author for providing a free ebook for review. 

Review: After a Fashion by Jen Turano

A New Jen Turano Series!

Miss Harriet Peabody is a ladies’ hatmaker in New York City in 1882. An out-of-the-ordinary request from her employer to deliver some hats to an important customer sparks a chain of events which finds Harriet as the hired companion of Mr Oliver Addleshaw, one of the wealthiest gentlemen in America. Harriet had asked God for “something wonderful” for her birthday, but surely He didn’t mean this? Sure, Mr Addleshaw is attractive, but he has some questionable views and associates with some inappropriate people.

Oddly enough, Oliver Addleshaw has the same complaints about Harriet: she is impulsive, knows all the wrong people, and has some quite inappropriate skills. But he needs a lady to act as companion when he meets with the Duke of Westmoore in regard to a business deal, and the previous candidate simply won’t do. Harriet is his only option.

I’m a big fan of Jen Turano’s writing. Her characters are intelligent, quirky, and funny, yet it never seems as though that’s the effect she’s trying to achieve (I recently attempted to read a title where I suspect the author was trying to be funny, but missed the mark and hit cringe-worthy instead. At least I hope she was trying to be funny. The alternative is too horrible to contemplate).

Jen Turano manages to infuse her writing with amusing quips (such as describing one character as having an “overabundance of personality”) without being cringey. And the over-the-top ridiculous situations her characters routinely get themselves into are well-paced comedy, not slapstick. After a Fashion is the first book in a new series, and is recommended for fans of Carol Cox and Karen Witemeyer.

Thanks to Bethany House and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review. You can find out more about Jen Turano at her website.

This book is part of my 2015 Reading Challenge, as a book by an author I love that I haven't read yet (well, I have now!). 

Review: Uncharted Redemption by Keely Brooke Keith

Solid Sequel

Uncharted Redemption is the second book in the Uncharted series, and takes us back to the Land, an island that is mysteriously hidden from radar and other navigation equipment, a land that has remained unknown except for one accidental intruder—Connor Bradshaw—and his wingman, Justin Mercer, who caught a glimpse of the island and is desperate to return. However, that’s the ongoing subplot.

The main plot of Uncharted Redemption follows the Colburn and Foster families as they solve the mystery of the missing lambs, a mystery that soon solves itself and leaves them with bigger problems—problems which relate back to the events in The Land Uncharted (yes, this is a series and I recommend you read it in order). I don’t want to say too much more for fear of giving spoilers.

The crux of Uncharted Redemption focuses on Levi Colburn, who is breaking with Land tradition by working as a carpenter rather than following in his father’s footsteps, partly because he blames his father for their mother’s murder many years ago. He is in love with Mandy Foster, who spurned his offer of courtship for her own reasons. Both need redemption in their own ways, but it doesn’t come easily.

While I enjoyed Uncharted Redemption just as much as the first book in the series (The Land Uncharted), I found the writing a little more stilted, a little less easy to read. This was mostly with the dialogue, and I suspect the stilted feel came because the inhabitants of the Land didn’t use enough contractions. Yes, I understand they have been isolated from the world for seven generations, but the English language has been using contractions in conversation since before then.

However, I will still be pleased to read the next book in the series, to find out what happens when Justin Mercer finds the island … assuming he does.

Thanks to the author for providing a free ebook for review. You can find out more about Keely Brooke Keith at her website.