Ronie Kendig's Firethorn ~ Reviewed

Firethorn

By Ronie Kendig

Published by B & H

ISBN# 978-1-602060-785-9

348 Pages

Back Cover:

Don your tactical gear and enter the world of black ops and espionage within the pages of Ronie Kendig’s thriller Firethorn. Former Marine Griffin “Legend” Riddell, a fugitive from injustice, finds it difficult to trust anyone. Covert operative Kazi Faron, the woman sent to free him, has a dangerous secret that may jeopardize her life, mission, and the only man she respects. As Griffin and Kazi race around the globe to save Nightshade, the danger mounts. Will they find the culprit sabotaging their black ops team? Can their newfound feelings and trust survive when Griffin and Kazi face truth and terror?Show More Show Less

Review:

Ronie’s passion and understanding of soldiers and war tactics is evident in her rapid-fire fiction. She says “Thank you for journeying with the Nightshades team, for opening your minds and hearts to the great toll war/combat takes on our men and women in the U.S. Armed forces.” I’m thankful for the review copy I received of this book and the awareness this author has brought to my attention about what goes on in the hearts and minds of our soldiers. Along with the thank you note, Ronie tells readers about ways to get involved in supporting our troops.

This amazing series highlights one team member per book during some incredible black ops missions. The reader gets to know them, their personal struggles and their background. In this book finale things are done a little different. We get to know Griffin Riddell up-close alright (code name “Legend” in Nightshades) as things heat up on all fronts. “Legend” is set free by Kazi and begins an unbelievable journey. Along the way he learns his team is picked off and taken down one by one. This couldn’t be happening!

The question on Griffin’s mind is, “Who did this? Who went after Nightshades? Someone who had a powerful need to die, because he and the others, once back together, would ensure their attacks kissed the grave-fast.”

Kazi has helped Griffin face some pretty remarkable circumstances and all the while acting as a Lone Ranger. Griffin tries to explain to her about his faith and being a team player. He says, “God will help us Kazi, He will.”

Kazi replies, “I need someone I can touch-or punch, not a God who hides out in Heaven while we run a muck on this planet.”

Kazi rubbed Griffin the wrong way. He was trying to be patient. Griffin tries to explain about being loyal to the team. “Now, I don’t care what sort of business you’re trying to protect or if you’re trying to protect yourself Kazi, but you need to understand – these are my boys..I will do whatever it takes to get them back, and part of that includes protecting you when and if I have to. …You’ve never worked on a team have you? …See, me and my boys are a team. We talk to each other, depend on each other. That keeps us alive, know what that means? Makes us friends…more than friends-brothers.”

I loved how real Griffin and Kazie were with each other in and out of combat! I also liked the authors well timed humor. I really had to keep track of what was happening and where. This was a riveting read. Ronie has an explosive, unbelievable conclusion to a very memorable and moving series. This was one wild ride. This book reminded me of a Mission Impossible movie. It’s big, its rapid-fire action drama, real and revealing on so many levels. It has surprises for the reader with so many twists and turns. I know I wasn't sure what was up until the dust settled at the end. Ronie left the story with a satisfying ending. I can’t wait to read the next book by her. I highly recommend this book and this Discarded Heroes series.

Reviewed by: Nora St.Laurent

The Book Club Network

Janice Hanna Thompson's Fill These Empty Arms ~ Reviewed

Fill These Empty Arms

By Janice Hanna Thompson

Amazon Digital Services

From multi-published Christian author Janice Hanna Thompson comes an inspirational novel with great depth of character and dealing with sensitive topics for women. Fill These Empty Arms is a penetrating look into the lives of five women with empty hearts and empty arms. Though their stories are vastly different, their lives begin to intersect, and they are forever changed. Arms, once empty, are filled. Hearts, once broken, are mended. And hope, once lost, is restored.

Review:

What a powerful book! I did some laughing but a lot of tears slid onto my iPad. What I loved is how Thompson made Grace and Joanna's hubbies good guys without making them seem like wimps or unbelievable. She did such a stellar job of weaving in the growth of Lexie and how she came to faith. Each character's story was riveting. Novel Rocket and I highly recommend this book. It's outstanding!

Reviewed by: Ane Mulligan

Editor, Novel Rocket

Erin Healy's The Baker's Wife ~ Reviewed

The Baker's Wife [Paperback]

Erin Healy (Author)

Paperback: 352 pages

Publisher: Thomas Nelson; Original edition (October 4, 2011)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 1595547525

Description:

Before Audrey was the baker's wife, she was the pastor's wife.

Then a scandalous lie cost her husband a pastoral career. Now the two work side-by-side running a bakery, serving coffee, and baking fresh bread. But the hurt still pulls at Audrey.

Driving early one morning to the bakery, Audrey's car strikes something-or someone-at a fog-shrouded intersection. She finds a motor scooter belonging to a local teacher. Blood is everywhere, but there's no trace of a body.

Both the scooter and the blood belong to detective Jack Mansfield's wife, and he's certain that Audrey is behind Julie's disappearance.

But the case dead-ends and the detective spirals into madness. When he takes her family and some patrons hostage at the bakery, Audrey is left with a soul-damaged ex-con and a cynical teen to solve the mystery. And she'll never manage that unless she taps into something she would rather leave behind-her excruciating ability to feel other's pain.

Review:

Erin Healy blends supernatural gifting and challenging topics and bakes up a satisfying, fragrant, crusty-on-the-outside, tender-on-the-inside read.

Audrey was married to a pastor, and one of her ministries was delivering fresh bread she and her husband made to parishioners that God laid on her heart. However, a scandal erupts in the church and Audrey and Geoff are pushed out of the ministry and into baking as a career.

One day the unbelievable happens and the elder who pushed the hardest to have Geoff step down as pastor is in the middle of it all.

Audrey is left, with the help of an ex-con in town to atone for her past, to solve a mystery, and save those nearest and dearest to her when the situation explodes.

Healy handles some heavy topics in this unique novel including depression and religiosity vs relationship. She mixes in the Holy Spirit's working in individuals and fallout of church fractures. This is a well told story with a heavy mix of complex characters. Those who love fiction light might find this a little too overwhelming due to the topics. But Healy does a terrific job with the mixing and blending of ingredients and those who love hearty Christian fiction might want to check it out.

Reviewed by: Kelly Klepfer

Liz Curtis Higgs's Mine is the Night ~ Reviewed

Mine Is the Night: A Novel

Liz Curtis Higgs

Paperback: 464 pages

Publisher: WaterBrook Press (March 15, 2011)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 1400070023

Book Description:

Stepping from a battered coach on a rainy April eve, newly widowed Elisabeth Kerr must begin again, without husband or title, property or fortune. She is unafraid of work and gifted with a needle, but how will she stitch together the tattered remnants of her life? And who will mend her heart, torn asunder by betrayal and deception?

Elisabeth has not come to Selkirk alone. Her mother-in-law, Marjory Kerr, is a woman undone, having buried her husband, her sons, and any promise of grandchildren. Dependent upon a distant cousin with meager resources, Marjory dreads the future almost as much as she regrets the past. Yet joy still comes knocking, and hope is often found in unexpected places.

Then a worthy hero steps forward, rekindling a spark of hope. Will he risk his reputation to defend two women labeled as traitors to the Crown? Or will a wealthy beauty, untainted by scandal, capture his affections?

The heartrending journey of the Kerr women comes to a glorious finish in Mine Is the Night, a sparkling gem of redemption and restoration set in eighteenth-century Scotland.

Review:

“Can you not look beyond her Highland past?” (p. 320)

The answer to this question reveals the ultimate measure of the lives of Elizabeth and Marjory Kerr as they enter the town of Selkirk. As penniless widows, dependent upon the kindness of a distant cousin whom they haven’t contacted in more than ten years, the Kerr women are far different than when we first met them in “Here Burns My Candle.” What hope must lie in their hearts! What trust in God’s sovereign goodness and direction in their lives! Liz Curtis Higgs has taken the story of Ruth and created a masterpiece of Scottish history, romance and redemption! Readers will recognize elements of the Biblical story and the truth that should be the foundation in the life of every Child of God.

Once again, Higgs has transported my heart and mind back to the Scottish countryside of the 1700’s! I felt as though I was living side by side with Elizabeth and Marjory as they began their new life in Selkirk. The smells, the sights, the sounds …everything comes alive for the reader as these characters are transformed by God’s grace into women of faith, courage and strength. Truly, I grew to love them more in the Mine is the Night than I even did in Here Burns My Candle!

Enter Jack Buchanan – Lord of Bell Hill. What a man! What a hero! What a lovely expression of grace, mercy and kindness! I know he loosely represents the character of Boaz, but no one can help but be charmed by this character! And the things he is want to do to express his love toward those he cares about…be still my heart! Readers will just be astounded by the way Higgs integrates this character and his household into the story! Seamless…altogether believable…and a powerful example of the way all of us should treat our fellow man!

You will not be able to depart the Scottish countryside once you begin this amazing story! You will savor each experience as you laugh and cry with Elizabeth, Marjory – and Jack! I cannot recommend this series highly enough!

Please go HERE to watch the video trailer and learn more about Liz and her wonderful stories!! And stay tuned! I have an interview with Liz coming up!!

Reviewed by: Kim Ford

Sibella Giorello's The Mountains Bow Down ~ Reviewed

The Mountains Bow Down
By Sibella Giorello
Published by Thomas Nelson
ISBN# 978-1-59554-535-0
373 Pages


Summary:


That's what FBI Special Agent Raleigh Harmon believes as she boards a cruise to Alaska. A land of mountains and gems and minerals, the Last Frontier is a dream destination for this forensic geologist who's hoping to leave behind a hectic work schedule and an engagement drained of romance.


But when a passenger goes missing and winds up dead, Raleigh's vacation suddenly gets lost at sea. The ship's security chief tries to rule the death a suicide, but Raleigh's forensics background points to a much darker conclusion: Somewhere onboard, a ruthless murderer walks free.


Engulfed by one of her toughest cases yet, Raleigh requests assistance from the FBI and receives her nemesis-handsome Special Agent Jack Stephanson. As the cruise ship sails through the Inside Passage, Raleigh has five days to solve a high-profile murder, provide consultation for a movie filming onboard, and figure out her increasingly complicated feelings for Jack-who might not be as arrogant as she originally thought.


And that's only her work life. Family offers even more challenges. Joined on the cruise by her mother and aunt, Raleigh watches helplessly as disturbing rifts splinter her family.


Like the scenery that surrounds the cruise ship, Raleigh discovers a mystery so daunting that even the mountains might bow down before it.


Review: I was so thankful to receive a review copy of such an exciting, fun, suspenseful, and heartfelt novel. I enjoyed reading about Raleigh, a female FBI agent, who specializes in fore4nsic geology and is good at what she does. Sibella went to school to be a geologist so its fascinating to read how geology helps Raleigh uncover clues she never would have discovered with out it.


Review:


I liked how Sibella had Raleigh sty true to her calling in life no matter how the male FBI Agents treated her. I also liked Raleigh’s honesty in her feelings and how she struggled in putting God into the driver seat of her life 24/7.


Giorello takes her readers on a beautiful Alaskan cruise along with her mom and eccentric Aunt who has arranged for Raleigh to be a consultant on a movie being filmed on the cruise ship. She thought this would be a great way to enjoy each other’s company, have fun and get their trip paid for.


Things were beautiful and fun until Raleigh discovers a female body hanging from the back of the cruise ship. Head of security seeks Raleigh’s help in this case because she’s FBI and the woman found dead was famous actor Milo’s wife.


Milo was the one she was consulting on the film on how to be an FBI agent. Milo and everyone else on this project was hoping for a box office smash hit with this movie. Milo needed this to get back into the game.


Sibella Giorello pens an intriguing web of mystery, suspense, fun and quirky characters I enjoyed with well timed humor. This was a “who-done-it” that kept me guessing right up till the end. This was the first novel I’ve read by this author, it won’t be my last. I think I’ll start with The River Runs Dry, or The Clouds Roll! So many choices! Can’t wait to see where this author takes me next!! I highly recommend this book and for you to check out the others!


Reviewed by: Nora St.Laurent
The Book Club Network
Finding Hope Through Fiction

Christa Allan's The Edge of Grace ~ Reviewed

The Edge of Grace
By Christa Allan
Published by Abingdon Press
ISBN 978-1-4267-1311-8


Description:


An early morning call shatters Caryn Becker's world. Her brother David announces that he is gay, and Caryn completely rejects the one person who stood beside her during her husband's illness and death. Unable to cope with David's news, Caryn disappears into her own turbulent life as a single mom and new business owner.


When David is attacked and nearly killed, his partner asks for Caryn's help. She reluctantly agrees to work with David's lawyer on the case. When her catering business suffers because of David's lifestyle, Caryn is forced to make the hardest choices about family, faith, and her own future, while exploring the grace of forgiveness and acceptance.


Review:


Christa Allan's sophomore book, The Edge of Grace, is a powerful work of art, delving into waters not often stirred in fiction. It made me squirm and it challenged me to consider how I offered grace. The only thing it did not do was leave me unchanged. Novel Rocket and I give The Edge of Grace our highest recommendation: a 5-star must read.


Reviewed by: Ane Mulligan, editor
Novel Rocket

Darlene Franklin's A Ranger's Trail ~ Reviewed

A RANGER’S TRAIL

Darlene Franklin

Paperback: 288 pages

Publisher: Moody Publishers; New Edition edition (February 1, 2012)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0802405878

Book Information:

This is the fourth book in a six-book series about four generations of the Morgan family living, fighting, and thriving amidst a turbulent Texas history spanning from 1845 to 1896. Although a series, each book can be read on its own.In 1875 Buck Morgan rode into Mason County with the Texas Rangers to quell the violence stirred up by the actions a vigilantly mob. The Hoo Doo (or bad luck) War erupted as suspected cattle rustlers were killed by an angry German mob and former ranger, Scott Cooley, gathers a gang to seek vengeance on the murders. Suspected of cattle rustling, Leta Derrick's husband was murdered by the mob a year earlier. Now she is siding with the rogue ranger, Scott Cooley and refuses to help Buck Morgan stem the tide of violence. Leta prays daily that God will wreak vengeance on her enemies. Buck prays that the God of all provision will supply for the needs of the widow, her son Ricky, and her 15-year old brother, Andy. Buck lays a trap at his uncle's ranch for the suspected outlaws but the plan backfires when Andy shows up. Shots are fired and one man is down. Andy has joined the outlaw gang and is now guilty of murdering Buck's cousin. Will their actions fuel the fire of vengeance' Or will Buck and Leta strike an accord that leads to more than just peace'

Review:

A Ranger’s Trail is book 4 in the Morgan Family Series. It involves a woman named Leta Denning, who’s husband was murdered by a German Rob, being falsely accused of cattle rustling. Tensions in the community grow as Germans and Anglos begin taking revenge against each other. Buck Morgan, a Texas Ranger, comes to the area to help. As feelings between Leta and Buck grow, facts come out into the open putting Buck’s cousin among those that murdered Leta’s husband, and Andy, Leta’s brother, among those who killed Buck’s cousin.

This was a great book. It was interesting to see the tensions rise, and each side thinking they were doing right, instead of taking it to the Lord to deal with. I enjoyed seeing Leta’s character change, from that of the widow who wants revenge, to a woman willing to submit to the Lord and trust him in all things. This was a great book and I highly recommend it!

Reviewed by: Sarah Porter