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Secrets (Book Review)

Dec13
Reading Time: 2 minutes

secretsIt’s probably appropriate that I publish this review on a Friday the 13th given the dark undertones to Kristin Heitzmann’s novel, Secrets.  Well, that’s if you are in any way superstitious.

Lance Michelli is a young man burdened with a big heart and impulsive, passionate nature that sometimes gets him in trouble, in spite of his best intentions.  In trying to live up to his deceased brother’s memory, he embarks on a quest to discover the secrets his grandmother cannot tell.  What has her so agitated? Will he uncover the answers that will soothe her soul as she recovers from a stroke? Or will he be too late.

His quest takes him from the East Coast to Italy and now to Sonoma where his cooking skills win him a place in the home that might legally belong to his grandmother. The new owner, Rese Barret is fighting her own demons as she remodels this home into a bed and breakfast. Lance agrees to cook, clean and fix up part of the property but never tells this young, tightly wound woman, the real reason he is there. How could he, when he doesn’t even know himself?

Attraction builds as secrets are uncovered for both Lance and Rese. Lance tries to share his faith with Rese but she refuses to believe in a God she can’t see.  Having a mother who had a boyfriend she couldn’t see has made her wary of anything spiritual. Understanding more about schizophrenia though and the truth about her mother, is enough to push her over the edge – to madness- or to faith. Will Lance be there to catch her when she falls?

Complex character with an organic faith line woven in, Kristen slowly peels back the mystery of the secrets in both her main characters lives as they are drawn to each other. A fascinating tale and the subject of mental illness is handled with great care and realism.  This is only the second book of Kristen Heitzmann’s that I’ve read, but I will gladly pick up another by this gifted author.

You Don’t Know Me (Book Review)

Dec6
Reading Time: 2 minutes

warren - you don't know meAnother book in her Deep Haven series, You Don’t Know Me by Susan May Warren has an uncharacteristically darker  tone. In some way, this book is better described as a romantic suspense.

Annalise Decker isn’t who everyone thinks she is. A wife and mother who is involved in her community and supporting her husband’s bid for mayor, finds her world unraveling. Twenty years earlier she was Deidre O’Reilly and had fallen into bad company that resulted in her almost dying at the hands of a drug lord. To escape her own prison time she testified against him and he swore he would hunt her down and kill her. She was placed in Witness Protection in Deep Haven and had built a new life here.

But that criminal is out and looking for her. Can she give it all up? Does she leave or take her family with her? Her agent, becomes Uncle Frank, and finds that this gal who he helped really is more than a job to him, she’s family and he cares more than he should, especially for her mother-in-law.

Told in her characteristic style with two romances blooming at once, she add another minor character, Tucker, a boy from the wrong side of the track trying to live life the right way and running up against all kinds of obstacles as he really likes Annalise’s daughter, Colleen. Three love stories woven together make for one satisfying and well wrapped up novel. You’ll have to read it to find out what happens, but just don’t blame me if you lose any sleep over it.

The Shadow of Your Smile (Book Review)

Nov29
Reading Time: 2 minutes

shadow of your smileSusan May Warren’s book, The Shadow of Your Smile is another in the Deep Haven series. These books could be read out of order as characters from other novels are not of paramount importance and only provide more of the local color of the town in which the books are based.

Noelle Hueston has been married to Eli for 25 years. The marriage fell apart after the tragic murder of their 17 year old daughter, Kelsy. Eli blames himself for Kelsy’s death, as well as that of a fellow officer who was killed that day. Kelsy’s friend Emma also carries a weight of guilt from that night too.  This one death destroyed so many dreams and those left behind struggle in their faith.

Noelle has an accident that results in amnesia and she loses 25 years of her life. Could this really be the man she married? Those are her two boys? Why did she give up her dreams of painting? And how did she get fat?

Eli struggles to care for and protect his wife who he had drifted away from. He had begun an emotional affair with the fallen officer’s wife, Lee. Can he mend his broken marriage? Could the amnesia be a gift in that his wife is no longer trapped in her grief?

Emma is struggling as a musician. She had been a partner of Kelsy’s in music and she feels like she lost her one chance to do anything good. Kelsie’s brother, Kyle, who she had always had a crush on, shows up and rescues her from a brawl. Passion ignites but can they overcome the spectre of Kelsy’s death and the damage it has done to their families?

The killer who had inadvertently caused Noelle’s injury is still on the loose and doesn’t know that Noelle lost her memory. Will he strike again? Can her son, Kyle, now a deputy, solve the murder? Can Eli protector her if the murder strikes again? Can Noelle find a new life in spite of her amnesia and fall in love again with the man she married?

Once again, Susan writes a complex tale filled with emotion and depth and the interconnectedness of the two romance plots. Well done!

My Foolish Heart (Book Review)

Nov22
Reading Time: 2 minutes

My-Foolish-Heart-by-Susan-May-Warren-199x300Since falling in love with Susan May Warren’s writing, I was thrilled to find my library had some of her Deep Haven novels. My Foolish Heart, showcases Susan’s talent at pulling off four points of view.

The main character is Isadora (Izzy) Prseley who suffers from panic attacks after watching her mother die in her arms after a terrible car accident three years prior that also left her dad in a care facility with a trach and paralyzed. Izzy has developed agoraphobia, and is terrified to even go to the grocery store, much less drive her car to visit her father. She has managed to maintain a career as a talk show host of a lovelorn program in which she is known as My Faithful Heart.

Caleb Knight had dreams of coaching football, but a stint in Iraq cost him his leg and left him scarred with burns. He snags a teaching and coaching job in Deep Haven and moves next door to the most beautiful girl. Unfortunately, she doesn’t seem to like him much. Struggling to figure out what to do he stumbles upon a talk show and asks for advice as Boy Next Door. Little does he know that My Faithful Heart is the woman he is pining after.

A challenge for the role of coaching leads Caleb to hide his prosthesis because he doesn’t want a job out of pity. He wants to earn it. He also wants to help his lovely neighbor overcome her fears, if she will only let him close to her. A mangy mutt bounces between both their homes giving them reasons to connect.

Izzy finds herself attracted to her next door neighbor while at the same time falling in love with The Boy Next Door who is calling her show, having private discussions with her on-line and boosting her ratings all the while highlighting to her the life she had dreamed of but could never have.

This is a complex novel with Seb and Lucy playing a counterpoint to the relationship with Izzy and Caleb. Seb is vying for Caleb’s job but has a history with Lucy who happens to be Izzy’s best friend. As the scrimmage comes closer things heat up in Deep Haven. Will they find love or will all be lost?

This was an enjoyable story that moves along at a good pace and watching the relationships of four people is fascinating. Susan pulls it off with aplomb while challenging each character in their relationship with God. A delightful story. I’m looking forward to the next one!

Brave New Century (Book Review)

Nov15
Reading Time: 2 minutes

Brave new century final coverBrave New Century is a lovely quartet of four novellas. Four women in search of their identity in the new century, 1900. The time is filled challenges, triumphs and responsibilities. Four stories. Four lives. Four loves. (Click here for a link to the print version of the book)

In the first story, Three Rings for Alice, Lisa Lickel highlights Alice Smith’s struggles to be a modern woman. Orphaned, she has to make her own way in the world and in a time when women are just coming into the workforce, it is fraught with uncertainty. Vowing to never marry, time and a secret love changes her mind with a decision to marry for no less than love. Even if the one she loves is only known as a voice on the telephone.

Paula Mowery’s tale, Forgiven, brings us Jessie Lee Capelle who wonders if she will ever have a loving family. When she meets laborer Henry Smith her dreams look like they will come true. When a surprising twist of history is revealed, can their love withstand the truth. Can they forgive?

In The Pocket Watch, Kathleen Rouser weaves a tale of Isabel Jones, an orphan in Detroit Michigan who’s only real desire is to know who her parents were. An accident brings her into the world of Dr. Daniel Harper and a pocket watch brings them together even as a special ring, left by Isobel’s mother, threatens to reveal terrible truths. Can love withstand these obstacles?

Teena Stewart tells the final story, Flames of Hope.  Lily McMinn’s Irish family operates a thriving mercantile n San Francisco. She enjoys visits by Gideon Light, a police officer. When a  violent earthquake destroys much of the city, countless people die. The crippled fire department is helpless to fight multiple fires raging out of control. Can Lily and her family survive the tragedy with the help of Gideon?

Love, romance, history. Four different stories but with these uniting themes. Step back in time and enjoy the journey these four women make. You’ll be glad you did.

Tying the Knot (Book Review)

Nov8
Reading Time: 2 minutes

Warren - tying the knotI enjoyed Susan May Warren’s writing when I had snagged one of her novels. So when I encountered several others at the library I couldn’t pass up the opportunity for more magic. Tying the Knot did not disappoint.

This is not a new novel. It was published  ten years ago. The fact that it is an earlier work can be seen in the style of her writing. It’s still Susan’s voice, but it is not as layered as more recent offerings by this author and in some places a bit redundant. In spite of that, it was a delight to read.

Anne Lundstrom is running from her past as a former EMT as well as a pastor’s kid living in the inner  city of Minneapolis. Having suffered a near-fatal gunshot wound a year before she has purposefully taken an internship as a community nurse in a small northern town, Deep Haven (future Warren novels take place here).

The last thing she anticipated was that the man who sang a hymn to her in her darkest hour would be the tool that God uses to help her face her fears. Noah Standing Bear was there  that fateful day and  felt like he had failed that EMT as well as the boy who shot her. As a youth pastor struggling to reach young kids before the gangs did in the inner city, he has come to Deep Haven to run a camp that could help bring those kids to Christ. Unfortunately the one thing he needs to get his funding, is a nurse, and Anne has been assigned the job.

Misunderstandings, fears and attraction all complicate things in the woods as Anne and Noah flirt with the potential of a relationship. As truths become revealed, however, could they actually form a partnership.  Can Anne accept God’s gift of the same man who would in more ways than one, rescue her from her past?

Unspoken (Book Review)

Nov1
Reading Time: 2 minutes

UnspokenI was looking forward to Dee Henderson’s latest release with great anticipation. Unspoken, while not a part of a series, per se, does follow up on Paul and Ann Falcon’s story from Full Disclosure, but only as a background to the story that Bryce Bishop lives through.

The story is intriguing as it starts out with Charlotte Graham but is never written from her point of view. She was involved in a crime that was supposedly solved. She had been kidnapped at 16 and released four years later, changed her name and never spoke of what really happened.

Bryce Bishop is a God-fearing man who runs a successful coin business. Charlotte approaches him with the opportunity to purchase and resell, at a significant profit, millions of dollars worth of valuable coins she inherited from her grandfather. Neither knows at first that their partnership was set up by her security agent and her best friend.

Bryce had been bored and praying for release from that when Charlotte mysteriously appears in his life. She’s a mystery that he slowly begins to uncover as he falls in love with her. Charlotte is not quite so convinced that they could be anything more than friends.

As Ann and Paul Falcon work on trying to solve a cold case, and an investigative reporter digs into Charlotte’s past, it soon becomes clear that the two crimes are intertwined and that the criminal is still at large and a threat to Charlotte and her family as well as others.  Can she, with Bryce’s help, come to help with the investigation? Can she also managed to answer the hard questions that plague her faith of where God was in the midst of terrible pain?

This book was evidently heavily researched and I admire Dee Henderson for that attention to detail. The story itself is a slow-moving one. While dubbed romantic suspense it does not reach the level of intensity of previous stories she has written and is in essence more of a love story with a mystery woven in.  Written only from Bryce, Paul and Anne’s perspectives, it is missing some intensity by not giving Charlotte’s point of view and perhaps letting us in to her deep inner struggle that goes beyond the words she shares with Bryce or her friends.

While the ending was nice and all the loose ends were tidied up – it left me wanting more and in a way feeling cheated that there was only that hint of the healing that Bryce had been praying for. Unlike Full Disclosure, this part of their relationship was not explored further, but with the mystery solved, I suppose that was just not going to happen in at least this book. Maybe Bryce and Charlotte will show up in the next book and we can see how their relationship develops as the backdrop to another story.

Field of the Fatherless (Book Review)

Oct25
Reading Time: 2 minutes

9781938499920Field of the Fatherless is a new young adult novel out by Elaine Cooper. I thought it was a disturbing but honest portrayal of what life was like at the beginning of America’s war for Independence.

Betsy Russell is a young woman struggling to cope with the reality of what life is  bringing to her small village. The fear, the devastation and the heartbreaking losses create a well of resentment within her. Called on by a neighbor to help care for a dying man she agrees before she learns that the man is British. Can she care for a man who is part of an army that so ruthlessly killed people she loved?

Confronted by this man’s grave injuries she provides care, because God calls us to love our enemies. She begins to understand that the choices he had to made were not always in his control either and that war is brutal on both sides. Both the British and the American’s were capable of gross atrocities.

This book looks at the reality of life in 1775. Told from Betsy’s perspective we see the harsh realities of not only that time period but the sacrifices made for independence. The cost of duty and devotion are not minimized. This story has a strong faith line as Betsy struggles with her fear and to forgive as well as to move past the images and sounds  that occur to live in the world that her father and many others died to preserve. While written for young adults, the story would be one that any adult would be impacted by. Thank you for taking us there, Elaine!

Take a Chance on Me (Book Review)

Oct18
Reading Time: 2 minutes

take a chance on meI have to admit, that I keep hearing that silly Abba song when I think of this title. Susan May Warren’s romance, Take a Chance on Me is not the fluff of an Abba song though. It is instead a complex and well written tale of five people told from four points of view.

Yeah, because one character is dead. Kind of hard for her to talk.

Darek Christiansen has a heavy burden as a man who gave up his dream career when his wife, Felicity died a tragic death. Not only does he grieve his mistakes as a husband and father, but he carries a huge weight of anger and resentment towards his best friend, Jensen.

Ivy Madison is new to town and as high hopes that this will be the place where she can, for once in her life, put down roots and feel like she belongs. She makes an outrageous bid for a bachelor in a charity auction that turns out to be the surly Darek who is not interested in a relationship.

As Ivy’s role in the sentencing of Jenson three years ago, for the alleged crime of killing Darek’s wife unfolds, so does a romance between Jepsen and Claire who was Felicity’s best friend.  Darek falls for Ivy but soon burns in anger against her in her role as Assistant District Attorney results in his son being removed from his home.

As a fire heads for their little town in northern Minnesota, will all the relationships burn to ash as well?

This story is so multi-faceted. Felicity, although dead, is a viable presence throughout this novel. Older folks prove to be valuable mentors and encouragers as the younger adults struggle with love and their faith in God.

This was the first book I ever read by Susan May Warren but I doubt it will be the last.

Give the Lady a Ride (Book Review)

Oct11
Reading Time: 2 minutes

Over the years I’ve had the privilege of meeting many new authors on Facebook. Over time, some of them have even become friends. Friends I look forward to someday meeting face-to-face and giving a big hug to. One of them is Linda Yezak who authored the book “Give the Lady a Ride” a few years ago. I only recently had an opportunity to read and review this contemporary Western romance.

The story is a case of opposites that initially repel. Patricia Talbert is given an inheritance of a ranch that ideally would have gone to Talon Carlson who was more a son to the owners and known by them than Patricia ever was. Did they have an ulterior motive?

Patricia only knows that she needs to get back to her life managing her father’s political social calendar. She’s lonely and has found out the hard way that everyone has some agenda. So her trust issues are big.

Talon is afraid he’s going to lose the one home he’s really loved as well as the job he has poured his heart and soul into for years. In spite of all that, he’s discovering that he may also be losing his heart to the new owner.

Throw in some hot cowboys, rodeos and the danger and leap of faith it takes to ride bulls and “make the eight” and you have a delightful story of some people dealing with real issue of grief, trust and yes, love. It’s a wild ride!

I’ve admired the cover of this novel for years and I’m grateful I finally had a chance to crack the binding and enjoy the tale Linda has to tell.