Review: The Illusionist's Apprentice by Kristy Cambron

5 Stars!!!

I had read and loved two of Kristy's novels (The Butterfly and The Violin, and The Ringmaster's Wife) prior to reading this one. And while I think The Ringmaster's Wife will probably always be my personal favorite, I absolutely loved The Illusionist's Apprentice from the very first sentence all the way to the end! The premise totally intrigued me from the moment I first heard about it, and I was most definitely not disappointed by this book! I loved both Wren and Elliot, they both had such painful pasts and it was wonderful to watch them overcome their pasts together and learn to trust in God and each other. I have always been fascinated by Illusionists, and I loved getting to learn about Wren's profession as well as all the fabulous historical details about Harry Houdini! Two of my favorite genres are romantic mystery/suspense and historical romance and I absolutely love it when I find a book in which these two genres collide, such was the case with this book and I absolutely loved it! It was so neat to read a story that featured the FBI back when it was still relatively new. I must say that the 1920's are not in general one of my favorite time periods to read about, but as I have adored both this author's books that have been set in the 20's I am more open to reading about that time period and if Kristy Cambron continues to bring that decade to life through her fabulous writing I will always jump into those books with both feet! Going back to the suspense for a minute, I believe this is Kristy Cambron's first time writing a suspense element like this and I can say that she did an amazing job (I hope she writes more suspense in the future) there were so many surprises along the way that I did not see coming and one in particular that made me hang my head and cry out an anguished, No! 

Overall, I absolutely adored every single moment of this book, as soon as I finished I found myself wanting to re-read it, it's that good!!! 

I highly recommend The Illusionist's Apprentice, it not only has a permanent spot on my keeper shelf, but it will also be on my list of favorite reads of 2017!

I cannot wait to see what else Kristy Cambron has in store for us! 

I received a copy of this book from the publisher through BookLook bloggers. No review required. All thoughts and opinions are one hundred percent my own.

Review: For Love & Honor by Jody Hedlund

5 Stars!!!

I've been loving these books ever since the first one released and I remember being so excited when I learned that we would get a chance to see each of the three handsome knights find love and happiness! While I was thrilled at getting to read Bennet's story I was also a bit saddened that this is the last book in the series (At least as far as I know) forcing me to say goodbye to these characters that have become like friends to me!

I really liked Sabine, and thought she and Bennet were a perfect match. It was so cool that we got to see both Derrick and Collin again in this book! 

This book was truly fabulous on so many levels, but I think the message about learning to love yourself and see the beauty that God sees in you was my favorite thing about this book, it is a reminder that I need pretty much daily and the message really spoke to where I am right now in life!

I don't want to risk spoiling anything so I will just say that Jody Hedlund has written another fabulous YA that I absolutely loved! And highly recommend, all of the books in this series can standalone but I would recommend reading them in order to fully grasp their awesomeness! I can't wait to read any and all YA books this author writes next! 

I received a copy of this book from the author and publisher to help promote it. No review required. All thoughts and opinions are one hundred percent my own.

Review: Because You're Mine by Colleen Coble

3 Stars!

I've read a couple of Colleen Coble's books in the past and really enjoyed them. I'll be honest, the description of this didn't really grab me when I first read it, but since I was offered the opportunity to review it, I decided to give it a shot. I really wanted to like it, but I'm afraid I just really didn't. I liked Alanna as a main character and really felt for her, but I also found myself getting very frustrated that such an independent and intelligent woman couldn't seem to see what was really going on. I did guess the major twist very early on (though I had read some spoiler reviews prior to reading this book so I had an idea of what the twist was before I even got started, so obviously I can't know for sure but I feel pretty certain that even had I not read those reviews I would have still realized very early on what the truth was) so it wasn't the mystery of whether or not my guess was correct that kept me reading, but rather interest in seeing how it would all finally play out! There were two things I loved about this book, the first was all the bits of Irish culture and such (By the way, I have also listened to the audio version of this book and I loved the narrator, she did a fabulous job with all the accents, Irish and Southern alike!) and the amazing descriptions of Blackwater hall and its surroundings, I was swept away and felt like I was really there which made the book a bit hard to read at times because things were just so creepy and I felt I was experiencing them alongside Alanna, it was kind of strange but bits and pieces of the setting kept reminding of two different movies "The Haunted Mansion" and "The Rescuers" not that this book was in anyway similar because it wasn't, it was just the ancient mansion/southern swamp/alligators as pets thing that made me think of these other stories as I was reading. 

This book is definitely not your typical suspense novel, but it was intriguing. If you are interested in a book that is different from the typical suspense read and don't mind suspending disbelief, I recommend this story. It wasn't really my cup of tea but overall I am glad I read this book and like I said there were some things I really liked about it and I am definitely looking forward to reading more of Colleen Coble's books in the future. 

I received this book from the publisher. No review required. All thoughts and opinions are one hundred percent my own.

Review: Pursued but Shielded by Frannie Watson

4 Stars!

This was a good suspense novel that I enjoyed reading. I really liked that it was set in the 1990's, I love reading books that are set during the decade I was born in. I think my favorite character was Del, I would love to have a best friend like her. I really admired Elizabeth, her strength and the fact that she allowed everything she'd been through to lead her to God was very inspiring. Speaking of which, the faith thread in this story was wonderfully done, it was woven into the storyline well and was incredibly powerful, I don't want to spoil anything but I do want to say that my favorite scene in the whole novel took place inside the Saint-Chapelle in Paris, that scene was so incredibly beautiful and moving that it brought tears to my eyes.

I was a bit surprised that the rapist's identity was basically revealed to the reader (though not to the other characters) through his own narrative at not quite halfway through the novel, but even though I knew his identity from that point forward the story still made for a suspenseful read. 

What could be improved: I realize that this was the author's first novel and while I did enjoy the story there are some things that I feel could be improved. While I did enjoy the story there were times that I struggled with the narrative and some of the dialogue as it often felt very simplistic to me, and a tad repetitive at times. There were also a lot of point of view characters and at times some of them felt a bit one dimensional because the narrative kept changing from character to the next so I didn't have a chance to connect with them as much as I would have liked to.

Overall, I did enjoy this book and recommend it. I look forward to reading more books by this very promising author.

Review: Moving Target by Lynette Eason

5 Stars! 

Lynette Eason is one of my all time favorite authors, her new releases are always on my list of books that I most look forward to reading! Moving Target reaffirms yet again why Lynette is one of my favorite authors. Quinn and Maddy's relationship has been slowly building since book one of the series and I have been rooting for them since the start, so needless to say I was really excited to see them get their happily ever after! I was most definitely not disappointed with Moving Target, it was soooo good! Even though I have read every single one of Lynette's books I am always blown away by her talented writing as well as her ability to keep things fresh and new. I was very impressed by the complexity of both Maddy and Quinn's back stories, up until this book we have known very little about Maddy or Quinn and as I learned their stories my heart really went out to both of them. I can always count on Lynette's books to have a great faith story and the faith thread in Moving Target was woven into the story beautifully, I loved seeing both Maddy and Quinn come to rely further on God! 

I loved the suspense in this book, so much of it was unlike anything I've ever read before! 

I usually end up binge reading Lynette's books in 24 to 48 hours but this one took me several days to read mainly because I was busy and in a bit of a reading slump but I am really glad that it worked out that way because I got to appreciate and really savor the awesomeness of this book perhaps more so than if I had speed read it!

Overall, I loved Moving Target and highly recommend it as well as books one and two of the Elite Guardians series, I cannot wait for the release of Haley's book later this year, as well as anything and everything else that Lynette Eason writes! 

I received a copy of this book from the author and publisher to help promote it. No review was required. All thoughts and opinions are one hundred percent my own.

Review: Justice Delayed by Patricia Bradley

4 Stars!

I have read and loved all four books in this author's Logan Point series, and I was really looking forward to her newest release. Unfortunately, I have to say that I have some mixed feelings about this book because while there lots of things I absolutely loved about it, for example: Brad's overprotectiveness of his sister Andi, which made for some totally awesome moments; the camaraderie between Andi, Brad and Will; Will himself, need I say more? I just loved him; the mystery was very intriguing and kept me riveted to the page, and while I personally wasn't surprised by the identity of two of the villains I was surprised by another; the climax of this book was very fast-moving and suspenseful, I loved it and I also loved that it was totally different from any climax I think I've ever seen in a romantic suspense before.

There were also some things that bothered me a bit and caused me to knock my rating down to four stars, these things were: I spent a large portion of the book wanting to shake the main character Andi because of a very bad choice she kept making (not going to say what to avoid spoilers) it just really annoyed me that she refused to see the truth and I didn't feel like that thread was resolved as much as I wish it had been; this book had quite a large cast of characters and potential suspects and I sometimes had a hard time keeping track of them all; while I did love the climax I must admit that the ending did feel a bit rushed to me, it just seemed to end kind of abruptly leaving a few threads that didn't get tied up to my satisfaction, but it is very possible that those things will be resolved at a later point in the series; I know from personal experience that Faith and learning to trust and rely on God (which seemed to be the theme of this book, at least to me) can be messy and imperfect, but I was disappointed that Andi never seemed to make the choice to rely on God at any point during the book, I would have been totally fine if things hadn't been tied up in a neat little bow, after all life is rarely like that, but the book ended without me really feeling that Andi had grown closer to God or learned much of anything from her mistakes which definitely did leave me feeling a tad disappointed.

See what I mean about mixed feelings? No book is perfect and there were these few things that bothered me, however, I really did love the rest of this book and found it hard to put down. I recommend this book and I am looking forward to the next in the series, I'm hoping the author will write a story about Brad, as well as one about David and Maggie. I so want to know how you get Maggie from the name Madeline? :)

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for my honest opinion. I was not compensated in any way for this review. All thoughts and opinions are one hundred percent my own.

Review: Still Life by Dani Pettrey

5 Stars!

You've probably heard me say it before but I'll say it again, Dani Pettrey is one of my all time favorite authors! I have adored every single one of her books and always impatiently anticipate the release of the next. I totally fell in love with the whole Chesapeake Valor gang in the first book, Cold Shot and was very much looking forward to Still Life.

Still Life reaffirmed yet again why Dani is one of my favorite authors!

I really liked both Avery and Parker, we discovered in the first book that Avery had a painful past so it was interesting to learn the details, and I felt for her so much, the story of how she turned her life around after she found Jesus was incredibly inspiring. Parker was a great hero, I was totally rooting for him to open himself up to love again (I am hoping that at some point during the series Jenna's killer will be caught and brought to justice, and I am very confident that this will happen) I found his career as a crime scene investigator to be quite fascinating to read about. The mystery in this book was so good, so many twists and turns that you don't see coming, especially the one at the end! I loved all the interactions between the whole crew, and I can't wait to discover what the deal is with Luke (My personal guess at this point is that he is in the CIA!)

Overall, I loved this book and cannot wait to read Tanner and Declan's story, Blind Spot when it releases in October! 

I highly recommend this book! Such a great read! 

I received a copy of this book from the author and publisher to help promote it. The above is my honest opinion, all thoughts and opinions are one hundred percent my own.