Drawing Fire by Janice Cantore

Great story!! The book Drawing Fire by Janice Cantore is a great suspenseful story with a little romance. It is the story of Abby, a homicide detective, and her unending search for answers in the deaths of her parents so many years before. A case comes up that offers Abby the opportunity to ask the governor (an old friend of her parents) about the cold case. She is stopped before she gets to ask much, but her identity is then known.

Another character, who is also searching for the truth from those murders is a private investigator, Luke. His uncle was also killed in the restaurant murders which killed Abby's parents. In his search for answers he has never uncovered the true identity of Abby.

As you can probably guess, Abby and Luke join forces, to some extent, to seek out those responsible for her parents' deaths. I don't want to give away more, so read it!

This was a great story, I really enjoyed it. The characters are nicely developed, "rounded" characters -- you feel as if they are truly real people. They are Christians, and there are references to that and God's will, etc. throughout -- along with that is the lack of bad language or objectionable activities -- nice.

The story wraps up nicely -- BUT leaves you wanting more! This is book one in a series -- and I can't wait for the next books in the series! I would definitely recommend it as a great suspenseful story -- with a little romance -- kind of -- or hints of what is to come, maybe.

I received this book for the purpose of this review. I was not required to write a positive review.

The Midwife's Tale by Delia Parr

The Midwife's Tale by Delia Parr is a story of a woman (Martha Cade) in the early 1800's who is the midwife for the region. She is a widow and has two children -- one son grown and married and moved away, one daughter who has just (at the start of the book) run away with a traveling circus. She is an essential member of her community, and has helped with almost every birth around.

Martha takes a break from her midwifing role and searches for several months for her daughter, but is unsuccessful. She returns to her previous life only to find that there is a new doctor in town who might threaten her livelihood.

The book follows the story of Martha (Widow Cade) and her efforts to live life in the shadow of her daughter's disappearance as well as carrying on her normal midwifery duties.

There is a new family in the region, a husband and wife and several foster boys -- several tragedies -- larceny -- suspicion -- broken friendships --

I won't tell you how they play into the story, but read it to find out!

I don't want to tell you much more about the plot, because you ought to read it to find out ;) I did enjoy this book quite a lot! The characters are nicely developed and the story is interesting. I usually don't really like historical fictions in this era, but I certainly did like this one! I do recommend this book -- give it a try!

I received this book for the purpose of this review. I was not required to write a positive review.

Detained by Don Brown

Are you a fan of military suspense stories? Police-legal action? This newest book by Don Brown (as well as his older ones!) will be a winner with you!

The book Detained, by Don Brown, is a suspenseful military-action/JAG Law type book. It's deep and a bit disturbing, full of action, and packed with multiple main characters who enter the story at different points and merge to come to the end of the story.

The book begins with Hasan Makari and his son Najib--Lebanese men who love Christ and the US. Najib has emigrated to the US, become a citizen, and enlisted in the Navy. In the beginning of the book Hasan is flying to the US to visit his son. Najib is on board ship, excited to see his father when they reach port.

Hasan is seized by members of a branch of the TSA without knowing why. He is transported to Guantanamo Bay Detention on false charges and is tortured as his captors seek to beat a confession (albeit false) out of him. His son is whisked off ship and brought to Guantanamo and also endures horrific treatment in an attempt to have him confess to false charges against him as well.

Navy JAG lawyer Matt Davis is (as a seemingly disciplinary measure) assigned to the case of Hasan and Najib. As he travels to the base, he becomes suspicious about the "rules" that the legal system at Guantanamo Bay seem to run under, as well as his role there. He becomes aware of a questionable death of one of his predacessors, and receives some threats to himself.

Another character, Emily Gardner, has received a huge promotion in her legal career, but uncovers some information that seems traitorous -- information that was "planted" to "test" her loyalty. I will not give you much more info than this :) because you'll want to read that yourself!

All the characters come together in the end to provide a slam-bang finish :)

All in all I liked the book. It was very tense, dramatic, and elicited strong emotions about injustice. I guess that what I didn't love was that it seemed that most of the book was these seemingly independent stories unfolding kind of slowly and deliberately and then--WHOOSH!-- it was resolved very quickly. It was an enjoyable book, not an easy fluffy read, by any means.

I would recommend this book for sure. My husband is reading it next and my dad after that. If you like this type of book (like Tom Clancy-type books) then you will like this one. It is not filled with swearing and sex, so that is a plus.

I received this book for the purpose of this review. I was not required to write a positive review.

Infuse by Eric Prum & Josh Williams

Infuse, by Eric Prum and John Williams is a pretty book about infusing different flavors into olive oil, alcohol, and water. Now, before I write my review, let me say that I am not someone who drinks alcohol, so at least 1/3 of this book could not be appreciated fully by me. So -- that being said, infusions are a very fun way to expand your regular repertoire. Infused olive oil gives new life to old recipes, spices things up a bit. Infused waters seem all the rage right now, encouraging people to drink their water by increasing the flavor.

If you are new to infusing "stuff" maybe you'll be interested in this book. For me, it seemed like not very many recipes, mostly pictures. Now, they are gorgeous pictures!! but not enough for me to pay $25 for a book. This would make a good coffee-table type book, with all the pretty photos. I guess I was just looking for more in this book than there was. I wish that there were even more recipes. The ones that are in the book do sound interesting!

I really liked the dispenser top for the mason jars that the authors invented. Looks helpful!

All in all, maybe this would be a good gift-ish book, for someone who you are not sure what to buy for, or a good hostess gift. The price is steep, but the pictures are really gorgeous. I know I keep saying that, but to me the pictures are maybe the most appreciated part.

I received this book for the purpose of this review. I was not required to write a positive review.

Chance of Loving You (collection of 3 stories. . .by Terri Blackstock, Candace Calvert, and Susan May Warren)

This book, Chance of Loving You, is a "romance collection." Three stories, each by well-known authors, all combined into one book. Sounded interesting!

Honestly, I did not like this book or these stories. They were kind of romance for the sake of romance, and that is not the genre of book I love. I thought that since I like the authors, I might like their romance stories as well, but not really. The stories were kind of fluffy and unrealistic. . .just romance without much other story line. There was a LITTLE bit of story line, but not much.

The first story, by Terri Blackstock, revolved around a man who gets a lottery ticket, splits it with a waitress he just met, and they fall in love.

The second story, by Candace Calvert, is about a nutritionist who is entering a cooking contest, works at a nursing home, helps one of the residents, and falls in love.

The third, by Susan May Warren, is about a smart girl who lost her love and wishes she had him back. And she gets him back.

If you like romance books, and if you are looking for short stories, this may be for you! Not my style, not for me. The positive thing I would say is that they are clean stories, not objectionable.

I wouldn't really recommend this book.

I received this book for the purpose of this review. I was not required to write a positive review.

The authors who wrote stories in this book were Terri Blackstock (her bio is here), Candace Calvert (her bio is here), and Susan May Warren (bio here.)

Until the Harvest by Sarah Loudin Thomas

Until the Harvest by Sarah Loudin Thomas is a fiction book that is a follow-up to another book I reviewed last year (see that review here). The story is that of a young woman (Margaret), a young man (Henry), Henry's mom and grandma, Margaret's sister, and a few other characters. Henry loses his father unexpectedly and is left kind of at odds in life. Margaret's parents don't want her or her sister. Henry's Grandma and Mother are widows.

Added into this mix are running moonshine (and illegal drugs), a miracle-working young girl, an unplanned pregnancy, a pair of 90-something year old lovebirds, and much more. Much, much more. Possibly too much more. To me the story seemed a bit boring on one hand, and too disjointed, running in many different directions in the other. There are many characters which are developed, their situations followed and explained. It is kind of hard for me to pick out what the main line of the story is.

Readers may enjoy the references to life on the farm and supportive women.

As with her previous book there is a "magic-y" component to this one as well. The younger sister, Mayfair, seems to have the ability to heal people of physical ailments. Not my favorite part of the book.

All in all, it's a fine story. Not a book to keep me up reading at night. Not one that I was eager to get back to. Just an okay, entertaining, clean read. Not a favorite of mine.

I received this book for the purpose of this review. I was not required to write a positive review.

Acing the ACT by Elizabeth King

Excellent test prep book!!

Are you looking forward to taking standardized tests? Of course you want yourself (or your student) to give the very best representation via the tool of standardized tests. Of course, there are the inherent issues such as do standardized tests accurately reflect/predict a student's potential. . .but that is not at question here. These tests are used by college admissions, so you need to do your best at them!

This book, Acing the ACT, is small, short, right to the point book to give tips about how to do your very best on the ACT. The author gives ideas of how to answer certain types of questions, how to zip through the questions, how to look at each question, and more. She includes a full section of memorization -- things to memorize to have at the top of your head (formulas for areas, perimeters, etc).

The author gives a summary and helpful information about each of the sections of the test: English, math, reading, science, and the essay. AND -- she accomplishes this all in 131 pages! Small pages! Easy-to-read pages!

My daughter has a year and a half or so before she starts taking tests like this, but I will definitely have her read this to get her ready for the test. I think it is written in a way that it is easy and not intimidating for high-schoolers to read. The author did a great job and accomplished the goal which the book sets out to complete.

Thank you to the author for sharing such great, easy to understand tips.

I highly recommend this book.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher for the purpose of this review. I was not required to write a positive review.