Reading, Writing & Pondering

  Former CIA Sniper Kadance Tolle happens to be in the right place at the right time to save Lyndon Vaile's life. At the same time she comes from a family of assassins and is on the run from them. After saving Lyndon's life, she risks being found by them. She wants to help Lyndon in spite of the costs and the two take off on a hunt to find out who is after him and what they plan to do with research they stole from him. Never Miss by Melissa Koslin is her romantic suspense debut novel. I found this to be an interesting book and I thought it was a good debut novel. At the same time, the plot in this novel partly revolves around a virus that could be unleashed on the world.  This is about my third novel on a virus of some sort being unleashed in the world and I think I am ready for a break from that topic. I don't fault the author for that. At the same time, there were a few places in the book that felt a little slow to me. There was a lot of talking and mental s...

  Ben Calix comes home from his last mission to find things totally aren't what he expected. He wanted to relax instead he is attacked by a sniper, then an ambush and he soon finds out that he is out of The Company. He has been unfairly labeled a traitor. But why? And how can he stop the bioweapon that he fears will be unleashed if he is cut off? The Paris Betrayal started out with a bang and as a reader I hit the ground running, so to speak. It took me a few pages to figure out what was going on and then I was quickly swept up int he action as I rootied for Ben to overcome his many obstacles. This is definitely a fast-paced novel that kept me turning pages quickly. I really liked Ben and wanted him to beat the odds. I also liked his friend, Clara, that helped him out of trouble to start with. There were some twists and turns that I didn't see coming and I wasn't sure how it was going to end until I got there.  I also thought it was interesting that Hannibal included the p...

  When little children aren't able to be with their loved ones, it can be difficult for them to understand. Hello From Here by Pamela Kennedy helps little ones realize that they can connect with them from a distance. Hello From Here is a beautifully illustrated and sturdy board book that measures about 7 by 7 inches and is longer than some board books at 24 pages. It is full of creative ways that little ones could think about reaching out to their loved ones through wonderfully rhyming verse. Some of them are possible and some of them are imaginary but all of them a great reminders that love travels from one heart to another wherever their loved ones are. There are also some favorite elements in this book like pizza, rockets to the moon and dinosaurs that appeal to both boys and girls. Hello From Her e would be a great book for a little person who can't be with their special loved one for awhile. I received a copy of this book from the publisher. All opinions within this revi...

    Hope Carpenter had a good life going. She married a mega church pastor. She had children she loved. She had a job she loved with her husband at the church. Then everything falls apart--until she gets healing and God helps her find a better life.  The Most Beautiful Disaster by Hope Carpenter is mostly a self-help book if you are someone who is struggling with mistakes in your past and  want to transform your life with God's help. Carpenter tells her story throughout the book--how she struggled and put on a mask to cover her insecurities as she started out her married life. Then she shares how everything fell apart, little by little, until she really messed up big and admitted her second affair to her husband. He then kicked her out of the house and she spent 8 months in intensive Christian therapy. She draws on that experience, as well as Bible verses, to offer advice to readers on how they can also climb out of a pit if they have their life in a mess too. The M...

Dust by Eva Marie Everson starts out with Allison Middleton, a young nineteen-year-old girl receiving a proposal from Westley Houser in 1977. The couple gets married are immediately struggling as Westley tells Allison that he already has a child from a one-night-stand with Cindie. Allisons helps Westley raise his daughter, Michelle, as her own child, while she deals with infertility. She also goes from a young bride to grandmother throughout the book. Everson writes beautifully in Dust. I have read her books before and truly enjoyed them. However, even though I think the writing is beautiful and the story flows wonderfully, I have to admit I didn't honestly LIKE this story through much of the book. I didn't like how Westley and Allison's marriage started out with him not being truthful to her. I didn't like Cindie and how she lived her life--as well as some of the other people she connected with. At the same time, I thought the book was realistic in that these sort of r...