Archive for the Category ◊ Book Review ◊

26 Oct 2011 book review: Love Finds You in Sunset Beach, Hawaii
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Late last week I had a fun surprise in the mail…

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The newest Robin Jones Gunn book!

Sierra Jensen has spent the past four years working for a missions group in Brazil, when she finds out that the program she’s working on is going to be discontinued.  Before she starts her next position, her friend and translator, Mariana, offers to bring her along on a trip to Hawaii.  Sierra hopes the trip will give her a chance to make some decisions about her future—what the mission has planned next for her isn’t exactly what she’s passionate about.  Mariana wants to party, meet guys, and just have some fun on vacation.

Jordan Bryce in on assignment in Hawaii to photograph the surfing competition on the North Shore.  He and his friend Derek hope that this time in Hawaii will further their careers in photography and surfing, respectively.  An accident back home delays Derek’s arrival to Hawaii, while a storm traps Sierra and Jordan together.  Jordan is convinced that this could be his big break, and no girl, especially one who lives in Brazil, is going to distract him.

While Sierra makes major life decisions and Jordan captures the eye of a potentially lucrative sponsor, God has even more in store for them…and their friends!

Having grown up with Sierra and her peculiar treasures of friends, Christy Miller and Katie Weldon, it was fun to ‘catch up’ with Sierra after she left Rancho Corona University.  One of my favorite things about Robin Jones Gunn’s books is how characters from other series pop up from time to time, and Sierra and Jordan will be making another appearance in Cottage by the Sea, a book about Jordan’s mother, releasing summer 2012.

I like the softer, more mature Sierra that she has become.  While still the free-spirited girl she always has been, her time in Brazil has tempered a bit of her brazen-ness, which makes her a bit more relatable to me.  She has definitely matured, evidenced by her not wanting to use her high-school ‘relationship’ with Paul as a way to judge her friendship with Jordan.  I am excited to see what else is in store for her…and the rest of her forever friends—the fourth Katie Weldon book will also be out in 2012!

Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book. The review and opinions expressed are my own. FTC 16 CFR, Pt. 255.

12 Sep 2011 book review: Waiting for Morning
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Hannah Ryan is waiting for her family to come home from their annual end-of-summer camping trip.

Brian Wesley has been sober for three weeks when he is laid off.  Unable to face his wife, he makes a pit stop at a bar on the way home.

Jenny Ryan sees the other car coming towards them, but not soon enough to warn her father and sister.

Having the perfect Christian family, Hannah never thought anything bad could happen to them.  She grew up with Tom Ryan and had known they’d get married when she was just eight.  When her family is shattered due to a drunk-driving accident, Hannah doesn’t know where to turn…God could not possibly have let her husband and older daughter Alicia be killed.  Abandoning her faith, she lives the next year in hatred of the man who caused the accident, focusing all her attention on making him pay for what he did, at the expense of her relationship with her younger daughter who survived the accident.

Attorney Matt Bronzan has also felt the effects of drunk driving, having lost two close friends in college to a drunk driver and the aftereffects of that accident.  He wants to set a precedent:  drunk driving is murder.  Hannah hopes that a conviction and sentence will give her the peace she has not felt since before that fateful day.

How do you handle such a drastic loss?  Do you run from your faith or embrace it more fully?  Hannah and Jenny Ryan are very real characters who deal with their grief in different ways; Hannah focuses on bitterness and revenge, while Jenny draws into herself and wants things to be how they used to be: with her Daddy and Alicia.  Despite the heartache, Hannah and Jenny are able to find God’s peace through forgiveness, although it does not come easily or quickly for either of them.

Karen Kingsbury has woven a heartbreaking tale, which while I have read it before, strikes me much deeper now that I have a child.  This is the first in her Forever Faithful series, which all have characters who rely on the words of the song Great is Thy Faithfulness.  There are very few of her books I dislike, but this one is probably in my top ten favorites.

Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book (as an e-book) through WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group. The review and opinions expressed are my own. FTC 16 CFR, Pt. 255.

06 Sep 2011 book review: The Corruptible
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Ex-cop-turned-PI Ray Quinn finds himself in need of money.
Former colleague and dirty ex-cop Logan Ramsey is missing, along with confidential client information.

Ray is hired by a rich Orlando businessman to track Ramsey down, and most importantly, get the information back.  When Ramsey is found dead in a sleazy hotel, Ray has another problem to deal with.  A House-like character, Ray Quinn suffers from a disabling wound from his homicide days and a penchant for Jim Beam and sarcasm.  He is aided by his sidekick, Crevis, who is an all brawn, no brain type.  His former client, Pam, helps out with record-keeping and provides a Christian influence.

The second book in the Ray Quinn series, The Corruptible is written by an author with extensive experience in law enforcement.  This is evident throughout the book, making it much more believable in a technical aspect, which was a nice change from most crime and/or mystery novels I read that involve the protagonist finding herself trapped in a burning building/buried alive/about to be murdered until her love interest miraculously saves her moments from death.

I have not read the first book in this series, The Night Watchman, which may have made it a little easier to get started with the book; however, enough allusions were made to it that I was able to pick up on whatever I may have missed.

As the series goes on, we may see more of the fruits of Pam’s witnessing.  Ray is not too interested in Christianity, and thankfully, Mynheir has chosen to build up the relationships rather than go the traditional (not-so-believable) route of most Christian novels where the main character is saved in 300 pages or less.

Overall, The Corruptible is not the kind of book I usually find myself reading and enjoying, but I may have to track down the first one and keep my eye out for the next!

Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group. The review and opinions expressed are my own. FTC 16 CFR, Pt. 255.

06 Jul 2011 book review: Canary Island Song
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As an avid Robin Jones Gunn reader, when I got an email about the opportunity to review her newest book, Canary Island Song, I was all over that.  I started out reading her Christy Miller series in middle school, and was able to follow along with Sierra Jensen as I was in high school.  Canary Island Song was a fun way to briefly catch up with a couple characters from those series via Bryan Spencer.

Robin’s books always make me want to live in the islands, whether Hawaii, where many of her books venture, or the Canary Islands, like in this book.  Her descriptions are so lush and vivid, I can imagine myself there.  Of course, I am then brutally reminded that I am, in fact, not on an island, but in Minnesota.  Tragic.

The book starts out with Carolyn’s twin sister Marilyn getting married, and Carolyn realizing she needs to “get a life,” in the words of her adult daughter, Tikki.  After a brief, failed relationship begun at Marilyn’s wedding reception, Carolyn agrees.  And the best way to get a life?  Take an impromptu trip to the Canary Islands just in time to surprise her mom, Abuela Teresa, for her seventieth birthday!

While in the Canary Islands, Carolyn spends time with the Women of the Canaries–her mother and aunts–getting a life after the loss of her husband.  She still blames God for his death seven years later.  Through flamenco dance lessons, treating herself to a pedicure, and, of course, reconnecting with her high school summer sweetheart, Bryan Spencer, Carolyn is able to regain both her life and her relationship with the Lord.

This is a sweet story about mother-daughter relationships, healing after loss, and the rekindling of love, many years and heartaches later.  The dynamic with three generations—Carolyn, Abuela Teresa, and Tikki—is fantastic, and I love Aunt Frieda’s Old World declarations, especially the one that concludes the book:

“Vivieron felices y comieron perdices
(y a mi no me dieron).”

“They lived happily and ate partridge
(and didn’t give me any).”

I highly recommend this both for longtime Robin Jones Gunn fans and those who have never read her books before.

Disclosure:  I received a complimentary copy of this book from Howard Books.  The review and opinions expressed are my own.  FTC 16 CFR, Pt. 255.