A Heartbeat Away - by Harry Kraus

Tori Taylor is an accomplished surgical oncologist, at the top of her game and climbing the professional ladder.  Only two things stand in her way: a virus that has substantially weakened her heart, and the staff that she has belittled and criticized in her pursuit of perfection.  Now, that same staff is in charge of her own surgery and rehabilitation as she undergoes a heart transplant in the very hospital in which she has previously been untouchable.  Once the new heart is in place, Tori begins to change.  She has nightmares about things that aren't from her own memories, she cries more, and she has compassion for the people around her.  The new Tori wants to understand where these changes came from; whose heart was this before it became hers? Has the new heart changed her?  Or has God used the experience to change Tori?  As Tori seeks answers, she may find more than she bargained for, and not everyone is happy that she's searching.

This was a fantastically written book.  The suspense kept me guessing, but never with blind turns to throw me off course.  Information was revealed in a logical way, where I never felt that things were being intentionally hidden; instead, I learned things as the characters discovered them.  Even with three stories unfolding simultaneously, I was enthralled with every character in the book.  Each time the point of view shifted, I was eager to find out more about that aspect of the story, and I couldn't wait for them to all come together.  I know that the science vs. religion conflict is a big one in the medical community, and Tori's initial doubts and inner debates felt very real, as well as her eventual realization that even science requires faith.

A Heartbeat Away is one of the best books I've read recently, and I debated between giving it 4 stars or 5.  In the end I give it 4 stars, but it's probably closer to a 4.5.  I definitely recommend it to anyone who likes a well-written suspense novel, or even to try it if you don't usually!

I have read several of Harry Krause, M.D.'s novels and have enjoyed all of them.  This is another author from whom I keep an eye out for new releases.  Reading the "Getting to know Harry" section at the book only made me appreciate him and his writing more.  I hope you'll try one of his books!

I received this book for free from David C. Cook publishers via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Starring Me - by Krista McGee

We first met Kara McKormick in First Date, where she befriended Addy during the reality show to win a date with the President's son.  When we pick up with Kara in Starring Me, she and Addy are still friends, and Kara is hoping to pursue a career in acting.  The opportunity arises for her to audition for a teen-driven variety show, but what Kara doesn't know is that the audition is based less on talent and more on her character.  Even less expected is that this search for a career will also lead her to God.

Chad Beacon is one of America's current heartthrobs.  Having celebrity land in his lap after winning a reality talent contest, he is hoping to broaden his career options by adding acting to his resume.  His parents know that if he is to spend a significant amount of time with a female co-star, his heart will become invested in her, and so they, understandably, want a say in choosing the actress.

I really enjoyed First Date, and had been looking forward to learning more about Kara in this sequel. Her spunkiness and her friendship with Addy continued to enrich the story.  Kara's family, too, added life and depth to the book, and felt like a family I would love to be a part of.  I loved watching her journey of faith, from her complete denial of the existence of God, to the questioning of his existence, to her acceptance and joy at the discovery that He loved her.  Her emotions always felt real and honest, and for the most part, the people that helped her get there seemed genuine.

My only issue with the book was perhaps that Chad felt too perfect.  He didn't really seem to struggle with anything, and even though his faith was his own, he was very quick to agree with everything his parents suggested.  I've known solid teenage Christians, but I don't know if I've ever known someone that in sync with their parents.  His character felt a little flat for all the perfection.

Overall, this was a great sequel.  And I was still left wanting more!  It isn't super deep, but there are some thought-provoking elements to keep it from being too light.  Kara's struggles to decide between career and family, even her decisions over which career path to choose, these are things that most readers can identify with on some level.  Watching how God orchestrated her path to draw her to Himself can cause us to wonder where He has worked in our lives to draw us to Him.

I give this book 4 stars.  I definitely recommend that you read First Date first, and then follow it up with this enjoyable sequel!

You can read Krista's blog HERE.  I look forward to reading more from this author!

I received a copy of this book from Thomas Nelson via NetGalley, in exchange for my honest review.

Five Miles South of Peculiar - by Angela Hunt

Darlene, Carlene, and Magnolia Caldwell grew up Five Miles South of Peculiar, on a large estate handed down from their grandfather, Chase Caldwell.  Darlene and Nolie (Magnolia) have been living in the home together, while Carlene has been working on Broadway as the "famous" sister.  However, Carlene's career has come to a sudden end, and while Nolie welcomes her sister's "visit" with open arms, Darly has reservations and is impatiently waiting for Carly to return to the big city.  Carly can't bring herself to admit her defeat, even as she finds herself drawn back to small-town life.  With the home's ownership only six years away from reverting to the county, all three sisters need to find a plan for their lives, as well as finding their place in each others'.

I have really mixed feelings about this book.  I found myself really drawn to the characters and was quickly immersed in the feel of the town and their lives.  Being invested in the story enough to care about the characters usually makes a book good in my opinion.  However, the inconsistencies in the characters started to bother me throughout the book.  Darlene would say that she wanted to reconcile with her sister, Carlene, but continue to voice how she couldn't wait for Carly to return to New York.  Carly genuinely seemed to desire a renewed relationship with Darly, but she couldn't discuss the reason for her return, and she continued to make changes to Darly's life without discussing them with her.  I know that a prolonged tension usually makes for a more interesting book, but Darly's eagerness for Carly's return became overdone.

The other sticking point that kept me from liking this book more was the feeling that I was being interjected into the middle of the sisters' stories.  Usually I get that feeling when I have picked up a second or third book in a series without reading the first book.  Unfortunately, this seems to be a stand-alone book.  It reads like it would make a much better middle book.  There was so much background information about the sisters' lives that needed to be fleshed out earlier in the story.  Also, the ending was wrapped up so quickly that I would have liked knowing there was another book coming to finish out the new directions that were introduced in a flood at the end of this book.

The mixed feelings make it difficult for me to give this book a rating.  I think I give it 2.5 stars, rounded up to 3 stars for making me care about the characters enough to want to know more about them.

I have read several of Ms. Hunt's books before and have enjoyed them; this book fell a bit short of her other works, in my opinion.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher, via NetGalley, in exchange for my honest review.

Interrupted - by Rachel Coker

When we meet Alycone Everly, she is a girl of fourteen who has been slowly forced into isolation by a mother whose mental health is deteriorating.  Feeling shunned from town from people who think her mother is crazy, Allie cares for her mother by herself, with only her neighbor friend Sam knowing how bad the situation actually is.  Upon her mother's sudden death, Allie is taken to Maine to Beatrice, the woman who wants to adopt her and be her mother.  Allie refuses to allow Beatrice to take her mother's place, and thus keeps Beatrice, and the love she has to offer, at arm's length.  When Sam shows up unexpectedly next door in Maine, she continues to keep herself aloof, trying to protect her heart from further loss.  Can Sam, the boy who was always there, find a way to help her open up, and find both love and faith?

This book intrigued me, as it is a young adult work, written by a young adult.  Rachel Coker was only fourteen herself when her first book was published.  I really wanted to read a book written by a teen for teens.  I was not disappointed.

Although the book started off a little bit slowly, once Allie lost her mom and had to decide on her own who to be and what to believe in, the story picked up quickly.  She held herself so tightly wound and separate from anyone who wanted to love her, that it made me ache for her and want to help her open up.  Her struggle with wanting to believe in God, even though her mother despised Christianity, felt honest and real, and I was glad to see her overcome the obstacle.  Once she did, the change and peace in her life, even though it didn't change her circumstances, was visible to those around her.

I give this book 3 stars.  Allie had to face so much on her own, but she grew through it and was able to change and grow, and that was an interesting journey for the reader to take.

You can find an excerpt of Interrupted: Life Beyond Words HERE.

I was provided a copy of this book from Zondervan in exchange for my honest review.

Belonging - Robin Lee Hatcher

Felicia Kristofferson has been looking for a family to belong to for most of her life.  Shipped west on an orphan train after the death of her mother, her siblings and she were given to separate families.  Upon the death of the parents who raised her, she finds that she was never truly adopted and has no inheritance, to claim.  Rather than accept the marriage proposal of her "cousin," she strikes out on her own, vowing to live as an independent woman and hoping to continue the search for her siblings.  She takes a job as a schoolteacher in a small town, determined to make a difference in the lives of her students.  Unbeknownst to her, her acceptance to the job was opposed by both her landlord, who fears that every woman is out to get a husband and so will not last long as a teacher for his daughter, and Helen, the rich woman on the school board, who is the mother-in-law of the woman who could become Felicia's good friend.

I enjoyed this book as a light read.  I admired Felicia's independent spirit, and her refusal to take the "easy" way out by marriage.  The search for her siblings seems like a storyline that will continue on, as this is the first book in a series.  Although the love story between Felicia and Colin was a given, I enjoyed the secondary story of Kathleen as she realized that she "should" love Colin, but also found her independence and courage to stand up to her mother-in-law and found love of her own.  Helen, the mother-in-law, was almost too overbearing for me to enjoy as a character.  There was no real growth or resolution on her meanness; even Kathleen's rebellion and the town's refusal to bow to her wishes didn't seem to change her or give her a wake-up call to the reality that she couldn't control people.  I know that in real life people don't always, or even often, change, but in my books, I like to think that they should.

I give this book 3 stars.  It was an enjoyable read, and I would like to follow the characters through another book or two.  I hope that we will continue to see growth in their relationships and personal lives through the extended story.

You can find the author's website HERE.
You can read an excerpt or purchase the book HERE.

I received this book for free from the publisher via Edelweiss in exchange for my honest review.

Coming Home - the Baxter Family Story Ends

Written as a conclusion to the tale of the Baxter family, Coming Home brings the Baxter clan back to Bloomington to celebrate John Baxter's 70th birthday.  Every son and every daughter has made plans to be there; they've all thought through what their father has meant to them over the years and written heartfelt letters to express their love to the leader of this family.  The family has dealt with their share of struggles and loss over the years, and have always managed to cling to God and to each other to get through.  Will another heartbreaking tragedy be enough to break them, or will they continue to rely on God's great faithfulness?

There was a time where I made a vow to myself to never pick up another Karen Kingsbury book again.  But the first series about the Baxter family - the Redemption Series still ranks as some of my favorite stories I've read.  I am a sucker for the Baxter family, and when I saw that this was to be either a "conclusion" or an "introduction" to their story, I couldn't resist.  I really wanted to see how their saga played out, but I wasn't sure that a book could serve as both an introduction and a conclusion.  I was right to wonder - it really can't.  The first 30% of the book was spent on catching the reader up on the Baxters' past, all six siblings' defining moments.  At first, I thought it was a nice refresher - after all, it has been several years since I read the original series.  I also knew that there had been several spin-off sets to the story that I had never read, so it was nice to catch up on who had how many kids and to find that Ashley and Landon were living in "the Baxter House" now.  But 30% is a large section of a book to be retelling events that have already been written about, yet one hundred pages (give or take, I was reading the e-version) is not really enough to tell a new reader all of the heartache, struggle, and victory that Kari, Ashley, Brooke, Erin, Luke, and Dayne have been through.  If a new reader picked up Coming Home, though, they would already know that Kari's husband dies, Hayley survivves, Luke marries Reagan, and other major plot points of the earlier series.

Once the book gets past the introductions though, the tears and grief hit hard and fast, and just keep on coming.  I will not pretend that I did not cry through a very large portion of this book.  I will absolutely not spoil the story for you, though, so I can't tell you anything about the tragedy.  You'll need to be like me, and with every point-of-view switch wonder: is this the person who won't make it to the next chapter?  I did hate that - I hated, from the perspective of feeling like I love this family, knowing that something major was going to strike one of them and not knowing who it would be.

Overall, I am glad I read this book.  I was glad to "hang out" with the Baxters just a little bit longer.  While I am very, very sad at the turn this book took, unlike some of the earlier books, I felt like there wasn't a moment where everything worked out just peachy for everybody.  My only wish was that less time had been spent rehashing the past and more time was spent on the present and future of the family.

I have a hard time rating this book, but I'll give it 4 stars, just because I love the Baxter family so darn much. And isn't a character, or twenty, that stays with you the mark of a good book?

Karen Kingsbury's site can be found HERE.
I don't know if I recommend the entire 22 books of this loose series, but I do highly recommend the first five books, starting with Redemption.

The Widow of Saunders Creek - by Tracey Bateman

Corrie Saunders is The Widow of Saunders Creek.  Her husband Jarrod lost is his life protecting Iraqui villagers from a 12-year-old strapped with a bomb.  To Corrie, and to almost everyone who knew him, he was a hero.  His cousin, Eli, however, remembers him differently.  Eli remembers Jarrod as competitive and selfish, and most importantly, as the man responsible for his leg injury that kept Eli himself from serving his country.  Corrie has inherited property in Saunders Creek that has belonged to the Saunders family for generations.  She moves there to see if she can find Jarrod's memory, but she seems to find his presence itself in the house.  Eli warns her that humans cannot return to the earth, and that she needs to be careful of letting this spirit into her life.  Will she believe Eli, who is becoming a dear friend and possibly more, or will it be too hard to finally let go of Jarrod?

This book was so much  more than I expected.  I hesitated to request it, because I don't typically like books that deal with demons and spirits.  However, the balance in this book made it such a great story.  Eli believes definitively that there should be no contact with the spirit world, that the Bible condemns witches and mediums.  Even so, there are self-confessed witches within his own family who consider their gift to be from God.  He manages to love them without condoning their beliefs.  Corrie, understandably, is somewhere in the middle.  She believes that Eli is honest and caring and that his beliefs seem sound.  But she is still grieving intensely, and would like nothing more than proof that Jarrod is still with her.  The demonstration of how easy it is to let demons prey on our fears and hopes is very realistic and timely.  Yet the author clearly shows that Jesus is the only spiritual Power and being that we should trust, and that His Name is the Name above all.

In addition to the supernatural aspects of the book, the characters within story made it so much richer and fuller than just a ghost story.  The book alternates points of view between Corrie and Eli, giving us both sides of the story, and allowing each of them to interact with minor characters that serve to enrich their personalities even further.  Even though some characters appear for only short scenes, they demonstrate the town's love for Eli, who has always felt inferior to Jarrod, and they give pictures of loving relationships and committed marriages.

I give this book 4 stars.  I really enjoyed all of the characters, and felt that there was such a good balance of love and struggles that the book felt neither sappy nor depressing.  The relationship between Corrie and Eli develops so slowly and naturally, that even though you know from the early pages that that's where it's going, you're happy when it gets there.  I would definitely look to read more works from this author.

The author's website is HERE.
You can read an excerpt from Chapter 1 HERE.

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I received a copy of this book for free from Waterbrook Multnomah as part of their Blogging for Books program in exchange for my honest review.