Too Far to Say Far Enough - Nancy Rue

Too Far to Say Far Enough is the concluding book in the Reluctant Prophets trilogy.  Allison Chamberlain is a prophet who gets Nudges from God about the work He wants her to do.  In this story, the Nudge she continues to get is "Go one more mile."  After traveling many literal miles, she begins to realize that maybe this job isn't about the physical distance, but the extra effort required to forgive and to heal broken relationships and to love her enemies.  Having officially adopted her son, and now taking in a runaway 14-year-old girl, Allison's life is filling up with just the day-to-day needs of caring for the people around her.  Add in the criminals trying to exact revenge on her for the work she's both done in the past and is doing now in her rescue work, and she has way too many "piles" to keep straight without help from God and the people He has put in her life to serve as her extended family as well as her extra hands and feet and hearts.

Allison is a compelling character.  Her compassion for broken women and children entrenched in street life is admirable and heartbreaking.  The people who have filled her life are real, they're dirty with real life, and they're working for a better one together.  They are healing, but it is taking time, and it's taking hard work.  They make you root for them, and they make you realize that there really is a dirty side to life that we all too often ignore.

This book made me wish I had started at the beginning of the trilogy.  The characters were so deep and their ties to each other so strong, that I really wish I had known the beginning of their story.  There were so many references to their past that affected the present story, that I felt pretty lost for a lot of the book.  Despite that, I was still able to invest in the characters and be drawn into the desperation they felt.  I was not expecting such a thriller/crime type aspect to this novel, and it certainly wasn't a simple conclusion to resolve the story.

When I first read the title of the book, I didn't get it.  Eventually, it turned out that once you've started doing the work God has called you to, you can never go "too far to say far enough," you need to complete the work He has given you.

Overall, I can only give this book 3 stars as a stand alone novel, but I definitely think if I had read the previous two books, it would have rated much higher as a conclusion to a compelling trilogy.  I will definitely be looking to read the other two, and possibly re-reading this one to get a sense of the complete journey of Allison and her circle of characters.

You can find Nancy Rue's website HERE.
Find the rest of the trilogy HERE.

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

The Girl in the Glass - by Susan Meissner

The Girl in the Glass covers multiple continents, various characters, and several hundred years of time.  Marguerite Pomeroy, or "Meg" as everyone calls her, is an editor at a publishing house that produces travel books.  Ever since she was a little girl, Meg has dreamed of traveling to but one place: Florence, Italy, the land of her beloved Nonna who died before she could take Meg there herself.  Her father has promised several times over the years since then to make the trip, but has never managed to come through on his promise.  Meg has made friends with a brother and sister author team who live in Florence and are excited at the possibility of her visit.  Additionally, their neighbor Sofia has recently been sending Meg chapters of a memoir about Florence that she is writing, a book where she claims to be the last of the Medici family, and where she talks about hearing a voice from the distant past speaking to her through art.  Will Meg's father come through on his promise?  Will Meg make it to Florence?  What will it be like for Meg to meet her Florentine friends in person?

This book started out a little slowly for me.  I had trouble making the transition between the points of view of Meg, Nora, and Sofia (I admit that some of this is the Kindle formatting, and may be easier to notice the transition in print!), but it did not take me long to get sucked in to the story.  Having studied architectural history in college, and having taken a trip to Florence several years ago, the descriptions of the city and the buildings and the art were very real to me, and I could picture them as if I had just been there yesterday.  Not only that, but the clear love of the city and its history made me want to go back tomorrow!

In addition to the city, I loved how the author weaved God into the creative works of the Renaissance.  She wrote "Wise Brunelleschi merely discovered what God had already set across man's path to stumble upon.," and in talking about the Uffizi: "Walking its halls was like walking through a corner of the Creator's mind."  While discussion of God and faith was very sparsely detailed in the book, it permeated the story through notes like this, making it very heartfelt.

The characters quickly became people I cared about, as well.  Sofia made me want to hug her and fix everything that needed fixing; I wanted to find the perfect match for Meg and have a character sweep her off her feet.  Even the minor characters were deep enough to feel like real people, for good or for bad.  While this book would not be classified as a classic love story, the love of the characters for each other, and Meg's search for what love should look like in her own life make it a much more believable tale of love than many others that I've read.

I admit that my own love of Florence may have biased my judgement on this book, but that said, I give this book 4 stars.  The ending seemed a little quirky to me, but overall, I really enjoyed this book and its characters.

You can find Susan Meissner's website HERE.
You can read an excerpt from Chapter 1 HERE.

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

Abducted - by Janice Cantore

Carly Edwards and Joe King are police partners, on the graveyards patrol shift, when they get the call that Joe's wife and infant son have been admitted to the hospital.  While the doctors are still figuring out what's wrong with his wife, his son is Abducted directly from the pediatric wing of the hospital.  Even as Carly tries to solve the kidnapping, she's also dealing with her ex-husband and their relationship that was looking towards reconciliation, while another man in her life begins to show interest in her.  Additionally, her roommate seems to be distancing herself from Carly, and becomes agitated at Carly's new found Christianity.  How will Carly deal with all of these relationship issues while trying to help her partner get his family back together and to solve a crime that's bigger than any of them imagined?

Abducted is the second book in the Pacific Coast Justice series, written by Janice Cantore, a retired Long Beach police officer.  While this book can certainly stand alone as a novel, there were numerous references to incidents in Carly's past, as well as several other characters, that I can only imagine were detailed in the previous book.  This book would have flowed as a story, for me anyway, without so many of those references.  Most of the past crimes referenced didn't have a bearing on this story and only served as distractions instead of helping the story along.

The deepest part of the story was that of Carly and Nick's path of forgiveness and new beginnings.  It was refreshing to read a book where, even though hurtful mistakes had been made and forgiveness wasn't easy, or even understandable by most of the people who knew them, they worked at their relationship and prayed for renewal.

Other than the forgiveness storyline, I found the book just okay.  I give it 2.5 stars, rounded down to 2 stars.

You can find more from the author HERE.

I received a copy of this book for free from Tyndale publishers, in exchange for my honest review.

What Your Husband Isn't Telling You - David Murrow

In What Your Husband Isn't Telling You: A Guided Tour of a Man's Body, Soul, and Spirit, David Murrow walks the reader through the three areas of a man's life (body, soul, and spirit), and discusses the reasons that men struggle and what about his nature causes those struggles.  He defines the two driving forces in a man's life to be Provider and Protector, and then explains how those affect everything a man thinks and does.

This book left me conflicted.  While on one hand, I can foresee situations that will make me reflect on this book and how the author addressed it, I felt let down by his cynicism on both men and women.  He makes a point at the beginning of the book to acknowledge that not all men struggle with the same things, and that some of the points in the book may not apply to the reader's husband, but he doesn't seem to give the same leeway to women.  He seems to assume that that majority of his female readers will fall into all of the same pits when it comes to understanding their men or handling their struggles.  The other disappointment comes from how much emphasis he puts on the nature of men as a reason for their behavior.  He does occasionally say that men shouldn't be given free reign to act on these excuses, but by the end of the book, it begins to feel like an awful lot like a free pass for men's behaviors, and women are just supposed to understand why they happen without being able to change anything.  In addition, the author sprinkles in enough scripture to make his reasons seem Biblical, but he leaves God out of several lines of reasoning.  He talks a lot about "culture" and "society" driving the definition of a man, and leaves out that God created men to be different than women.  He even mentions Joshua from the Old Testament "dismissing the cautious advice of ten spies but accepting the counsel of two risk takers," as if Joshua was merely acting as a "manly man" instead of trusting God's provision and protection in taking the Promised Land.

My rating of the book started to fall the further I read.  In the end, I give it 2 stars.  I think it could have been much better, but I did still take a few points from it that I hope will help in my relationships with the men in my life.

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

What I Didn't Say - by Keary Taylor

When the book What I Didn't Say opens, Jake is your fairly typical American teenager from a small town, or in this case, small island.  He's a football player, dreaming of graduation when he'll join the Air Force, and crushing on a girl whom he can't tell how he feels.  Well, he could if he wanted to, he just can't work up the nerve.  However, with a few drinks in him, and some encouragement from his equally drunk friends, he finds the courage to go find her to declare his love.  His entire future changes in a horrific accident which renders him mute for life.  Now, the girl, Samantha befriends him, and their relationship grows, but he no longer has the voice to tell her what's on his heart.  Meanwhile, Samantha herself is holding on to secrets that could also change her life if anyone were to find out.  Can their relationship withstand the secrets and the silence?

The accident that happened to Jake was shocking and heartbreaking; I can't even imagine having your entire life altered by one stupid mistake, and living with the consequences every single day.  With the consequence being the loss of his voice, he can't even scream or rant or complain to anyone.  His struggles with accepting his fate felt very true; he realized that he had a choice to make and that it was his choice alone to decide to wallow in his new disability, or to accept it and move on.  It wasn't an easy choice, and he didn't make it and move on without ever looking back, but I liked that he was able to look at it and know he was at the fork in the road.

I also enjoyed several of the other characters in the book.  I liked that Samantha was smart and working hard to get herself where she wanted to go.  Jake's friends stayed loyal even after the accident left him disabled and with ugly scars; again, it was realistic in that it wasn't an easy decision, there were definitely awkward moments, and thoughts of blaming the accident on them, but they were still there, and they kept working on staying friends.  Jordan, Jake's sister, was also incredibly loyal, helping him out, having his back, encouraging him.  It was very sweet.  I loved Jake's whole family, from his mom who could feed the entire island at any given time, yet discouraged his friends from cursing in the house, to all 6 of his siblings who kept his life busy and the house loud.

I give this book 3 stars.  I enjoyed the characters, and it was an interesting journey to observe for both Jake and Samantha to figure out their situations and new realities.  I liked that, for the most part, characters were able to look beyond themselves and see where others needed help.

Right now, this book is only $1.99 for Kindle on Amazon!  But for only 5 more days!
You can find Keary Taylor's website HERE.  Her Author's Note at the end of this book gives the reader a glimpse at her own story and how she put her heart into this work.

I received a copy of this book for free in exchange for my honest review.

Be Still My Soul - by Joanne Bischof

In Be Still My Soul, Lonnie Sawyer hasn't lived an easy life.  With a controlling father and an overly submissive mother, she has tried to blend into the background to avoid being noticed.  Until the night Gideon O'Riley walks her home and requests a good night kiss.  Even though Lonnie knows she fought him off and nothing happened, she can't prove it, and her father forces Gideon to do "the right thing," by marrying her.  Forced to marry Lonnie, can Gideon get past his anger and resentment and become the husband she needs him to be?

This book surprised me by how much I enjoyed it.  I read the entire book in a day, because I could not put it down.  I especially enjoyed the hero characters of Jebediah and Elsie.  It's rare for an older couple to be placed in the saving role in a novel, but the mentor relationship is so important for younger men and women to understand how to change and grow.  It really worked well in this story, and I wanted Jeb and Elsie to take me under their wings!

Gideon struggles a lot with not only the changes he needs to make, but with the very idea that he needs to change.  He didn't want this marriage, he didn't want Lonnie, why should he step up and help her?  His personal growth through the book felt very honest and realistic.  It was a gradual change, and it was believable.  As a reader, I wanted him to change more quickly for Lonnie's sake, but he had to learn his lessons slowly and want to really change.

There is definitely an element of sadness in the book, but it fits the story and doesn't feel excessive.  I know there are readers who don't like to read sad books, so I like to prepare you if that's you!

I'm excited to see that this is the first book in a series, and I look forward to reading the next one!
I give this book 4 stars.

You can read an excerpt from Chapter 1 HERE.
You can find Joanne's blog and website HERE.

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I received a copy of this book from Waterbrook Multnomah Publishing Group in exchange for my honest review.

Full Disclosure - by Dee Henderson

Ann Silver is a woman full of secrets and intrigue.  It's what makes her good at her job, and allows her to have a very select circle of friends.  When Paul Falcon is introduced to her, he finds that he wants to know those secrets, and is only further intrigued by where their circles overlap.  She drops some information in his lap that leads to very big breaks on a very important case that he has been working for a long time.  The farther he gets into his relationship with Ann, and the further into the case he gets, the more secrets are revealed about her past. In the interest of Full Disclosure, can she trust him with her secrets?  Can he handle them if she does?  Where does the crime trail lead, and how exactly are she and her influential friends involved?

**POSSIBLE SPOILERS**
This is a really hard review for me to write.  I really really wanted to like this book.  The entire O'Malley Series has a place on my bookshelf, and this book made me want to re-read them all.  I enjoyed the reference to the O'Malley characters here, but it made me a bit squeamish to read that Ann was the author of the books.  It felt self-promoting, as additional characters were frequently commenting on how good the books were and telling her what a good author she was.  Other than a token appearance, however, most of the previous characters (Ann's "friends" whom she fictionalized) didn't really engage with this story.

As much as I liked the character of Paul Falcon, I found Ann to be a bit tiring.  She was touted as a good listener and a good friend, but this book only gave her the one side of being needy and selfish with her time.  I can't say that I would have wanted more of her story, though, because the book already felt overly long.  The two major crime stories took an eon to intersect, and I was able to guess the main part of the "twist" at the end fairly early on in the story.  Also, the side notes from Ann's day job of investigating difficult murders just served to add uneccessary grief to the book.  If we had just seen Ann's burden and need to leave the job behind, it would have sufficed, instead of knowing exactly how bad the crimes were.

I think I can still give this book 3 stars, based primarily on the characters of Paul, Sam, and Rita.  I would have liked to have seen Paul's storyline with his family play out a bit more, and his dialogue and pursuit of Ann be dialed back a notch.  I would have liked to have seen more interaction with the O'Malleys, at least enough to catch up on where they were "now."  Additionally, even though I liked the main two crime stories, they were just too drawn out to keep me in suspense.  I do love Dee's writing style, I just wish this book had been more concise.

I had high expectations for this book, but feel that it fell a bit short for me.

Find the website for the book HERE.

I received an advanced reader copy of this book from Bethany House Publishers in exchange for my early and honest review.