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Book Review: The New Husband by D.J. Palmer

The New Husband, the second novel I’ve read by Palmer, has him becoming an author I’ll need to stalk! I mean, search Amazon and Goodreads accordingly, for the next new book 🙂

Nina Garrity’s husband Glen is presumed dead. A year and a half after the accident, Nina considers herself a widow, even though the police never found a body. Following a chance encounter with Simon Fitch, a teacher from her daughter Maggie’s middle school, Nina finds love again and has hopes of putting her shattered life back together. But it’s never that easy is it? This is a thriller after all!

The New Husband is intense throughout despite certain mysteries being solved for the readers fairly early on. However, I kept turning the pages because while the reader has the answers, the characters in the story do not. I needed to know how it would all be revealed and how the cast of characters would react.

I really did enjoy this book, but thought that things came together a little too quickly in the end. There was one question I would have liked a solution to. It’s not a major plot line, but one I would have liked resolved because I simply don’t like not knowing for certain.

The New Husband has left me eagerly looking forward to Palmer’s next book. If thrillers are your thing, then add this book to your list immediately!

My thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

 

 

Rating: 4 stars

Reviewer: Jennifer

Title: The New Husband

Author: D.J. Palmer

Release Date: April 14, 2020

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Book Review: The Time of Jacob’s Trouble by Donna VanLiere

The Time of Jacob’s Trouble is not what I expected, nor was the writing the Donna VanLiere that I’m used to.

A typical day at work turns into a nightmare for Emma Grady when her favorite patient and several colleagues vanish in front of her. What could make so many people vanish in a moment? And not just in New York, but all over the globe?

Do you remember the Left Behind series from the early 2000s? As a believer those books packed a punch. To me they were an easier way to see what the Bible describes in the book of Revelation. The Time of Jacob’s Trouble seems to be VanLieres way of doing the same thing. But this book did not work for me or pack the same punch the Left Behind series did. The characters lacked depth and their stories and how they are written felt jumbled and without flow. Then suddenly, the book just stops! I was not expecting a cliffhanger! What I didn’t know when I started this book was that it is the first book in a series.

Why did my Kindle say there was nearly two hours left in the book when I reached the end of the story? Because the rest of the book is segments titled Where in the Word? The best way I can describe these segments are as Bible study material. VanLiere dives into the scripture surrounding the events in the fictional chapters she has written. I did not read these segments because I was not prepared for them. Their inclusion was such a shock to me. I wasn’t prepared to study the end times as told in Revelation in depth. My head was completely in the fictional characters and what was happening to them.

While this did not live up to my VanLiere expectations, it was still an okay read. I’m not sure how this book is classified, but it seems better suited for a Bible study group to experience together. I’m not sure that I’ll read the next book, but I’ll probably read the fictional portion only and skip the study material if I do decide to continue the series.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

 

Rating: 3 stars

Reviewer: Jennifer

Title: The Time of Jacob’s Trouble

Author: Donna VanLiere

Release Date: March 17, 2020

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Book Review: Amber Waves of Grace by Jessica Berg

I go in to every book I read wanting to like it. Although I admit when it’s a new to me author, I also go in to the book with a touch of hesitancy. Will I find a new author I love? Or will I find an author that I feel needs work or that will forever be marked off my list? Needs work is where Amber Waves of Grace by Jessica Berg falls.

Corrie Lancaster moves back to the family farm where she must complete this year’s harvest, keep tabs on her old boyfriend and younger siblings, and watch her parent’s marriage crumble.

There is so much going on in this story! The book clocks in under 250 pages and I found that the stories lacked depth. The relationships didn’t feel real and believable. I don’t feel like I really got to know the characters and wish the book could have been expanded to include more details and exploration of the character’s lives. The stories unfolded too quickly in my opinion causing this reader to lose interest and skim most of the last half of the book. I was invested enough to want to know how everything played out, but at the same time I didn’t. Does that make sense?

I hate that I’ve done nothing but pick this book apart! I don’t enjoy bad mouthing an author’s baby. However, there is potential here and I would be interested in reading further works by this author.

The author provided me with a copy of the e-book in exchange for my honest review.

 

Rating: 3 stars

Reviewer: Jennifer

Title: Amber Waves of Grace

Author: Jessica Berg

Release Date: February 3, 2020

 

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Book Review: A Million Dreams by Dani Atkins

A Million Dreams, the latest from Dani Atkins, isn’t perfect but it did give me all the feels.

Pete and Izzy’s eight-year-old son Noah is their whole life. When they receive a surprise phone call from the fertility center that helped them have Noah, it’s surely nothing to worry about. But what they learn from that call sends their dreams for their son crashing down around them.

While I didn’t find the plot new or particularly fascinating, Atkins created characters that I needed to see through their circumstances. Atkins wrote a story that I could see from both sides and more than a week after finishing the book, still don’t know which side I would choose. The choices and the emotions are packed into this aspect of the story.

As I mentioned, this book isn’t perfect. I can’t fully explain that statement because that would involve giving spoilers, but there were two things that bothered me. First, I would have liked to see more exploration of a relationship between two characters and secondly, the ending needed an epilogue. As far as the relationship, I needed more details, more something to make it feel real. Regarding the ending, if you follow my reviews, you know I’m that reader that wants the author to spell it ALL out. This was one of those cases. The story ends well, but I needed that epilogue to give me that last scene. How did it go? I needed those details.

Again, without trying to give spoilers I could really relate to another portion of the story. As a mom with a child with medical issues, this part of the story gutted me. The feels, y’all!

This is the third book that I’ve read by Atkins and she has yet to fail in telling a great story. Add this one to your list. May it give you all the feels too.

Copy of A Million Dreams provided by NetGalley.

 

Rating: 4 stars

Reviewer: Jennifer

Title: A Million Dreams

Author: Dani Atkins

Release Date: February 19, 2020

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Book Review: Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano

Dear Edward seemed to pop up everywhere I turned. When this happens, I usually don’t read those books right away because they have been so hyped up that I’m ultimately disappointed when I read them. Unfortunately, that held true with Dear Edward. Continue reading “Book Review: Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano” →

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Looking Back: My Favorite Reads of 2019

As I started thinking about the approaching new year, I wanted to take a look back at the books I read in 2019. What books earned the rare 5-star rating? Which stories could I still vividly recall months after reading them? So off to Goodreads I went to take a little trip back through my 2019 reading. Here’s what I discovered …

Continue reading “Looking Back: My Favorite Reads of 2019” →

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Book Review: What Holds Us Together by Sandi Ward

Two of my favorite things are books and cats. When I saw the cover of What Holds Us Together, the cat immediately grabbed by attention. Continue reading “Book Review: What Holds Us Together by Sandi Ward” →

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Book Review: Full Circle by Andrea Barber

Like a lot of you, I grew up watching Full House on Friday nights, and more recently enjoying Fuller House on Netflix. When I came across Full Circle by Andrea Barber, aka Kimmy Gibbler, on NetGalley I was curious about the woman who brought this character to life. Continue reading “Book Review: Full Circle by Andrea Barber” →

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Book Review: Smoke Screen by Terri Blackstock

I didn’t find Smoke Screen as intense as some of Blackstock’s previous works. Continue reading “Book Review: Smoke Screen by Terri Blackstock” →

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