Although it took me about a third of the way through the book before I really got invested in it, I have to say that this is one of the best mystery/suspense books that I have read in a long time. The pacing was slow at first but picked up very quickly once there was a murder and the “nearly normal family” was involved. I really liked the characters, particularly the 18 year-old daughter Stella. She was portrayed as a girl who was hard to trust and who had acted badly in the past. Nevertheless, I really liked her and her steadfastness and unselfishness. I enjoyed the themes of family loyalty and love that ran through the book. Having the book divided into sections in which the father, Stella and the mother were the narrators was illuminating and a unique way to present the murder case and the evidence. I would highly recommend this book to those who enjoy mystery, suspense and police procedurals. I actually felt bad for the police in this story because they just could not get to the truth, no matter how hard they tried. You will have to read it for yourself to find out if you can figure out who the real murderer is….it will probably surprise you!

Disclaimer

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher, both via Netgalley and physically. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255, “Guides Concerning the Use of Testimonials and Endorsements in Advertising.”

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This book will be available on June 25, 2019. This was the first Swedish mystery that I have read and it was a very good one. Cautions: deals with mature topics like physical abuse and rape.

I was thinking for the last few days how often I ask God to bless me or family members or friends. But I have not been blessing God. How do I do that? I give Him the praise due His Name. I do pray and I do praise, but I have not been blessing. I want God to be blessed because He is God and He is worthy.

God is the only One who does miracles. And the whole earth is filled with His glory when from the four corners of the earth, we all praise His Name. We all know that we need God on a daily basis just to get through the challenges of the day. What I have been neglecting to do is to bless Him, as the Psalmist did. I plan to spend some of my day today just blessing God. I am blessed to be a blessing. How about you?

Although I did not read the first book in this Travellers series, I was able to flow the plot and characters very well. This was a well-written book about a group of people who are mostly ridiculed by the rest of society. The Pavees are known as gypsies, travellers without roots who are not to be trusted. Brynn Callahan is a Pavee, an ex-Marine who is still suffering from PTSD when she joins the sheriff’s office as the newest deputy. She is just in time to work on solving a homicide. I loved how the book flowed from one scene to another and how the characters interacted. My favorite character was Brynn, a flawed character to be sure, but a strong one with a story to tell and a future to survive for. I also liked Sheriff Pusser, a man who stood for values and protecting the town. The ending and the villain were total surprises to me, indicative of how well-written the book was. I definitely plan to look for other books in this series as this one kept me entertained and guessing. Readers of mystery and suspense will enjoy this book!

Disclaimer

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the author. I was not required to post a positive review. The opinions expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255, “Guides Concerning the Use of Testimonials and Endorsements in Advertising.”

Available now. Caution to readers: violence, language and more than a little description of blood and gore. But, overall a good, suspenseful read!

Available NOW at your favorite bookseller! A clean Christian read that is not at all “preachy.”

I certainly could not tell that this was a debut book by Natalie Waters. She told the story of Lane Kent and her move to a small town in Georgia absolutely seamlessly. The secrets that Lane takes with her are nothing compared to the secrets that are being hidden in this small town where everyone seems to know everyone else. Lane befriends a Vietnam veteran named Miguel who has to overcome PTSD in order to just survive. She also seeks the help of new deputy Charlie Lynch, also a veteran, because Lane is the one to discover the body of a dead teenager. This book was fantastic and kept my interest all the way to the satisfactory end! There is romance, mystery and the deep topic of depression and how it should be dealt with. I loved that the author was not afraid to tackle the hard topics and that she confronted them with knowledge and sympathy. I will definitely look for more books from this author and highly recommend her books to fans of mystery, intrigue, romance and suspense.

Disclaimer
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from Revell. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255, “Guides Concerning the Use of Testimonials and Endorsements in Advertising.”

The word “hope” has particular meaning for me since that is the name of our oldest child and only daughter. We chose that name because we “hoped” that she would be a girl, but we didn’t really think it was possible since my husband was from a family of all boys, for several generations. Anyway, that is how our beloved daughter got her name. Since that time, I have read this word in the Bible repeatedly. But, like many of you, I just kind of skimmed over it. Hope? Yeah, right! What is hope? According to the Google definition, hope is a feeling of expectation and desire that a certain thing will happen. Note that it is expecting something to happen, not just wanting it to do so. How do we get to the place where we expect something to happen? Something that is probably not going to happen without some help? In my case, the hope comes from my belief in our Lord Jesus Christ. Because He can do all things and the miraculous is no problem for Him!

As a Gentile believer, I have hope in Jesus, the descendant of Jesse and the Son of God. Each day, I say prayers to the Lord, knowing that my hope is always in Him. No matter what we are going through, we have hope!

God is a God of hope and He adds joy and peace to that. While we wait for answers to our prayers, we can continue to have joy and peace in Him, trusting that the answer is on the way. Do we always get the answer that we want? Of course not! God is God and answers our prayers for our good always. Sometimes, His answer is “no” and we have to accept that with the same joy and peace that we would have accepted a “yes” reply from Him. Our hope overflows from us to others because we show them that our hope is in the Savior of the world, not in our own powers or riches or abilities, and not in receiving the answer that we want for all of our prayers.

We seek the Lord daily and we rejoice as we seek Him. He is worthy of all praise…He is the One who gives us hope. He is the reason that I am able to get up every day with praise on my lips. It is not because of my circumstances, but because of who He is. We can hope daily in His grace, mercy and love. And for that, we can magnify His name. Forever! Blessings for a day filled with hope!

Thou Art Worthy: First Baptist Church of Jackson, Mississippi

This is the second book that I have read by this author, and I was really looking forward to a thrilling read. I was not disappointed at all! What a thoroughly engrossing book! It was difficult to put it down once I started it, so readers should be ready to read until you’re done with it. Sarah is the victim of sexual harassment. As a single mother, she cannot afford to lose her job, but that is the threat that Alan makes if she won’t sleep with him. What a horrible man Alan is! He is a sexual predator who is helped with his dark proclivities by being part of a team of men who choose to overlook his evil choices. The book has short chapters which makes it very fast-paced. The twists and turns are compelling and Sarah is a very sympathetic character. She saves a young girl’s life and in so doing, she gets an offer from the unsavory father of the young girl. He will make someone, anyone she wants, disappear if she makes a 29 second phone call. Of course, Sarah is desperate and makes the call. That is just the beginning of her troubles as she chooses to have Alan disappear. This was such a good book that I would give it more stars than five if I could. Readers of thrillers will enjoy this book but should be aware that the themes are adult ones, dealing with a sexual predator as well as pornography.

Disclaimer

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255, “Guides Concerning the Use of Testimonials and Endorsements in Advertising.”

This thriller will be available on September 10, 2019, but you can pre-order it now. Be warned that it deals with adult subjects like pornography and sexual predators.

Over four decades ago, I gave my life to Christ, but did I really dedicate my whole life to him? A lot of what I do in my life is for my own pleasure. I spend endless hours reading books that I enjoy or watching TV shows that I have on my DVR. As I read this Scripture on Saturday, it has made me reflect on the hours that I have spent doing things that do not matter for the kingdom of God.

I have not been totally asleep, just dozing instead of fully awake and aware of my responsibilities to God. After all, He sent His Son to die for me, so the least I can do is follow His instructions for how I am to be a witness for Him. I don’t go out on street corners. I don’t greet people at the local Wal-Mart with gospel tracts. I am trying to show people how Jesus would have us live, but sometimes I fail. Don’t we all? This Scripture spoke to me because Jesus will return soon. I believe that with all of my heart and I want others to know that salvation is as close to us as our next prayer. Our prayers can and should be for others who need the Lord. We also need to follow up our prayers with actions. We want to be doing the Lord’s work while we wait for His return. That is what I took away from this verse. What insight do you get from this passage? Blessings for a good week!

I have missed sharing scripture with everyone, and I’m glad to be back to my regular routine. I’m a little later today than usual because I went to my doctor today. Believe it or not, I injured myself by sitting in the car on our trip! I have an inflamed tailbone…so all prayers will be appreciated, (after you finish chuckling, of course)! am taking steroids since I can’t take painkillers and I have to sit on a special pillow. It’s a good thing that we have so many parts! Mine keep breaking down. Fortunately, I know the Creator and I’m depending on Him to take care of me until His return.

I suppose that everyone noticed that I have not been posting regularly for the last two weeks. That is because I had a fantastic trip to visit our children and grandchildren! What a great visit we all had! In Pennsylvania, we played games in the evening…just like in “olden” times. I loved the game Catan, although I needed my little granddaughter Tinslea to tutor me on how to play the first time. We also went to Miracle Mountain Camp’s Open House. This is a wonderful Christian camp with horses for the children to enjoy. One of our granddaughters is attending the camp in July and several have been there previously. The highlight for me was holding a bunny because rabbits are my favorite rodent. I also enjoyed watching the little two and six-year olds riding horses. I think Teagan went on a pony ride about six times at least! From Pennsylvania, we traveled down to Maryland to visit our son and his family there. We enjoyed a family time movie with our son and his wife, watching “How to Train Your Dragon 3”. We also went to an arts festival and to a Splash Pad where I got soaking wet taking the baby Evie through the sprinklers. What a great time we had with all of the family in distant parts! I did continue to read my Bible daily and do a devotional, but I didn’t take much time to do posts for obvious reasons. I was being a busy and doting Nanna, of course! Here are photos of some of the family and our activities.

I hope that you are enjoying the month of June and all of the new blossoms in your life! May God bless you all abundantly!