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Review of COUNTDOWN by Lynette Eason
About the Book
COUNTDOWN
EXTREME MEASURES, BOOK #4
PUBLISH DATE: AUG 2023
A stalker who wants to finish what he started. A US Marshal who’s vowed to protect his charge. And one woman who is determined to put the past in the past.
Flight paramedic Raina Price has been running so long it’s hard to stop. To escape a dangerous stalker, she changed her name and disappeared, building a new life with the help of a friend from her time in juvie. It feels good to put her energies into saving people’s lives, but because her stalker was never found, she’s never stopped looking over her shoulder. And one can only run so far before the past finally catches up.
US Marshal Vincent Corelli’s job is to hunt down fugitives and protect those who are assigned to him. When Raina is almost killed right in front of him, he vows to protect her at all costs–whether it’s his job or not. Together they work to solve the mystery of Raina’s past. But someone is out to make sure Raina doesn’t live long enough to do it.
Countdown is the breathless conclusion to USA Today bestselling author Lynette Eason’s thrilling Extreme Measures series.
ISBN-13:9780800737368. Publisher:Baker Publishing Group. Publication date:08/01/2023. Series:Extreme Measures , #4. Pages:304
Other Books in the Extreme Measures Series
My Thoughts
This is a heart-pounding romantic suspense with lovable characters who jumped off the page and into my imagination. Raina has been on the run for most of her life but decides to take a stand against her aggressor when he threatens those near and dear to her. The new man in her life, Vince, is suffering from some past trauma himself but he is determined to keep Raina safe. The adventures of these two are harrowing and cleverly written, with some deliberate misdirection that kept me on the edge of my seat. I enjoyed the intrigue, the multiple layers and how tightly the plot was written. With lots of action and plenty of characters, this intense and complex book had me captivated to the very satisfying conclusion. This is the perfect book to end this outstanding series! The characters from the previous books have cameo appearances while Raina is featured in this one. All books can be read as a standalone, but I am thrilled to have read and enjoyed each of them. The author explores with heart the effect of trauma on a person and her treatment of the Raina’s terrifying past gives a great deal of depth and authenticity to the story. With a fast pace and continually crackling with tension, this is a must read for fans of compelling romantic suspense.
Disclaimer
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the author as part of her launch team and an e-copy from Revell as part of the Revell Reads Blogger Program. I was not required to write a positive review, and all opinions expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255, “Guidelines Concerning the Use of Testimonials and Endorsements in Advertising.”
About the Author
Questions and Answers with Lynette:
Questions for Lynette Eason:
1. What was the most interesting (or most frightening) thing you learned in the research you did for this book?
Countdown was a cool book to write. I found it really interesting that hospitals monitor employee keystrokes. Like everything typed into the computer is monitored. I should have known this, but it surprised me for some reason. So, when I wanted someone to delete an autopsy report, I had to get creative in how it could be done.
2. What was your favorite part of writing this book/series?
I enjoy reading books in a series, so I’ve always been drawn to writing them. I love the fact that I get to revisit characters on a regular basis and see how they grow and change as the series goes on.
3. Did anything in the story end up surprising you or changing trajectory?
I was kind of surprised by the villain—which happens frequently. I had one person in mind as the bad guy, but as the story went on, the REAL villain came to light and I was like, “Ohhhhh…yeah.”
4. Do you have any bits of “trivia” or “behind the scenes” tidbits you’d like to share with my readers?
I suppose just the writing of the story is always a learning process. With each story, I feel like I’m always starting over and am like, I’m really not sure I can do this again. LOL. And then in the end, it works out. Mostly because I pray a lot and force myself to make it work with the Lord’s help!
5. What’s coming next and when can we expect it?
I have a new series releasing starting in January 2024. The series has been named Lake City Heroes and takes place in the fictional town of Lake City, NC. Double Take is book 1 and Target Acquired is book 2. Books 3 and 4 haven’t been titled yet.
6. When and how did you know that you wanted to be an author?
Well, that kind of snuck up on me. I started writing out of loneliness and once I had a story written, I kind of wondered if I could get it published. I didn’t get the first three books published, but the 4th one was the charm. 😊
7. What is your writing process like?
No matter what I do in a day, my rule is I have to write just 50 words before my head hits the pillow. NO LESS. And more often than not, once I start, I obviously get way more than 50. But it’s the absolute minimum every day. And often people ask if I plot out a story. I used to say, no way. But as I’ve noticed, is I start with an idea, then have a very loose outline (a plotting technique!!) and I go from there. So, I’m more of a plantser – half plotter and half pantster. For those that don’t know that term, it’s someone who writes by the seat of their pants – they let the story guide them. I used to think I was for sure a pantser, but I know now I’m a mix of the two.
8. What would be your advice to new authors?
Study the craft by reading books on writing, attending conferences and definitely by writing, writing, writing. A lot of people say to find a mentor and I agree with that. It can be difficult to find one so keep that in mind and be patient until God puts that person in your life. And don’t worry because He will.
9. If you could have a luncheon with a group of authors, whom would you invite and why?
Colleen Coble, Robin Carroll, DiAnn Mills, Carrie Stuart Parks, Lynn Blackburn. There are more, of course, but I’d run out of room listing them all!
Why: I’ve known them for ages and we’ve walked the writing journey together for a long time. And we can’t get in the same space without brainstorming someone’s next book.
10. What is your favorite thing to do when you are not writing or reading a book?
Photography and traveling with my husband. I love taking pictures of nature and animals—zoo or free roaming. I also enjoy taking portraits and family photos, too!
Thank you, Lynette Eason, for answering questions that inquiring minds want to know!
This is a new release and is available NOW! Purchase Links:
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Our Father Knows
Sometimes, I feel that I just don’t have the words to pray, to tell God what is happening and to ask for His help in the situation. That’s when this verse pops into my mind and I know that He already knows. So, even in the quiet of my voice, He hears the cry of my heart. What an awesome God we serve!
ettingerwriting.wordpress.com/2023/07/31/beyond-isaiah-520-2/
Please go to the original post and follow David. Not only will you learn from Him, but his wisdom is powerfully sobering.
God’s Judgment
At our church, we just finished the study of the Book of Revelation. The good news is that there’s a new Heaven and a new earth and God is the ruler, so no more corruption or temptation or sin. The bad news is that the good is preceded by God’s wrath, the final judgment. God has judged many nations throughout history and as I have been reading Isaiah for my devotional, I have seen that the wrath of God against Babylon parallels the wrath He demonstrates against the earth in Revelation.
I am not a Bible scholar, but I do know that in Isaiah God is speaking directly to Babylon and says that He will punish them severely. He will crush those who have shown only arrogance. God is not tolerant of pride at all. Think back to how Satan rebelled; he demonstrated pride and arrogance. To me, Babylon represents all nations, all people who stand up to God and say that they don’t need Him will be judged by God.
God’s original plan was for a perfect world without sin, but His plan was thwarted by Satan’s temptation and the choice of mankind to sin. God’s judgment cannot be stopped. It is coming. Babylon was an example, a prototype, if you will, of the judgment to come. I know that God must be looking on the world with deep sorrow because He has done all He can to save mankind from itself and the desire to follow their own ways. But once His wrath is unleashed, He will not be stopped by anyone.
I am not fearful of God’s wrath. I am fearful of how much destruction mankind will cause with their wickedness before God judges. God’s timing is perfect and I trust Him to stop the madness at just the right time, just as He sent Jesus at just the right time. In the meantime, I am praying for many to come to the Lord so that they don’t face God’s great judgment and wrath.
God Knows
Just in case you think that you can have secrets from God, let me clue you in to some truth. You can’t! Try reading Psalm 139 aloud and let it speak to you about where God is and how intimately He is involved in your life. This psalm was in both of my devotional books this morning, so if I didn’t get the message the first time, God repeated it.
When I got up this morning, my first thoughts after saying my thanksgiving prayer were all that I have to do today to get ready to go to the beach to meet our daughter and her family. No, I didn’t procrastinate. Well, maybe a little. We have known since April that we would be meeting our daughter at Myrtle Beach and I waited until today to organize and pack. It’s not that I don’t want to see everyone. I do, I really do! I just am not a big fan of traveling or packing or unpacking. I get anxious that I will forget something vital (like meds), so I make lists. Then I check things off, highlight them, circle them, carry the list with me from room to room. You get the idea, right? We were away from home for three weeks in June to July. Then, mid-July, I visited my sister in NC for a week. Two weeks at home and back on the road again for another week now. We will be traveling again later in August and one final trip in September. So, all of this traveling and packing has me a little fidgety. But God surprised me with a verse this morning that jumped off the page at me and immediately calmed me down.
Wow! Just wow! I always pray for traveling mercies and know that God goes with me wherever I go, But for Him to affirm that He is seeing me as I travel…this blows my mind. I know it shouldn’t because of course, God sees me everywhere, doing everything that I do routinely. I am blessed that He is aware that I am traveling again, that my heart wants to go but my mind is reluctant, and that I have tons to do to get ready to head to SC. For now, I will focus on God’s great love for me and His attention to details. I have no doubt that He will help me to remember all that I have to pack and do to get ready for the trip. But mostly, I pray that He will continue to bring this verse to my mind so that the anxiety that I usually suffer when traveling will flee.
Review of UNSEEN DANGER by Jerusha Agen
About the Book
Synopsis:
After a brutal attack, it took Nevaeh Williams six years to rebuild her life. Now a security specialist at the Phoenix K-9 Security and Detection Agency, she faces danger nearly every day. But when an old friend is targeted, her fragile stability begins to crumble.
Celebrity bodyguard Branson Aaberg could lose more than his career if he fails to end the mysterious threat against his client. Soon he’s more concerned with rescuing the tough but vulnerable woman who joins his security team.
Nevaeh is there to protect her friend, but what if she needs protection? What if the feeling she’s being watched isn’t the result of her traumatized imagination? If the danger is real, Nevaeh’s only hope for survival may be the God powerful enough to defeat her worst enemy—the one she doesn’t see before it’s too late.
Details: Series: Guardians Unleashed, Book 3
Genre: Romantic Suspense
ASIN: B0C2S1PQJD
ISBN: 9781956683226
My Thoughts
Nevaeh Williams is a security specialist with the P K-9 group and is having difficulty overcoming her past trauma so she suffers from PTSD. When she and her colleague Jazz are tasked to help protect rapper D-Chop, Naveah encounters security specialist Branson, a man whose size reminds her of the man who attacked her six years previously. Naveah has to overcome her past, face the present dangers and get ready for an uncertain future in this brilliantly written page turner. With an intriguing plot, clever repartee between the characters and a head-spinningly fast pace, this book had me totally captivated from beginning to end. This is the first book from this author that I have ever read and I was afraid that I would not be able to follow the story, but that was not the case at all. This intense romantic suspense can be read as a standalone, but I enjoyed it so much that I ordered the other books in the series just so I can read the stories of the other characters. The plot is brilliant, crackling with tension as D-Chop is threatened as well as Naveah. With dynamic characters and an underlying foundation of faith, this novel held me enthralled with my heart pounding at times. I really enjoyed getting to know the members of the P K-9 team, especially the talented and well-trained dogs. Alvarez, Naveah’s canine partner, was intuitive and doing a spectacular job of keeping her safe. This is an edgy suspense with some remarkable twists and fake trails that made the drama believable and fast-moving. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys mystery, suspense, non-stop action and characters that are lovable and relatable.
Disclaimer
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the author as a member of her launch team. I was not required to write a positive review, and all opinions expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16th CFR, Part 255, “Guidelines Concerning the Use of Testimonials and Endorsements in Advertising.”
About the author
With a B.A. in English and a background in screenwriting, Jerusha is a speaker, writing instructor, and Fear Warrior who sounds the call to battle against fear in our everyday lives.
Jerusha loves to hang out with her big furry dogs and little furry cats. You’ll often find her sharing irresistibly adorable photos of them in her newsletter and on social media.
Get a free suspense story from Jerusha and find more of her thrilling, fear-fighting novels at www.JerushaAgen.com.
SOCIAL MEDIA:
WEBSITE: http://www.JerushaAgen.com
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/JerushaAgenAuthor/
INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/jerushaagen/
BOOK BUB: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/jerusha-agen-fd78bc82-831e-41c0-81d6-d02a6ddade0e
GOODREADS: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7281400.Jerusha_Agen
NEWSLETTER SIGN UP: https://jerushaagen.com/newsletter-and-blog-subscription/
TWITTER: https://twitter.com/SDGwords
New release! Available Now! Purchase Links:
The Imagery of Snow
I have to be honest and confess here and now that I don’t like snow. For me, it’s too cold, too slippery, too dangerous to walk on for my unsteady legs. When we moved to Maine, I often told people that Harry had moved us to hell and it was cold. We had almost two hundred inches of snow the first winter that we were there, with snow reaching our second story windows, and that was not an exaggeration at all. We lived there for four years (I called it surviving) and God taught me a lot of lessons there, mostly about not being so self-centered and thoughtless. That being said, I never really appreciated the snow there…it quickly became brown (or yellow) and a real mess to walk on or drive in during the eight months it was present. However, now that I am aged and no longer living in the frozen north, I can reflect on the imagery of snow and appreciate what the Scriptures say about it.
Scarlet is a deep and vivid red color. If it spills on anything, it will definitely be noticeable. So, when I think about how my sin is scarlet, covering my entire life, that is a brutal picture of reality. There is not one part of my former life that my sin did not affect. But thanks be to God who provided His Son to cleanse me completely from my sins! I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior on February 28, 1973, and my life was completely changed. Not only did I leave my sins behind, but I was no longer stained by it. God looked down and saw whiteness, not red. The red was in the blood that His Son shed. The white is as pure as snow.
I still don’t like snow—the cold, the danger it presents. But I do like to see it now, especially when it is freshly fallen and a pristine white. No small animal tracks, no dirt, just white as far as the eye can see. That is an advantage of living rurally…there is no traffic and until we move our car to go out, there are no tire tracks, ruts or mud. Everything is white…an indescribable color that glistens in the sun and reflects the soft light of the moon. That is how God means for us to be, glowing in the reflection of His Son, totally clean from all of our impurities, the sin that separated us from Him.
One of my favorite old hymns when I was a new Christian was “There’s Power in the Blood.” At the time, I didn’t really understand all of the words but I liked the music and I enjoyed raising my voice in song with the others who clapped and sang along as the church band played. These days, I still enjoy this hymn; however, I don’t see it as a song to raise the enthusiasm of the crowd but as a song that acknowledges the sacrifice of our Savior and the demonstration of the powerful love of God. Do I sometimes mess up and sin? Yes, unfortunately. I am still a sinner saved by grace. But the good news is that each time I choose the wrong way, God’s Spirit corrects me, I confess and He washes me clean. I praise the Father who provides such wonderful grace and mercy that I can share my image of snow with you and pray that the power that is in the blood will also cleanse you from sin as you accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior. The imagery of snow will long be with me, not the mountains of snow in Maine, but the acres of snow that I sometimes glimpse in my front yard. Pure, untouched and shining for God…just like I want to be!
Good Government
It there even any such thing as government that is not corrupt, one that follows the wishes of the people who elected and gave them power? I don’t think so.
But God’s Word has something to say about government and we should heed it.
The only good governor is God. The only one who is completely righteous and just is God. The only one to show mercy and be totally honest is God. So, what are we to do since we don’t have a theocracy? We are commanded to pray for our leaders, even the ones whom we consider corrupt and perhaps beyond redemption. Who are we to say that God cannot sway their minds and change their hearts? God put whoever is in power right where they are. Instead of rebelliously cursing them and their ungodly attitude and actions, we are commanded to pray.
I may not approve of the current state of our nation or who is in power, but I will pray, diligently and daily. God is, after all, still in control!
ettingerwriting.wordpress.com/2023/07/27/do-not-fear-what-they-fear-or-talk-show-drivel/
Wow! One of the best posts ever! Pay particular attention to the scriptures from Isaiah. Please go to the original post and follow David.
Vickie's Book Nook and Meditation Corner 