Riptide Rumors by Melody Carlson (Sunset Cove #2)

About The Book:

If the Tide Doesn’t Change, Who Will Pay the Price?

As autumn of 1916 descends upon the once-peaceful town of Sunset Cove, Anna McDowell has great hopes that the excitement of the summer will be over, now that a few of the key players in the rum-running ring have been arrested. But with a daring jailbreak getting the town in a dither again, she knows that the danger hasn’t passed for anyone in her coastal hometown.

With a mayoral election keeping tensions high and the authorities busy searching for those behind the jailbreak, Anna has plenty to keep the newspaper busy. But when her sixteen-year-old daughter begins making noises about leaving high school and abandoning dreams of college, Anna realizes that prohibition isn’t the only thing she needs to be worrying about.

How deep does the root of corruption run in their town? As she digs deeper, Anna is forced to put the concerns of her own heart on hold in an effort to save some of the people dearest to her.

My Review: 

Book two of this series didn't let me down. It was fun to be back in this setting reading more of the going-ons in Sunset Cove. I felt like this second book was more involved than the first book. Katy is really growing up and has so many life changes to work through and Ana isn't left out at all. They are a perfect sort of an odd couple. With the mystery and the murder, I was riveted. I am greatly looking forward to the next book in this series. I can't find any faults with this story, and it left me feeling uplifted. I could read quite a few of them if they continue on like this one. 

5 Stars 

About the Author:

Melody Carlson has written more than 200 books (with sales around 6.5 million) for teens, women, and children. That’s a lot of books, but mostly she considers herself a “storyteller.” Her young adult novels (Diary of a Teenage Girl, True Colorsetc.) appeal to teenage girls around the world. Her annual Christmas novellas become more popular each year. She’s won a number of awards (including RT’s Career Achievement Award, the Rita, and the Gold medallion) and some of her books have been optioned for film/TV. Carlson has two grown sons and makes her home in the Pacific Northwest with her husband and yellow Lab dog. 

Purchase link:

https://amzn.to/2YZBEdF

Social Media:

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Melody-Carlson/e/B000APR3DC/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_4?qid=1549482870&sr=8-4

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/melodycarlsonauthor/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/authormelodycarlson/?hl=en

Twitter: https://twitter.com/AuthorCarlson

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7383.Melody_Carlson?from_search=true

Website: http://www.melodycarlson.com/

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/melody-carlson

Identity Theft by Alana Terry

About the Book

Book: Identity Theft

Author: Alana Terry

Genre: Christian fiction, mystery/suspense

Release date: March 15, 2019

She imagined Alaska would be the perfect place to hide. She found out it’s the most dangerous place to be found …
Lacy has a secret. A secret nobody knows — not even her fiancé.
A secret that would cost her life … and so much more.
So it’s a good thing she’s tucked away in the very heart of rural Alaska, where for once in her life she is finally safe.
But can she stay that way for long?
Suspenseful, thrilling, and impossible to put down, Identity Theft is an unforgettable novel by bestselling Christian author Alana Terry.

Buy your copy today … but be prepared to stay up late!

 My Review:
First of all, I loved that this is a fast read! Thank you to the author for that. Sometimes it's so nice to have a jam packed quick read. I found it to have light suspense but to be a fast paced read. The thread of God's will was a main feature of this book. I would have been miserable in Alaska as Lacey was, so I understood her unhappiness with her circumstances. I liked how everything resolved fast and easy like a quick TV show. 

4 Stars

About the Author

Alana is a pastor’s wife, homeschooling mom, self-diagnosed chicken lady, and Christian suspense author. Her novels have won awards from Women of Faith, Book Club Network, Grace Awards, Readers’ Favorite, and more. Alana’s passion for social justice, human rights, and religious freedom shines through her writing, and her books are known for raising tough questions without preaching. She and her family live in rural Alaska where the northern lights in the winter and midnight sun in the summer make hauling water, surviving the annual mosquito apocalypse, and cleaning goat stalls in negative forty degrees worth every second.

More from Alana

What’s the first thing that pops into your mind when you think about Alaska? Are you a city soul or do you prefer the country? I’m pretty happy in small-town Alaska, but I’m afraid that wasn’t always the case.

Have you ever lived in a town with 400 residents? Even with all the wide-open spaces, it’s enough to make some personalities feel claustrophobic. 

I thought of our move to rural living as our big adventure. (Because what’s more adventurous than feeding chickens and milking goats at negative 40 degrees?) Then I read my first draft of Identity Theft and realized the adjustment wasn’t going as smoothly as I hoped. It was more autobiographical than I had realized!

However, I learned to love rural Alaska, and that’s the main reason I wanted to write my Alaskan Refuge Christian Suspense Novel series – so I could share some of my favorite parts with you.

Identity Theft is the first of three stand-alone novels, all filled with adventure, suspense and thrills, and all set against the backdrop of Alaska. I hope as you settle in to read, you will begin to experience a little of what I’ve grown to love living in this spectacular state.

Blog Stops

Genesis 5020, July 25

EmpowerMoms, July 25

Inklings and notions, July 26

Blogging With Carol, July 26

Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, July 27

D’S QUILTS & BOOKS, July 27

Just the Write Escape, July 27

Just Your Average reviews, July 28

Splashes of Joy, July 28

Carla Loves To Read, July 29

Retrospective Spines, July 29

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, July 29

All-of-a-kind Mom, July 30

The Becca Files, July 30

Quiet Quilter, July 31

Maureen’s Musings, July 31

Godly Book Reviews, August 1

For Him and My Family, August 1

Texas Book-aholic, August 1

Literary Reflections Book Blog, August 2

Mary Hake, August 2

Library Lady’s Kid Lit, August 3

CarpeDiem, August 3

Through the Fire Blogs, August 4

Stephanie’s Life of Determination, August 4

Tell Tale Book Reviews, August 5

Moments, August 5

Henry Happens, August 6

Livin’ Lit, August 6

janicesbookreviews, August 6

As He Leads is Joy, August 7

A Readers Brian, August 7

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Alana is giving away a $30 Amazon gift card!!

Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter. https://promosimple.com/ps/e546/identity-theft-celebration-tour-giveaway

Fragments of Fear by Carrie Stuart Parks

 About the Book

Book: Fragments of Fear

Author: Carrie Stuart Parks

Genre: Suspense

Release date: July 23, 2019

From award-winning author Carrie Stuart Parks comes a new novel with danger that reaches from a New Mexico Anasazi archaeological dig to micro- and nano-chip technology.

Evelyn Yvonne McTavish-Tavish to her friends-had her almost perfect world in Albuquerque, New Mexico, come to a crashing end with the suicide of her fiancé. As she struggles to put her life back together and make a living from her art, she’s given the news that her dog is about to be destroyed at the dog pound. Except she doesn’t own a dog. The shelter is adamant that the microchip embedded in the canine-with her name and address-makes it hers.

Tavish recognizes the dog as one owned by an archaeologist named Pat Caron because she did a commissioned drawing of the two of them months earlier. The simple solution is to return the dog to his owner, but she arrives only to discover Caron’s murdered body.

After meeting undercover FBI agent Sawyer Price the mystery deepens as more people start disappearing and Tavish becomes a target as well. Her only solution is to find the links between microchip technology, an Anasazi site in the desert, her fiancé’s death, a late-night radio show, and the dog. And the clock is ticking.

Click here to purchase your copy.

 My Review:

Parks has created another superior book to read. Tavish is a fantastic character. She's smart and flawed. She's driven and she's seeking. Tavish has anxiety attacks, and it looks like, through all of this, she stands a chance of coming to some major revelations about the Truth in many ways. Her whole life was coming apart and then the call from the shelter, come get your dog. A dog she didn't own, a dog that has a microchip registered to her. So now she and Marley, the dog, have a whole new host of questions and the answers, are well worth reading. 

I wasn't disappointed with anything with this book. From the characters who are easy to "bond" with, the science, "police procedure" type aspects, to the strong current of Faith that flows through this story, I didn't want to put it down at all. When it ended, I was happy, yet sad. I need another one ASAP, please. 

5 Stars

About the Author

Carrie Stuart Parks is a Christy finalist as well as a Carol Award-winning author. She has won numerous awards for her fine art as well. An internationally known forensic artist, she travels with her husband, Rick, across the US and Canada teaching courses in forensic art to law-enforcement professionals. The author/illustrator of numerous books on drawing and painting, Carrie continues to create dramatic watercolors from her studio in the mountains of Idaho.

More from Carrie

Using Art to Solve Crime: Techniques Used by Forensic Artists

Since 1981, I’ve been a forensic artist—an amazing feat since I’m only . . .um. . . well, younger than that. In those years, I’ve seen some shifts and trends, but some things have never changed. Despite the overwhelming prevalence of computers in almost every other field, they have never been able to replace a trained forensic artist. Artists have an amazing toolbox of techniques we use to gather the information we need to help solve crime.

1. The pencil. Any forensic artist worth her weight in graphite knows the power of the lowly pencil and a sketchpad. Law enforcement would love a photographic image of the suspect, but all we have to work with is memory…and memory is faulty. The more the image looks perfect, the more imperfect it is for helping to identify a suspect. We want the drawing to just suggest a likeness and eliminate those not similar.
2. Now that we brought up the subject of memory, a forensic artist needs to understand how memory works. The average witness will remember between four and five facial features. When they describe the person they saw, they will do so from their strongest memory to their weakest memory, from most important to least important. We listen carefully to the order of facial features.
3. Whole vs Parts. We don’t look at faces as individual parts, although a particularly outstanding nose or Marty Feldman eyes might catch our attention. We will remember the face as a whole, with the proportions of the face an unacknowledged part of that. Forensic artist prefer to use reference photographs where the whole face is viewed.

Want more? Check out the rest of my article at The Strand Magazine

Blog Stops

Book Reviews From an Avid Reader, July 23

All-of-a-kind Mom, July 23

Blogging With Carol, July 23

A Reader’s Brain, July 23

A Baker’s Perspective, July 24

The Avid Reader, July 24

CarpeDiem, July 24

Fiction Aficionado, July 25

Christian Bookaholic, July 25

Godly Book Reviews, July 25

Through the Fire Blogs, July 26

Livin’ Lit, July 26

The Becca Files, July 26

Inklings and notions , July 26

Real World Bible Study, July 27

Cathe Swanson, July 27

D’S QUILTS & BOOKS, July 27

For Him and My Family, July 28

Lights in a Dark World, July 28

Retrospective Spines, July 28

Bigreadersite, July 29

Simple Harvest Reads, July 29 (Guest post from Mindy Houng)

Mary Hake, July 29

Truth and Grace Homeschool Acdemy, July 30

Blossoms and Blessings, July 30

EmpowerMoms, July 30

Aryn The Libraryan, July 31

Stories Where Hope and Quirky Meet, July 31

For the Love of Literature, July 31

Inspired by fiction, August 1

Ashley’s Bookshelf, August 1

By The Book, August 1

Tell Tale Book Reviews, August 2

Remembrancy, August 2

amandainpa, August 2

Pause for Tales, August 3

For the Love of Books, August 3

Just Your Average reviews, August 3

Hallie Reads, August 4

A Good Book and Cup of Tea, August 4

Daysong Reflections, August 4

Little Homeschool on the Prairie, August 5

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, August 5

Texas Book-aholic, August 5

janicesbookreviews, August 5

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Carrie is giving away a grand prize of her book!!

Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.

https://promosimple.com/ps/e592/fragments-of-fear-celebration-tour-giveaway

Blessing Bentley by Chautona Havig

About the Book

Book: Blessing Bentley

Author: Chautona Havig

Genre: Fiction / Christian / Romantic Women’s Fiction

Release date: June 13, 2019

Bentley Girard’s about to propose… to a guy she doesn’t even love.

Not THAT way anyway.

After studying everything the Bible has to say about marriage, she’s decided she wants in. Now. So who’s going to take her up on that offer?

And just why did no one reminded her that those vows include that little word, “love.”

Oops!

With her Bible in her hip pocket, and a shiny new ring on her finger, Bentley navigates this new world of marriage with grace and… oh, who is she kidding? She flounders until she gets a sure footing and hangs on tight. 

 Get your copy HERE. 

My Review:

Bentley has decided to get married. Now, to find the right man. Then what is this thing she's getting into? What's love got to do with it? I mean, she doesn't even want to kiss him, but they are wed, which causes other complications. It was an isnta-wedding without insta-love. Like many women I use to know, Bently is only marrying because it's the "right thing to do" and she wants to make God happy with her. A few interesting things were brought up during discussions. Bentley tends to monologue to the point of distraction while trying to show points. I would definaly not advise anyone to get married like she did. I've seen it end in disasters over and over, but this book had a reasonably happy ending. Bentley was cute overall, and the Christian focus in this book stayed reasonable. I may read the rest of the series. This is one of Havig's best books so far. 

4 Stars

About the Author

Chautona Havig lives in an oxymoron, escapes into imaginary worlds that look startlingly similar to ours and writes the stories that emerge. An irrepressible optimist, Chautona sees everything through a kaleidoscope of It’s a Wonderful Life sprinkled with fairy tales. Find her on the web and say howdy—if you can remember how to spell her name.

More from Chautona

If You Need to Save Time, Don’t Ask for Help

Not from my friend anyway. It all started with a conversation about Bentley…

She pops up now and then—the most ubiquitous (and yet not) of my unpublished characters, you might say. Who is this unsung Bentley, and why should we care about her? For that matter, why has her story been languishing in my “to be edited” pile for over a decade?”

It’s worse than that. Bentley isn’t the only book that’s been sitting there, unedited, waiting for a chance at daylight. There’s also Tait’s story. Andi’s story. Ami’s story… all the unpublished stories. Those don’t even include the partially done ones.

It’s an illness, I tell ya.

Some people may not know this about me, but I plot out my books while I’m driving. I get in the car, turn on my voice recorder, and talk to myself. You can’t know how grateful I am for cellphones. I don’t own or use one, but man I’m glad they exist. Know why? Because people don’t give you weird looks when you talk to yourself in the car now. When I was a kid, that wasn’t true. Not that I know from personal experience or anything. *whistles*

So one trip down south (it’s an hour and a half to go anywhere from my house, and most of my trips are at least three hours one way), I realized that Tait and Bentley’s stories could be merged. It would be awesome. Two books. One stone. If I did that to a bunch of my languishing manuscripts, I could clear out that unfinished file in no time! (Okay, let me dream here. Eternal optimist, remember?)

And that brings us back to Blessing Bentley

I was at my friend Sandy’s house (if you know Celebrate Lit, yes, that Sandy), and I told her I needed a new title. Why? Because now it included Tait and his story.

We talked. We schemed and plotted. Sandy wanted something to happen that just can’t. I’d seriously have to rewrite the entire series. Oh, and then there would be issues with already published books. Ahem.

Then it happened. She said the words. “It needs to be two books.”

I could have put an ice cube down her shirt. Do you remember how excited I was to have two combined into one??? Now we’re back to two books. Still, they were written as two. I just don’t have a satisfactory ending for Tait’s.

That’s when things got fun. Sandy tossed out one idea. I tossed it back. She remolded it and flipped it in the air. I caught it, made a few changes, and voila! We had a BOOK. And it would be adorable.

Then she swore at me.

Okay, so she actually just said, “You really need a third book, friend.”

Anyone who has ever heard her talk, can hear her voice there. I know you can. Still, as sweet and kind as she might have meant to sound, I heard swearing.

Another book. You’ve got to be kidding me! I went from having two books morphed into one being split back in two, and now you want to add one? I’m trying to reduce the to-do pile!

But then I remembered another story that’s been percolating since I wrote 31 Kisses.Carson’s brother is newly single. And well…

Yep. Enter trilogy.

Marriage of Conviction—that was supposed to be the title of Blessing Bentley. Who knew that when I started writing that book fifteen years ago—who knew it would end up being the title of a series instead. Marriages of Conviction. Blessing Bentley, Tempting Tait, and Charming Chloe.

Welcome to a new look on marriage and a wild ride with these characters!

And remember… if you think I have too many series… Well, this one’s Sandy’s fault.

Blog Stops

Among the Reads, July 8

Cultivating Us, July 8

Texas Book-aholic, July 9

janicesbookreviews, July 10

Book Bites, Bee Stings, & Butterfly Kisses, July 10

A Reader’s Brain, July 11

Abba’s Prayer Warrior Princess, July 12

CarpeDiem, July 12

Retrospective Spines, July 13

Splashes of Joy, July 13

Back Porch Reads, July 14

Inklings and notions, July 15

Through the Fire Blogs, July 16

Godly Book Reviews, July 16

Lots of Helpers, July 17

Captive Dreams Window, July 17

Daysong Reflections, July 18

She Lives To Read, July 19

Blogging With Carol, July 19

Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, July 20

For Him and My Family, July 21

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, July 21

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Chautona is giving away a Blessing Bentley grand prize package that includes a paperback copy of the book, a book cozy, a Blessing Bentley Candle, and a $25 Amazon gift card!!

Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter. https://promosimple.com/ps/e550/blessing-bentley-celebration-tour-giveaway