Review on Not this Time

I have to be honest; I prefer that my fast paced suspense novels come served with a bit of romance on the side.   With Vicki Hinze’s novel Not this Time, you get both served in pretty much equal portions-a very nice meal so to speak.

 The opening of the novel is fast paced and starts off right away with a terrorist act at a wedding where all the guests are completely knocked out and sadly, one is dead.  As I had not read the previous two novels in this series I had a tough time keeping everyone straight as there are many characters in this novel, but things do get clearer as you read on, so I urge you, read on!  Two women Sara and Beth are multi-millionaire co-business owners with a bit of strife popping up in their longtime friendship as sadly Beth has some pretty strong negative feelings towards Sarah’s husband. To make matters worse Sarah’s husband winds up kidnapped and Beth jumps to the top of the list of suspects. Talk about putting a strain on a friendship. Then there is the matter of a certain guy that Sarah just can’t get out of her mind named Joe.  He is everything she is not looking for in a man- charming, handsome and women flock to him like a moth to a flame.  Beth, having been badly burned in a previous relationship is guarding her heart a little too well as she really, really does not want to let Joe in, but Joe is a persistent guy and just won’t go away.

This novel explores themes such as betrayal and how we move through it and learn to trust again to how we can heal from our bad decisions in the past and let God work in our lives.  Vicki Hinze maneuvers her characters through many situations to get to these points and the reader will enjoy how this comes to a conclusion in several of the character’s lives.
I feel this novel can be read as a stand- alone novel, but I would highly recommend that you read the other novels in this series entitled “The Crossroads series” first, as I feel that things would be less confusing for the reader. Those novels are Forget Me Not and Deadly Ties.

4 stars

I was graciously  given a complimentary copy of this novel through the publisher in exchange for an honest review.  All opinions expressed are my own.

Review on Illusion by Frank Peretti

You know that feeling  you get when you see an old friend  that has been so special to you in the past, and you haven’t seen them in ages, but you just fall right back into conversation with them as if no time has passed at all, instant re-bonding.  That is my feeling when I picked up Illusion by Frank Peretti. I thought- “Ah, he’s back!” ;  and the book is great, filled with all the adventure, intrigue, and suspense  of a great  Peretti book, take those components and combine them with a story filled with relationship, spiritual allegory, a bit of time travel/sci-fi, and literary and literal magic and you get the gift that is the book Illusion. Forgive the wordiness here, but I found this book to be a very special one.

 Two magicians- Mandy and husband Dane have lived a life together filled with relational magic as well as stage magic  and seem to find their life together at an end when the book opens with Mandy suffering fatal wounds from a horrific car accident and you the reader  surmises that Mandy is gone from Dane forever.  But is she?  Because it is rather unexplainable when  a young 19 year old suddenly surfaces in Idaho ,where Dane has relocated to start a new life, that looks remarkably like his own wife Mandy when she was younger, and guess what? She happens to be an up and coming magician.  How can this possibly be happening, and why are their paths crossing as Dane is 60 years old?  As this story unravels and shows a fascinating plot outlining a love that will never let go , one of sacrifice, intrigue , and of course plenty of great magic, I was enthralled with it from beginning to end.

I have come to expect a great story from Peretti as I have greatly enjoyed his writing over the years and his amazing attention to detail and imagination have always left me in awe.  His praise for being a master storyteller I never find to be an exaggeration.  I would say the added element to this story is heart- tenderness, relationship, longing for connection and with that there will always be an element of sacrifice and intense love which shows the strong allegory of God’s love for us, a love that will not let go as you see throughout the thematic elements in Illusion. 

I highly recommend this book to those tried and true fans of Peretti as well as to those that have never cracked open one of his books.  I think that you can’t help but be moved by this powerful story and you will love the magic that is the book   Illusion

5 stars

I was graciously provided a review e-copy of this book from the publisher through via the Netgalley program.  I was not required to write a positive review and all opinions expressed are my own.