Friday, July 24, 2015

Love Arrives in Pieces by Betsy St. Amant

I wanted to love this book. I'd not read this author before but everything I've heard about the book sounded like it would wow me so I eagerly downloaded it onto my Kindle.
I read about halfway through before putting it down. It didn't interest me at all. I hate not finishing a book, maybe it's just me, maybe I'm over romance. I found it to be predictable and, well, dull. 
About the book:
For so long, Stella was known for her beauty. Now, with her heart stripped bare, she must discover who she really is.
Former pageant queen Stella Varland doesn’t trust beauty anymore after her divorce. Her appearance betrayed her and led to her brokenness—so instead of being beautiful, now she tries to make beautiful things, but always falls short. So she keeps her passion for her secret art to herself and focuses on her interior design work. But if she doesn’t get another job soon, she’ll be stuck living with her parents.
Contractor Chase Taylor is determined to live a life of no regrets after losing his fiancĂ©e in a car crash. Now he lives life at full speed, striving to see how much he can accomplish. He knows if he slows down, he’ll fall apart. So he returns home to Bayou Bend to renovate the town’s old theater, and is shocked to learn former flame Stella is the designer for the project.
Forced to work together, Chase and Stella battle their chemistry and their pasts as they struggle to compromise and come together on a vision for the theater. Chase doesn’t understand why Stella is such a subdued version of herself, while Stella doesn’t get Chase’s constant need for productivity and speed. Their wills clash as they attempt to hide their brokenness—and their unresolved feelings for each other—until Chase breaks through Stella’s walls and convinces her to enter her mosaic tile art in a contest.
A near catastrophe, a fire, and a small-town gossip mill finally force both Stella and Chase to realize that they have a choice—to hold on to the shards of their pasts, or surrender their fragmented pieces to the One who makes a beautiful masterpiece from the broken.
About the author:
Betsy St. Amant lives in Louisiana with her young daughter and has a heart for sharing the amazing news of God's grace through her novels. A freelance journalist, Betsy is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers. When she’s not reading, writing, or singing along to a Disney soundtrack with her daughter, Betsy enjoys inspirational speaking and teaching on the craft of writing. Visit her website at www.betsystamant.com Facebook: BetsySt.Amant Twitter: @betsystaman

this book was provided for review by BookLook

Wednesday, July 8, 2015

Center of Gravity by Laura McNeill

 Thomas Nelson has done it again. 
This is a publishing house that I learned to trust over the years to provide clean Christian fiction. It was what they were known for. I'd find their logo on a book and know that I would not find the story littered with curse words, sexual scenes, etc.
And then there came the day that it changed. Their excuse?
"On the back cover it's labeled as fiction, not Christian fiction."
Excuse me for not noticing.
And here we have Center of Gravity by Laura McNeill. The mild obscenities and sexual references aside (truly, I do not want to read about the husband's mouth and the wife's breast. I don't. At all.) I found what I did read of this book before abandoning it to the trash bin to be a bit confusing. The story is told from the POV of several characters, one being an eleven year old whose part did not read of that of a child of such an age. I had a hard time picturing this kid (Jack) as being eleven and not twenty or so. 
This book was not for me. Not one little bit.

This book was provided for review by BookLook

Tuesday, July 7, 2015

Gone Without a Trace by Patricia Bradley

 To be honest, I didn't make it through this book. I started it, but then I put it down and lost interest and never picked it back up again. I can't even remember who the characters were. Perhaps bad timing on my part, but I didn't connect with it at all.

From the back cover:
The past is repeating itself and time is running out.
It's been more than two years since homicide detective Livy Reynold's cousin disappeared from Logan Point. Unlike most people in her hometown, Livy has never believed that Robyn left voluntarily. When Dallas private investigator Alex Jennings contacts her concerning a senator's missing granddaughter who was last seen in Logan Point, Livy notices eerie similarities between the two disappearances. With self-doubt plaguing her and an almost instant dislike of the self-assured PI, she's finding this investigation an uphill battle. But with the prospect of finding her cousin on the horizon, she'll have to find a way to work with Alex--before it's too late.

This book was provided for review by Revell.

Wednesday, July 1, 2015

Summer's List by Anita Higman


I don't think I've read this author before. Summer's List looked to be everything that I love in a book, but I was unable to complete reading it. It didn't grab my attention. I found the characters to be dull and the dialogue to be annoying. I wanted to like this book but it never drew me in and I put it down and forgot about it.


This book was provided for review by LitFuse