Category Archives: Book Reviews

While I am a Christian, I rarely read Christian fiction. Perhaps that is why “The House on Foster Hill” did not resonate as well with me. I was looking for a story with a Christian message (or perhaps just a few references to Scripture) and instead found myself reading a suspense book with a mystery that was, unfortunately, all too easy to solve.

This story is set in two time periods, present and a little over a hundred years in the past. The setting, Foster Hill House, is the same; however, the characters are quite different. In the past, we have Ivy Thorpe who has turned away from God after her beloved brother has passed and she has immersed herself in remembrances of the dead. In the present, there is Kaine Prescott, a young woman who has also pulled back her belief after her husband’s death.

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This is only the second Dean Koontz book that I have read and nothing about “Ashley Bell” could have prepared me for this hard-driving thriller. In “The Whispering Room”, Jane Hawk has already discovered much of the plans of an elite group who are intent on pressing their vision of the future (and the rewrite of history) to their view.

Jane is a one-woman wreaking crew who is sworn to try to stop this from happening. By the end of the book, I have to say that if anyone could stop a huge conspiracy, it would be this woman.

The author has given her a personality that feels strong and yet still womanly. She loves children and she hates those who would hurt them and destroy their futures. Pretty simple, right?

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I’ve read all three books in this series and am really impressed by the developing plot and characters in the stories. I highly suggest reading the books in order so you can understand how characters have evolved and gone from point A to point B.

Megan Sawyer has thoroughly moved from the legal practice she left at the beginning of books one. She is now a farmer and owns a diner in the small town of Winsome, PA. She is trying to make a go of it and figure out how to bring in much needed revenue during the winter months. She’s also in the midst of a developing relationship with the town vet after being crushed when her beloved young husband died in service to his country several years before.

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This is the first mystery I have read by J.R. Ripley. When I picked it up, I had no idea that it was sixth in a series. The book starts with relationships in place but, for the most part, it was very easy to pick up those relationship (though without history, of course) and let the logically written plot run its course.

The whodunnit was something I figured out during the course of the book because of a few hints; however, there were the red herrings left that steered me off course from time to time.

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This is the first story I have read by Anne Perry but it will certainly not be the last. I am guessing from the tone of the book that the protagonist, Mariah Ellison, plays a part in other books in Ms. Perry’s various series. That alone is enough to have me go seek those books out to read them. I found that the book was very easy to read as a stand-alone but would probably flow even better if a reader has more background on this character.

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I’ve read and enjoyed all six books in this series. While I think this book could be read stand-alone, I recommend reading the series in order as the character development and relationships are built from book to book.

The series is set in a fictitious town on the shore of Maine. My husband grew up in Camden, Maine and he tells me that Lea Wait is spot on in her descriptions of the types of individuals who live in Maine, the look and feel of the small towns that dot the coast line and also in her history of the state.

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