Original Books

New Projects!

2011-02-05T16:20:00.003-05:00

Make sure to stop by and check out our just launched news site Original Books News. We are constantly keeping you up to date on what is coming up soon in the CF world.

Also we are just starting up a forum where we can discuss all of this together and we need you yo join! Just go here to check it out!

Emerald Windows by Terri Blackstock

2011-01-06T17:02:00.000-05:00

Nick Marcello has been asked to design the stained glass windows for his old hometown church, forcing him to return and face his past. He has chosen none other than Brooke Martin to assist him in this endevour, causing gossip to ripple across the small town of Hayden. Because of their supposed "scandal" nearly ten years prior, Alice Hemphill is going to do everything within her power to fire the both of them, since her money keeps the church afloat. Even though Nick and Brooke both know they never did anything deserving the treatment they are receiving, they also both know that they are falling for each other in a way that will keep the whole town talking...
Emerald Windows echoes from Terri Blackstock's past directly after she left her secular career. Though there are some well-developed characters, the plot is generally typical with a typical end and few original elements. Though this plot is better than the typical romance model, it is still not original.
At least Nick is not a perfect male lead. Brooke, Alice, and several other characters are also well developed. Though Alice is portrayed as an evil villain, she still has a personality. However, there is a lot of imperfection in Hayden, which is the only thing that makes this book worth reading.
The plot is generally more entertaining than a typical romance not only because of the characters but also because of the circumstances. Though the results are expected, the circumstances are not. Terri added several surprises throughout the plot the changed things up, yet in the end, Terri did nothing terribly original save for the loss of a sentimental object.
All in all, the book was interesting to read, but I would not recommend it to somone as an example of Terri Blackstock.
3 stars

New Book Website

2011-01-06T14:47:00.002-05:00

Original Books now has a sister website, Original Books News, which can be found at: https://sites.google.com/site/originalbooksnews/
We are currently looking for people who will collaborate with us. Please visit the webpage for more details. If you are interested, drop us an email at originalbooks200@gmail.com.

Playing God by Michelle McKinney Hammond

2011-01-06T11:50:00.000-05:00

Tamara Roberts prides herself in being able to counsel hurting people through their broken situations, yet she does not understand why God allows such broken situations. Corrine Collins is struggling with the terrible secret of her pastor husband's homosexuality. Lydia Derveraux is trying to settle the score between her and her famous yet absent producer husband. Tamera's best friend, Jamilah, is trying to save one of her students from a neglectful situation. On top of this, Tamera is searching for love, which she lost years before when she divorced her husband. However, she is much to overconfident of her abilities as a Christian, which will soon lead her to begin playing God...
At first, Playing God appears to be an unedited, poor rendition of fiction since Michelle McKinney Hammond is used to writing non-fiction. However, as the book progresses, the plot becomes more focused and more original. In the end, this is not a five star novel, yet it is not one that can be overlooked either.
At first, the cast of characters is vast and no personalities are nailed down. But as the book progresses, the characters become more clear and unnessecary characters are left behind. The characters are not a masterpiece as a finished product, but they definitely improve. There is no villain save for the characters' choices, which is mainly what makes this book worthwhile.
This could have been a five star novel had Hammond used a respectable publisher or at least gotten some help editing her manuscript. When I first cracked open this book, I was not impressed. However, the plot became more and more interesting as it progressed. Some romantic subplots did not work out. Other subplots had original ends. The biggest disappointment I had with this book was that it could have been better with more efficient editing.
All in all, any Elite Book is worth my time and your time.
4 stars

Fire By Night by Lynn Austin

2010-12-02T15:43:00.000-05:00

After years of living a carefree and rich life with her well-to-do parents, Julia Hoffman has forced herself to reflect upon her very existence. When she discovers that she is disagreeable to the handsome yet fierce Reverend Nathaniel Greene, Julia begins to devote her life to service as a nurse on the front lines of the Civil War. Her path soon crosses with Phoebe Bigelow, a woman impersonating a male soldier in order to make a new life for herself. However, Julia also draws the unwanted attention of a seemingly heartless surgeon who orders Julia to leave the front lines and return to her pampered life. However, Julia refuses, stubbornly deciding to prove her worth to the world. However, it seems as though the war is bigger than them all, and none of the wrongs will ever be righted...
While some authors are inconsistent in their writing styles, Lynn Austin is the picture of consistency. She is a master at writing historical fiction and developing complete characters, but a master of endings she is not.
Julia Hoffman is one of the more interesting leads Lynn has ever developed. Her purpose in the plot is unique and makes the book interesting. While Phoebe's situation is not entirely original, her subplot is interesting enough. Nathaniel Greene is an ambiguous character with a different end. There is no real villain, save for the Confederates. All in all, Lynn Austin knows how to develop characters and she did not stop using this talent in Fire By Night.
As usual with Lynn Austin books, the beginning and the middle are more tasteful than the end. Though there are interesting elements in the end, the unoriginal elements overshadow them. However, though there are romantic subplots, they are not structured typically or straightforwardly. However, in the end, Lynn Austin did not depart from her typical fiction model and wrote another typical end.
However, Fire By Night is not a book to complain about since Lynn Austin is very consistent in using her abilities to craft intriguing historical plots and develop good characters.
4.5 stars

Blind Trust by Terri Blackstock

2010-11-29T15:58:00.001-05:00

Sherry Cranston has tried to move on and find a new purpose for her life after her fiance, Clint, abruptly disappeared from her life just days before their impending wedding. Now, eight months later, Clint has suddenly reappeared in her life with an urgency to keep her safe from an unknown foe. However, he will not tell her any helpful information, yet only wants her to trust him. Sherry and her roommate Madeline suddenly find themselves dragged across the country with Clint and his bodyguard Sam, heading to unknown locations with the enemy on their tails. Despite all of the danger and intrigue, can Sherry and Clint find once again the love they lost?
If one wants to learn how to write a completely run-of-the-mill suspense plot, one should read Blind Trust and write accordingly. Not only does this book borrow the same old, worn out plot; it borrows it in an unprofessional fashion that does not reflect well on Christian fiction as a whole.
Sherry, Clint, Madeline, and Sam are the core characters of this plot, but they are not characters that carry the story along with their personalities. Though the character count is few, the quality of the characters is lacking. Terri Blackstock has done better with character development in her career; obviously this book was written before she established this talent. The villain is not as bad as they could have been, but still not very intriguing.
This plot is definitely not lacking in potential. At any point, Terri could have changed up the pace and surprised her readers. There are plenty of opportunities for surprises and plot twists. However, Terri Blackstock took the safe way out by writing a predictable novel. Two, not one, romantic subplots are formed by the time the book is over. A typical showdown at the end makes for a boring read. However, despite these wasted opportunities, I know that the Terri Blackstock today would not write such a plot in the same fashion.
These are the types of books that make one appreciate how far an author has come in their career since they started.
2 stars

Lady in Waiting by Susan Meissner

2010-11-24T09:33:00.001-05:00

Jane Lindsay never thought her husband of twenty plus years would leave her. But now he has announced that he is moving out to take another job several states away, in order to give them some space. As Jane tries to figure out where their marriage went wrong, she finds solace in discovering the past behind a ring with her name inscribed on it, which she found in the pages of an old prayer book. She discovers the story of Lucy Day, a dressmaker for Lady Jane Grey, who held the throne of England for less than two weeks. Even though Jane Lindsay tries to numb the situation with her husband, she cannot hide forever and will soon have to face the truth.
Susan Meissner has continued her new trend of writing past\present plots with Lady in Waiting. She has departed from the average historical account by discovering an obscure tale to write about. She combines this with an above-average present plot to make for an interesting read. However, Susan could still use some help with her ends.
Jane and her husband are both well-developed characters and are both at fault for their separation. As the book progresses, the reader discovers more and more how these two characters' choices drove them to where they are at the beginning of the novel. The characters in the past could be better than they are, but they are not unbearable. There are no real villains in particular, making for an interesting and ambiguous read. All in all, the characters are good, but not great.
The problem with a marriage trouble\separation plot is the inevitability of the end. There are really only two options, and Susan chose the more predictable, though it could have been worse than it was. There was one element of the past plot that Susan could not avoid being that it is historical fact. However, Susan took liberty to add unoriginal elements to the past plot. However, these issues are not something dwell on, since they can be easily forgotten in the light of other original elements, such as key character deaths.
While this book cannot be five stars, it is nonetheless an enjoyable book to read. Susan Meissner clearly knows what she is doing as an author.

Fatal Convictions by Randy Singer

2010-11-05T10:18:00.002-04:00

Civil attorney\part-time pastor Alex Madison makes his living preaching the Word of God and offering his services to patients in hospital beds. However, one of these such incidents changes the face of his career. While visiting the room of a Muslim car accident victim, Alex saw a typical opportunity, but not the groundbreaking case it would eventually become. After taking on the woman’s case, her husband is accused of ordering an honor killing, sparking one of the most heated and publicized court cases of the year. The question is this: did the quiet and reserved Muslim imam, who calls himself a Muslim reformer, order the death of a Muslim woman who converted to Christianity and the man who converted her? Alex takes his case because he believes his client is innocent, but what he soon discovers is that this case is dangerous. Alex soon finds himself fighting not only for his reputation, but for his life.

As is his custom, Randy Singer wrote a book that appeared to be a typical legal thriller he should have never written, but once again, he proved us wrong. Though on the surface Fatal Convictions looks like a run-of-the-mill plot, it is really run-of-the-mill Randy Singer.

As usual, Alex Madison is an exemplary lead, not a perfect and downtrodden attorney looking for a big case to lift his head out of the mud. Alex is actually far from perfect. The defendant is not a perfect victim, the prosecutor is not a belligerent criminal, and the judge is not a biased idiot. If Randy Singer has anything above other legal authors, it is his characters.

On the surface, this plot looks highly typical: an impossible case with international ramifications. It appears this way all the way up until the end. That’s when Randy Singer starts going crazy, placing one character with the enemies, while proving an enemy innocent. Kill one off here, save one there. In the end, the outcome is surprising yet is packaged with a purpose. Randy Singer proved us all wrong once again.

Randy Singer has reached a point in his career where he is not exhausted his store of ideas, but keeps slowly giving us another groundbreaking novel each year. He’s a role that does not appear to be ending any time soon.

5 stars

Resurrection in May by Lisa Samson

2010-10-26T15:47:00.002-04:00

May Seymour was a confused college student when Claudius Borne, a simple old man who exhibited better relational skills toward plants and animals than toward people, found her on the street, passed out in a hangover. The two of them struck up an odd relationship that did not end, even when May went on a mission trip to Rwanda, attempted to fulfill her purpose in life. But genocide in the hostile African environment sent her back to hide at Claudius’ farm. However, when tragedy struck May’s life, she vowed not to set foot into the outside world, relying on a church friend for sustenance. But when May receives news that an old college friend refuses to appeal his death row sentence, May’s life takes a turn for the better as she begins to discover life once again.

Lisa Samson has continued her streak of avoiding the same old plot with the same old characters. Like Embrace Me and The Passion of Mary-Margaret, Resurrection in May is a departure from her old self of writing about crazy female leads in certain situations. May Seymour is not one of those leads; however, she is not an exemplary character either.

May and Claudius could have been developed better. I am surprised at how much Lisa Samson’s character development skills have digressed the past three years. Obviously creating spastic female leads was the only skill she ever had. There is one good character among the mix, but since there are few characters, all of them should have been developed better. Believe it or not, this area is the weakest area of the book and causes its fall from five stars.

The plot is original and intriguing, much like that of The Passion of Mary-Margaret. There is nothing normal about the circumstances, but there is nothing wrong with this. A self-made farmer, a confused college graduate, a busybody church leader, and a prison inmate all thrown together make for irregular circumstances indeed. Even the romantic subplot Lisa invented was off the wall. No plot can be compared to this plot, making it unique. This is the sort of fiction that should always be: unique, original, and fresh plots.

However, the second component to a perfect book was partly missing: well-developed characters. However, one can never really complain about a Lisa Samson book to the point of never wanting to read her again. I’m sure she’ll be writing unique books until she dies.

4.5 stars

Immanuel's Veins by Ted Dekker

2010-10-20T15:40:00.000-04:00

The year is 1772. Toma Nicelescu and his partner Alek Cardei have been assigned by Catherine the Great of Russia to guard the estate of the Cantemirs during the Russio-Turkish War, namely their daughters, Lucine and Natasha. Toma and Alek both know that they cannot allow themselves to become emotionally involved with the sisters, even if the allure is tempting because of their close quarters. Alek is the first to fall, hungry for Natasha. However, Natasha introduces them all to something beyond their control and imagination. In a castle on a mountain not to far away, the devil has come down to tempt humans with the ultimate choice between living free or living dead. Though Toma and Lucine first resist the temptation Alek and Natasha first fell to, they find that there is little they can do to resist it forever.

Immanuel’s Veins can be considered a culmination or an example of everything Ted Dekker has done in his writing career. It is a cornerstone and a sample of everything he has ever done, yet nothing more and nothing new. Combining elements from the endless Circle saga, When Heaven Weeps, and his serial killer novels, and packaged in his trademark epic style, Immanuel’s Veins is deep on the outside yet very empty on the inside. However, nothing Ted Dekker writes can be completely discounted.

Toma, Alek, Lucine, and Natasha are not exemplary characters, but neither are they empty characters. The villain is a mix of all the villains Ted has ever created, making for a predictable result. Of course, there is some offhand allusion to some version of the great Thomas. It’s a miracle this book escaped without a millionth manifestation of Billy\Billos\Will that is really controlling the whole situation with a Blood Book, even though there is a Blood Book mentioned briefly. Basically, this cast of characters is nothing new for Ted Dekker.

The first half of the plot is empty and confusing, lacking substance and locational awareness. Things don’t really get going until the creatures in the dark castle, another manifestation of the Shataiki, start biting people. However, whatever smoke and mirrors and optical illusions Ted Dekker creates are only a cover-up for a very typical plot. By the time the book was half over, Ted created a situation similar to the end of When Heaven Weeps, with the same outcome. Though Ted had a chance to pull things out of a nosedive, he did not, though there are few interesting elements at the end. As mentioned before, Immanuel’s Veins is an example of Ted Dekker, namely the new Ted Dekker, the one that markets himself as an epic and new author but still does the same old stuff.

I used to say that Ted was better at his standalone novels, but now I’m not so sure. Perhaps he can redeem himself in his upcoming co-authored series that seems to be just as mystical as ever.

2.5 stars

Take Four by Karen Kingsbury

2010-10-19T16:30:00.000-04:00

Young and popular actor Brandon Paul has lived his short life starring in movies by day and making the tabloid headlines at night. Christian movie directors Keith Ellison and Dayne Matthews of Unlocked, the next movie Brandon is starring in, have instructed him to clean up his act if he expects to star in the film. However, Brandon decides the follow their instructions for an entirely different reason: because of Bailey Flanigan, his co-star in Unlocked. However, despite the heartthrob’s obvious affections for her, Bailey wants to understand her kind yet tight-lipped boyfriend Cody. She knows something has been going on in his life, but he refuses to tell her. This only makes things more complicated for her. Meanwhile, Andi Ellison is trying to make the hard decision as to what she will do with the baby growing inside her. Should she raise the child as her own or give it up for adoption? With so many questions, how will the intertwining lives of these families affect one another?

Karen Kingsbury seems content to write the never-ending Baxter Saga for the rest of her life, but it’s time for this series to be put to rest. The Baxter family long ago became perfect, and her attempts to create another family like them have failed. There are few characters that are realistic, and she is generally running out of good ideas for this saga. It’s really time to move on.

Brandon Paul is a more ambiguous character than one may expect, even if Karen is trying to create the next Dayne Matthews through him. Keith Ellison, Dayne Matthews, and all the Baxters are dead characters with no substance. Bailey Flanigan is an situational character that Karen can use for any purpose. Cody Coleman remains to be an interesting character, but beyond him, this cast of characters is suffering for substance.

The relationship between Brandon and Bailey was a copycat of Karen’s former relationship between Katie and Dayne, but at least it had a different outcome. At least Brandon was no one’s long lost son. Yet. The situation with Andi and her baby was cheesy and convenient, however. At least the roller coaster relationship between Bailey and Cody always makes things interesting. The best thing Take Four produced was an end to this mediocre film-making series. However, Karen has already made it clear that she’s not ending the Baxter Saga, but is continuing it with Leaving, no doubt the beginning of another single-word-series. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Karen Kingsbury needs to stick with standalone novels.

Perhaps Karen will surprise us all with the beginning of this next sub-series.

2 stars

Unpretty by Sharon Carter Rodgers

2010-10-08T16:01:00.002-04:00

The Michaelangeles Movement has kidnapped a man and taken him to an undisclosed location. Hummingbird Collins witnessed the kidnapping, and now is getting harassed by one of the movement's members. He keeps sending her cassette tapes to listen to, disclosing some information of the background of the movement, but not disclosing any whereabouts of the kidnapped man. Hummingbird's lawyer brother, a former NFL player recluse, and a retarded man have all become involved in the perplexing case that involves a higher power than any of them expect. In order to solve the case, they must delve into the strange mind of the "artist" they are dealing with who desires to remove all things "unpretty" from the earth, and trust the strange mumblings of the retarded man...before time runs out.

Sharon Carter Rodgers has set out, as an author, to be as different, abnormal, and offbeat as possible. I like it. Despite the strange character names and the strange purpose behind this book, I find Sharon Carer Rodgers interesting. However, in all their abnormalacy, they still slipped into typical traps along the way.

The character base is scattered. Hummingbird is an interesting enough character, as is her brother. The ex-NFL player acts as a superhuman bailout tool. The retarded man is passable. The "artist" villain is interesting enough, and his philosophical ramblings are intriguing. He may be the most interesting character; however, this is not a model cast of characters. Rodgers needs to work in this area a bit more.

Rodgers builds an interesting case centered around obscure historical facts and philosophy and driven by an odd writing style. One plus is that Hummingbird has no romantic subplot. There is virtually nothing wrong with the body of the plot; things go south when the showdown occurs. However, while the showdown is quite cheesy and predictable, the villain's outcome is quite different and interesting. An epilogue serves to answer some of the reader's question regarding the movement, but the author leaves most of it up to the reader's imagination.

All in all, Sharon Carter Rodgers is an interesting author that needs help with character development. However, they may be able to use their creativity properly in the future.

3 stars

The Bishop by Steven James

2010-10-05T16:10:00.002-04:00

Patrick Bowers, special agent for the FBI, has solved quite a few cases in his day, but this current case has him stumped. Teamed up with two women he can’t seem to decide between-Lien-Hua and Cheyenne-he must try to stop a pair of killers who have been leaving their mark around random Washington DC attractions, using misdirection every step of the way. Besides his new case and his relationship confusion, the biological father of his stepdaughter, Tessa, is seeking legal custody of her in a lawsuit. Tessa doesn’t understand the intricacies of life herself, since she is now wondering whether there is a true difference between man and beast. When it comes to criminal investigation, Patrick has to wonder the same things as well. With fake clues and no leads, the time is running out before true disaster strikes Washington DC…

In his usual epic and dramatic storytelling style, Steven James has weaved another complicated and deep mystery wrought with philosophy, suspense, and originality. Driven by good characters, this plot is only tarnished with minor missteps at the end.

Patrick and Tessa are the core characters of the series. They drive it along with their deep ponderings and well-developed personalities. Other characters are fine, but Patrick and Tessa and the true heart of the character base. The only problem with Steven James’ character department in The Bishop is the cheesy identity of one of the villains. Otherwise, I have no complaints.

As usual, Steven builds a strong case filled with dead ends, false suspects, and Patrick premonitions. Tessa’ philosophy adds no small addition to the series; in fact, I would miss her contributions if they were left out. One of the better points of the book is that Patrick’s relationship issues are not resolved. However, Steven may be purposely dragging the issue out. The showdown is the best of the series, though it may not seem like it at first. There is a deeper meaning that requires a second look, which then warrants an applause. There are unresolved issues at the end of this book that Steven will no doubt use to fuel a case for The Queen.

All in all, Steven James makes his books ten times better than they could be with his masterful storytelling abilities. While the originality of the Patrick Bowers Files may be coming to an end, I hope he does not lose to epic qualities he has demonstrated thus far.

4.5 stars

All She Ever Wanted by Lynn Austin

2010-09-29T16:04:00.003-04:00

Kathleen Seymour has been running from her past and her family all her adult life, but now her teenage daughter, Joelle, has been caught shoplifting, sending off alarms in Kathy's head. On top of this, Kathy has gotten herself fired from her job because of her temper. Now an invitation to a family party being thrown for her father don't seem so bad. Kathy and Joelle skip town not only to escape the endless counseling sessions, but also to discover what really went wrong in Kathy's past and how it can impact their future. Little do they know that the deeper they go into the past, the more surprising things get, and more secrets are revealed.

As usual, Lynn Austin has crafted a non-linear plot driven by well-developed characters and imperfect circumstances. The plot covers several generations of women and the highlights of their lives, namely their mistakes that impacted future generations. Nonetheless, this is a typical Lynn Austin book.

Kathy is a refreshing lead for Lynn Austin, since she is not her typical stereotype. She brings a unique flavor to the plot that would be otherwise lost. Joelle is interesting enough, but Kathy's parents, grandmother, and uncle are all interesting and ambiguous characters that make for an entertaining plot. These add a little more of a comedy touch than Lynn Austin usually has, but it's good to change things up once and a while. As usual, Lynn Austin has crafted a flawless character base.

Lynn Austin specializes in past\present plots, and All She Ever Wanted is no exception. She uses this format to creatively conceal secrets until the reader needs to know them. She is a master of telling the reader why something is what it is by telling the reader the background behind the situation. She has learned to right lengthy novels in this manner, but she does it correctly. Though she repeats her same tendencies every time, they are tendencies worth repeating. As usual, it is the end of this novel that keeps it from being five stars, because she fixes too much rather than just leaving things alone. However, I cannot complain, for Lynn Austin has written more Elite novels than most other authors ever will.

Whenever I'm in need for an Elite novel, I can always refer to Lynn Austin.

4.5 stars

Candle in the Darkness by Lynn Austin

2010-09-25T15:19:00.002-04:00

Caroline Fletcher always wondered why white people took advantage of black people and forced them to be slaves. From the time she was a little girl to the present, in which she is now a woman, she has never understood why her father, along with many other plantation owners, treated his slaves like animals. But now the country called America, the free country, is at war with itself over this very issue. The North believes that slaves should go free, while the South wants to keep them. As a "slave-lover" in the Southern state of Virginia, Caroline feels torn, especially since her fiancee is now fighting against the North. But her cousin, a Northerner has recently been taken captive in a prison near her, and he wants her to help him spy on the people around her in order to get information for the North. If she ever felt torn between two different beliefs, Caroline feels torn more than ever now, with people dying pointlessly around her. What ultimate decision will she make?

As usual, Lynn Austin has written a historical epic driven by good characters, but which has a slightly typical end. However, Candle in the Darkness is a linear plot rather than a past\present plot. Otherwise, this is classic Lynn Austin fiction.

As usual, Caroline is a superb leading character complete with a well-developed personality. There are many other good characters as well, including Caroline's fiancee, her cousin, her father, her mother, and most of the slaves. There is no true villain, which makes this plot interesting. There is virtually nothing lacking in the character department, as usual for Lynn Austin. She could develop these types of characters for the rest of her writing career and I would be eternally happy.

Candle in the Darkness presents a sad but true situation that occurred in our country's past, one that many wish could be erased from history. Slavery in the South led to many problems we still face today, even though it was eventually eliminated. Lynn does not downplay any of the sins of the Southern plantation owners or sugar-coat the way they treated their slaves. She puts Caroline in an interesting situation: the position of the slave-lover in the South. However, this does not mean she is a perfect victim. To change up the pace, Lynn creates everyday life circumstances throughout the plot. However, when the end looked like it was going to be quite interesting, Lynn backpedaled at the very end to make a few things turn out right. However, this does not completely ruin the plot, and Lynn Austin will get the same old rating again.

Lynn Austin has clearly found her niche in fiction, and there is no reason for her to change things now, when mostly everything she does turns out in her favor.

4.5 stars

Serenity by Harry Kraus

2010-09-24T15:36:00.000-04:00

Adam Tyson came to the sleepy town of Serenity, North Carolina, to create a non-descript life for himself, where no one would find him or recognize him. He has taken the job as the head surgeon at the local hospital, and he hopes that he will lead a quite life. That is, until Beth Carlson, the head nurse, walked into his life and made him wonder if he could love again. But when she is suddenly hospitalized due to a car accident, she fights for her life. What's worse, there seems to be something suspect going on behind the scenes in Serenity-a strange operation no one seems to know about or care about. Adam finds himself in the middle of a conspiracy-one besides the one he has created for himself. Before he knows it, the truth about his identity will come out and he will have to face his past.

As is his custom, Harry Kraus has crafted a an anti-run-of-the-mill plot driven by good characters. However, the end of this book is not as good as it could be, therefore costing this book the five star rating.

Adam and Beth are interesting characters, especially since neither one of them is perfect. Adam is perhaps one of Harry's best leads, maybe one of the best ever created, since no author has tried to create one like him. There are few characters in this plot, but none of them are as intriguing as Adam. The villains are a bit typical and tend to wear on the character department, but they are not as bad as they could be. Basically, Harry Kraus is still a master of imperfect characters.

From the start, the foundational idea behind this plot was original. Harry Kraus purposed to craft this plot around Adam's mistakes, making it interesting. However, this purpose became slightly muddled when Harry introduced two typical villains that the book could have gone without. Their purpose is predictable and uninteresting. This purpose climaxes into a cheesy showdown with a predictable outcome. However, the saving grace of the book was the fact that the inevitable romantic subplot did not end up as expected from the beginning. Even though he reverted back to his old ways of cheesy villains, Harry still created enough original elements to put this book on the Elite List.

Harry Kraus is perhaps the best author nobody talks about because no one likes his blatant originality. However, this reputation has gained our respect.

4 stars

Until We Reach Home by Lynn Austin

2010-09-18T14:43:00.004-04:00

Elin Carlson is determined to find a new life for herself and her two sisters, Karen and Sofia, in America. Their uncle has paid their passage from Sweden to Chicago, so Elin wants to take the chance at freedom while she has it. Her sisters are none too happy about the arrangement, but they reluctantly board the ship to America when the time comes. With only a trunk full of possessions and the clothes on their backs, the sisters Carlson believe that everything they need lies in America. However, they are proven wrong when trouble meets them at every turn and they find themselves as house maids employed by a grumpy old woman. Elin wonders if she made a mistake, but she does not know what secrets her sisters are hiding from her-or what awaits her around the next bend.

As is her custom, Lynn Austin has crafted another historical epic driven by good characters yet tainted by a predictable end. The only difference in Until We Reach Home and her other historical epics is that it does not jump back and forth from the past and the present, but stays on the same timeline the entire time. Otherwise, this is classic Lynn Austin fiction.

Elin, Karen, Sofia, and most of the other characters all have well-developed personalities. If an author is to follow a similar pattern with every book, developing good characters is a good pattern to be stuck on. There is no villain in this plot, as is the case with most Lynn Austin plots. I may sound like a broken record when it comes to Lynn Austin characters, but there is honestly nothing else to say about her superb character development.

The plot records the Carlson sisters' journey from Sweden across the Ocean and through America to Chicago, but does not revert to the past as is Lynn Austin's norm. The second half of the book is spent in an uncharacteristic situation for Lynn Austin but nonetheless interesting and creative. As usual, the end of the book is its downfall, though it is not entirely bad. It is partly ambiguous but it is not creative as it should be. Endings have always been Lynn's downfall, and nothing has changed here.

Nevertheless, as usual, Lynn Austin has written a memorable plot that is definitely worth a read. If she continues writing these types of books all her writing career, I have nothing to complain about.

4.5 stars

Havah: The Story of Eve by Tosca Lee

2010-09-14T11:34:00.002-04:00

Created from the rib of the adam, the first man, came Havah, the first woman the walk the earth. She was one of the two only human beings to ever walk the ground of the perfect Garden of Eden. There she had intimacy with Adam, and intimacy with the One. Life was perfect until she met the Serpent, the most crafty of creatures. When she listened to his lies and ate of the forbidden fruit, she ruined perfection and was cast out of the Garden with the Adam. They were the only human beings to ever see perfection and imperfection. Destined to live a life of toil and hardship, Havah became the Mother of All yet carried the guilt of destroying the One's perfect world for everyone.

Determined to be an outlying author, Tosca Lee has crafted an interesting and unique account about the beginning of our world. Though it does not seem so, this Biblical account is not oft written about in Christian fiction, so Tosca has trailblazed a new path. Despite this book's uniqueness, Tosca failed to develop good characters, costing her the five star rating.

Havah (Eve), Adam, Kayin (Cain), Hevel (Able), or any of the other character do not have personalities as they should. It should have been easy for Tosca to develop these characters since there were few, but she was too caught up in her obscure writing style. The one characters she did portray correctly, besides God, was Lucifer. He was not the cheesy serpent he could have bee, but more. However, Tosca has some work to do with her characters in the future.

Tosca's narrative is unique and hard to describe. It definitely fits with the setting she chose, a setting that no other author has ever dared to breach. Books have been written about finding the Garden of Eden, but this is the only one that actually tells the story of what happened there. Tosca also goes beyond the Garden and takes Eve up to her death, using creative licence along the way. Her additives are refreshing and do not subtract from this book's rating.

However, this book could have been five stars. It disappoints me to see Tosca waste this potential. However, this book is not entirely bad and is in fact better than most. If Tosca will develop her characters better in the future, she has all the potential in the world.

4 stars

Breaker's Reef by Terri Blackstock

2010-09-09T14:39:00.000-04:00

A Cape Refuge rookie police officer has found the body of a Cape Refuge teenage girl floating in the bay. However, thanks to his carelessness in moving the body without gloves, Chief Matthew Cade cannot identify the killer. Besides having another killer on his hands, Cade is trying to figure out how he can ask Blair Owens to marry him-but it can't just be a simple question. However, he did not expect that his romantic scheme would get him into trouble with the law. A popular mystery author has moved to Cape Refuge and Sheila Caruso has taken a job with him typing his old novels onto his computer for him. His eccentric nature almost scares her off the job, but the longer she stays with him, the more she wonders if this strange man is the killer everyone is looking for, especially since all his books are from the viewpoints of killers. With more uncertainty on Cape Refuge, will everything ever get back to normal?

Even though Terri Blackstock should have departed from Cape Refuge killings several books ago, she actually found a way to make this final installment in the series interesting. The case is up to Terri Blackstock par, and maybe even above. But most of all, she finally wrote an interesting showdown. However, as I expected with this last book of the series, impending wedding bells put a damper on things.

The miracle of the Cape Refuge cast of characters is the fact that they never changed throughout the entire series. Cade, Blair, Morgan, Jonathan, and Sadie never changed. This is not necessarily a good thing, but it is not a bad thing either. In this final book, Terri finally created a good villain whose identity is hidden until the last chapters. The Cape Refuge characters have not always been model characters, but they are not disgraceful either.

Terri Blackstock has always been able to build a strong case in her mysteries, and Breaker's Reef is no exception. Her unique multiple point of view plots get the story at all angles and through different perspectives. As a side bar, this title actually makes sense. However, the ongoing relationship between Cade and Blair finally came to a head at an inopportune time for the series. This is the main problem with the book. However, Terri actually created an interesting showdown-two of them actually-fueled by true surprise and ambiguity. This book rivals Cape Refuge for the best book of the series.

At least Terri Blackstock found a way to end this series on a good note, which was the best thing she could have done. The Cape Refuge series was not the best series in the world, but neither was it the worst series in the world. Terri Blackstock remains to be one of the best suspense authors on the market.

4 stars

Eve's Daughters by Lynn Austin

2010-09-05T16:14:00.000-04:00

Emma Bauer has held a secret about her past for some time now, not telling her daughter or granddaughter, who are quite close to her. But now that her granddaughter's marriage is in jeopardy, Emma feels that she must do something. Beginning with her mother's story of how she unwillingly came to America from Germany in order to escape the war, and continuing to her daughter's story and finally her own, Emma reveals to Suzanne what it really means to be in love and what a privilege it is. She only hopes that her secret does not further destroy her Suzanne's marriage, not to mention to the lives of her other family members.
If you couldn't tell already, Eve's Daughters is another one of Lynn Austin's patented historical epic tales with a nonsensical title. Some authors are very good at writing one brand of fiction, or one type of plot, and Lynn Austin is one of those. The key to success for these types of authors is finding a good plot to repeat over and over again, not mention always doing something a little different. Lynn has proved that she can do these things, yet ends are not her strong points, often costing her five star novels.
Emma, Suzanne, and all the rest of the characters are all developed well, as usual for Lynn Austin. There are no villains in any of the stories save for the wrong choices of the characters. I always enjoy plots where the main characters are the villains themselves because this proves that all plots do not have to be the same.
Lynn Austin systematically tells the stories of four different women, each from a different generation of the same family, with some present scenes sprinkled in. Lynn has mastered this type of plot so that it seems second nature to her. Each story is realistic and unique; the same thing does not happen every time. However, in this variety, Lynn could not abstain from fixing some imperfect elements in these stories. This is perhaps Lynn's biggest problem. There is nothing wrong in general with writing a story that works out somewhat; the problem occurs when an element is fixed in an unrealistic fashion. This is the most popular issue in Christian fiction today. Lynn did not prove herself to be above this in Eve's Daughters.
However, this is only a minor issue and should not be given much attention, for Eve's Daughters is a masterfully written epic with a good foundational idea. Lynn Austin is the best historical fiction author on the market.
4.5 stars

Nightmare by Robin Parrish

2010-09-04T15:28:00.001-04:00

Raised as the daughter of the two most famous paranormal investigators in the world, Maia Peters is dead to any idea involving ghosts, apparitions, or hauntings. She attends the new amusement park Ghost Town, a park designed to scare its patrons to death, only to disprove everything the park throws at her. Everything goes as she expects, but at the end of her visit to the park, she encounters an apparition not fabricated by man. She sees the face of a girl she knows-Jordin Cole-a girl who has asked her is the past to help her delve deeper into the paranormal for a price. Without telling anyone about her encounter, Maia is visited the following day by Jordin's fiancee, who tells her that he cannot contact or find Jordin anywhere. As Maia recounts her past adventures with Jordin, she and Derek delve into the supernatural in ways they never expected they would have to and uncover one of the most elaborate and dangerous plots known to mankind. They must stop it before it takes over the world, but at what cost?
Robin Parrish stays true to himself a fabricates another huge 'what if?' plot that adds to his 100% Elite Rating. It seems second nature for him to write an Elite book, but when will he return to his five star days?
Maia, Derek, and Jordin are all good characters, as usual. Robin Parrish seems to be able to develop good characters in his sleep as he focuses his real attention to a super plot. His villain development has seen better days, but under the circumstances, his choice of a villain was the only logical choice. There are very few characters in this book because it is more of a plot-focused book, but the few character there are Robin developed correctly.
Robin delves into the world of hauntings, ghost, apparitions, and other paranormal claims by sending his characters to some of the most popular "haunted" locations in the world. He does not attempt to build a case for any side of this issue but instead writes an interesting plot. His speculations about the paranormal are eye-opening. As usual, there is a seemingly off-the-wall foundational idea behind this plot that really makes this book worth reading, as is Robin's specialty. However, the only thing that keeps this book from being five stars is an uncharacteristic showdown that does not end originally. This tarnishes Robin's reputation and makes me wonder about him.
Nevertheless, Robin has maintained his 100% Elite Rating because he continuously asks outrageous 'what if?' questions and answers them in interesting ways.
4 stars

Vigilante by Robin Parrish

2010-09-04T11:00:00.005-04:00

Coming Summer 2011...

Description:
Nolan Gray is an elite soldier, skilled in all forms of combat. After years fighting on foreign battlefields, witnessing unspeakable evils and atrocities firsthand, a world-weary Nolan returns home to find it just as corrupt as the war zones. Everywhere he looks, there’s pain and cruelty. Society is being destroyed by wicked men who don’t care who they make suffer or destroy.

Nolan decides to do what no one else can, what no one has ever attempted. He will defend the helpless. He will tear down the wicked. He will wage a one-man war on the heart of man, and he won’t stop until the world is the way it should be.
The wicked have had their day. Morality’s time has come. In a culture starving for a hero, can one extraordinary man make things right?
Preview:
Robin Parrish is addressing another controversial issue through fiction. Vigilante looks like another one of his "big" plots, like Merciless. Perhaps he is departing from the supernatural for a time. All I know is that Robin does not disappoint.

Want more previews? Visit https://sites.google.com/site/originalbooksnews/home!

Bound By Guilt by CJ Darlington

2010-09-04T10:54:00.005-04:00

Coming February 2011...

Description:
Roxi Gold has been shuttled from one foster home to another most of her life. She longs for a family and will do anything to fit in - even if it's against the law. Soon she's traveling the country in an RV stealing rare books from unsuspecting bookstores. If she refuses she'll be put out on the streets. Police officer Abby Dawson has seen the worst of society, and not just at work. Her ex-husband has wrested her daughter away from her in a bitter custody battle. The job she once loved has become a chore - the world isn't safer, and there's no joy in her life. One night a man's innocent blood changes Roxi and Abby forever. One searches for justice; the other finds herself on the run until a first edition of The Great Gatsby catches up with her. Will the power of forgiveness set them free, or will they both remain bound by guilt?

Preview:
CJ Darlington appears to have something going with this new novel, though it is slightly similar to her debut novel, Thicker Than Blood. The greatest thing she can prove with this new plot is her hopefully improved ability to develop characters correctly. CJ has a lot of potential as an author if she will tap into correctly.

Want more previews? Visit https://sites.google.com/site/originalbooksnews/home!

River's Edge by Terri Blackstock

2010-09-03T16:00:00.000-04:00

With the Cape Refuge mayoral race in full swing, the last thing Chief Matthew Cade wants is a missing person to deal with. The wife of mayoral candidate Ben Jackson has disappeared, causing the race to pause. But the case gets even more interesting when a psychic on the island claims that he knows where the woman's body is-and turns out to be correct. This causes new Christian Blair Owens to ask questions about the supernatural-questions with immediate answers. Cade openly denies any supposed power of the psychic, but Blair wants to whole story. Besides all this, the third mayoral candidate wants to continue the race without Jackson at all. Also, Sadie's mother Sheila has been released from prison ahead of time and as joined her children on the island, but has not kept herself out of trouble. With so much uncertainty on Cape Refuge, it's enough to drive one to madness. When will someone make sense of all the messes and answer some questions?
As expected, the Cape Refuge series isn't getting any better as it wears on. It seems to me that the biggest problem is the island's death count. How many people could possibly die on the same island? Why can't Terri Blackstock write a different plot? So far it's been all deaths and kidnapping. This is probably the series' biggest problem. Unfortunately, this problem is not alleviated in River's Edge.
The main miracle of this series is the consistency of the characters. None of them have changed much, except for maybe Jonathan, who is inching toward perfection upon his mayoral campaign. Otherwise, Morgan, Blair, Cade, and Sadie remain the same. Sheila provides an interesting flavor to the story as well. The identity of the villain is well concealed by the many suspects. Perhaps the biggest issue here is the lack of progress. These characters are stuck in a rut. Characters in a series should progress and become better and deeper as the series progresses, and I have yet to see that in the Cape Refuge series.
Terri wrote an extremely average and mediocre mystery in River's Edge that is only spiced up by the culprit confusion. Otherwise, it is quite cut-and-dry. Besides this, the surrounding elements, such as the mayoral race and the eternal romantic subplot between Blair and Cade are predictable and mediocre. Sheila's subplot provides a counter to this mediocrity, but it is not enough to alleviate this book's low rating. As I said before, if this series is to go anywhere from here, Terri has to invent a more creative plot pattern. She needs to make a change of pace before this series goes down the tubes.
Perhaps there is hope for Breaker's Reef, but hopes are dim with wedding bells tolling.
2.5 stars

Poll Report August 2010

2010-09-03T10:18:00.002-04:00

In August of 2010, we asked our readers what their favorite series was according to the choices. As usual, the results were not surprising.

1. The Circle by Ted Dekker (50%)
2. The Baxter Saga by Karen Kingsbury (21%)
3. The Bun Man Novels by Tim Downs (14%)
4. The Occupational Hazards by Rene Gutteridge\The Ty Buchanan series by James Scott Bell (each 7%)

Stay tuned for round two.

Drift by Sharon Carter Rodgers

2010-08-28T15:13:00.002-04:00

Charlie Murphy, a powerful, self-established mob leader, is now dead, and the symbol of the mob leadership, a unique ring, if missing. Baby Doll, his adopted daughter knows how Charlie died and also knows where the ring is-but she isn't telling. The guilt of her sins weighs heavily on her, and she wants to run away-that is, until she sees a man at Charlie's funeral that no one else can see. He is a Drifter, a soul lost in the shallows of the river of life. He has formed a Tether to her, making her the only person who can see him. Baby Doll sees this as the answer to her problems-an invisible man can help her escape from her ever-present bodyguard and make a life of her own. But the sins of her past are chasing her...and they aren't relenting.
Sharon Carter Rodgers, whoever this person is, maintains a odd and offbeat image. The secret identity, the illusions to obscure philosophers, and the strange plot themes seem deliberate and purposeful. However, it matters not who this mysterious person is, for they have written a book worth talking about in Drift. Using original themes and good character development, they have produced a surprise five star novel.
There are few characters in this novel, but I believe the quality of the characters is more important than the quantity of the characters. Baby Doll may be a strange name for a lead, but that does not mean she is any less of a good character. The Drifter is not a perfect character as one would expect him to be. The few other characters in this book are also well developed, proving that the author has something going on when it comes to character development.
The author handles the idea of a "Drifter" well all while not only writing the plot for this idea by actually creating an alternate objective. The author does not try to get too supernatural, different, or typical with this idea they have invented; they handle it very well. But even after all of this, the end of the book is the icing on the cake. The author actually wrote a showdown that did not end predictably. Even when they could have used the Drifter as a CRT, they did not. They showed that they have the guts to write original ends rather than typical ones. This is impressive.
In the end, it does not matter who Sharon Carter Rodgers really is; all I know is that the mastermind behind the books with her name on them is a genius who can help usher in the new era of Christian fiction.
5 stars

Reporters?

2010-08-27T15:25:00.003-04:00

Does anyone want to become the proprietor of Original Books News, the sister site of Original Books?
If you like researching the latest Christian fiction news and telling everyone else about it, then this is the site for you to manage!
Visit originalbooksnews.blogspot.com and read the Help Wanted post or email me at originalbooks200@gmail.com if you want to get started right away!

Last Light by Terri Blackstock

2010-08-27T15:23:00.000-04:00

In one second, planes begin falling from the sky, vehicles stall out on the road, no electronic device or equipment works, and no power functions. Suddenly everything America depends on is ripped away from them and they are forced to go back to the basics in order to survive. The Branning family has found themselves caught in the middle of unrest and crime throughout their neighborhood since the local police force has been crippled. They attempt to band together with their neighbors, but many of them are tight-fisted. On top of this, there is a killer among the neighborhood who has killed two whole families for the goods they had been hoarding. This only incites more fear and uncertainty. How could people become so dependant on electronics that they have become desperate in their absence?
While the idea of the gift of electricity and electronics being taken away from the world is nothing new, Terri Blackstock has put her own spin to the idea and actually refrained from the usual quest plot pattern most authors use when dealing with this subject. However, Terri stills falls into her old suspense traps in the end, causing this book to only be a little above average.
The characters are no better or worse than typical Terri Blackstock characters-they are all imperfect yet without personalities. Terri continues her trend of a split point of view, but there seems to be too many points of view because it is difficult for the reader to follow all the characters at once. The villain is not as bad as they could have been, at least. Terri still has some work to do with her characters.
Terri accurately captured what would happen if electricity and electronics were suddenly taken away, namely the effect this would have on the economy and on crime rates. The killing is justified and expected in this type of situation, as is amateur crime solving. There is really nothing wrong with the body of the plot, but the cheesy showdown with the killer at the end tarnishes this book's image. It appears that Terri cannot invent a creative end and always resorts to a predictable showdown. When will she ever come up with something different?
On most points, Terri Blackstock is one of the better suspense authors on the market, yet she almost always does the same thing in her books. The day that she refrains from a showdown or actually kills off a key character in the showdown, I will be happy.
3 stars

Southern Storm by Terri Blackstock

2010-08-24T15:45:00.001-04:00

Matthew Cade has invited unwanted trouble upon himself by running down a dying man with his police cruiser one rainy evening on the island of Cape Refuge. The man died shortly after his arrival at the hospital, and Cade is blaming himself. This is not helped by the gossip circulating the island upon the event. However, Blair Owens knows Cade didn't kill the man because he was already bleeding of a gunshot wound. But when Cade disappears from the island mysteriously, suspicion mounts against the police chief. Blair is furious and launches a reckless campaign for Cade's innocence, quitting her job as island librarian in the process. The facts don't add up to her, even when a note supposedly sent by Cade arrives saying he has eloped with an unknown girlfriend. Or maybe Blair is just trying to keep her heart from being let down...
In the second installment of the Cape Refuge series, Terri Blackstock does little to instill confidence that this series will avoid decreasing in value as it wears on. She started the series out with a four-star, and now a three-star. At least plot structure is the main problem in Southern Storm rather than character development. Needless to say, I don't have high hopes for the remainder of this series.
Morgan and Blair remain the characters they were in Cape Refuge. Blair may even be better than before; her reckless nature and methods for solving the mystery are entertaining and promising. Jonathan is not the character he was in the first book, mostly because he is not shown enough. Cade remains to be the same-a neutral, gray character with a little imperfection but no personality. Sadie also remains to be the same as she was, yet does not develop a personality. Basically, Terri's Cape Refuge characters took no steps in either direction, however this is better than most authors regarding series characters.
Terri did not resist the urge to connect all her subplots with convenient connections. Blair's subplot, Cade's subplot, Morgan's subplot, and Sadie's subplot are all connected in one way or another, by believable connections or by convenient connections. Convenient connections are never advantageous to use when writing a mystery because they are amateurish and cause the author to look as such. There are no obvious romantic subplots, except for the ongoing silent one between Cade and Blair. This is another reason I do not have high hopes for the remainder of this series. Sadie's overlooked subplot is better than it could have been and should have only served to provide a distraction from the mystery. The mystery itself is not well written because the reader knows the entire time where Cade is and why. Besides this, Cade's disappearance is for typical reasons, reasons that Terri has shown herself better than before. To top this all off, she throws in a cheesy showdown that ends predictably.
Basically, the only thing that saved this book from complete disaster was the character development, an uncharacteristic move for her. Now, if only she will develop good characters as well as returning to her superb mystery development of old, she will be a sight to behold.
3 stars

Life in Defiance by Mary E DeMuth

2010-08-24T15:44:00.000-04:00

Ousie Pepper is a woman of secrets. She keeps the violence of her husband-the Reverend Hapland Pepper of Defiance, Texas-toward her a secret. She keeps his violence toward her two children, Jed and Sissy, a secret. She keeps her drinking habit a secret. And worst of all, she knows who killed Daisy Chance, her son's best friend, yet she is keeping it a secret. She believes that her husband's violence is her fault, and therefore begins to read books on the subject of being a Godly wife. But as her future becomes more and more uncertain because of Hap's unpredictable nature and the fact that a killer is on the loose, Ousie soon finds that the only One she can trust is God, but she's not sure if she's ready to face her own sins yet...
There were many mistakes I was afraid Mary E DeMuth would make in this last installment of the Defiance, Texas Trilogy, yet she made none of them. Deeply imperfect characters, superb plot development, and an interesting end make for another five star read.
If anything is Mary' strength as a writer, it is her ability and will to develop deeply imperfect characters with personalities. Ousie is not the perfect victim she could have been; this is evident through her drinking problem. Hapland is not the monster he could have been, but instead is a mentally unstable character. Emory is not the perfect, reformed character she could have been. Daisy's killer is not the monster he could have been. Throughout this series, Mary has showed the people of Defiance are very broken and unclean, and she brings this all together at the end of Life in Defiance. As long as Mary is an author, she never needs to lose this skill for creating such characters. Many other authors need to learn from her how to develop characters.
My number one concern for this book's plot was a miraculous resurrection of Daisy through a misunderstanding of the corpse, yet Mary did not do this. The return of Daisy's killer was a concern to me, yet he was not unbearable. By delving into Ousie's past, the reader discovers how she got herself into the mess with Hap and why she kept herself there. Mary has an intangible quality of her descriptions that no other author can grasp. Her creative word adjectives and verbs, combined with her out-of-context use of the word 'defiance' make for an interesting read. Where there could have been cheesy showdowns between Ousie and Hap or Ousie and Daisy's killer, there were none. While there are no key character deaths at the end, Mary delivered a series end that deals with imperfection and forgiveness.
The Defiance Texas Trilogy has been one of the more enjoyable series I have read, and it is one of the few Elite Series. Mary has proven herself early on to be one of the best authors on the market, and this should continue, as long as she keeps her emotions out of the way of originality. As long as she does the bare minimum of developing her broken characters, her books will always be worth reading.
5 stars

Immanuel's Veins Book Trailer

2010-08-22T14:03:00.001-04:00

The Elite List

2010-08-21T13:13:00.013-04:00

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis
Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis
The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis
The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis
The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis
Out of the Silent Planet by C.S. Lewis
The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis
The Iron Sceptre by John White
A Season of Shadows by Paul McCusker
The Mill House by Paul McCusker
Epiphany by Paul McCusker
Arin's Judgement by Paul McCusker
The Hand That Bears the Sword by George Brian Polivka
Deceived by James Scott Bell
Glimpses of Paradise by James Scott Bell
Deadlocked by James Scott Bell
The Whole Truth by James Scott Bell
No Legal Grounds by Jams Scott Bell
Try Fear by James Scott Bell
Broken Angel by Sigmund Brouwer
Fuse of Armageddon by Sigmund Brouwer
The Leper by Sigmund Brouwer
Tyrone's Story by Sigmund Brouwer
The Disappearing Jewel of Madagascar by Sigmund Brouwer
Creature of the Mists by Sigmund Brouwer
The Second Thief by Travis Thrasher
Sky Blue by Travis Thrasher
Out of the Devil's Mouth by Travis Thrasher
City of Dreams by Stephen and Ross Lawhead
Dominion by Randy Alcorn
Deception by Randy Alcorn
Edge of Eternity by Randy Alcorn
Armando's Treasure by Melody Carlson
Let My People Go by Jefferson Scott
Operation Firebrand by Jefferson Scott
Fatal Defect by Jefferson Scott
The Resurrection File by Craig Parshall
The Second Time Around by Nancy Moser
Solemnly Swear by Nancy Moser
Growing Up on the Edge of the World by Phil Callaway
Nobody by Creston Mapes
Oxygen by Randy Ingermanson
The Fifth Man by Randy Ingermanson
The Root of All Evil by Brandt Dodson
Original Sin by Brandt Dodson
False Witness by Randy Singer
By Reason of Insanity by Randy Singer
Self-Incrimination by Randy Singer
Dying Declaration by Randy Singer
The Cross Examination of Oliver Finney by Randy Singer
The Justice Game by Randy Singer
Fatal Convictions by Randy Singer
Riven by Jerry B Jenkins
The Rookie by Jerry B Jenkins
Tribulation Force by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B Jenkins
Assassins by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B Jenkins
The Indwelling by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B Jenkins
The Mark by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B Jenkins
Desecration by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B Jenkins
Armageddon by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B Jenkins
The Edge of Darkness by Tim LaHaye and Bob Phillips
Out of Time by Alton Gansky
Dark Moon by Alton Gansky
A Ship Possessed by Alton Gansky
The Awakening by Angela Hunt
The Elevator by Angela Hunt
The Face by Angela Hunt
The Immortal by Angela Hunt
Uncharted by Angela Hunt
Brothers by Angela Hunt
Unspoken by Angela Hunt
The Justice by Angela Hunt
The Debt by Angela Hunt
Let Darkness Come by Angela Hunt
Even Now by Karen Kingsbury
Ever After by Karen Kingsbury
One Tuesday Morning by Karen Kingsbury
Beyond Tuesday Morning by Karen Kingsbury
This Side of Heaven by Karen Kingsbury
Oceans Apart by Karen Kingsbury
Shades of Blue by Karen Kingsbury
Widows and Orphans by Susan Meissner
Days and Hours by Susan Meissner
The Shape of Mercy by Susan Meissner
White Picket Fences by Susan Meissner
Lady in Waiting by Susan Meissner
Whom Shall I Fear? by Athol Dickson
Winter Haven by Athol Dickson
They Shall See God by Athol Dickson
Tribulation House by Chris Well
An Echo in the Darkness by Francine Rivers
As Sure as the Dawn by Francine Rivers
Leota's Garden by Francine Rivers
The End of Act Three by Gilbert Morris
Firestorm by Jeanette Windle
Veiled Freedom by Jeanette Windle
Blood Brothers by Rick Acker
Turn Four by Tom Morrisy
Deep Blue by Tom Morrisy
Secrets by Kristen Heitzmann
Unforgotten by Kristen Heitzmann
Deeper Water by Robert Whitlow
Life Support by Robert Whitlow
Higher Hope by Robert Whitlow
Jimmy by Robert Whitlow
Beneath a Southern Sky by Deborah Raney
Kyra's Story by Dandi Daley Mackall
Island of Refuge by Linda Hall
Kathryn's Secret by Linda Hall
Dark Water by Linda Hall
Sadie's Song by Linda Hall
The End is Now by Rob Stennet
Perfect by Harry Kraus
Salty Like Blood by Harry Kraus
Could I Have This Dance? by Harry Kraus
For the Rest of My Life by Harry Kraus
The Chairman by Harry Kraus
Serenity by Harry Kraus
Dogwood by Chris Fabry
Quinlin's Estate by David Ryan Long
Face to Face by Linda Dorrell
Eli by Bill Myers
Skid by Rene Gutteridge
Snitch by Rene Gutteridge
Ghost Writer by Rene Gutteridge
Troubled Waters by Rene Gutteridge
Listen by Rene Gutteridge
Relentless by Robin Parrish
Fearless by Robin Parrish
Merciless by Robin Parrish
Offworld by Robin Parrish
Nightmare by Robin Parrish
Black by Ted Dekker
Red by Ted Dekker
Thr3e by Ted Dekker
Showdown by Ted Dekker
Saint by Ted Dekker
Sinner by Ted Dekker
Skin by Ted Dekker
Lunatic by Ted Dekker
Adam by Ted Dekker
Burn by Ted Dekker and Erin Healey
Boneman's Daughters by Ted Dekker
Exposure by Brandilyn Collins
The Rook by Steven James
The Knight by Steven James
The Bishop by Steven James
The Unseen by T L Hines
Waking Lazarus by T L Hines
Chop Shop by Tim Downs
Less Than Dead by Tim Downs
Wonders Never Cease by Tim Downs
North! Or Be Eaten by Andrew Peterson
Leaper by Geoffrey Wood
The Living End by Lisa Samson
Club Sandwich by Lisa Samson
Embrace Me by Lisa Samson
Quaker Summer by Lisa Samson
The Passion of Mary-Margaret by Lisa Samson
Tiger Lillie by Lisa Samson
Songbird by Lisa Samson
Straight Up by Lisa Samson
Resurrection in May by Lisa Samson
The Firstborn by Conlan Brown
Daisy Chain by Mary E DeMuth
A Slow Burn by Mary E DeMuth
Life in Defiance by Mary E DeMuth
The Last Thing I Remember by Andrew Klaven
Home Another Way by Christa Parrish
Watch Over Me by Christa Parrish
DragonSpell by Donita K Paul
DragonKight by Donita K Paul
DragonFire by Donita K Paul
The Vanishing Sculptor by Donita K Paul
The Candlestone by Bryan Davis
Tears of a Dragon by Bryan Davis
The Assignment by Mark Andrew Olsen
Ulterior Motives by Mark Andrew Olsen
Rescued by John Bevere and Mark Andrew Olsen
Rolling Thunder by Mark Mynheir
The Void by Mark Mynheir
All Through the Night by T Davis Bunn
My Soul to Keep by Melanie Wells
When the Day of Evil Comes by Melanie Wells
Beyond the Night by Marlo Schalesky
The Other Side of Darkness by Melody Carlson
Crystal Lies by Melody Carlson
The Sacred Cipher by Terry Brennan
Expiration Date by Eric Wilson
The Best of Evil by Eric Wilson
Abduction by Wanda L Dyson
The Stones Cry Out by Sibella Giorello
The Rivers Run Dry by Sibella Giorello
The Clouds Roll Away by Sibella Giorello
Things Left Unspoken by Eva Marie Everson
Tested By Fire by Kathy Herman
Day of Reckoning by Kathy Herman
The Color of the Soul by Tracey Bateman
Serenity Bay by Bette Nordberg
Beyond the Summerland by LB Graham
Healing Stones by Stephen Arterburn and Nancy Rue
Healing Waters by Stephen Arterburn and Nancy Rue
Healing Sands by Stephen Arterburn and Nancy Rue
A Flickering Light by Jane Kirkpatrick
Michal by Jill Eileen Smith
Chateau of Echoes by Siri Mitchell
Red, White, and Blue by Laura Hayden
A Proper Pursuit by Lynn Austin
Though Waters Roar by Lynn Austin
Gods and Kings by Lynn Austin
Eve's Daughters by Lynn Austin
Until We Reach Home by Lynn Austin
Candle in the Darkness by Lynn Austin
All She Ever Wanted by Lynn Austin
Fire By Night by Lynn Austin
Crossing Oceans by Gina Holmes
Fireflies in December by Jennifer Erin Valent
Covenant Child by Terri Blackstock
Cape Refuge by Terri Blackstock
Breaker's Reef by Terri Blackstock
Intervention by Terri Blackstock
What She Left For Me by Tracie Peterson
Havah by Tosca Lee
Playing God by Michelle McKinney Hammond

Faith of My Fathers by Lynn Austin

2010-08-21T13:11:00.002-04:00

At the sudden death of King Hezekiah of Judah, his immature son Manesseh was given control of the entire kingdom. However, Manesseh is no more than a boy who knows nothing about being king. Soon, paranoia and confusion are triggered in his mind by an encounter with a strange man preforming sacrificial rituals in a graveyard. This man plants seeds of doubt in his mind regarding a supposed conspiracy against him designed to usurp the throne. Manesseh soons foolishly allows this man to take control of his life-and all of Judah. He murders the only people he can trust, forcing his childhood friend, Joshua ben Eliakim, into hiding with other family members who escaped with him. As Manesseh leads Judah further and further away from Yahweh, the one true God, further away Joshua wants to be from his friend-turned-enemy. But when Joshua is faced with the opportunity to smuggle all that is Yahweh's out of His defiled temple, he will stop at nothing to visit revenge upon the young king of Judah.
Lynn Austin's series has entered a new dimension. Gone is Hezekiah and his righteousness, mistakes, and repentance. In is Manesseh and his wickedness, confusion, and immorality. I imagine that this is how it was for Judah as well, so Lynn did a good job of capturing this. All series need a changeup if they are to continue past the normal three-book limit, and she has done this as well, by choice and by requirement. What she has done with Faith of My Fathers is something she has never done before in her career-break her limits and finally achieve the five star rating.
Joshua is a better character than one may expect at first. He is perhaps the deepest character of this series. Manesseh's journey to wickedness is much like that of Uriah's in Gods and Kings-slow but sure, and prodded by an outside force. Lynn Austin did an excellent job by handling this deeply troubled man correctly rather than making him out to be a cheesy character, causing him to begin his reign with wickedness. There are no perfect characters as there were in the first three books of this series. Lynn has finally returned to her old self by crafting and developing good characters.
Lynn must have worked overtime studying the Bible and paralleling historical accounts, because she discovered some intruiging passages of Isaiah's prophecies that the average readers does not think much of. She showed readers many overlooked things in the Bible and developed a good plot based on these such things. There are no romantic subplots that work out, and most key character deaths are based on the Bible. Lynn has shown that she is a true research author, for she has researched the forgotten corners of the Bible and has written a superb book as a result. There is nothing wrong with this plot, therefore finally awarding Lynn Austin a five star book.
Lynn Austin is the best Biblical\historical author on the market because not only does she research her plot backgrounds well, but she also writes an original plot to complement this. She has done what no other author in her genre has done before by simply going to extra mile.
5 stars

The Strength of His Hand by Lynn Austin

2010-08-21T13:11:00.001-04:00

As Judah thrives under King Hezekiah, his heart soon becomes proud and overconfident. When Babylonian envoys arrive at his palace, telling him that they heard of the Assyrians' flight from Jerusalem and congratulating him for his success, Hezekiah does not acknowledge the Lord nor consult Him when they offer a treaty of nations against Assyria for him to sign. Now that he has ignored Yahweh, the prophet Isaiah tells him that he has brought trouble upon Judah by openly rebelling Assyria without the Lord's consent. What's worse, Hezekiah has no heir and no wife since he banished her from the palace for worshipping and making vows to the false goddess Asherah. King Sennacherib of Assyria has now begun a military campaign to uproot the nations who signed the treaty, and he is not far from Judah. Will Yahweh save Judah once again from Hezekiah's sins?
Lynn Austin continues her series on King Hezekiah in almost the same fashion she has in the first two books. She keeps true to the Biblical and historical accounts and their elements, yet fails to create original elements of her own. Instead, she uncharacteristically creates unoriginal outside elements that serve to bring this book's rating down. I'm not sure where Lynn took this turn for the worst, but it served to ruin her 100% Elite Rating.
Despite Hezekiah's obvious imperfect and sinful choices, he fails to be the character he was in the first two books of this series. Hephzibah begins the book an interesting character, but this trend deteriorates as the book progresses. Eliakim, Shebna, Jerusha, and Hilkiah all remain constant characters. Iddina returns to serve as a better than not villain with a realistic end. Lynn's character development definitely could have been improved, yet this is the not worst of her troubles.
There are no interesting plot elements save for the elements contained in the true Biblical account. Many things are fixed in the end that have nothing to do with the true story. This is the real problem with this book. In Gods and Kings and Song of Redemption, Lynn Austin demonstrated correctly the art of writing a book based on something that truly happened. One must create interesing and original plot elements of their own outside the story that do not detract or add to the actual story, but instead compliment it. This is vital; otherwise the author is just paraphraising the story. This is often not a problem for authors. The problem is introduced when they create unoriginal outside elements to counter the ambiguous elements of the true story. I never expected Lynn to do this, but she did, thus ruining her 100% Elite Rating.
It's disappointing when an author with so much potential lets one down, but there are many other book worse than The Strength of His Hand. This Hezekiah series is one of the more refreshing Biblical fiction series because these stories are often overlooked. Perhaps Lynn will deliver once again in the final two books of this series.
3 stars

Song of Redemption by Lynn Austin

2010-08-20T14:48:00.000-04:00

Now that King Hezekiah of Judah has decided in his heart to follow Yahweh and to return Judah to His favor, he has completely ceased paying tribute to the pagan superpower Assyria that his foolish father Ahaz enslaved Judah to. But rebelling in such a fashion has ignited Assyria's anger toward him and has invited trouble upon Israel. Yet the rabbi-prophet Isaiah warns them not to make an alliance with another nation, but to instead make an alliance with Yahweh and wait on them to save Judah from disaster. Eliakim son of Hilkiah agrees with Isaiah and urges Hezekiah to trust Yahweh, yet the Egyptian Shebna is skeptical about their unseen God. Assyria has already ravaged their sister nation Israel and taken many captives, and Judah can only be next. While in the crosshairs of destruction, will Hezekiah heed Isaiah's wisdom and wait for the Lord?
Song of Redemption is neither better nor worse than Gods and Kings because Lynn Austin has changed nothing about her writing style, character development, and plot development. When one is paraphraising a Biblical account in fiction, the best way to do so is the make it one's own by ading as many original outside elements to the surroundings as possible, as well as keeping accurate with Biblical and historical accounts. Lynn has juggled these requirements around and has produced two formidible novels. However, with Lynn Austin, it's always the little things that get in her way.
Hezekiah is not the character he could have been. While he is imperfect, he has no personality, even though the Biblical account clearly shows his personality. This fact is true for Isaiah and several other characters. Eliakim and Shebna, on the other hand, are both good characters with personalities. This inconsistency with characters is puzzling. Lynn uses a particular Assyrian as a Ted Dekker-like serial killer villain, which is an interesting touch. Hephzibah continues to be an ambiguous character. Basically, the character department is the main thing that keeps this book from being five stars.
There are two key character deaths that come as results of interesting situations. A romantic subplot is introduced for Eliakim, but it is as realistic as it could be. Hephzibah's small subplot is one of the more interesting parts of the book. Lynn Austin showed that she was not afraid to add her own original elements to make this book more interesting all while keeping true to the Biblical account and historical proof. The plot is as good as it could be because Lynn went to extra lengths to make it her own.
If Lynn will cut down on silly mistakes that keep her from five stars every time, she could be the best author on the market. Perhaps she will finally break out of her four point five shell soon.
4.5 stars

Shades of Morning by Marlo Schalesky

2010-08-20T14:47:00.000-04:00

Marnie Wittier has made many mistakes in her life, but she has left those behind and has tried to move forward by starting Books and Brew, a bookstore\coffee shop combo. But her old life has found her in the form of Emmit, the Downs syndrome teenage son of her dead sister. Social services has named her next of kin, forcing Taylor Cole, her ex-boyfriend, to relinquish custody of Emmit to her. But Marnie does not want to raise a child, especially not a stubborn Downs syndrome boy who's always finding objects from her past in her house to show her. Marnie does not understand why she is being forced to remember all her mistakes, and Taylor does not understand why the boy had to be taken from him. The answers to their dilemnas lie only in their reconciliation with their past together.
Marlo Schalesky once again crafts an interesting plot built on well-developed characters that makes the reader think she's going to write another five star book. However, she seems to be obsessed with love stories with a "twist", and these twists are ruining perfectly fine plots. As she did in If Tomorrow Never Comes, she invents an outlandish twist that is supposed to be surprising, yet only creates plot holes and causes the reader to scratch his head. If she would only return to the type of twist she used in Beyond the Night, she could be writing five star plots over and over again.
Marnie, Taylor, and several other characters are very well-developed with imperfections-past and present. Marlo subtly brings each character up to the present, exposing and developing personalities along the way. Marlo has always done this, and there is nothing wrong with it. She has also always created few characters, allowing her to give each one special attention. There is no villain, since the main characters are their own worst enemies. There is nothing wrong with the character department, proving that Marlo needs no help developing characters; she merely needs to be consistent as she has been.
There is an obvious romantic subplot between Taylor and Marnie, yet it is not cheesy at first. It is quite realistic in the past, yet this trend deteriorates in the present. However, this is not a cheap romance that there seems to be an overabundance of on the market. There is a key character death, naturally. The biggest and most blaring problem with the entire book is the strange end. As was the case with If Tomorrow Never Comes, Marlo's "twist" creates more questions than it answers. This twist is no plausible, probable, or explained. It is slightly more possible than the twist in her previous novel, yet no explination is given for how it was accomplished. This end makes the reader go back and read several sections near the beginning of the book in order to discover an answer, yet there is no answer.
Shades of Morning is not the disaster If Tomorrow Never Comes was, yet Marlo is damaging her reputation as an author by writing such strange ends. These ends make her appear unintelligent or ignorant. She has all the potential in the world if she will only be more realistic with her twists.
4 stars

Angel's Den by Jamie Carie

2010-08-20T14:46:00.001-04:00

Emma thought she had won a ticket to the good life when Eric Montclaire, the most handsome man west of the Mississippi married her over all his other choices. However, married life with Eric quickly showed her that everyone that looks like an angel isn't one. A troubled and a abusive husband, Eric soon embarks on a journey to relive Lewis and Clark's expedition, but he won't leave his wife behind. Determined to control her life, Eric drags Emma into the wild with him. Luke Bowen, the man Eric hired to her his cartographer on the trip, is alarmed at the way he sees his boss treat his wife. He does what he can to report Eric to the judge who is travelling with them, but when Judge Littleton dies suddenly and mysteriously, Eric points his finger at Luke and Emma. On trial for the judge's murder, can Luke and Emma put their feelings for each other aside and show everyone the truth?
Jamie Caire spins a simple yet strange tale that is basically predictable in the end, yet the plot is more her own rather than a copy. Complex plot elements do not exist, and any surprises she tries to create don't make any sense. With halfway characters and a predictable end, Jamie only writes an above average plot.
Emma is the best character because she is the only one with a personality. This is appropriate since Jamie spends the most time developing her. Eric is not the monster villain he seems to be at first, but neither is he a finished character. Judge Littleton is a ridiculously perfect character, yet he serves to point out Luke Bowen's flaws. Luke is not the perfect male lead he could have been, but he has a glued-together personality using attributes of other personalities. All in all, the characters are stale and definitely could be improved. This book could have been Elite had Jamie spent more time on her characters.
The plot begins with the marriage of Emma and Eric and goes straight through to end, casting off prologues and flashbacks altogether. While there is nothing wrong with this, the plot is also lacking in complexities or surprises. One surprise Jamie attempts to fabricate at the end has no explination, but is there just to have a surprise. There are no deeply complex or original elements such as key character deaths. Everything about this book is simple and straightforward. The end is predictable and could have been written by anyone.
While Jamie Carie did not severely detract from her book's rating, she did little to add to it. Angel's Den had a lot of potential, yet Jamie chose not to exert herself. Perhaps she will do better next time.
3 stars

Angel by Alton Gansky

2010-08-20T14:45:00.000-04:00

Priscilla Simms only wants to be the next best reporter and perhaps win a Pultizer sometime in her career. She most definitely does not want to face and earthquake and an extra-terrestrial being in the same day. When an earthquake rocks her San Diego area, a strange spaceship is spotted around the area within the hour. Priscilla is on site when she sees Aster descend from the ship and raise a dead woman back to life. Aster eventually tells her that he has chosen her to help him unveil his plan for furtherment and advancement of mankind, as his people have learned on their own planet. However, the deeper the relationship becomes between human and alien, the more jaded Priscilla's outlook on life becomes and the more dangerous the game gets. Is Aster really a supernatural being sent to help planet earth, or does he have ulterior motives?
Once again, Alton Gansky crafts a fast-paced plot with a supernatural theme and packed with characters and "suspense." While Alton's alien elements are not as off-the-wall as they at first seem, the character department and the end of the plot serve to drag this book down.
Alton knows how to write a long book, yet his length is not a product of deep character development as it should be. Alton knows how to create characters, many characters, that is, but he does not know how or does not want to develop characters. Alton creates so many characters that the reader struggles to understand who is who. Many of these characters are given a shallow rundown yet are not used for more than five chapters. There are only about five characters who are nessecary in the end, yet none of them have personalities. Two of these have excuses for such disrepancies, but the other three do not, especially since one of them in Priscilla, the character Alton spends the most time showing. He obviously has some things to learn about character development.
Alton refrained from excess supernatural elements and scenes, a common mistake he has made in the past. Aster and his surrounding elements are more thought-out and well-developed than usual. However, Alton fell into other old vices such as unnessecary romantic subplots and cheesy showdowns. However, Alton did kill off a few expendable characters at this showdown. In the end, despite the book's length, the plot is quite shallow, which can only be blamed on the magnitude of the character base.
Alton Gansky has only hit on a few Elite ideas because his biggest problem is repetition. He seems to do the same thing in every book, yet not many critisize him for it. I believe that it is time for him to either find something new to write about or stop writing altogether.
3 stars

2010-08-07T10:39:00.001-04:00

At last, the final results have come in. Our readers' ultimate favorite author has been chosen, and his easy victory was not a surprise to us.

1. Ted Dekker (33%)

Though he did not reach the fiftieth percentile, his thirty-three was good enough to take the title of Reader's Choice Favorite Author 2009-2010.

2. Randy Singer (20%)

Randy takes home a runner-up spot because his twentieth percentile was not enough to steal the win from King Ted.

3. Robin Parrish\Rene Gutteridge (each 16%)

4. Brandilyn Collins (8%)

5. Mary E DeMuth (4%)

As for who we cast our vote for, that will be an eternal mystery.

2010-08-07T10:38:00.000-04:00

We asked our readers which of the first six Left Behind books was their favorite, and the results are not surprising.

1. Left Behind (57%)

2. Assassins (28%)

3. Tribulation Force (14%)

4. Nicolae\Soul Harvest\Apollyon (each 0%)

Raven's Ladder by Jeffrey Overstreet

2010-08-07T10:37:00.005-04:00

Scattered across the wilds of the Expanse, House Abascar is growing restless of the ramblings of their supposed king, Cal-raven. They are tired of hearing him talk about the invisible Keeper and the disappeared Auralia. Soon Cal-raven and Tabor Jan turn to House Bel Amica for help. House Bel Amica is the rich kingdom by the sea who give their glory and praise to the moon-spirits, as they are directed by the mysterious Seers. Cal-raven believes that Queen Theresa's daughter Cyndere is the only Bel Amican who can be trusted because of her actions toward Auralia. As House Abascar makes their way toward House Bel Amica for help, Cal-raven encounters many strange circumstances that cause him to question what he formerly called truth. The Keeper is still a mystery, and Auralia, the only person he thinks has any answers, is missing. The Seers are waiting to take control of Abascar because of all this doubt, but few can stop them.

As if Auralia's Colors and Cyndere's Midnight weren't hard enough to decipher and understand, Raven's Ladder is harder. Jeffrey Overstreet's cryptic and abstract writing style does not convey correctly the story he wants the reader to understand. I know this because there is a What's Gone One Before chapter at the beginning of Raven's Ladder, and what it says makes the first two strands of the Auralia Thread useless because the reader cannot draw from these two books what Overstreet portrays at the beginning of this third book. Therefore, Jeffrey has wasted another work of fiction with his nonsense.

Cal-raven is a strange guide to the mysterious and abstract world called the Expanse because he is a mental case himself. He sees things that other characters cannot see. His viewpoints of the plot are a random string of nonsensical scenes that only serve to confuse the reader and muddle the book. There are many other characters such as Jordam, Krawg, Cyndere, Tabor Jan, Ark-robin, Say-Reesa, Luci, Madi, Margi, Ryllion, Theresa, Emeriene, and Wynn who are all undeveloped and half-used because there are far too many characters. Jeffrey did not spend enough time on each individual character and their subplots because there were too many other characters to think about. The Seers are interesting enough villains, but once again, are not expanded upon for the same reason. Jeffrey has a lot to learn about character development, clearly.

There are many interesting otherworldly elements such as triplets who can thought speak together, a healer who takes on the person's illness in order to heal them, and people who can mold stones like clay, but none of these align together to form a plot. Jeffrey throws them all onto the pages of this book without bothering to form a plot with them. I suppose this is the book's biggest problem: there is no sturdy plot. Between all the characters Jeffrey must juggle, Cal-raven's abstract visions, and Overstreet's lack of background or description about the Expanse; there is no plot. There are many interesting ideas stuck to the pages of this book that could be used by a better author in a better way, but Jeffrey Overstreet is clearly not the man for the job. Throughout the book, he seems to be trying to convey an interesting foundational idea having to do with finding the real Keeper, the God figure of this world, but these questions are not answered in the end but rather compounded, making for another wasted book in this underachieving alternate world series.

There is a fourth book in this series coming out soon in which Jeffrey will have to answer some of the questions he's been dancing around for three books now.

Even so, Jeffrey has a lot to learn about writing fiction. He needs to grow out of his abstract writing style and actually write some real fiction.

1.5 stars

The Right Call by Kathy Herman

2010-08-07T10:35:00.000-04:00

Ethan Langley has returned to the Tennessee town of Sophie Trace to enjoy his summer with the Jessups-namely their daughter Vanessa and her infant son Carter. He wants to know how deep their relationship can go during the summer and whether or not they are right for each other. He is also looking forward to seeing his cousin, Drew, who he grew up with. But Ethan's plans change when Drew's roommate is brutally murdered by a gunman who eventually shoots two more people dead. Brill Jessup is naturally on top of the case, but there are no concrete suspects since Drew never saw the killer. Ethan fears for the lives of Drew, Vanessa, and Carter and wonders if one of them will be next. But when the shooter finally does hit close to home for Ethan, he wonders what move he should make next. Can he make the right call and save the lives of more victims?

The illustrious conclusion to the Sophie Trace trilogy yields little to get excited about since Kathy Herman has still not completely returned to her originality of old. Through robotic characters, an average plot, and a cheesy end that leads to another series, the Sophie Trace Trilogy becomes an average and very forgettable series among Christian fiction.

Robotic and uncreative dialogue creates many robotic characters without personalities. Ethan, Vanessa, Brill, Kurt, Emily, Drew, and others lost whatever personality or imperfection they had in the first two books of the series. Tessa, the famous nosy neighbor, and one of Ethan's coworkers are the only believable and interesting characters in the entire book. The villain is better than not because he is not a mindless shooting machine. Kathy's bit of dialogue "Look for a fox instead of a lion" is an adage all suspense authors need to live by when creating their villains.

The romantic subplot between Ethan and Vanessa is the heighth of cheesiness, but at least Vanessa didn't play the 'I-hate-you-then-I-love-you' bit. Brill's inevitable police case is better than the other cases of this series, mostly because it is based on gambling addictions. An added plus to this is the fact that Kathy completely avoided a showdown between the villain and any of the key characters. Also, a key character dies in the middle of the book. However, the end of the book is still cheesy because a key character suspect was proven innocent in the end, not to mention what transpired between Ethan and Vanessa in order to set up another series.

Kathy Herman may be making a turn back to her past, but she definitely needs to get some help with character development if she expects to take the next step. She has proven before that she knows how to write a good mystery, but she has never mastered character development. Perhaps she will surprise us all in the Langley Manor trilogy.

2.5 stars

What She Left For Me by Tracie Peterson

2010-08-07T10:34:00.000-04:00

Jana McGuire's pastor husband Rob has left her penniless and pregnant and has run off with his secretary. She has not seen him since her return from her Africa mission trip; she received this information from a note he left for her. He took many of his and her possessions with him, leaving her with ten dollars to her name. Her only option is the sign whatever she needs to sign to sever her marital ties with her unfaithful husband before going to live with her mother and great aunt miles away. She barely knows these two family members, but together, these three women are forced to reach into their pasts and reconcile long-buried hurts in order to move forward with their lives.

Tracie Peterson pens an uncharacteristic plot for her normal genre of historical romance with What She Left For Me. Instead, she writes a story of regrets reminiscent to a Lynn Austin novel. Here, she has written a perfect plot based on imperfect choices, yet undeveloped characters keep this book from being all that it could have been.

Jana is not the perfect victim she seems to be at first, but neither does she develop a real personality. There are some wrong choices she clearly made to get her into the mess she got herself into, yet she still has no personality. Her mother and great aunt each have half-personalities that could have been refined more, which is also the case with several characters from the past. There is no real villain, which makes this plot realistic because not every situation in life contains a villain. Basically, Tracie Peterson has some character development issues she needs to fix.

Tracie writes a Lynn Austin-style plot because she brings every main character up to the present by recounting their pasts. Each account has their own value, and none of them serve to subtract from the overall rating of the book. Probably the best outside factor of the plot is that fact that there is no real replacement romance for Jana, despite the availability. There are many everyday aspects that give the book a realistic feel. Therefore, there is absolutely nothing wrong with the plot itself. If Tracie continues writing plots like this, her career has taken a one-eighty.

Tracie Peterson has never been strong with her character development, yet her plot development has never been as good as this. If she continues to write books like this rather than her historical romance novels of old, she is on the right track.

4.5 stars

Bathsheba by Jill Eileen Smith

2010-08-07T10:33:00.002-04:00

Coming March 2011...

Description:

Bathsheba is a woman who longs for love. With her devout husband away fighting the king’s wars for many months at a time, discontent and loneliness dog her steps–and make it frighteningly easy to succumb to King David’s charm and attention. Though she immediately regrets her involvement with the powerful king, the pieces are set in motion that will destroy everything she holds dear. Can she find forgiveness at the feet of the Almighty? Or has her sin separated her from God–and David–forever?

Preview:

This final installment in the Wives of King David series could be the best one of all because the plot is already set up to be original. As long as Jill continues her knack for developing good characters and creating interesting outside elements, Bathsheba could be a hit.

Intervention by Terri Blackstock

2010-07-28T10:42:00.001-04:00

Emily Covington has gotten herself in trouble before with her drug addictions, but now she's hit the bottom. Her mother, in a desperate attempt to save her life, sent her with a paid interventionist to a drub rehab center. But things went wrong and her interventionist was somehow murdered and Emily herself was kidnapped. Dragging her son along with her, Barbara Covington is now frantically trying to find her missing daughter before something worse happens to her, all while trying to refute speculations that Emily murdered the interventionist herself. Police detective Kent Harlan wants to get to the bottom of the case himself, but is having a hard time doing so with Barbara constantly meddling in his business. Many things about the strange case do not add up-including motive and ability. Whoever the killer is, they're still on the loose, ready to kill anyone who stands in their way or who has information to implicate them. In all the madness, Barbara and Kent are forced to evaluate the way they've been living their own lives before moving any further.

Terri Blackstock has written another book with good characters, a good case, and a bad end. One would think that after ten years of writing, she would have broken this vicious cycle by now. Perhaps Terri Blackstock is the one in need of intervention.

Barbara is one of the best leads of a suspense novel I have ever read about. Her constant meddling in the case adds an interesting flavor to the book that it probably needed. Emily is no saint, and there are plenty of reasons to pin the murder on her. Kent is no perfect male lead, but his character has room for improvement. The villain is not a mindless killing machine but instead has a good purpose and reason for what they do. There are few things Terri needs to improve regarding characters. She just needs to stay the course and not waver from her establishment as a good character developer.

The case is not simple or straightforward. Few authors can write a case like Terri Blackstock because of her ability to withhold important information from the reader until the right time. Intervention also brings an interesting issue to light that not many people want to discuss. Along with this are the usual elements-twists, turns, and false suspects. Also as usual, Terr Blackstock writes a cheesy showdown scene in which all "good" characters come out unscathed. However, there are several issues not addressed at the end, making for a more tasteful end than usual.

All in all, Terri Blackstock is a very consistent author-consistently almost five stars. However, this is not a bad thing because Terri brings her own thing to the Christian fiction table. That's something that most authors cannot claim.

4.5 stars

Danny Gospel by David Athey

2010-07-28T10:40:00.002-04:00

Danny Gospel's mind has been playing tricks on him ever since his mother and sister died. One morning he wakes up and gets kissed on the lips by a woman wearing white, but she disappears after their kiss. He tries desperately the find her, but he comes to realize that his mind has run away from him again. His brother and close friend are the only people who seem to understand him. But when he finds himself wanted for stealing mail and assaulting a man at a bar, Danny flees from him home state of Iowa and drives as far as he can away. But he soon realizes that he cannot escape is problems and that he should return and face the music. But what he finds when he returns to Iowa surprises even him.

Danny Gospel challenges Bye Bye Bertie by Rick Dewhurst as one of the strangest and most nonsensical books ever written. It seems as though David Athey uses Danny's mental disorder as a licence to do whatever he wanted with the plot, thus creating plot holes and leaving sanity behind. He causes the reader to feel like they have a mental disorder themselves, an ability I am not sure should be rewarded. In short, Danny Gospel is a book about nothing.

The cast of characters through Danny's eyes is certainly an experience in itself. There are several other mentally ill characters, but the reader does not know whether these are real characters or just extensions of Danny. Danny's brother is the best character because he has a personality lurking beneath his skin. There are few other character David Athey sticks with. Most of the characters are just drive-bys that are never mentioned again. Basically, David Athey also used Danny's mental illness as an excuse to avoid character development.

Besides Danny's crimes and infrequent trips to the psychologist, there are few other plot points that can be nailed down. Abstract scenes and conversations plague this book. Events occur erratically, as one can expect when seeing life through the eyes of a mental case, yet the author goes beyond this and rambles on about what he wants to talk about at the moment. There is some interesting events that occur in Danny's past, yet there is no boundary between reality and insanity or past and present; it all melds together. A split first-person account with another character would have helped to clarify some things, but obviously David Athey did not want this book to make any sense.

If David Athey is to have a future as an author, he needs to actually learn how to write a plot instead of write a meandering book about nothing in particular. Some parts of Danny Gospel showed promise while the book as a whole did not. David needs to go back to the basics before writing something like this.

2 stars

Broken by Travis Thrasher

2010-07-28T10:38:00.001-04:00

Laila had it all-before she made the wrong choice. This wrong choice resulted in the life of another man-one she killed with her own hands. Now she is on the run from the sins of her past and has settled anew in Greenville, South Carolina. However, her past does not want to leave her alone. Now several different men are after her for different reasons, and the only person she can trust is Kyle, whom she barely knows. Laila also fears she is going insane because of the frequent and unexplained visions she keeps experiencing. Above all else, she knows she will have to confront her past eventually and take what's coming to her, but what if there is another answer to her troubles? What if grace is real? What if God is real? She'll have to find out-otherwise she'll face death.

On the surface, Broken seems like an interesting book, mostly because it is largely based on the wrong choices of the lead. Travis Thrasher has somewhat abandoned his supernatural\horror kick he has been on for the past few years, but not really. Broken is much more meaningful than Ghostwriter and Isolation, but this does not make it an exemplary book.

Laila is the best character because her imperfect choices created a mess for herself. There seems to be a personality hovering beneath the surface, but it is not fully developed. There are only four other characters the plot focuses on, and none of them are very good either, but at least none of them are perfect. It's hard to nail down a villain, because any of the characters could be labeled a villain in other circumstances. Basically, this is an average cast of characters because Travis was more interested in supernatural elements than character development.

The biggest factor in this novel's fall from the Elite List is the vast and varied number of plot holes. There is no explanation for Laila's strange visions, even though they help her save one character from death. One character appears in the middle of the plot with no past and explanation for where he came from or why he was involved in the situation. There are no plot points that can be nailed down because the plot meanders along in an abstract fashion, sometimes showing the present and sometimes explaining the past. The characters wander around their world but never really get anywhere or accomplish anything. The biggest thing the plot is missing is a purpose. The biggest factor that saves the plot is a key character death at the end caused by Laila's wrong choices.

Travis seems to be making a roundabout journey back from his self-exile into the genre of horror. Broken is reminiscent of his past works, something he needs to return to in order to salvage his inconsistent career. Travis has much more potential as an author than he realizes, but he needs to tap into it before it's too late.

3 stars

Cape Refuge by Terri Blackstock

2010-07-28T10:36:00.001-04:00

Thelma and Wayne, the beloved parents of Morgan Cleary, have been found murdered with a spear gun. Morgan's husband Jonathan is the number one suspect in the murder, but no one on the small island town of Cape Refuge believe Jonathan would do such a thing. Morgan and her sister, Blair, are determined to find the real killer in order to convince police chief Matthew Cade that Jonathan is innocent. But Hanover House, the refuge for released convicts and runaways Thelma and Wayne operated, is under the fire of the city council on the grounds that it attracts criminals to Cape Refuge. A teenage girl with an unknown past has appeared on the island seeking refuge in Hanover House, but she seems to know more than she lets on. With so much uncertainty, Morgan does not know if she can carry on with her husband in jail. However, she and Blair must face alone a terrible secret in their parents' past.

Terri Blackstock is a not a cheap suspense author who scribbles down a cheesy story whose plot is borrowed from so many other authors and calls this story exciting and suspenseful. No, her fiction has meaning and purpose behind that is not found in just any suspense book. However, even with these strengths, Terri does not seem to want to shed some cliches of suspense-namely the showdown scene.

Morgan, Blair, Jonathan, Cade, even Thelma and Wayne are all imperfect characters. Some of these have better personalities than the others, but there is not a perfect character on Cape Refuge. Even though Thelma and Wayne are portrayed as saints at first, later information shows these reports to be false, thank God. Cade is not the perfect male lead he could have been, but he still does not show any personality. Jonathan is not the perfect victim he could have been; he still has a lot of issues, even though it is obvious early on that he is innocent of the deaths of his in-laws. The true villain is one of the better killers I have ever read because they actually have a purpose in their killing. This is often a cliche in suspense-a ruthless, killing-machine villain. However, this is not the case here.

Whatever her discrepancies with ends are, Terri Blackstock knows how to make the journey interesting. The case is as realistic as it could have been and is certainly not straightforward. There are many twists, turns, dead ends, false suspects, and key character deaths along the way. This elevates her another level above cheap suspense because she demonstrates the ability to actually write a creative plot. However, a showdown scene with a fake death keeps this book from all that it could have been. I fail to understand suspense authors' obsessions with showdown scenes. However, if they are going to write them, they should at least kill off a key character or two. Showdowns and hostage situations do not turn out squeaky clean in the real world.

Whatever her faults are, Terri Blackstock clearly knows what she is doing. She is a true author because she writes her own plots rather than borrow them from someone else. If she'll improve her ends, she'll be a flawless author.

4 stars

Covenant Child by Terri Blackstock

2010-07-28T10:35:00.003-04:00

Amanda never thought she would have the love she had when she married the man of her dreams after only a week of knowing him. Now she has become a full-time mother of his twin daughters from a previous marriage. But when her new husband dies suddenly in a plane accident, his first wife's parents come calling, trying to claim the girls as their own. The judge tragically grants them custody, leaving Amanda with a hefty inheritance from her husband but an empty house. Kara and Lizzie grow up in the unstable home of their irresponsible grandparents and soon become shoplifting, drug-using teenagers who think they can make their own way in the world. But Amanda is still there, quietly trying to invite them back into her life, free of charge. They can learn how to run the family company and own the company one day-if they will only take the gift Amanda is offering them.

Terri Blackstock departs from her usual genre of suspense and writes something fresh-a parable. Allegorical fiction and parables can make very interesting novels when used correctly. In this case, the parable follows the concept of God's undying love for everyone, no matter how sinful. However, the biggest problem with this book is the fact that Terri took a shortcut at the end where she could have truly written a powerful parable. However, she did not, costing her a perfect rating.

When viewed in the correct light, the characters are appropriate for this parable. Amanda is a perfect character, yet she is modeled after God. This is evident because no other character is perfect. In fact, there are many imperfect characters. The story is told from the first-person perspective of Kara, making her the only character with a personality. This did not have to be, however. While the character development isn't horrible, Terri took some shortcuts by developing circumstances better than she developed characters.

Parables add fresh novels to Christian fiction mostly because they depart from cliched and worn-out plot patterns. While Terri did depart from the norm during the plot, she did not depart from the norm at the end of the plot. There was most definitely a better way she could have ended this book, one that would have taught the reader more. However, the end does not entirely ruin the book, it merely scars it.

The fact that Terri Blackstock was able to write this book so well shows that she is a true author-able to leave her comfort zone and try something different without thinking twice. More authors should at least experiment outside their comfortable genre, just to shake things up a bit.

4 stars

Fireflies in December by Jennifer Erin Valent

2010-07-28T10:35:00.001-04:00

In the summer of 1932, Jessilyn Lassiter thought she killed a man after a midnight run-in with the Ku Klux Klan. The entire town was in an uproar because the Lassiters chose to take in Gemma, a black orphan, rather than let her wander the world alone. Their decision brought no small share of trouble on their family. They have few allies in this battle, and the local law enforcement is not one of them. Jessilyn soon finds herself being harassed by one of the men she knows is part of the Klan, but does not want to tell anyone about it. To make matters worse, she also discovers that her father's farm hand may be part of the Klan as well. So much uncertainty is not healthy for a thirteen-year-old girl, for she does not know who to trust in all this deceit.

Jerry B Jenkins' Operation First Novel contest does not usually produce an Elite book at all because his judges are not seeking original plot elements but rather a professional writing style and plot development. Original plot elements must be brought to the table by the authors themselves. However, Jennifer Erin Valent is the exception to this rule because she actually as great potential as an original author. Fireflies in December is nothing short of a masterpiece.

Jessilyn, Gemma, Jessilyn's parents, and a handful of other characters are all well-developed. Jessilyn is one of the best thirteen-year-old leads I have ever read. It is especially refreshing to see that Gemma is not a perfect victim, but rather a real person. While there appears to be a cheesy villain, the villain is not who he appears to be. Racial prejudice on both sides of the issue create imperfect characters automatically. Jennifer clearly knows what she is doing when she develops her characters.

Racism in the 1930's South is one of the more interesting topics on which to base a book. Authors can not afford to be touchy-feely with this issue because they must address it head on. Jennifer crafts a plot around this issue very professionally while adding original plot elements. While there is the potential to be a romantic subplot, there is no follow through. There are many realistic events that occur throughout the plot as well. The end is imperfect as she both surprises the reader by showing a character's true colors and by refraining from fixing imperfect circumstances.

Jennifer Erin Valent, unless this is her only worthy idea, is ready to embark on a full writing career with this five star debut. As long as she does not waver from her foundation, she is a promising author of the future.

5 stars

Gods and Kings by Lynn Austin

2010-07-16T20:22:00.001-04:00

As a young boy, Prince Hezekiah first met Yahweh, the one true God, at the altar of the pagan god Molech, when his brother was sacrificed instead of him. All his growing up life, Hezekiah watched as his father, King Ahaz, led Judah down a path of destruction by closing the doors of the Lord's temple and rejecting Yahweh by worshipping all the false gods of the nation around them. Now King Ahaz is dead, and King Hezekiah has inherited a financial disaster because his father sold Judah to Assyria in return for a war alliance. Yet somewhere in Hezekiah's heart, Yahweh is calling him back to Himself, and calling Judah back to Himself. If only Hezekiah will listen to His call.

Gods and Kings

is the best work of Biblical fiction I have read for several reasons. One, Lynn Austin does not refrain from her norm of developing good characters like so many authors do when writing historical and Biblical fiction. Two, Lynn is not afraid to create extra biblical original plot elements to make the story interesting and unpredictable. Yet, once again, she makes a minor mistake that costs her the five star rating.

Hezekiah is one of the best characters in the novel, as all leads should be. The best aspect of his character is that he did not immediately begin making reforms once he was king because he was not born a perfect person. Lynn Austin portrayed this correctly. King Ahaz is all one can expect from him and accurate to the Biblical account. Hezekiah's mother and grandfather are good enough. The prophets Isaiah and Micah could have been better than they were. I wish authors would not portray prophets as perfect characters. The invented villain, Uriah, is one of the more interesting characters because he did not begin the plot as a villain. He gradually became a villain over time through the hardening of his heart and the watering down of his faith. This is the correct way to portray a villain if you're going to have one at all.

There is a romantic subplot introduced for Hezekiah, but it does not work out. This is to Lynn's favor because she had the creative licence to follow through with it. Lynn stayed true to the Biblical account of King Ahaz and was historically accurate on many other accounts. The only problem with the book is a cheesy showdown scene at the end between Hezekiah and Uriah. It did not end originally, but she could not have killed off Hezekiah and still stay Biblically sound. This shows that the showdown should have been avoided altogether. This really put a damper on the book because it was almost a perfect novel.

Nevertheless, Lynn Austin proved with this book that she can dabble into other genres besides historical America. Yet there always seems to be one small thing standing between Lynn Austin and the five star award. Perhaps she will fix this soon. All in all, she is better than other authors she is often listed with.

4.5 stars

Detours by Bette Nordberg

2010-07-16T20:21:00.001-04:00

Callie O'Brian has found herself at a crossroads in her life when the tenant of her guest house, Celia Hernadez, dies in a mysterious traffic accident. Trying to own and work two businesses at once, Callie is not prepared to care for the young boy Celia left behind-even temporarily. An air of mystery surrounds Celia's past, one that Callie does not particularly want to delve into. Celia's son proves to be a handful at first, but once the two of them settle in, their lives are rocked once again when the boy's supposed uncle shows up in town wanting custody of the boy. He seems to know more about Celia's past than he's letting on, but Callie wants nothing to do with him. But someone is targeting the both of them, wanting something Celia had. Can they put aside their differences in order to save their own lives?

Once again, Better Nordberg writes a plot that intrigued me at the beginning and disgusted me at the end. Whatever originality this book started out with was lost by the time I turned the last page. In the end, there were only a few good things about this plot, making it a waste of my time.

One of the few good things about the plot is Callie's well-developed personality. Unfortunately, this brings to light the fact that she is the only character with a personality. Keeshan, Celia's son, is not a typical angelic kid character, which is refreshing enough. Marcus is an annoying character because he is a perfect male lead with a troubled past that isn't his fault. The villain is a typical villain. Otherwise, there aren't any other characters worth mentioning besides a typical old lady character. Bette has always struggled with characters, but this is her worst cast yet.

If it's any consolation, this custody case is not a typical custody case. One side of it is not an angel and the other side is not a monster. However, as a suspense plot, it is quite typical. The first half of the book is interesting as Callie and Keeshan clash with each other and their grief. Celia's past is interesting enough and could have been utilized better with a better surrounding plot. Things go south when Marcus comes to town and invites the cheesy villain upon them. The second half of the book is a lackadaisical waste of time as it beats around the bush on a very obvious subject just to fill time and come to a suspenseful end. The cheesy showdown with the villain at the end does not help matters. In the end, a cheesy romantic subplot fixes everything.

Bette Nordberg has consistently gotten worse as an author as her career has gone on. She has never returned to the glory of Serenity Bay because she has adapted typical plot structures ever since then. If she did not have any good ideas besides Serenity Bay, she needed to stop writing altogether after her debut novel. This may be the answer for her now.

2 stars

Hidden Places by Lynn Austin

2010-07-16T20:20:00.000-04:00

Eliza Wyatt does not believe in prayer anymore. Not since her husband died of tetanus and her father-in-law died of a heart attack, leaving her and her three children helpless during the Great Depression with debts they have no money to pay. But when two people invite themselves into Eliza's life-her old aunt Batty and an injured hobo-things begin to change for the better. Even so, Eliza does not open up or let anyone into her heart, even though she's falling in love with the hobo. There are still many unanswered questions that she desperately wants answers for, but sometimes answers can be found in the past. Eliza embarks on a journey into her family's past with Aunt Batty, who seems to know more than she lets on.

Hidden Places

is another one of Lynn Austin's historical epics that traces the strands of a complicated family web. Lynn intertwines each character's past with the present plot to make for an interesting read. Even though the present plot is a fairly typical story, Lynn Austin made the plot as good as it could have been by deeply developing each character and their past. However, she once again falls short of the five star rating.

Eliza, Batty, the hobo, and several other characters in the past are all good characters with personalities. These developments are aided only by the past subplots. Without these, this book would be a run-of-the-mill historical novel. There are no perfect characters, even with the presence of a mysterious male lead. Just because an author is going to write a typical plot does not mean that they should ditch character development. I believe Lynn Austin understands this, which causes her to stand out among other female authors she is often placed with. Characters should be developed above all else, despite what type of plot one is writing.

Lynn masks her weakness of writing typical plots by creating intricate pasts for each character, which she does again in Hidden Places. Many realistic events occur in the pasts of each character, which serve to jack up the book's rating. There is an angel theme throughout the book that is used correctly and not extravagantly and serves to keep things interesting. The end of the book is what really ruins this book's chances at a five star. Even though one unexpected event happens regarding the hobo, there is much tidying up in other areas. As I said before, without the three hundred pages Lynn Austin's hard work adds to this book, this novel is nothing special.

Lynn Austin is a true author because she actually writes her own plots rather than borrow ideas from other authors. She may never write that five star novel she has the potential to write, but at least her work is refreshing and reflects her hard work.

4.5 stars

The Weight of Shadows by Alison Strobel

2010-07-16T20:19:00.000-04:00

Kim has always carried the weight of the shadows of her past on her shoulders. She has punished herself by denying herself what she calls pleasures, such as love. But when she met Rick at a birthday party her roommate threw for her, things started to change. From day one, Rick made her feel special and loved. The more she went out with him, the more she fell in love with him and more she let him into her life. Soon she threw caution to the wind and moved in with him. That was when he took full control of her life. That was when the abuse started. Joshua, their next door neighbor is concerned about the things he hears through the walls and wonders what he can do about it. His employer, Debbie, runs a shelter for battered women, so he wonders how he can get Kim to safety. But there's still a problem-Kim is standing in her own way because she doesn't want to leave Rick. It's only a matter of time before this stubbornness will lead to a fatal wound.

The Weight of Shadows

is a non-typical plot, especially for a debut author, because it abandons the cliched boy meets girl, girl hates boy, girl loves boy later type of plot. Of course, I any abuse plot is going to be realistic as long as there's not a perfect male lead the bail out the victim female. However, The Weight of Shadows is not a highly original novel, though it does have potential. It misses the Elite List for several reasons.

The characters are not as good as they could be. Kim is the best character because she is not portrayed as a victim. She stays with Rick of her own accord. Rick is an interesting and realistic enough villain. Debbie should have been expanded upon more than she was. Joshua's life is delved into more than it should have been for him to play such a small purpose in the overall plot. It seems as though Alison only did this to make the book longer. However, for all the time she spends on Joshua, no real personality is developed. Alison has a little more work to do in the character department.

There is no romantic subplot completed, though there was the potential for at least one. However, in the end, it seemed as though Alison forgot she was developing one. This is a promising sign. Kim's subplot is also the best subplot because Alison tried the hardest to write it, it seems. Her past is her fault; she was not a victim of circumstance. Debbie's subplot is merely demonstrative, and Joshua's is too long, since it is so insignificant. Joshua is more of an over explained tool than anything else.

Alison Strobel fixes too many things at the end of the novel for this book's plot to put it on the Elite List in light of the shallow characters. This plot had a lot of potential, but Alison's delivery seemed half-hearted sometimes.

All in all, Alison has a bright future as an author if she will finish the things she starts. With better characters alone, she can be a formidable author. I expect her to improve down the stretch.

3 stars

Flight of Shadows by Sigmund Brouwer

2010-07-10T16:08:00.001-04:00

Now that Caitlyn Brown has escaped the bondage of Appalachia, she is running for her life in the wilds of the Outside. Multiple different groups are chasing her for one reason-her DNA is the most valuable in the world. Caitlyn cannot easily hide because on many counts, her wings give her away. She decides to gamble and throws in her lot with Razor, a street illusionist whom she can only half-trust. He helps her to understand many things about the Outside she never knew before, from city-states to the caste system. Caitlyn wants to meet up with her Appalachian friends who helped her escape, Billy and Theo, but she does not know of their whereabouts. The only choice she has is to trust Razor to lead her to one of her father's friends that will hide her until she can escape to the west. She is more valuable alive than dead, so Caitlyn forces herself to take drastic measures.

I said that Broken Angel did not need a sequel, but it probably did, because Sigmund had many ideas bottled up in his mind that he needed to exhaust in this novel. He has many interesting theories about the near future that are highly probable. He has crafted a very intriguing setting with these ideas. However, the under-developed characters from Broken Angel were not developed in Flight of Shadows. They remained the same as they were. Another major aspect that keeps this book off the Elite List is many typical plot elements at the end. Sigmund could have done better than this.

Razor is the best character because he is the only one with a personality at all. All the other characters are imperfect, but not a single one has a personality like Razor does. For all the time spent on Caitlyn, Sigmund only developed a vague idea of a personality for her. This goes for all the other characters as well. I usually like the presence of multiple villains, but Mason Lee from Broken Angel did not need to make a comeback. He is a cheesy serial killer villain who adds nothing to the plot. The other villains are more interesting because they actually have purposes.

The Outside is an interesting world and an extension of Sigmund Brouwer's fascinating mind. This setting is the strongest plot element because it is something that could happen within the next one hundred years. In this way, Flight of Shadows demonstrates the qualities of a good sequel. However, it does not in other ways. Brouwer has always held a fascination for genetics and DNA, a fascination that is repeated through Caitlyn. A winged person was an interesting concept from Broken Angel, yet in Flight of Shadows, Sigmund goes a little too far with her mysterious genetic makeup. Besides this, there is a cheesy showdown between all the main characters and all the villains that ends typically.

Basically, there are some really interesting things about Flight of Shadows and some really typical things about Flight of Shadows. Had Sigmund eliminated Mason Lee and some of Caitlyn's invincibility, this book could have been Elite. Sigmund has been consistently inconsistent in his writing career, and it would be nice for him to settle down on one side of the fence.

3.5 stars

The Bridegrooms by Allison Pittman

2010-07-10T16:07:00.001-04:00

Vada Allenhouse's life is simple until her father, the town doctor, takes a new patient into their home-the victim of a misplaced baseball at a local baseball game between the Cleveland Spiders and the Brooklyn Bridegrooms. The man is in a comatose state because of the strength of the blow and must be confined to bed. Vada's bed. Now that this stranger has been let into their lives, Vada begins questioning her own life, including her boring love life and her "understood" engagement to Garrison, the town lawyer. One of the Brooklyn Bridegrooms is pursuing her for her heart, and she is seriously considering giving in. On top of all this, a man shows up claiming to be Vada's mother's lover who fathered her younger sister, Lisette. With so many questions, Vada wonders if any of them will be answered.

The best way to describe The Bridegrooms is to call it an unfinished work. There are many good ideas woven into its plot, but they are all vague and unfinished. This book somehow missed the editorial department on its way to the printers. There are not grammatical errors or outright amateurish writing, yet there is much underdevelopment and vagueness. Many original ideas lurk throughout the plot but are not completed. However, there are several completed unoriginal ideas that serve to keep this book off the Elite List.

Vada and Garrison are the best characters. They are not your typical couple in love, to say the least. Vada's alternate love interest is good enough, but no other character has a nailed down personality. There aren't any perfect characters, however, staying away from such cliches altogether. The entire character department in just an example of the unfinished feel of the book.

Some things that were left unfinished needed to be left unfinished, such as an unnecessary fourth romantic subplot. However, Allison took no time at all to fulfill three romances in the end. This is probably the ultimate downfall of the book. The subplot concerning their mother's old lover had potential, but Allison left this open-ended. The subplot concerning the unconscious man plays little part in the overall picture and only serves as something to talk about. The subplot concerning Vada and Garrison ends interestingly enough, and while it is nothing groundbreaking, it is the highlight of the book.

The Bridegrooms

could have been much more interesting had Allison Pittman actually done some of the interesting things she talked about doing and refrained from doing not so interesting things. This cast of characters should have been exemplary, yet Allison let them fall by the wayside. Allison has potential as an author if she will stop thinking about writing things and start doing them.

3 stars

Though Waters Roar by Lynn Austin

2010-07-10T16:06:00.000-04:00

Beatrice Monroe was taken from her life as a quiet farm worker when she met and married Horatio Garner. Her world is forever altered when he takes her away to his home and his mother attempts the transform Bebe from the farm worker she was into the socialite Mrs. Garner is. Through it all, Bebe found a purpose for her life when she discovered that her new husband was taken to drinking-to aid the Prohibition cause by shutting down saloons and appealing to the politicians. Her daughter, Lucy, did not share these views at first and allowed herself to be raised by her father's mother. How Lucy has two daughters of her own-Alice and Harriet. Now Harriet sits in a jail cell because of the very thing her grandmother tried to prevent. While she is in jail, she reflects on the stories she has heard about her mother and grandmother and tries to find a purpose for her life as they did. But things are complicated when one is in a jail cell...

As you can see by my scattered summary of the plot, Though Waters Roar is an epic covering the lives of three generations of the same family, as told by Harriet. Through good characters and original plot elements, Lynn Austin crafts an interesting read that is only kept from the five star rating because she is too long-winded with her book.

Bebe, Lucy, and Harriet are all good, imperfect leads with personalities, even though they are all similar. Other characters are also well-developed, such as Horatio. The good thing about most epics is that there isn't usually a villain because their is no need for one. Yet an epic needs good characters just the same, and as usual, Lynn Austin delivered in the character department.

Bebe's life is the most realistic and interesting portion of the book. It seems as though Lynn tried the hardest on this section, because it shows. Lucy's life is runner-up, not because of lack of original plot elements, but because not as much thought was put into it as there was in Bebe's. Harriet's account is the worst, mostly because Lynn took the liberty in this portion to begin doing typical things she avoided doing in the other two portions. A cheesy romantic subplot is introduced, despite previous opposition to the notion; it turns out that Harriet didn't deserve to be in jail at all; and this portion is generally not needed except to recount the other two portions, which can be done in an alternate fashion. What I'm saying is, the fact itself that this book is nearly 500 pages long does not keep in from being five stars. The fact that keeps it from being five stars is that Lynn did not want to end her book where it needed to end. The eternal progression of the book caused a natural entropy in quality. However, there are many original plot elements to enjoy in Bebe's and Lucy's tales, which keep the book from being any worse.

Lynn Austin has proved that she is better than the other authors she is often grouped with because she is willing to devote time and energy to developing her characters and her plots rather than led them slide by borrowing overused ideas. If she continues this trend, she'll have a five star book in no time.

4.5 stars

Abigail by Jill Eileen Smith

2010-07-10T16:05:00.000-04:00

Abigail has lived a life of oppression as the abused wife of the evil man Nabal. She has been trapped in this impossible situation ever since she was forced into a union with her father's tormentor. But little does she know that her life is about to be forever altered when a renegade band of warriors led by a young shepherd threatens to attack Nabal and his land to take it for themselves. In a desperate move to save her life, Abigail pleads with this shepherd to relent, which he does. Suddenly, by a supernatural turn of events, Abigail is freed from her life of misery and is whisked away by the romantic shepherd into a life she never bargained for. Little does she know that her life will never be the same.

Jill Eileen Smith said she began this series because of Abigail, which was actually the first book she wrote. She has always seemed to sympathize with this seemingly mistreated woman, but I do not. While the situation with Nabal did happen, Jill adds other unknown circumstances to Abigail's life, causing her to be a victim her entire life. This was the major flaw with this work of fiction.

While Abigail demonstrates some slight personality, she is mostly a perfect victim. David is an imperfect character with a slight personality, a fact that cannot be denied from the Biblical account. Joab and Abishai are perhaps the best characters. Nabal is a cheesy villain, as are some of David's other wives, which all serve to create a pathetic lifestyle for Abigail. As you can see, Jill was inconsistent with her character development; making her favorite characters perfect, making her hated characters evil, and giving personalities to characters she didn't care either way about. This is not the correct method of character development, to show favoritism in this way. The character development in Michal was much better than this.

There is one key character death near the middle of the book, which is one of the only highlights of the plot. There are many romantic subplots, most of them through polygamy, which is an interesting subject more explored in this book than in Michal. However, in the end, this issue does not matter. While Abigail does not hit on all the high points of David's life like Michal did, Jill took the liberty to add many plot points in order to make Abigail's pathetic. For some reason, most readers enjoy reading about perfect characters in hopeless situations not of their own making. I do not deem this good fiction because it is not realistic. There were many things Jill could have done to make this book more interesting, such as devoting time to every character's personality instead of just some. This would have done wonders for the book. Even though Abigail's real life seemed pathetic, there are better ways to write such plots.

All in all, Abigail is one of those works of art that is liked more by the artist than by the public.

2 stars

Predator by Terri Blackstock

2010-07-05T10:16:00.001-04:00

Fourteen-year-old Ella Carmichael's corpse has been discovered buried in the woods. The suspect is a cyber stalker who found and kidnapped Ella as a result of her constant status updates on GrapeVyne, a social networking sight. Upon her sister's death, Krista Carmichael becomes obsessed with stopping the stalker before he kills more girls by becoming another person through GrapeVyne. Unfortunately, the stalker captures two more girls and kills one of them. The one who escaped thinks she can give the police an accurate description of the killer. David Carmichael, the girls' father becomes obsessed with finding the killer's face in public when he hears this. Ryan Adkins, founder and president of GrapeVyne is going crazy over his company's bad publicity and begins doing all he can to stop the stalker from striking again. Soon his path crosses with Krista's and the two of them join forces to stop the killer, but first they must discover his fake identity on GrapeVyne, which is not a simple task. While all this is transpiring, the killer is still on the loose...

Terri Blackstock crafts a realistic case addressing the dangers of Internet social networking, an interesting issue to me, because I know people like some of the characters in this book who constantly tell their friends what they're doing and where they are on such social networking sites. This begs the question: whose fault is it if you are kidnapped by a cyber stalker-yours or the website's? Terri explores this issue from different sides throughout the plot all while crafting an interesting case. Unfortunately, despite the good foundational idea, this book misses the Elite List because of borderline characters and typical suspense elements.

Krista, Ryan, David, and the others are all imperfect characters, yet without personalities. Not a single character in this book is perfect or is better than the next, yet Terri failed to take her characters to the next level by giving them personalities. Krista is the closest character to having a personality, but it is not finished. David is also an interesting character mostly because of the original role he plays in the plot. He is not an elderly grandfather character who spouts wisdom throughout the entire plot, thank God. His role is interesting and underused. The villain is probably the worst character because of his sheer normalcy. Most authors are not creative with their villains, allowing them to be monsters rather than people. Besides under-developed characters, the villain is Terri's biggest character problem.

There is a very low-key romantic subplot, one of the more background ones I have ever read. However, it is so insignificant to the plot as a whole, its very existence is unnecessary. But there are worse problems that this. The unfolding of the case is realistic, filled with dead ends and mistakes. This book could have been Elite minus full characters had Terri eliminated the showdown scene cliche or at least had a key character die as a result. Since she did neither of these things, the plot's rating suffered along with the character development's rating.

All in all, Predator is not a cheap suspense plot because it departs from some cliches. But the cliches it does not depart from end up to be its downfall. Terri Blackstock has potential as an author; she just needs to work out the kinks.

3 stars

Rooms by James L Rubart

2010-07-05T10:13:00.002-04:00

Micah Taylor's life is spinning out of control. He has just received word that his uncle Archie has died and left him a mansion in north Oregon. The life he is trying to build with his girlfriend\business partner has come to an ultimatum. His software company is teetering between complete success and complete failure. He decides to take a short vacation to the mansion his uncle willed to him to see whether he should keep it or sell it. When he arrives at the house, he finds that it has strange powers. The rooms of the house seem to be the rooms of his very soul. It forces him to face the emotional wounds his father inflicted on him most of his childhood and teenage years. As his time in the house wears on, things begin to make less and less sense and soon Micah finds himself praying to the God he rejected years before.

James Rubart has begun his career as an author with a huge mistake. He says he did not write Rooms for the readers-instead he wrote it for himself. He said that he wrote this book so that he could read the story because it was his story. That was his first and largest mistake in this writing endeavour. Through a shallow plot and shallow characters, James Rubart tries to appeal to the emotions of his readers and thus writes a tale of warped theology.

Micah is portrayed as a victim the entire book. Anytime a mistake of his is brought to light, a heavenly being, whether it be an angel or Jesus Himself, always tells Micah that his father's mistreatment of him as a child is to blame. They constantly give Micah the same excuse for his actions-his father drove him to sin. So, even though Micah makes mistakes, he is still portrayed as a victim. Other characters are no better. There are few other characters, thank God, yet none of them are exemplary characters. Not one character in the entire novel has any hint of personality, thus not allowing the reader to feel like these are even real people. If James wants to make it anywhere in his career, he needs to learn how to develop characters.

The theme of the book seems to be time warping and parallel universes, because Rubart uses these freely, usually without explanation. It is hard for the reader to understand which parts of the plot go where or if any parts of the plot are supposed to be real or not. The mansion Micah inherits is completely unnecessary because it adds nothing helpful to the plot. Micah spends most of his time elsewhere, doing things like sky diving and scuba diving. But then again, this may not be real or it may take place in an alternate universe. Who knows but James?

There are several potentially original ideas buried within the coal that is this book, but they are not used correctly or much at all. Rooms seems to flow from whatever passed through Rubart's mind at the time he was writing it, which is why he uses time warping so freely. Despite what people say about its deep lessons of healing, I learned nothing from it, save that when one sins, they should find someone who "made" them sin by hurting their feelings. After they forgive this person everything will then be alright.

If James is to succeed as an author, he needs to quit writing books for himself and start sharing something interesting with the world. However, if he has nothing interesting to say, he should forever hold his silence.

1.5 stars

Never Let You Go by Erin Healey

2010-07-05T10:11:00.001-04:00

Lexi Solomon's life has been spinning out of control ever since her sister was murdered in public by Lexi's lover and Lexi's drug-addict husband ran away from her and their daughter. Now one of her husband's "associates" has begun following her around, using her daughter's life as blackmail to make her pay a debt she never owed. On top of this, her sister's murderer is about be let out on parole. Lexi loses it when her daughter is finally kidnapped. Since her father has been living in a mental health institution for some time now, Lexi wonders if she has inherited the disease her father has. When her prodigal husband returns to help her find their daughter, Lexi begins to realize he is one of the only people on earth she can trust. The question is, will she trust his promise that he will never again let her go?

The release of Burn made me think that Erin Healey truly is an elite author, even in light of Kiss. Yet Never Let You Go only confused me more. In the two novels she co-authored with Ted Dekker, it is hard to know where one of them ends and the other begins, because Never Let You Go is a slight return to the average nature of Kiss, making me wonder if Ted Dekker helped Erin out in Burn to make his fans anticipate Never Let You Go more than they were. All I know is, Erin Healey has not yet arrived.

The characters of this book are reminiscent of Ted Dekker characters: all of them are imperfect, yet not one of them has a complete personality. But what can one expect of the woman who edited Ted Dekker for many years. She obviously does not have any higher standards than this for characters. The surprising part is that Lexi is not played as a perfect victim. This is one of the rare books I have read that does not contain a single perfect character. This definitely keeps the book from being as bad as Kiss, yet Erin needs to learn how to develop personalities.

However, if she does not want to develop personalities, she at least needs to do what Ted Dekker does with his plots-make them so good that the book is either Elite or five stars despite under-developed characters. Unfortunately, Erin did not do this in her solo novel. The foundational idea behind the plot is good, but the delivery is inconsistent. The book is longer than it needs to be, a problem that can be attributed to many unexplained scenes designed only to create suspense and drama. Such scenes are unnecessary and only serve to muddle the book. Lexi's daughter seems to be invincible, since she sustains several near death experiences with minor injuries. Another main problem is a cheesy showdown scene in which the villain explodes. Basically, the biggest mistakes Erin makes in this book is trying to add too many supernatural and suspenseful elements to the plot, trying to copy Ted Dekker. She fails to capture the philosophical writing style that make his books interesting, making herself look like a copycat.

All in all, Erin Healey has potential if she will do her own thing and cease living in the shadow of Dekker. If she will boost her characters or improve her delivery, she can be an elite author.

3 stars

Take Three by Karen Kingsbury

2010-06-29T16:08:00.001-04:00

Andi Ellison has made a mess of her life by giving into physical temptation with a shady boy named Taz. Now she has received the devastating news that she is pregnant and she does not know which direction to take. Who should she tell if anyone? Should she keep the baby or kill it? If she knows anything, she knows she does not want to tarnish her father's image in the film making industry. Keith Ellison has been enjoying his success in Hollywood as a Christian director and is looking forward to his next movie. But the strange behavior of his daughter and his co-director Chase Ryan are keeping him distracted. Bailey Flanigan also remains confused about her two suitors, Tim Reed and Cody Coleman. She wants to do the right thing, but what she thinks is the right thing is not what her heart tells her. Only God holds the answers for all their dilemmas-if they will seek Him with all their hearts.

When I finished this book, the first thing I said was "Karen Kingsbury can do better than this." I know she can; she has proven she can. Through uncharacteristic cheesy circumstances and characters, Karen is bringing the never-ending Baxter Family Saga down to the mud with such writing. It is clear she is trying to shake off certain characters, but she could have done so a better way.

After all their imperfect circumstances were resolved, the Baxters became perfect characters. Keith Ellison, Chase Ryan, the Flanigans, Cody Coleman, and Tim Reed are not exemplary characters either. Andi Ellison is the best character of this book because she is the only one that makes any realistic mistakes. She is the only believable character. The Baxters are fountains of wisdom, the Flanigans are a perfect family, Keith and Chase are simple characters, Cody Coleman is a perfect victim who is fast becoming a perfect male lead, something Karen Kingsbury has never done before, and Tim Reed has become a cheesy villain, for lack of a better word. Either Karen is slipping as an author or this series has met entropy. I agree with the latter, for all good things must come to an end.

The Bailey\Tim\Cody triangle was finally resolved in this book after much ring-around-the-rosy, but it could have been handled in a better way. Tim and Cody become polar opposites instead of the ambiguous characters they once were. It was predictable which one Karen was pulling for, so the best thing she could have done was do the opposite. The least she could have done was avoid the black and white answer she gave. The Andi Ellison situation is another problem. While she created the situation by her imperfect choices, Karen did every possible thing she could do to help her avoid the consequences. The end is not realistic, something Karen has not done since her early days.

I know Karen Kingsbury is not failing as an author; the Baxter Family Saga is failing as a series as result of longevity and entropy. The realistic, everyday life plots are gone, replaced by typical plot molds. I hope Karen can end the series on a good note with Take Four and avoid adding anymore sub-series' to the saga. But don't count on it.

2 stars

Glorious Appearing by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B Jenkins

2010-06-29T16:06:00.001-04:00

Glorious Appearing by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B Jenkins

Armageddon is under way. Nicolae has gathered all those loyal to him and has thus created the largest army ever seen on earth to oppose Jesus and His followers. The Tribulation Force's numbers are dwindling, but they it's only a matter of hours before they see their Risen Lord and King descend upon the earth to take possession once and for all. As the hours tick down, the last hours of earth, the world spins into chaos and confusion as Satan takes his next to last stand against God. The believers know the battle has already been won, which is why they are keeping their eyes on the sky.

In the final book of such an end times series, nothing else can be said or done but to have Jesus triumph over all because there is no other end possible. This gives Glorious Appearing a non-fiction feel because a fiction plot needs conflict, and there is virtually no conflict in the end. Glorious Appearing cannot be Elite, yet that does not make it a bad book.

Character development is useless at this point in time because there is no more imperfection among believers. The sides are black and white, as it would be at the end. To say the least, it is not exemplary character development, yet there was nothing else to do at this point in the series.

This is the hardest book of the series for me to review because there are many elements that are realistic yet they go against my fiction standards I have laid down. Christians and everything Christian are invincible, but what would one expect? Satan and everything to do with him is weak, but what would one expect? Jesus and everything to with Him is perfect, yet this is the truth. This is the dilemma I am in. The biggest problem with the book is what? Any of the things I listed above? I do not know what the biggest problem is, yet I do not know what the biggest asset is either. It simple is what it is.

All in all, it has been an interesting if not landmark series in Christian fiction because it opened the door for Christian suspense. It brought Christian fiction out of the dark ages and to a point where it could be as good as it is today. It was not a mistake-free series, yet the idea was groundbreaking. At most points it was an enjoyable series, yet I am interested to see whether an author or pair of authors can make a better version sometime in the future.

3 stars

average series rating: 3 stars

Armageddon by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B Jenkins

2010-06-29T16:03:00.002-04:00

The Tribulation Force has been forced literally underground, scattered across the country, due to the extreme crackdown of the GC on those not bearing the mark of loyalty. The great battle of Armageddon is nearing, and Nicolae Carpathia has begun gathering all those loyal to him to defeat Jesus and his followers in the valley of Armageddon. The Tribulation Force soon finds that they must relocate to Petra due to the captures of Chloe and Albie. As the times become more evil and the end of the world is on the horizon, the Trib Force does not know whether or not they can stay sane enough until the Glorious Appearing.

The authors have drastically turned the series around by pulling it out of its second nose dive The Remnant created. Armageddon is a return to the originality of The Mark because the authors were not afraid to kill off a few very key characters.

Chloe and Albie suddenly become imperfect characters, because it is their fault that they get captured; they are not victims of circumstance. This is the first book of the series that eliminates four characters and does not add any new ones. No other characters really undergo any major changes. This is not a character-based book, but a plot-driven book, following the theme of the series. With only one book left in the series, the characters obviously aren't going to get any better than this.

Without the captures of Chloe and Albie, there would not be much to talk about in this book. The authors probably realized this and decided that it was time to do something original. It was high time, because such originality has not been used since The Mark. As usual, end times elements are presented well. This is the point in the series when lesser known events occur, and the authors did a good job of finding those such events and portraying them. There are four key character deaths in the book, but one of them is unknown, making the best end of any book of the series. It was better than any other end because it did not force suspense upon the reader. It is a mysterious end that actually made me want to read the next book. The series really should end with this book because I doubt Glorious Appearing will come up with a better one. But this is a futile hope because the authors are not going to cut the series off here.

One can assume that this will be the last interesting book of the series because from here on out, the authors can begin using creative licence as a shield. But Armageddon was enjoyable nonetheless because it exhibited elements the authors should have been using all along.

5 stars

The Remnant by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B Jenkins

2010-06-23T15:22:00.002-04:00

With many wanted people gathered in the desert fortress of Petra, Supreme Potentate Nicolae Carpathia launched a full-scale missile attack against it to once and for all vanquish his enemies. Unfortunately, things did not go as he planned. After the bombs fell on the people in Petra, they were seen walking around in the fire unharmed by the flames. When it becomes clear that he cannot destroy his enemies, he turns his attention to a more pressing matter-the oceans have turned into complete blood, and people all around the world are thirsty. Meanwhile, Chloe Williams, Hannah Palemoon, and Mac McCullum pose, with the inside help of Chang Wong, as GC Peacekeepers in Greece in order to spring their friend, George Sebastian, from captivity there. But when their covers are blown by experts in New Babylon, they are forced to escape with their very lives.

The Remnant

covers more ground in the Great Tribulation than I can explain in my summary, mostly because it skips through time once the book nears an end. A large majority of the book is an extreme waste of time, spent mostly on the Greece rescue mission. Since this is the most useless book of the series, The Remnant is the worst book of the Left Behind series.

Buck really hangs up his cape in this book and becomes a stay-at-home dad while his wife becomes the world-traveling superhero he was. Rayford becomes a go-to character whenever the authors have an extra Co-op mission to demonstrate. I never understood why Mac was introduced; I have always seen him as a useless character. Ming Toy is also a useless character, yet she has an entire sidebar plot devoted to a random mission of hers. George Sebastian has been made into an important character by the sudden urgency of the rescue mission this book focuses on. Basically, the character department was gone from one extreme to the other throughout this precarious series, especially since the series is driven by plot and action.

After the Petra miracles, the authors spend way too much time elaborating over the Greece rescue mission. Chang does his usual magic and makes the aliases of Chloe, Mac, and Hannah look real for a time while they rescue the great George Sebastian. After spending much time and drama on this portion of the book, the authors throw the plot into time warp, stopping at random and sometimes useless points in time, such as when they demonstrated Rayford preforming a Co-op mission to exchange water for wheat. Then the authors stop off at the sun bowl judgement to show off what they've come up with before speeding ahead to the darkness bowl judgement. All this time warping was only necessary because the authors spent way too much time on Sebastian's rescue mission. The saddest things of all about this book is that, were it deleted from the series, nothing would be missed, save for the sun judgement, which could have been moved. This makes this book the lowest point of the series.

With so little time left in the series, the authors do not need to be playing around with rescue missions anymore. It's time to step things up, now that there are only two more books in the series. I expect better things than this.

2 stars

Desecration by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B Jenkins

2010-06-23T15:19:00.001-04:00

As the risen Nicolae Carpathia tightens his grip on the world by required everyone to receive a mark of loyalty to him or face death, the Tribulation Force, scattered around the globe, settles into their hiding places. Chaim Rozenweig feels called by the Lord to openly oppose the Antichrist, so Buck follows him to New Babylon to witness Nicolae desecrate the Jewish temple by sacrificing a pig on the altar. The bowl judgements have become, now that everyone bearing the mark of loyalty to Carpathia is suffering from severe boils, allowing the Trib Force to launch Operation Eagle, a plan that allows many Christians and Jews to escape to Petra, a rock fortress in the Israeli desert. Many have no other choice now that the Great Tribulation is in full swing, since earth's days are running out.

The series takes a slight dip after its first five star mostly because of a cheesy end. While there are a few good elements, they are not enough to offset the end, which is clearly trying too hard to be suspenseful. However, Desecration does not miss the Elite List.

The characters seem to have settled into a groove at this point in the series. While Buck is still traveling the world with Chaim, he seems to have hung up his cape in that he has discontinued his late-night rescue missions. Rayford is one of the most active and useful characters now, which is a change from the first half of the series, when Buck was a more active character. The biggest problem remaining in the character department, one that has lingered throughout the series, is the magnitude of the cast of characters. There are so many characters that when one dies, they are hardly missed because the authors introduce a handful of new characters in every book. Each character could have been much better had the authors chosen one or two leads from the beginning and focused primarily on them throughout the entire series. Characters have been the most constant problem of the series, and it would be refreshing to see it fixed before the end.

The desecration scene and the relocation effort to Petra are are handled well enough, but they are not the highlights of the plot. Rather, several mistakes made by characters lead to more interesting circumstances. There is one key character death, but that character is not missed because they had become highly unnecessary. Chang Wong seems to be able to do whatever he wants as the Trib Force's palace mole. The sooner this is cut off, the better. But this is not the worst problem with the book. The worst problem is the end, which tries way too hard to make the end suspenseful. An original follow through of the end in the next book would create countless key character deaths, but everyone knows the authors are not going to blow up a majority of their characters. Thus, this ending is an unnecessary and somewhat desperate attempt to make the reader keep reading.

All in all, Desecration is an above average novel with a few problems. However, with the series winding down, the authors need to step up the originality in order to keep the end of the series from being a bore.

4 stars

Crossing Oceans by Gina Holmes

2010-06-23T15:18:00.000-04:00

Jenny Lucas has returned to her sleepy North Carolina hometown with her only daughter to reveal to her family two horrible secrets. One, her daughter's biological father is the son of man Jenny's father hates most in the world. Two, she is dying of a widespread cancer in her body and she needs to know who will be taking care of her daughter when she's gone. Naturally, her ex-boyfriend and his wife make a play for her on the basis of biological connections. Jenny's father and grandmother immediately fall in love with six-year-old Isabella, while Jenny finds herself falling for their hired hand. Jenny knows she cannot allow herself to fall in love when she's so close to death, and she has other things on her mind. Little does she know that she will have to cross an ocean to find the answers she wants.

Gina Holmes writes an unforgettable and unashamed debut dripping with originality. The stage was already set-her lead was dying-yet she resisted the temptation of miraculous healing and wrote a five star debut novel.

The end is not the only amiable quality this book contains. I cannot think of a single key character without a personality. Jenny, Isabella, Jenny's father, Jenny's grandmother, Jenny's ex-boyfriend and his wife; even Jenny's love interest is not a perfect male lead. There is no real villain in the story; it is simply a book about the end of one's life. Gina has already proven she is a master of characters, a quality that some veteran authors cannot seem to grasp.

Many plot cliches are defied in this novel. Characters who are portrayed as bad aren't really. Characters who are portrayed as good aren't really. In the end, there is no real romantic subplot. The tale is told through the mournful eyes of Jenny in a voice reminiscent of Mary E DeMuth. The end is the icing on the cake, not only because of Jenny's end, but because of the realistic end to Isabella's custody case. With this end, Gina proves that she is not afraid to take the step toward complete originality. I hope other new authors follow her down this path.

I look forward to what Gina will do in the future. I expect nothing else but originality now that she has set the bar so high.

5 stars

The Mark by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B Jenkins

2010-06-21T20:04:00.002-04:00

Having been resurrected and indwelt by Satan himself at his own funeral, Nicolae Carpathia is now exercising his power over the world by requiring everyone to receive a mark of loyalty to him on their forehead or right hand. The millions that flocked at his funeral to mourn his death now openly worship Nicolae and his images. As the GC sets the mark of loyalty plans into motion, David Hassid, Ming Toy, Mac McCullum, and Abdullah Smith craft a plan of escape from New Babylon so that they are not required to choose between the mark of loyalty or death by guillotine. Meanwhile, the stateside Tribulation Force moves more believers into their Chicago hideout before Buck must travel to Greece to attempt to rescue their Greek Trib Force members and Rayford and Albie attempt to rescue Hattie from a women's incarceration center. The Great Tribulation is in full swing, and the times are evil. As Christians are forced underground instead of making a deadly choice between mark or death, the Trib Force does what it can to survive the final years of earth.

The Great Tribulation has finally come to the Left Behind series. These are the wildest times in the history of Planet Earth, and a perfect chance for the authors to showcase originality. Believe it or not, they delivered, finally, in this eighth installment of the series. They have hit the five star mark with The Mark through originality to the end. This is definitely a high point of the series.

David Hassid remains an improved character, as do Albie, Leah, Hattie and Chaim. Chloe returns to her personality of old. Several new characters come in already with personalities, thus demonstrating the inconsistency of this series' character development. It matters not in this installment for the characters are now where they need to be. No more changes need to be made; no more new characters need to be introduced. This is the high point of the series' characters.

The plot is even better than the character department. The authors handle the mark of the beast situation very well. They do not protect all Trib Force members from the guillotines, let's just say. There is also one other key character death unrelated to the guillotines that serves to sever a building romantic subplot. That was definitely an unexpected but nice touch. Hattie, though she completes her realistic journey to the faith, does not cease being a good character after accepting Christ. The authors also explore an interesting sidebar issue in this book having to do with taking the mark of the beast against one's will. This book was the authors' chance to show off some originality after playing around in the first seven books of the series, and they finally delivered with the best book of the series yet. This is hopefully only the tip of the iceberg.

The remaining books of the series should at least be Elite, but one never knows, especially with Petra approaching. For now, let us celebrate that Tim and Jerry finally wrote that impending five star novel.

5 stars

The Indwelling by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B Jenkins

2010-06-21T20:00:00.001-04:00

Nicolae Carpathia, the Supreme Potentate of all the earth has been murdered unexpectedly at a worldwide gala in Jerusalem. As the Global Community authorities study videos of Carpathia's murder and the body itself, they come up with differing opinions of the cause of death. As millions of worshipers flock to New Babylon to attend his funeral and mourn his death, the Tribulation Force are keeping their eyes on Carpathia's dead body, waiting for the moment when Satan will indwell the corpse and rule the world for himself. David Hassid and Annie Christopher see firsthand the evil that is brewing in New Babylon-namely the outright worship of the Antichrist. Meanwhile, the stateside Trib Force begins a relocation project to the abandoned city of Chicago while the GC is distracted with Carpathia's funeral. It's only a matter of time before Satan enters the corpse of the world's most loved man and begins to take the throne-namely rule the world-for a time.

Time comes to a halt in this seventh installment of the Left Behind series as it is the first and last book to contain no judgements. The Indwelling spends a painful amount of time on the attention to detail and the dissection of the three days the Antichrist lies in state, describing every little detail of the funeral. While there are many other good plot elements, this fact keeps the book from being five stars.

Chaim Rozenweig becomes a better character than he ever was in this book because the authors suddenly "turn on" his personality. The same is done with David Hassid, in that he is no longer a Trib Force spy tool. Otherwise, there are no other career moves in the character department. All other characters stay the same.

It seemed as though the authors wanted another suspenseful end, namely Carpathia coming back to life, thus they slowed time down dramatically and did not institute any judgements. While there is a single key character death as a product of another rescue mission, this book is mostly a waste of time. Had the authors not been so intent on writing another suspenseful end, this book could have been five stars. This book makes the series very time-inconsistent. However, one could say that The Indwelling is another transitional novel like Nicolae, this time transitioning the series into the Great Tribulation.

The good thing about the Great Tribulation is that the authors can no longer produce Hollywood-ish judgements and protect their special characters. It's time to get down to the nitty-gritty in the final five books ahead, and I'm interested to see what will happen.

4 stars

Wonders Never Cease by Tim Downs

2010-06-15T12:57:00.001-04:00

Kemp McAvoy is living the hard life of a UCLA night nurse while his aspirations are to be an anesthesiologist. These aspirations were put to rest, however, when his residency at Johns Hopkins was rejected because of drug abuse. Now, he lives with his girlfriend and her "loony" daughter from a previous marriage. Kemp is tired of being strapped for money. He wants to be free. The opportunity presents itself when he is assigned to monitor an aging movie star who was the victim of a car accident. She has been put into a medically-induced coma to prevent her brain from swelling, but an "angel" by the name of Kemp McAvoy is about to lower her drug dosage slightly and appear to her with a message she is proclaim to all the world. With the help of her agent and a struggling publisher, they will write the ultimate bestselling book about her experiences in the coma. But little do they know that they are tangling themselves up in their own web-all because they practiced to deceive.

Tim Downs is back. That was my first thought when I finished his latest release. He has returned to his land of originality after being exiled to typical island for too long. Through superb characters and a highly original plot, Tim has written himself a second five star novel.
Kemp is one of the most imperfect leads I have ever met. This is probably because he has an underused personality. He rivals Nick Polchak for one of the best leads ever developed. I cannot think of a single character in this plot who does not have a personality. One of the best things about the character department is that there is no real villain. If anyone is a villain, it's Kemp. Tim Downs already proved that his character developing skills are exquisite, but he did not stop just because he has now become popular. He is truly a master of characters.

The plot is most similar to Deceived by James Scott Bell, yet it is unlike any other plot. It is a highly underused plot style I call Deception. It begins with an elaborate money-making scheme and becomes more and more complicated as more people get involved, making this book more of a comedy than any of Tim's other books. The dealing and the scheming don't end until the book ends. While this book does not have a smashingly original end like that of Chop Shop, the entire book is a constant; it is wholly original rather than partly. Not only is there nothing wrong with this book; there are also many things right about it.

In short, Tim Downs is a man to be reckoned with because his writing career is far from over. No, he is only getting started with the great impression he will make on Christian fiction.

5 stars

Assassins by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B Jenkins

2010-06-15T12:54:00.001-04:00

The four horsemen have been released from the Euphrates River to slay a third of the world's remaining population. The Tribulation Force witnesses the deaths of many at the hands of these invisible horsemen. Since the deaths of many of his Christian friends, Rayford Steele has come to blame Nicolae Carpathia for it all. This blame has birthed into utter hate for the Supreme Potentate. Ray knows that someone must kill the Antichrist, so why can it not be him? Hiding his plans from the rest of the Trib Force, he acquires a deadly weapon for the job. David Hassid has become the Trib Force's full time inside spy since he has access to the Antichrist's very conversations. He does not know how much time he has until he must join the others in hiding, but he hopes that he will be able to take his new love, Annie Christopher into hiding with him. Apocalyptic events come to a head as Nicolae Carpathia issues a Utopian gala in Jerusalem of an unknown length. Tsion Ben-Judah predicts the deaths and resurrections of both the Two Witnesses and the Antichrist during the gala. But the question is, at whose sword will Nicolae fall and when?

The idea behind Assassins is probably the most interesting idea of the series yet because someone must kill the Antichrist, and it was only so fitting that one of the Trib Force plot to do so. Rayford becomes a better character because of his scheming, yet a majority of the book is wasted on David Hassid exhibiting all that he can do as the Trib Force's spy so that the book can end with Nicolae's death. Because of this, the book is not five stars.

The characters go in more extreme directions than they ever had before. Rayford becomes more imperfect and actually develops a personality. Buck loses personality and becomes a perfect character. Chloe becomes an extra character. Tsion stays the same, as always. David Hassid is a non-character because his purpose is based entirely on an idea instead of a real person. Albie is one of the more interesting characters of the series because is against Jesus and Nicolae Carpathia and has not converted to either yet. Basically, the character department took a step forward and a step backwards.

Assassins

is definitely a good theme title for this book because it covers the assassinations inflicted by the horsemen, the assassinations of the Two Witnesses, and the assassination of Nicolae. Even though the true murderer of Nicolae is not revealed in this book, it still makes for an interesting story. Yet there are also many weak points in the plot, such as the convenient abilities of David Hassid, his unnecessary romantic subplot, and the unnecessary antics of Mac McCullum and Abdullah Smith. However, this book is an improvement from the previous three installments. The biggest thing keeping this book from five stars is its wasted time.

All in all, the series is progressing in the right direction because the time of the Mark of the Beast is nearing.

4 stars

Apollyon by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B Jenkins

2010-06-15T12:52:00.001-04:00

In the wake of the wrath of the Lamb earthquake, Nicolae Carpathia has rebuilt the world along with his own state-of-the-art city, New Babylon. The Tribulation Force has been forced into hiding in the underground bunker of a deceased friend. Hattie Durham joins them there after being kidnapped by Buck from an abortion clinic, yet she has brought with her a strange disease. Buck soon finds himself torn between his very pregnant wife Chloe and his very unsaved friend in Israel, Chaim Rosenweig. In the midst of all this, the next trumpet judgement hits in the form of poisonous locusts instructed to torment those not bearing the mark of Christ for nine months. Buck finds himself caught in Israel when their resident physician Floyd Charles finds something wrong with his unborn child. In the midst of all this uncertainty, the Tribulation Force must prepare for a future when they can no longer be seen or heard.

Apollyon

is a slight improvement from Soul Harvest if not for any reason other than the fact that the authors finally learned how to write a realistic Buck Williams Rescue Mission. Actually, several of these take place in the book, which suggests that the authors cannot come up with anything better to write, yet on of these such incidents they actually end realistically. The series has not reached its full potential yet, but it is getting there.

It's hard to know what to expect out of a series' characters in its fifth installment. They did not take any steps forward or backward, yet remained the same. Tsion is still the most under developed character. Buck, Chloe, and Rayford are still their usual selves. Hattie is still an interesting character. One character in particular became ambiguous when the authors decided to do something unexpected with him. When a series is five books deep, the characters should be superb because they consistently show off their personalities. However, Buck is consistently used as a stunt-rescue man yet has not developed any conclusive personality. Chloe has settled into being a nothing-character ever since her earthquake injuries. Rayford in the only one with a varietous life at this point. I think the biggest problem with the character department is the number of characters. There are too many for any of them to be given personal attention. The authors do this to cover a lot of bases since this is a virgin series idea, but it isn't working.

The locusts are a Hollywood-ish plague because the believers can basically do whatever they want during the span of this plague, but one cannot contradict the Bible. There aren't really any key character deaths in this book for that reason. The authors are trying to create a romantic subplot between two characters in the underground bunker. This needs to be stopped because one of the characters has already had way too many romantic interests. Introducing the issues with Chloe's baby was unnecessary unless the authors were actually going to use them originally.

Basically, Apollyon is an average novel, yet an improvement from Soul Harvest. The authors need to continue improving like this to bring the series out of its nosedive.

2.5 stars

Soul Harvest by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B Jenkins

2010-06-15T12:49:00.001-04:00

The wrath of the Lamb has come upon the earth. The largest and most destructive earthquake ever recorded has just shaken the entire globe. Cities are leveled, mountains have fallen, thousands have died, meteors have fallen from the sky, the moon has turned blood red. God's most severe judgement yet has struck the earth as millions were unprepared. The Tribulation Force themselves is shaken from its effects as they scramble to discover how many of them are dead. Rayford Steele fears that his wife is dead, as does Buck Williams. Neither Amanda nor Chloe have been spotted according to their sources. Something Rayford finds disturbing is that Nicolae Carpathia seems to have known that the earthquake was going to happen, yet did nothing to warn people about it. As the world regroups from this terrible disaster, it is a perfect time to convert more people to Christ, yet the Tribulation Force finds this a hard task when some of their own are missing.

The Left Behind series has dipped to a low point in Soul Harvest because there are many unrealistic plot points. The authors use the earthquake as a tool to kill off unnecessary characters and to create drama about important characters. Nothing very interesting is accomplished throughout the book except for many unrealistic circumstances, thus making it the worst book of the series.

Character development is halted in this installment in the midst of drama and catastrophe. This book reminded me of a B-grade action adventure movie-all show and no realistic plot or good characters. While the situation could have been used to bring out the characters' personalities, it did not.

There are several expendable character deaths, most of them characters who were never fully developed. Yet none of the main characters pass on to eternity-even though Chloe spent a good long time on death's door. Her situation is the most unrealistic because it's so much like a disaster movie that jumps through hoops to keep the central romantic subplot alive even through adversity. By the time Buck finds her, her body is completely battered and torn, yet her-and her unborn baby who no one knew about-are not dying at all. Half the book is spent trying to find her, and the other half is spent bringing her back from death's door. Another problem with the plot is Buck's unlimited GC credit card that allows him to cover any expenses immediately. This becomes a sort of CRT that keeps several characters from spending a few nights in the streets. The sooner this convenient feature is eliminated from the plot, the better.

The wrath of the Lamb could have been a good outlet to change things up in the Tribulation Force-kill off a few key characters, bring out personalities in those that were left. Yet this was not accomplished in Soul Harvest. But now that Buck and Rayford have to leave the GC scene very soon because of their Christianity, the series could take a turn toward more interesting plots. The authors definitely need to pull the series out of this nose dive somehow.

1.5 stars

Nicolae by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B Jenkins

2010-06-15T12:47:00.000-04:00

Nicolae Carpathia has now established himself as the leader of the world by orchestrating a treaty between Israel and Egypt. He has seized the control the world gave him after the disappearances. The Global Community has been firmly established. Rayford Steele and Buck Williams are walking the line by serving Jesus Christ and serving Nicolae Carpathia at the same time. Tsion Ben-Judah, a world-renowned Jewish scholar, has shocked the world by publicly professing that Jesus is the Messiah the prophets spoke of. Nicolae sees him as an automatic threat and attempts to snuff him out deceptively, thus forcing the Trib Force to take Tsion into their care. As the time nears for the wrath of the Lamb earthquake to shake the earth, the Trib Force does their best to prepare for and warn others about the looming catastrophe, but most of the world has already turned their hearts toward the Antichrist.

Nicolae

is a transitional novel in the series between the earlier judgements and the famed wrath of the Lamb earthquake. Because it is a transitional novel, there are not many outstanding qualities, good or bad. In the end, the rating comes out average.

The character development done in Tribulation Force comes to a halt seemingly because Buck and Chloe and Rayford and Amanda are married. Tsion, the new perfect mentor character is a worse character than Bruce because of his constant pithy sayings and Scripture quotations and general care for all mankind. I have nothing against mentor characters; an End Times series needs a mentor character to keep the reader up with Scripture, but mentors do not have to be perfect. Because there are already too many characters in this series, the authors are taking shortcuts on character development.

Seemingly to fill time, the authors had Buck preform a lengthy rescue mission in Israel. It seems as though the authors are using the label "End Times" as an excuse to write cheap action fiction. The fact that Buck and Rayford work for the GC only adds to this because they are able to manipulate things from the inside. To compound this, more and more Christians are discovered on the inside.

All in all, Nicolae is an average novel whose only purpose to bring the series into the next era of judgements. Hopefully the authors will be more diligent in their efforts next time.

2.5 stars

A Proper Pursuit by Lynn Austin

2010-06-12T16:49:00.002-04:00

Violet Hayes has just recently found out that her father has deceived her all her life by telling her that her biological mother was dead. When he tells her that she is still alive yet divorced from him, she makes it her mission to find her mother-not to mention prevent her father's marriage to a widow whom Violet suspects for murdering her own husband. Through deception and conniving, Violet convinces her father to allow her to travel to Chicago-the supposed location of her mother-in order to stay with her grandmother and three aunts, not to mention attend the Chicago World Fair. But she reaps what she sowed through her deception by getting more than she asked for out of her aunts. She does her best to search for her mother-while her Aunt Agnes isn't constantly trying to marry her off, while her grandmother isn't constantly trying to get her to do mission and church work, while her Aunt Matt isn't constantly trying to convince her than women need to be free to vote and do many other "scandalous" things, while her deranged Aunt Birdie isn't always trying to ask her when her dead husband is returning from fighting the Civil War, and while Violet is trying to ignore the four men competing for her heart and her hand in marriage-all for different reasons. These abnormal encounters away from home force Violet to examine her own life to see if she is really living the way she needs to be living.

Lynn Austin spins a comical yet realistic tale set in the late 1800s around the time of the Chicago World Fair. There is almost too much in the book to contain in a single summary, yet this book is nonetheless entertaining and original at the same time. Through excellent character development and realistic plot development, Lynn vaults this book onto the Elite List-yet falls short of five stars for a single reason.

Violet is shown to the reader through a first-person point of view, the best point of view because it allows the reader to relate to the character and it forces the author to create at least a formidable character. All of Violet's family members-her father, her grandmother, her aunts, even her mother-are good characters with imperfection and personality. Three of Violet's suitors are good characters. Unfortunately, the fourth is the inevitable perfect male lead. Even when Lynn had a chance to make him imperfect, she fabricated an escape, causing him to become and unrealistic character. He is the only problem with the book, along with his situation. Had this aspect been amended, we could have been looking at a five star novel.

Otherwise, there are many good aspects of the plot. Violet's frequent conniving and telling of half-truths gets her into no small share of trouble. There were at least five situations that could have ended perfectly but instead ended realistically or imperfectly. The situation between Violet and Silas, her perfect male lead, is the only problem with the entire book, yet it is a fatal problem because it keeps it from being five stars.

All in all, Lynn Austin is a master at character development except in the area of perfect male leads. But once she works out these minor kinks, she will be a truly good author.

4.5 stars

Red, White, and Blue by Laura Hayden

2010-06-12T16:47:00.001-04:00

Now that Emily Benton has achieved the honor of first female President of the United States, her best friend and chief of staff Kate Rosen is unsure of which direction she will take. Given the volatile nature of Emily, now that she is on top of the world, anything could happen. Kate soon finds that her job switch from campaign manager to chief of staff does not lighten the load-but it increases it. Politics are demanding, Kate quickly learns, for everyone wants their problems to be fixed. And with Emily's ex-husband still hanging around with believable secrets implicating Emily, Kate finds herself playing the double agent. Her suspicion mounts when Emily launches a three-part energy transformation project as her first big act as President. Many questionable actions and conspiracies surround the project, and Kate soon finds herself working against her best friend. But she can't hide her actions from Emily much longer, so she'll have to make a decision-fast.

In the follow-up to a promising political novel, Laura Hayden has done what she needed to do. She took the situation she had created and did not waste the opportunity to do something original. Rather write another predictable political story, Laura did something different, earning herself a five star novel.

Kate, Emily, Nick, and the rest remain as good of characters as they were in America the Beautiful. Emily's switch to a villain in this second installment of the series creates an interesting and original twist. Where Laura could have easily created a typical corrupt politician or male supremist villain, she used one of her own lead characters. Laura needed to make a move like this in order to save this series from complete mediocrity. Laura Hayden knows how to create good and ambiguous characters.

There is a "maybe" romantic subplot created during the plot, but nothing is finalized. Laura Hayden sprinkled many realistic political issues into the plot to keep things realistic. Many realistic and everyday events occur throughout the plot; it is not all about Emily's energy project. A key character death occurs in the middle of the book to keep things interesting. Laura Hayden held over the good plot structure and plot development she had in America the Beautiful. The deciding factor in the book's rating, save for the characters, is the highly original end. It was the only end Laura could have written under the circumstances without producing a sappy work. It was the key to the book's success, as are most endings.

Laura says there are more books to come in this series, yet I think the series needs to end now because I do not foresee anything good coming out of a third book. However, I could be wrong. All that matters now is that Laura fulfilled this series' potential and did not let it go to waste. She is a formidable author from whom I expect more great things.

5 stars

Tribulation Force by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B Jenkins

2010-06-12T16:45:00.001-04:00

Having found out the truth behind the disappearances, Rayford, Buck, Chloe, and Bruce, who make up the Tribulation Force must prepare for the years ahead-and bring as many people to Jesus as possible before time runs out. With the world's future uncertain, a previously unknown Romanian UN delegate named Nicolae Carpathia has stepped to center stage with talks of peace and world unity in light of the mysterious vanishings. Bruce suspects him to be the Antichrist because of the way the world is swayed in his direction. Buck begins to see more evidence of this as he witnesses the rise of the Global Community, who is dedicated to Nicolae's causes. More Biblical prophecy is fulfilled through the appearance of two strange bearded men at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem who seem to have the power of God at their fingertips. But in the midst of all this, Buck cannot keep his mind off of his new friend Rayford's daughter, Chloe. Even though she is ten years his junior, he feels an attraction to her. The question is, are the End Times an appropriate time to start a long-term relationship? As the world moves further and further away from God, other things seem more important.

The biggest factor that distances Tribulation Force from Left Behind in a good way is the better character development. Another factor in this second installment's higher rating and Elite List placement is its realistic end. Yet one other factor kept this book from being all that it could be, namely five stars.

Buck, Chloe, and Rayford developed more personality in this book than they had in the first installment. They did not become perfect just because they became Christians, which is a good thing. Bruce Barnes is the worst character so far because he is still playing the perfect mentor role. He is a stereotypical character because he always has a Mother Teresa way of going about things, not to mention he is an expert in End Times prophecy. He only serves to degrade the character department. The interesting thing about Nicolae Carpathia is that in this situation, his being a typical villain is justified. While the character development could be better, the authors have definitely improved their character development skills.

The authors continue using Biblical prophecy in the correct way-by creating imperfection instead of keeping all the special characters alive. However, romantic subplots are not avoided. The courtship of Buck and Chloe is at least realistic and serves to bring out their personalities. However, it was completely unnecessary to introduce a romantic subplot for Rayford-especially in the last one hundred pages of the book. The end of the book is both its greatest strength and its greatest weakness. Its strength is a key character death that occurs as a product of one of the judgements. Its weakness is that a love interest for Rayford suddenly materializes without any previous character development or background. In the span of about ten pages, Buck and Chloe and Rayford and Amanda are engaged and married at the same exact time each. While the union of Buck and Chloe was eminent and almost unavoidable under the circumstances, Amanda was an unnecessary character to bring into the series.

All in all, Tribulation Force is better than Left Behind. One can only hope that the series continues this pattern of getting better with each installment.

4 stars

Left Behind by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B Jenkins

2010-06-12T16:44:00.000-04:00

In one moment, millions disappear from around the planet, leaving their clothes and whatever other accessories they were wearing behind. They disappeared from in fronts of steering wheels, from the cockpits of airplanes, from their own homes, and in broad daylight. All of this causes mass destruction across the globe and sends the world into chaos. The pattern of the disappearances is seemingly random to those who were left behind. Among these are Rayford Steele, a pilot whose whole family disappeared except for his grown daughter, Chloe; Buck Williams, a single magazine reporter who has witnessed catastrophes, yet cannot digest this; and Bruce Barnes, a pastor who thought he was saved. The paths of these four people cross as they all search for the truth behind the vanishings. When it all comes around, there is only one answer that is plausible-Jesus has returned and taken His children home, leaving the rest of the world to fend for themselves as judgements descend upon the earth.

This book was groundbreaking for the Christian fiction market because it brought it out of the dark ages by providing it with its first suspense novel. The foundational idea behind the book is revolutionary even though it may seem old school now. Yet even with these merits, this book is not perfect. It still has its problems.

The characters department is the biggest problem. One cannot feel like these characters are actually real people. The authors tell the reader too often what the characters are thinking or feeling instead of showing the reader through action and dialogue. Slight personalities are meant for Rayford, Buck, and Chloe, yet Bruce Barnes cannot be grasped as a real person. He is the mentor character of the book, even though he was left behind. Basically, in the wake of the authors' inferred delirium over the groundbreaking plot idea, character development was left by the wayside. Had it been tended to, this would have been an entirely different book. If anything keeps this book off the Elite List, it is the characters.

The majority of the plot is spent showcasing and expanding upon end-times prophecies, Tim LaHaye's understood strength. This gives the authors room to create a lot of imperfection, which they did. Imperfection is, in fact, the point of the book. Many realistic events happen, mostly because the authors could not contradict the Bible. The one flaw of the plot is that all four main characters are Christians by the end of the book, but this is preferable than dragging it out over the series dramatically making a spectacle of salvation, as some have done.

All in all, Tim and Jerry's work that began in the '90s and has exploded up until now has been both under appreciated and over appreciated. It will be interesting to see what the rest of the series produces.

3 stars

Edge of Apocalypse by Tim LaHaye and Craig Parshall

2010-05-26T14:50:00.000-04:00

Joshua Jordan is famous for inventing the Return-to-Sender (RTS) missile system that is designed to defend America's borders from the growing threat of foreign missile attack. Yet he is forced to undergo federal investigation when he uses the system before it was authorized to defend Manhattan Island from a Korean missile attack. Joshua thinks he has dodged a bullet when he escapes the Senate hearings without a prison sentence, but trouble returns when someone kidnaps his only son. The ransom demanded: the entire log of RTS documents, blueprints, and plans. Joshua is not to go to the authorities or he will not see his son alive again. Yet Joshua finds a strange source of help in a fringe group calling themselves the Patriots who seem to have unreal and unlimited resources to help Joshua with. The question is who can he trust in these trying times to get his son back alive?

Tim LaHaye and Craig Parshall proved to be an interesting author combination. They proved the old adage correctly-two lefts don't make a right. They accomplished nothing together that they had not accomplished part, making this book quite a bore. However, this book looks like the beginning to a promising series because of the situation it sets up.

The characters are right the allies of these two authors-typical and plastic. One cannot actually feel like they are real people because they think thoughts or speak dialogue that shape their personalities. They say what the reader is expecting them to say under the circumstances. Joshua and his family and the villain are not model characters. The villain, Atta Ziller, reminds me greatly of Talon from Tim LaHaye's Baylon Rising series. I suspect he is trying to create a new version of him. I can only hope that they will develop personalities throughout the rest of the series.

The premise of the plot begins as an intriguing thing yet ends as a typical thing. Probably the best thing about the book is that it is not a typical end times plot. The rapture never occurs during the plot, yet the authors spend time building up background for the rest of the series such as an international currency and an international religion. This is something Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins did not do in the original Left Behind series, and it was something of necessity because end times novels were becoming predictable and boring. Who but the creator of the end times genre was a better person to add a new level to it?

Yet by the end of the book, the plot descends into an average pitfall, having the main characters racing against time to stop the villain from blowing up Joshua's son. The authors should not have introduced this to plot unless they were going to end it originally instead of typically and predictably. It seemed like they were using this as an avenue to waste time and save something for the second installment in the series.

Basically, the first installment in the End Series comes out average. We can only hope that the authors use the setting they have invented correctly and make this series memorable.

2.5 stars

Thicker Than Blood by C J Darlington

2010-05-26T14:49:00.000-04:00

Christy Williams has been running from God and her family ever since her parents' funeral. She lives the life of a partier-smoking, drinking, and sleeping around. But she also lives the life of a book-lover, since she works in an antique bookstore. But ever since her rejecting the love of a coworker, he has been tormenting her and generally making her life miserable. All of this comes to a head one night when Christy returns to her apartment to find it a smoldering ruins. At this point, she has hit rock bottom. Yet knowing that her younger sister, May, has been trying to get in touch with her over years, Christy flees to the dairy farm May works on in order to reconcile with her. But little did she know that her sick lover would follow her there and seek her out...

CJ Darlington definitely deserved to win the 2009 Christian Writer's Guild Award, because a debut novel that began from the scribblings of a fifteen-year-old isn't going to get much better than this. As it was, CJ did much better than one would expect from such a meager beginning. However, inconsistent character development and a simple plot keep this book off the Elite List.

The character development is not consistent. Christy is the best character because she is basically the only imperfect one. None of the characters have personalities. May and her friends are dubbed the "good, hard-working Christians" while Vince is dubbed the "evil, sick criminal." Christy is the gray area between these two extremes, making her the best character. She makes good and bad choices, whereas the other characters can only make one or the other. CJ needs to beef up her characters in the future in order to increase her chance of writing an Elite book.

The plot is fairly simple and straightforward at the beginning with no subplots outside of the lives of the two sisters. These two plots combine after Christy's apartment burns down. Before the end, CJ indulges in much unneeded drama, having Christy get lost deep into the forest on a cold winter night with her murderous lover closing in. This makes it look like CJ wasn't creative enough to invent a better end, yet at the very end of the book, CJ does two unexpected things that cause the book's rating to rise. Yet the things CJ did in the body of the book can not be atoned for with an unexpected end.

All in all, one cannot expect much more from a debut novel. As long as CJ moves past this inexperienced stage in her career and does get stuck in the past of typical suspense, yet moves forward into the future of ambiguous plots, she will be a fine author indeed.

3 stars

Healing Waters by Stephen Arterburn and Nancy Rue

2010-05-26T14:48:00.000-04:00

Lucia has lived her life condemning herself for her weight problems while serving and elevating her sister Sonia and her faith healing ministry. But her world is shattered the day Lucia witnesses Sonia's plane fall from the sky, leaving Sonia has the only survivor. A burned survivor. Her once-beautiful has been destroyed by the accident, and the doctors are skeptical as to whether it will ever heal. While trying to care for her sister, Lucia finds herself dealing with Sonia's "friends", her partners in ministry. She was already turned off to Christianity, and now she is even more so. But when Sonia develops a severe case of psychosis as a result of the accident, Lucia immerses herself into caring for Sonia's ignored six-year-old daughter. But Lucia is forced to face her own problems when offbeat psychologist\counselor Sullivan Crisp, a good friend of Sonia's, comes to her mansion to help out. She soon realizes needs his comfort and guidance, especially since someone is trying to kill someone in the mansion...

Once again, Stephen Arterburn and Nancy Rue have written a character based plot driven by super characters. Yet this plot is dragged down by its typical end, as is usually the case with the Sullivan Crisp series.

Lucia, Sonia, Sully, and all the other eccentric characters coming and going in Sonia's mansion are entertaining, imperfect, and realistic. It is one of the best casts of characters I have ever read. They create a strange situation that cannot be compared to any other plot. Sully remains to be the realistic therapist instead of the fatherly mentor he could have so easily become. Lucia is a good lead because while she could have been made into a victim because she helps people so much, the authors did not do this. She is a real person with real problems that the reader can relate to. Sonia is also one of the more interesting characters because it is interesting to watch her progression into insanity. However, it is not interesting to see her miraculously return from this insanity and become a repentant person.

This brings us to the book's biggest problem. While the body of the book is entertaining mostly because the situation is a bit off-the-wall, the end was where the rating started to fall. While the villain was surprising and intriguing, the authors twist things around so that Sonia turns into a victim rather than a lunatic. This is the product of a cheesy showdown scene with the villain, which of course, ends predictably. Healing Waters was definitely a fall from Healing Stones.

Yet this book was not all bad because of the situation the characters created. The Sullivan Crisp series is one of the best series on the market because it is consistently driven by good characters.

4 stars

Blood Bayou by Karen Young

2010-05-26T14:47:00.000-04:00

Camille St. James is passionate about her work on the Truth Project-an organization dedicated to vindicating innocent criminals on death row. The project has just gotten the attention of the public because of the acquittal of an alleged murderer from Blood Bayou, the town where he ex-husband pastors a church. But a reporter drops a bomb at the press conference, saying that this same prisoner just murdered someone not twenty-four hours after his release. That someone is her ex-sister-in-law, her ex-husband's sister. Camille is stunned as the Truth Project is temporarily shut down and she is given an extended leave of absence. She uses this leave to travel to Blood Bayou and do a little investigating of her own, because she does not believe the accused murdered her ex-sister-in-law. There she once again faced her ex-husband as they are forced to work together against the odds on this seemingly impossible case.

On the surface, this plot looks like a very typical legal plot. In some ways, it is, and in some ways, it's not. Very well-crafted, imperfect characters cause this book to be better than your average legal thriller, yet Karen Young could have been a bit more creative with her plot development.

Camille, her ex-husband Jack, Camille's father and mother, and several other characters are all very good characters, complete with personalities and imperfection. In some ways, Jack is seen as a mentor character, but he is the correct kind of mentor characters because he is only that way because he has learned from some serious mistakes he has made in his past. Camille, despite her noble efforts to acquit the innocent, is not very innocent herself. I can't think of a single perfect character, which very much helps this book stand out from its legal thriller counterparts. Without this cast of characters, this book would have been comparable to The Great Divide.

It was inevitable that Camille's prize prisoner was going to be found innocent in the end, but I wish Karen had done the opposite. The book could have been five stars had she left the beaten path of legal fiction. It was also inevitable that Jack and Camille would rediscover their lost love, and again, Karen should have done the opposite. Yet there are still a few good plot elements such as two key character deaths at the end, one being more meaningful than the other because it was based on Jack's wrong choices. At the end, the reader does not know whether another key character died or not or whether Camille became a Christian. Karen obviously knows how to write original plots, so it doesn't make any sense why she only went halfway with this one.

Nevertheless, Karen Young did enough to write an Elite book. However, in the future, I hope she goes further with her original writing and writes that five star book within.

4 stars

April 2010 Poll Report

2010-05-26T14:46:00.000-04:00

In the month of April, year 2010, we asked our readers who their favorite author was according to the choices. The results were slightly surprising:

1. Lisa Samson\Mary E DeMuth

2. Donita K Paul\Harry Kraus\Eric Wilson

Lisa Samson and Mary E DeMuth will both be advanced to the semifinals.

Day of Reckoning by Kathy Herman

2010-05-25T14:41:00.002-04:00

Two local girls from the simple town of Baxter are missing. Kidnapping is highly suspected, especially since one of the girls is the daughter of a well-to-do businessman in town whose outsourcing of his company to Costa Rica five years before cost many townspeople their jobs. The authorities suspect that someone laid off in the outsourcing is responsible for the crime at large, someone among their very lives. This causes the girls' families to pray like they never had before that they are alive. It also raises a question for newspaper reporter Ellen Jones-can bitterness drive someone to do something so desperate? But this question must be put on hold, for the killer has made it known that time is running out for the girls' very lives.

Once again, Kathy Herman has written a plot that stinks in the first half and shines in the second half. She has many original ideas, but she muddles them up with bad characters and cheesy dialogue. But still, she puts another one on the Elite List.

At first, the characters suffer from lack of personality or imperfection. The parents of the girls are highly typical and benevolent characters, and the villain is typical and cheesy. The biggest problem is Kathy Herman's definition of a "Christian" character. It dates back to the 90s idea of Christian fiction characters-benevolent people who do nothing but pray and care for others, never making a mistake or having a thought that isn't religious. I thought this notion was dropped at the turn of the century, but apparently Kathy hasn't been keeping her writing self-help books in date. This notion also applies to the villain-a cheesy mongrel who spouts typical lines about meddling. Yet in this instance, Kathy's inconsistency helps her in that the characters do not remain this way during the entire book. In the second half of the book, the characters actually become believable. This is where the book begins its redemption.

At first, the plot is sketchy, undetailed, and too fast-paced. Time goes by too fast and events occur rapidly. Yet again, in the second half of the book, the plot slows down and gains enough substance to be five stars, yet at this point it didn't matter. Kathy becomes more descriptive and starts doing odd things. Two key character deaths in quick succession turn the tide and put this book on the Elite List. The plot needed these deaths in order to make it realistic and believable. Besides this the villian becomes more believeable and nothing about the conclusion is perfect.

I continue to fail to understand Kathy Herman's haphazard writing style, yet as long as it keeps putting books on the Elite List, I really have nothing to complain about.

4 stars

Healing Stones by Stephen Arterburn and Nancy Rue

2010-05-25T14:40:00.000-04:00

Demetria Costanas vowed to end her affair with Zach Archer that afternoon, but when she gave into temptation this one last time, this act of adultery was inexplicably caught on camera. Photo evidence of her sin forces her to resign from her job as professor at Covenant Christian College. What she did not know what that someone also sent a copy of the pictures to her husband, who has now all but thrown her out of the house. Her son hates her with a vengeance and her daughter is broken seemingly beyond repair. Desperate, Demetria turns to decidedly offbeat psychologist\counselor Sullivan Crisp for help in repairing her shattered life. Slowly, Demetria takes steps to winning her family back, until one day, a strange turn of events changes everything.

With firsthand experience in the counseling room, there is no better author to tell this story than Stephen Arterburn. Excellent character development goes hand in hand with a realistic and imperfect plot to help this book make its mark in the Hall of Five Stars.

Demetria, Zach, Demetria's family, Sullivan, and the other characters are all well crafted, complete with their own imperfections and personalities. This is a plot where no character is exempt from sin. There are no perfect mentor characters where Sully could be a candidate. The only battle between good and evil is within the hearts of the characters, not between any two characters. This is exquisite character development that should be found in every book.

An affair that the lead character is a part of is not an easy plot to write, especially if the author is tempted to give the "good" character an out or a lesser punishment. This is not done in Healing Stones. Where the pages could be filled with Demetria's gloom and dooms, they are filled with realistic, everyday life. Demetria lives her life while undergoing counseling. Sully lives his life while wondering if he could have prevented his wife's suicide. On top of all this, the end of the plot is the icing on the cake. A negative convenient connection connects a wrong choice close to home for Demetria. The extent of a key character's injuries is not fully explored, thus leaving unanswered questions, which is something all plots should have. In short, Stephen Arterburn and Nancy Rue have written a master plot.

The future is bright for budding author Stephen Arterburn as long as he continues down the track of originality.

5 stars

America the Beautiful by Laura Hayden

2010-05-17T20:49:00.001-04:00

Emily Benton's goal and purpose in life is to become the first female president of the United States. She will do whatever she needs to do and whatever it takes to accomplish this feat-ethical or not. Kate Rosen is her campaign manager and future chief of staff who wants to be working along side her friend when she accomplishes her goal. Yet sometimes the world of politics causes Kate to compromise her Christian faith-something she does not share with the presidential candidate. Kate struggles daily with under-the-table dealings and mud-slinging at opposing candidates. She knows these things are necessary to win, yet she does not feel comfortable doing such. Emily's campaign threatens to become more confusing as her ex-husband shows up working with the opposing candidate saying he's found God. Only God knows what the future has in store for them next...

Laura Hayden has breached a subject few authors dare to breach these days-politics. Good characters keep the book from complete mediocrity, since the plot is incredibly straightforward, like a quest. There are no twists and turns that affect the main characters, thus keeping this book off the Elite List.

Kate and Emily are both good characters, complete with personalities and imperfection. There are also a handful of other characters that are developed equally well. Though there was the potential to be a cheesy women-hater villain, Laura Hayden thankfully decided against this notion. There is no real villain; Emily Benton is more of a villain than any of the other characters, even though she is never punished for it.

And that brings us to this books' major problem-the plot. Definitely not a good thing to have as your book's biggest problem. Even though it is a believable political journey, Emily Benton is the only immune candidate in the race. Though she digs up things about the other candidates' pasts to use against them, nothing from her past is used against her, thus making for a predictable plot. The plot points are marked by each time Emily took out a candidate with her dirt. While it is good to have such an imperfect character, people like this are not immune to trouble.

The end of the book is predictable, but then again, Laura Hayden has started a series with this book, one that could not begin without America the Beautiful's predictable end. In short, Laura painted herself into a corner. We can only hope that the rest of the series is better than this opening novel.

All in all, Laura Hayden has potential as an author as long as she learns from her mistakes and writes the ultimate political plot with the series' next installment.

3 stars

Forbidden by Ted Dekker and Tosca Lee

2010-05-07T15:02:00.004-04:00

Coming Summer 2011...

Description:

Four hundred eighty years have passed since civilization's brush with extinction. Perfect order reigns. Humanity's greatest threats have all been silenced. There is no disease, no malice, no hate, no war. There is only peace.
Until the day when one man discovers the truth: Every single soul walking the earth is actually dead. The human heart has been stripped of all that makes it human. Now only he is alive and only he has the knowledge that can once again awaken humanity.
But the way is treacherous and the cost is staggering. For, indeed, in that day life itself is...Forbidden.

Preview:
To tell you the truth, I am greatly intrigued by this idea. It sounds better than Immanuel's Veins and could even measure up to Thr3e. It's one of the better ideas I've heard from Ted. Tosca Lee will add an interesting flavor to it.
What concerns is that it is the first book in the Blood Books Trilogy. The series could digress as it progresses. One never knows. All we can do is wait and wonder what Ted will come up with this time.

Want more previews and further discussion of this book?
Visit http://s4.zetaboards.com/Original_Book_News/topic/8383338/1/

The Bride Collector by Ted Dekker

2010-05-07T15:00:00.002-04:00

FBI Special Agent Brad Gaines is working with criminal psychologist Nikki Holden on one of the most stunning cases of their careers. A serial killer has murdered four beautiful women by draining all their blood out and leaving them at the scene with a bridal veil. They are calling him the Bride Collector. Since they believe that the killer has psychosis or schizophrenia, they turn to a mental health center to try to find information on the diseases and to see if anyone there knows their killer. While visiting, they cross paths with a group of intelligent schizophrenics who claim they can help them solve the case. One woman in particular, named Paradise, steals Brad's heart at first sight. Now he's working side by side with her to try to catch the culprit. But little do they know that the Bride Collector is targeting one of them next. And it could happen any day now...

Ted Dekker has written his fair share of serial killer novels. Adam, Skin, Boneman's Daughters, Th3e, House, to name a few. The last book he needed to write was another serial killer novel-unless he had an innovative idea to share, like Thr3e. But since he did not do this, there was little reason to write such a book.

The character department was the best and worst thing about this book. The best thing is the mental cases-always an interesting cast of characters to have. Paradise and her companions are certainly entertaining and add a fresh element to the plot. The worst thing is Quinton Gauld, the Bride Collector himself. Ted Dekker has too much fun creating sick minds like Quinton and also spends way too much time focusing in on the sick ways of the Bride Collector. As "there was one thing he hated, nay, two things he loathed" littered the pages of Boneman's Daughters, Ted invented a new catch phrase for Quinton. Brad and Nikki are interesting enough characters, yet they lack personality.

The worst thing about the book, besides Quinton, is the plot itself. Ted has become too methodical at his serial killer plots, because they are all the same. There are many typical elements, such as a showdown and several convenient connections. There is one unexpected key character death that adds flavor, yet it is a diamond among the rocky crags.

The good thing about Ted Dekker is that unlike other authors of his popularity level, he knows how to be original and adds some original elements to all of his books, they just sometimes get outweighed by unoriginal elements. The release of Immanuel's Veins this fall will indicate whether he is still on the right track.

3 stars

Greater Love by Robert Whitlow

2010-05-07T09:00:00.001-04:00

Tami Taylor's life has only become more complicated as she gets closer and closer to becoming a full-time lawyer. With her heart torn between two different men, passing the bar exam looks like a cinch. After passing it, she joins a firm of other female lawyers along with her ever-present friend Julie. There she takes on her first real case-representing a tight-lipped teenage girl the police found robbing someone's house for food. The girl has a secret, one she is not willing to disclose to Tami or anyone else. While she misses her family from Savannah and takes care of the elderly Mrs. Fairmont, she looks to Sister Dabney for hope from God. But when her client disappears while out on bond, the reputation is on the line. With so many things going wrong, it takes greater love to change things for the better.

As I expected, the last book in the Tides of Truth series is the worst. In order to please the public who gave him bad reviews for not including any interesting legal cases in the first two books of this series, Robert Whitlow wrote a typical court case to appease them. While the characters stay the same as before, the plot keeps this book from being five stars.

Tami and Julie remain to be the good characters they were in the first two books, as do Tami's parents and twin sisters. Mrs. Fairmont and Mrs. Bartlett remain the same. Vince is virtually nonexistent throughout the plot, and Zach has become a perfect character. Robert Whitlow has demonstrated throughout this series that he can craft good characters, much in contrast with his earlier books.

The family structure and life of the Taylors has been the focal point of the series, causing it to stand out from other legal series. This situation still existed in Greater Love. Had Robert removed this, the book would have been worse than it ended up. There were many things I expected Robert to do with this final installment of the series, most of which he fulfilled, much to my dismay. The thing I expected the most was for Tami to marry Zach so that this romantic subplot could not completely avoid kissing. This happened, of course. It would have been more interesting if Tami had married Vince or nobody since everything was already leaning toward Zach.

Another problem with the plot is the court case. In this book, Robert spent less time with Tami's family than he did in the first two books. This caused the first two books to thrive, and since Robert returned to a full-fledged court case, things got ugly. The biggest problem with the case, besides its being completely typical and predictable, is that Robert contradicted himself. In Deeper Water, he explored the issue of characters making too much out of a simple situation. In Greater Love, Tami speculates once again about something improbable, only this time, she was right.

At least there was a key character death at the end of the book to make things interesting. Yet there are too many other factors that keep this book from being five stars.

4 stars

Chateau of Echoes by Siri Mitchell

2010-05-07T08:59:00.001-04:00

Frederique Farmer was widowed young while she and her husband were on an extended stay in France. So she did what any young widow would do in a foreign country-she bought an old chateau with the intention of becoming a recluse. But things went just the opposite way she intended them to go. When she finds a box of ancient journals written by a girl named Alix, who lived in the Middle Ages, word gets out, and an American author named Robert Cranwell decides he's going to come stay at her chateau while writing a novel about the journals. Freddie does not like the idea of this, yet he comes anyway and seems to do everything possible to drive her crazy. As they together discover the story contained within the journals, their defenses break down when they find that they have a lot in common with the ancient story. Yet they are still unwilling to put aside their differences and let love grow. And it's only a matter of time before Robert leaves...

Despite this seemingly typical plot idea, there are many non typical things about Chateau of Echoes. However, one thing in particular keeps the book from being all it could have been.

Siri Mitchell is a master at characters, period. Frederique and Robert are both imperfect. It's refreshing not to have a perfect male lead in the typical I-hate-you-then-I-love-you relationship. At least through their incompatible personalities, Siri can justify their love-hate relationship. Alix is also an imperfect character, even though she is at first portrayed as a victim. There is nothing wrong with the character department in this book.

Chateau of Echoes

is a past\present plot, which means it alternates between two different plots; one in the past and one in the present. Thankfully, Freddie has no convenient connection to the past she reads about in the journals, and neither does Robert. They are isolated plots, which is the way all past\present plots should be unless the author can invent a very good reason for them to be connected.

The ends to both plots are vastly different. The end to the past plot is realistic, imperfect, and ambiguous. The end to the present plot is unrealistic, mostly perfect, and predictable. The end to Alix's plot is very interesting because it is based on the choices of imperfect characters. The end to Freddie's plot could have definitely been better, yet there is one good aspect.

All in all, Chateau of Echoes barely missed the five star mark because of the present plot. Yet I expect Siri Mitchell to do great things in the future.

4.5 stars

Thin Air by Bette Nordberg

2010-05-07T08:58:00.000-04:00

Beth Cheng is a respected wildlife biologist who has left her husband and three children behind in order to examine wildlife on a certain mountain. None of her training prepares her for her plane to crash on the mountain, leaving the pilot and her fellow biologist dead. She suffers severe injuries from the crash yet manages push through and salvage what she can from the wreck. But she is definitely not prepared when blizzard conditions come upon the mountain, bringing arctic-cold air. This blizzard keeps the rescue teams from finding her as soon as they would've without it and force her to fend for herself in the wild. But there is something she does not know-she is not alone on the mountain. Someone is watching her every move. That someone wants her dead. Beth must brave the thin air in order to see those she loves again.

Bette Nordberg knows how to write an interesting plot and how to develop imperfect characters. Unfortunately, a survival plot is not the best plot an author can write. Not many authors can write such a plot the correct way because it can easily be ruined. In some ways, she handled the plot correctly, and in some ways she did not. In the end, the book is average at best.

Characters have always been a problem for Bette Nordberg. While she knows how to craft imperfect characters, she does not go any further than that. All the characters lack personality and therefore do not seem real. Characters with personalities would have done wonders for this book. In a nearly impossible plot like this one, good characters would have helped it get onto the Elite List.

The best thing Bette did with the plot was write in the two expendable character deaths at the beginning. There is a lot of realistic peril throughout the plot, yet there is a lot of unrealistic rescues. There are few too many hear death experiences as well. The person on the mountain with her is based on a realistic idea. Thank God it was not some serial killer or terrorist.

There is nothing truly wrong with Beth being found alive, the problem comes in when Bette goes to extra lengths to fix extracurricular things. There were a handful of unfixed issues that she had no business meddling in. If anything is the biggest downfall of this book, it is this end. The book could have been better without such useless meddling.

It seems as though Bette Nordberg has deteriorated as an author since Serenity Bay. I can only hope that she returns to the trend she started with her debut novel. She has a lot of potential as an author; she is simply not using it correctly.

2.5 stars

Pacific Hope by Bette Nordberg

2010-05-07T08:57:00.000-04:00

The twenty-six year marriage of Kate and Mike Langston hangs in the balance for the first time all because of a choice Mike made to be unfaithful to Kate. All Kate ever wanted was to grow old and happy with Mike at this empty-nest stage of life. When Kate and Mike each receive a separate package containing incriminating pictures of Mike and another woman, the secret is out, and their marriage will never be the same again. In an attempt to save his sinking marriage, Mike begs Kate to accompany him on a four-week Pacific voyage on a yacht in order to deliver it to friends in Hawaii. The last thing Kate wants to do is to spend a month with the man she now hates, yet gentle prodding from God and friends cause her to reluctantly agree. But what's ahead for Mike and Kate no one could have predicted. Wild seas, boat damage, and serious injury are only the beginning. If they can weather the physical storms, perhaps their marriage has a second chance...

Once again, Bette Nordberg crafts an intriguing plot based on imperfect characters and their choices. Yet, once again, she makes the same mistakes she made in Thin Air by going the extra mile to fix things she had no business meddling with. It is a surprise to think that from this same author came Serenity Bay.

As usual, the characters are imperfect without personalities. One can hardly write a plot like this without imperfect characters. The good thing is that Kate is not portrayed as a perfect victim, but rather makes imperfect choices of her own. The plot lacks perfect mentor characters where there could have very well been a few. Bette almost has her characters down.

In some ways, it is almost pointless to write such a plot because of the way it must end. If this type of plot ends imperfectly, there is almost no point in writing it. The best thing an author can do with this type of plot is showcase the imperfect choices of the characters. Bette did this at first, as is her custom in her usual strong beginnings. This trend dwindled by the time the plot was nearing an end and quickly descended into chaos. In the end, Bette had fixed things she had no business tampering with. Yet it went further than that-the things she fixed negated all of Mike's wrong choices and made him look like an innocent victim. This greatly angered me because it caused the entire plot to become useless. The reader learns nothing from this because it teaches that one's wrong choice can simply be blamed on someone else. While Bette tried to make this fact untrue, it did not matter; the damage was done.

Basically, the only good things about this book are the imperfect characters and their choices. Bette has perhaps reached the lowest point in her career with this book because she refuses to leave well enough alone. Whether or not she will pull out of this nose dive it up to her alone.

2 stars

Healing Sands by Stephen Arterburn and Nancy Rue

2010-04-23T15:45:00.000-04:00

Ryan Coe is a reporter who has made an interesting life for herself. After she divorced her husband, she took an emotionally-jarring trip to Africa to get an in-depth story for the AP for six weeks before returning to find that her ex-husband had moved with their two sons from Chicago to New Mexico. These were the three sons who refused to live with her after the divorce. Ryan quits the AP and joins a local newspaper in New Mexico in order to be closer to her rejecting sons. Her entire world is rocked when she arrives at the scene of a crime to snap photos and finds that her son, Jake, has been accused with the crime-running over a Hispanic boy with a pick-up truck without a driver's licence or driver's permit. He has been accused of hate crime and sent to jail to await a sentence. Ryan tries to use this as a springboard to get back into her elusive sons' lives, all while trying to wrench the truth out of a very silent Jake. Ryan turns to Sullivan Crisp, Christian counselor extraordinaire, for help on controlling her anger and ends up telling him everything. But Sullivan Crisp may not be who he seems to be, especially since he's now been charged with murder as well. With the world falling in around Ryan, she must cling to God to make it through the storm.

Stephen Arterburn clearly draws from his experience as a counselor in order to fabricate a realistic story that could happen to anyone. But in the end, this plot is highly typical, and is only anchored to the Elite list by its superb characters.

The characters are some of the best I have ever met in my entire life. Never in all of my reading have I seen any this good. Stephen Arterburn slowly develops them throughout this 400-page tome, proving that it doesn't take a complex plot to fill pages, just good character development. Ryan is a very good and imperfect lead that brings a lot of real people I know to mind. Her ex-husband, two sons, and many other characters are also fully developed. Stephen did not make the common mistake of only giving attention to the lead or leads, but gave each character personal attention, making this book strong and long. Since Stephen wrote a typical plot, he had to deliver with characters, which he did.

The court cases of Jake Coe and Sullivan Crisp are not completely unrealistic or outrageous, their ends are just predictable. Stephen should have chosen a little more complex elements than the ones he chose. Perhaps he spent so much time on his characters, he didn't feel like trying to write a good plot. Surely as a counselor, he cannot excuse the end to be very realistic. Perhaps this is what Nancy Rue contributes to the book. There are two good plot elements that make the end more tasteful, one of them being a key character death, but it isn't the same as a more realistic court case.

All in all, Stephen Arterburn is a good author because of his superb character development. But if he expects a five star book out of us, he needs to work on his ends.

4 stars

Michal by Jill Eileen Smith

2010-04-23T15:42:00.001-04:00

She's in love with her father's worst enemy, but so is her sister. David returns her love, but the kingdom is unstable, and there is talk of him stealing the crown. Not only is she in love with him, but Michal does not want to become destitute if he does. Through deception and scheming, Michal finally gets her way with David, but at a price. By doing this, she subjects herself to an undesirable life, because her husband is a wanted man. Her love is torn away, replaced, and then reunited at a cost all because of her selfish choices. Now she wishes she had listened to the voice of Yahweh years before...

It's refreshing for an author to choose such an underused and under told Biblical story. Looking at a prominent Bible character through the eyes of another is certainly refreshing, yet Jill Eileen Smith colored outside the lines on some accounts. In the end, the book ends in the correct way, but not after a rocky start.

The characters are slow in developing, but eventually reach the point of personality, perhaps too late. For characters to be successful they must be developed from the start, though not too obviously. Michael is definitely an imperfect character from the start, as she was portrayed in the Bible, and slowly develops personality. At first, it looked like David was going to look like a saint, but Jill turned that car around before it could reach its destination. Often, authors portray such popular characters as perfect when they really were far from such an honor. Considering the fact that this book took ten years for her to finish, one can see why the characters are developed in this fashion. Jill will need to work on her characters in the future for sure.

Jill perhaps did too much skipping around in history, hitting on high points of David's story that Michal was probably not even part of. It would have been better if Jill had kept the story in one place for longer than she did, then perhaps Michal would have been a better character. Michal needed to be a first person character, and a first person account would have perhaps limited Jill's scope of writing. As it was, she tried to show the reader the highlights of David's life sort of through Michal eyes, rather than leave some of it for the reader to fill in by reading the Bible for themselves. Jill said she wanted to do this with this book, but I'm afraid she failed in her endeavour.

The best thing about the end of the book is that while Jill had the creative licence to fix something no one knows the answer to, she refrained and chose a realistic end rather than a plastic end. Once she reached the point at which the Bible tells no more about Michal daughter of Saul, Jill could have fixed something no one could have faulted her on for lack of information, but she did not. This shows how much potential she has as an author and that she is willing to try to be realistic.

I look forward to what Jill Eileen Smith will do in the future of her writing career. I presume she will continue to write books concerning Biblical women, since she has expressed interest in this subject. She may not need to leave these guidelines.

4 stars

Beyond the Summerland by LB Graham

2010-04-23T15:40:00.001-04:00

Joraiem son of Monias has joined hundreds of other young adult Novaana for the annual Sulare gathering to train for war against the wicked Malekim, the sons of Malek, the enemy of Kirathiam. As they await redemption from Allfather, they must consistently protect themselves from adversity. Joraiem yearns to do battle against the Voiceless, yet his heart yearns for the love he lost when he departed for Sulare. Now, at the gathering, he has met Wylla, a princess who has stolen his heart. He longs to tell her of his affections, yet there is another who wants her for himself, someone closer to her. Unfortunately, this man has struck up a friendship with Joraiem, one that he does not want to sever. But all idea of love are put on hold when Malekim invade the camp on their first night in enemy territory. When Joraiem awoke, he found all the women kidnapped. Only Valzaan, the prophet of Allfather among them, is wise enough to discern a plan of action. Yet Joraiem will stop at nothing to tell Wylla of his love before one of them dies.

Authors like LB Graham are sometimes overlooked because their original ideas do not want to be heard. I suspect there are many people being turned away from publishers because their books end like Beyond the Summerland does. Yet a unknown publishing company does not keep this book from being five stars.

The character department is better than I expected it to be, especially since LB didn't very likely receive good editing help. Joraiem is a good lead, and several other characters are non typical for an alternate world, especially Valzaan, the prophet character. Another good thing about the character department is that we never truly meet a villain. Whoever Malek is, he is very standoffish, not appearing in the plot very often. This is realistic because since Malek is a Satan character, one would not meet him in sight.

The best part of all is the end of the book. At the end of the book, LB Graham did something entirely unexpected, something uncharacteristic for any author. LB wrote one of the best ends I have ever read in all my reading. But based on the situation, the book had to end the way it did; otherwise it would have ruined it. Other pluses about this book include a well-crafted world. LB has created a world filled with well-described creatures and a well-stocked history. Alternate world author Jeffrey Overstreet could not even accomplish this, yet he is more popular. The mind boggles.

There is a movement of originality moving below the radar, and some have penetrated the publishing companies. But the market is changing, and the purpose of this blog is make sure it does. To make sure that authors like LB Graham are heard. To bring you original books.

5 stars

A Flickering Light by Jane Kirkpatrick

2010-04-23T15:39:00.000-04:00

It is the turn of the nineteenth century, and Jessie Gaebele is in love with photography. She loves the intricacies of taking the photo, developing it in the darkroom, and the new art of touching them up. She has recently taken a job as the assistant at the town studio, where she meets FJ Bauer, a quiet photographer who shares her love of the camera. But he cannot share with her the love they want to have because he is married with two children. Every time Jessie tries to cut her ties with the attractive man, she assures herself that nothing will happen between them. Her parents are afraid for her heart and for her future because they do not strongly believe that a woman should go into photography. Jessie feels herself even more pulled in different directions when they take her special needs brother to the Mayo clinic to diagnose his problem. Though Jessie's future is uncertain, one thing is certain-she loves a married man, and he loves her. The question is, what will they do about it?

I was skeptical about Jane Kirkpatrick until someone recommended this book because of its realistic characters. I've always said that authors should write about circumstances that really happened if all they're going to write about is unrealistic situations. This is the story of Jane's grandmother, and this plot is successful because it is realistic. And this plot is only realistic because it is based on a true story.

Since there are few characters, Jane had the chance to give each one a personality. Good characters are key in this sort of plot because the plot is very simple. With this type of plot, the characters have nothing to hide behind and are exposed for what they truly are. In any everyday setting, there must be good characters. Jane Kirkpatrick delivered. Jessie is a good lead, as is FJ. Jessie's siblings and FJ's wife are also good characters. Jane no doubt used the same personalities as they were in real life, which is another advantage to writing about real circumstances.

The best thing an author can do with an everyday plot is use the situations to reveal characters' personalities and write a good end. Jane did both of these. Jane no doubt used things that truly happened in her grandmother's life to shape her plot. And such an end could not have been completely fabricated. The end is all based on the wrong choices of Jessie and FJ. The outcome of these choices produces a realistic and believable end. There were so many other directions Jane could have chosen had this book not been based on her grandmother's life. There was no way she could avoid something that really happened.

Basically, there is nothing wrong with this book. This is just another example of the things an author can accomplish all in the name of a book based on a true story.

5 stars

The Color of the Soul by Tracey Bateman

2010-04-13T13:54:00.001-04:00

Andy Carmichael has left his struggling marriage behind to travel to the South, to the mansion of an old woman with an intriguing story. There he finds that the prejudice toward "coloreds" has never died, just as it was in Miss Penbrook's story. She tells him of her sinful life and the sinful life of her adopted sister, a slave her mother redeemed from the auction block. Camilla and Catherinia Penbrook hated each other for a good part of their lives because of the color of their skin. They spited each other, refused to put aside their differences, and ultimately both faced the sins of their past. There, at Penbrook Estate, Andy learns something both women wished they had learned earlier in life-that a person should not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the color of their soul.

Tracey Bateman has been unsuccessful in the other genres she experimented in except this one-historical fiction, of all things. Normally historical fiction is plastic, lacking in good characters and original or realistic ends. But the precarious Tracey Bateman has actually struck gold with the writing of this book, which is something she did not do with her more popular books. But when one considers the end of this book, one understands why this book is unpopular.

The characters are exquisite. They are highly imperfect and each have personalities. Cat could have easily been portrayed as a victim because of Camilla's prejudice and hate, but Cat commits several sins of her own. This is also true about Andy. This is not a cast of characters that uses the typical good characters and the typical bad characters. All of the characters are sinners, which is the way characters should be portrayed. Not all characters should be as sinful as the characters in this book, but it is appropriate for this type of book.

There are many original plot elements, such as key character deaths, different romantic subplots, broken romantic subplots, and general imperfection. These plot elements apply to the past and the present. Many authors try to place imperfection in the past and perfection in the present with these types of plots, but that is not the case here. Tracey captures the sin of prejudice in the late 1800s as well as the early 1900s, which are the two different time lines of the plots, accurately proving that this sin did not cease with the end of the Civil War. She uses the sin of prejudice as a plot device to show the reader the different ways it can affect different people, making the reader think.

Besides all the imperfection, the best thing Tracey did was abandon the typical plot structure used in historical fiction. This is because the Segregation can not be talked about so lightly. It was a serious issue that Tracey handled in the correct way, making this the best work of historical fiction to date.

Who knows what Tracey Bateman has in store for us in the future, but for now, we can bask in the superb work of fiction called The Color of the Soul.

5 stars

Blindsided by Calvin Miller

2010-04-13T13:53:00.001-04:00

Father Peter and Kinta have returned to Seattle in order to thwart an evil terrorist plot to blow up the Seattle Seahawks stadium, killing thousands of people. Paul and Rhonda Shapiro, Gary and Melanie Jarvis, and Joanna Nickerson join them in their quest for justice but find that they themselves have befriended several of the terrorists. When several of them are kidnapped by the ruthless terrorists, all seems lost until Father Peter and Kinta show them a way to save them. But the stadium is set to blow-unless someone stops it.

While writing my summary of the plot above, I wanted to write more, but I realized that there was nothing much else to say about this book. The plot is as shallow as it looks from here. Calvin Miller has returned with a sequel to truly the worst work of Christian fiction ever written. One may think that he can do better than zero stars, but think again.

The characters are worse than before because they lost whatever imperfection they had in The Dogs of Snoqualmie, which wasn't much. Besides the seven main characters, there are many other extra characters that only serve to muddle the mess. Their dialogue is cheesy and simple. The characters lack anything interesting about them whatsoever, except that Joanna Nickerson deserves to be put in a mental hospital because of her conversations with Isaiah and Spotty-an imaginary man and his owl. But since this is portrayed as normal, it cannot be rewarded. Father Peter and Kinta remain to be very strange and abnormal characters portrayed as servants to the world. Calvin attempts to create a purpose for them, but fails. There are other "bad" characters as well who are stereotypical. But by the end of the book, most of them have converted to Christianity.

A terrorist plot is one of the shallowest plots an author can write because it is predictable and overused. Since no one wants to use them in the correct way, they need to be discontinued. Any truly professional author can come up with something better than stopping terrorists from blowing a football stadium sky-high. Obviously Calvin Miller chose this type of plot because he does not belong in the fiction market whatsoever and has no idea what he's doing. There are many amateurish plot elements such as creating four romantic subplots by the time the book was over. Romantic subplots are a simple outlet through which an amateur author can fill time with. Kidnapping and hostage scenes are also simple outlets to fill time with and create "suspense" with.

In short, Calvin Miller has produced another shallow tale that won't stick to the walls of my brain with original glue. He needs to stick to his poetry.

0 stars

Dark to Mortal Eyes by Eric Wilson

2010-04-13T13:52:00.000-04:00

Josee Walker has returned to the hometown of her birth parents with her mind full of questions of why she was given up for adoption. Her birth father, Marsh Addison, a wealthy vintner, wants nothing to do with her because of what she reminds him of. But Kara Addison sets out to an arranged meeting place to meet the child she gave up years before. But when Kara disappears and her car is found at the bottom of a ravine, Marsh, Josee, and a local police officer are forced to join forces against something evil and sinister that wants to control them. Marsh discovers something uneasy about his father's past, and Josee discovers something terrifying about her boyfriend. Before they know it, they are thrust into a race against time, fighting against the supernatural and a potential end to the world. It's only a matter of time...

Debut novels from spec authors are not usually very interesting. Eric Wilson adapts a typical save-the-world situation, mixes it with a supernatural plot, a custody case, a kidnapping case, and a few original elements. Perhaps this is the reason for its 400+ page length. Yet I found that the length only prolonged the agony of unoriginality.

The characters lack personalities, yet most of them are imperfect. They make wrong choices that lead to some consequences. Giving the characters personalities would have raised the rating slightly. The villains are quite typical, even though one of their identities is unexpected. Demon possession has been taken to the extreme in villains. It has become very cheesy and sensational and should be discontinued unless it is going to be used in a correct way.

There are many mixed plot elements in Dark to Mortal Eyes. Eric Wilson underlies a chess theme that is used in an un emphasized and interesting fashion. There is virtually no romantic subplot, even though Eric hints at several. This was one of the stronger points because most authors believe that a romantic subplot is a staple to fiction, especially debut authors. A conflict is introduced to whether Josee is really Marsh's child or not, but it was unnecessary because it was resolved. There is one key character who is seized by demon possession but is never recovered from their grasp. Marsh's father is not found to be innocent of the matter in the end.

All these conflicting elements cause this book is be a little above average. It is good to know that Eric Wilson has learned from his mistakes and his written better books since this one. This shows the mark of an author who wants to improve.

3 stars

Serenity Bay by Bette Nordberg

2010-04-13T13:51:00.002-04:00

Patricia Koelher has invited more adversity into her life than she bargained for by marrying Russell, the man she thought was the man of her dreams. They settled together on an island in the Puget Sound, where he became the island doctor. The first year together was wonderful, except that Russel work himself to death. The times they had together were few but memorable. The trouble started when Patricia told him she was pregnant, but refused his order to abort the baby. She knew she should have left him when he hit her, but could not bring herself to, especially when he did not do so again for a long time. But now is the last straw. Russel has clamped down on her life for the past eight years and has stripped her of friends, money, and sanity. Now he has put her and their eight-year-old daughter in the hospital with severe injuries and has dangered the life of their second unborn child. Now, when her baby is born, with the help of her close friend Susan, Patricia is going to run. She does not know where, but she knows that she has to leave before someone dies.

Bette Nordberg has put together a realistic plot based on imperfect characters. No one has written an abuse plot quite like Serenity Bay; it is a one of a kind. Instead of stopping in the usual place, which is after the woman has her final confrontation with her husband and escapes, Bette Nordberg went further to tell what Patricia did after she escaped, how she lived her life. The end is highly realistic, yet weak characters take this book down a notch from five-stardom, a disappointment indeed.

All of the characters are imperfect, yet they lack true personality. I don't know how Bette Nordberg avoided good characters with this plot, but she did. Russell is not your typical villain, and he fits this situation aptly. Patricia clearly made choices that put her in the situation; she is not a perfect victim. Susan is one of the better characters, yet she does not appear in the plot enough. Basically, Bette needs to develop her characters better in order to be awarded a five star book.

The progression of the abuse is realistic. It starts with a slap, progresses to a punch, then to control over her life, then to hospitalization. Bette clearly knew what she was doing when she wrote this plot. One of the best things Bette did with this plot was resist the urge to give Patricia a perfect male lead to bail her out and give her a second romance. This could have been very easily done, and maybe even justified, but she did not do it. Another different thing Bette did that she didn't have to do was show Patricia's life after the escape. Other authors would have built up to the big fight and end the book with a near-death experience in the hospital. Instead, Bette showed the realistic side of the story by taking Patricia to a battered women's shelter. In the end, it comes down to a custody battle over the two children Patricia and Russell produced together. This comes down to one of the more realistic ends I have ever read regarding custody battles. Basically, the plot is filled with a lot of imperfection that was wasted with weak characters.

All in all, with a debut novel this strong, Bette Nordberg is a reputable author who knows what she is doing. If she can strengthen her characters, she is on a fast track to greatness.

4.5 stars