My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I LOVE this author! The poor mom in this story, Muri, is dealing with some serious junk--divorcing her cheating husband, handling a rebellious teen daughter, losing her job, finding herself homeless. Add to that the death of the father she'd just begun to search for and not seen since early childhood, and this gal's got major stress. She drives out to recently-deceased Dad's home to meet her aunt and uncle and try to connect with her heritage, and finds herself in the middle of a Hatfields-and-McCoys fight with their neighbor.

As Muri settles into small-town living, she gets to know her father through his journals and his family and friends, and she learns to trust the God he loved.  I love how her "new" extended family reaches out to her and helped walk her and her children through the tough times they were facing.  She learns to deal with stereotypes people hold, as well as ones she found within herself, sorting through perceptions to find the facts.

What appealed to me in this book is that it wasn't all serious, despite that there was plenty for our heroine to get depressed over. I found myself giggling and even laughing out loud on practically every page. The characters were real, the reading was light, and I got a kick out of it.

These immortals don't play around. Thinking they must earn their way back to God's favor, they have been exacting justice on sinners for thousands of years. Is there a bit of us in their story? Do we try to buy God with what we qualify as good works, or are we willing to accept Christ's sacrifice as enough?

I had a hard time keeping up with all the characters introduced in the first few chapters, but the excitement of the story took off quickly and drew me in. The descriptive writing made me feel like I was watching it all happen. I appreciated that the descriptions didn't go into gratuitously gory detail, though, a fact that put this book on the list of those I'd recommend to teens. My girls will be very happy to hear that, since it's not often that a thriller passes my apt-for-my-teens test.

I figured out a couple of the surprises in the plot, but I'm ultra-sensitive to foreshadowing and can't fault the author for that. Overall I enjoyed reading this action-packed thriller and look forward to more from this author.

I received this book free from the publisher through BookSneeze®.com in exchange for an honest review.

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I LOVED this historical fiction, which connected the story of Joseph's sister Dinah with the tragic figure, Job. As always, the author takes certain liberties to make the story work, but this gal did her homework. I didn't find anything that wouldn't be plausible, and I was captured from the beginning in this tale of redemption, forgiveness, and second chances. I have always been a bit confused by the long book of Job's story, and the conversations that take place between this tortured man and his well-meaning friends. I feel like I have a better grasp now on what actually took place, and I enjoyed the fictional embellishments that really weaved this tragedy into a beautiful tale.

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I find stories and theories about the Nephilim (fallen angels) very interesting, so I was excited to dig into this book. The take on this race created when “the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose,” (Gen 6:1) didn’t disappoint me, and actually presented the possibilities of just how that plays out in a way I’d not thought through before.

Okay, okay, I know most teenagers experience strong attractions for the opposite sex. And when the new boys in town happen to be half-angel versions of perfect beauty, what’s a girl to do? But there is a bit too much hormonal energy flying around for my taste. I still gave this book 4 stars because I do recognize that I'm not in the target audience, and that readers in the 15-18 year-old range probably wouldn't roll their eyes as much as I did. I was disappointed to find the overused love triangle between the innocent but endangered girl having to choose between the guy that’s too good and maybe a bit boring, or the moody "bad boy" who excites her.

That said, there are great story lines of redemption, free will, and making the right choices. Those kept me reading past the silly melodrama enough to get hooked into the whole story. I’m actually looking forward to the next book in the series.

If you'd like to chat with other readers and the author, check out the Halflings Network.

I received this book free from the publisher through netGalley.com in exchange for an honest review.

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Two different groups of scientists end up on the search of a lifetime, looking for elusive creatures that would totally change the creation vs. evolution debate. Without knowing the other team exists, each group experiences the splendor and danger of Africa's wild side in the hunt for these animals.

I happen to agree with the author's creationist worldview, and I learned a lot about the arguments in each camp from this story. However, the book would probably have been half as many pages if the main characters'--scientists--speeches defending creationism weren't quite so lengthy. As much as I enjoyed the exciting plot, I often felt as if I was reading a textbook on how to combat the arguments of the theory of evolution. I didn't mind that too much, but I recognize that some might.  It's also a good reason that Behemoth would make for great supplemental reading to a middle or high school science curriculum, as the students would probably prefer to learn those facts through a fictional novel rather than in a textbook. For someone looking to read strictly for entertainment, the agenda behind the story could become tiresome, but as I said, I enjoyed what I learned and stayed interested in the story line.

Without spoiling the details, let me add that some of the twists in the plot were a little unbelievable, feeling a bit rushed, but this is something a teen reader might overlook. I would definitely recommend this book to that age group.

I received this book free from the publisher through BookSneeze®.com in exchange for an honest review.