A Satirical Look at Cultural Christianity

“How to Be a Perfect Christian” is written with a satirical tongue-in-cheek style that pulls you in and makes you to look at your commitment to Christianity. If you’re picking the right church, the one that has the best parties, you should read Chapters One and Two. I also loved the chapter on “Serving the Church Without Lifting a Finger.” The chapters are written in a satirical way, but they make us take a hard look at what being a Christian and going to church means.

I enjoyed the book and recommend it. It’s a quick read, but to get the most out of it, it should be sampled at a slower pace to be able to think about the points being made. One of the fun parts of the book is the Holiness Progress Tracker. It’s a subtle graphic that makes the point of how you rate on the holiness scale as you progress through the book.

I received this book from Multnomah Publishing for this review.

A Son’s Tribute to His Father

Glenn Patterson’s story is one of hard work, success and yes, failure also. He grew up as he said, dirt poor, but rose to be CEO of a multi-billion dollar company, Patterson Drilling. His son, Roe, tells the story from his vantage point working with his father and the others who made Patterson Drilling a success.

There are many wonderful stories in this book. Some of my favorites are: how Glenn and his partner, Cloyce, kept the early company going by buying and refurbishing defunct drilling rigs; a sad story of how the company was ripped off by the CFO who stole millions; and the emotional ending when Glenn and his family face the fact that he has Alzheimer's.

Glenn always acted as a good Christian, but it wasn’t until late in life when he had Alzheimer’s that he accepted that God was with him guiding his path. I found that chapter very moving.

I highly recommend this book. It tells a story about a man who lived his life well, suffered failure and reveled in success. It’s a story that will make you understand the kind of people who make America great.

I received this book from PR by the Book for this review.

A Girl Finds Comfort from Her Disintegrating Family in Her Horse

Talley loves her life on her family’s horse farm. She has wonderful experiences, finding a gosling, taking care of her beloved horse. Then it all changes. Her father leaves, and she’s left with her mother and older brother. On top of that, Talley’s horse has to be put down. Talley has problems dealing with her new world and goes off to a pricey girls school. Her mother sends Ian, the horse her father left behind, for her to work with. He’s wild, but Talley perseveres and tries to train him.

To make matters more confusing for Talley, her father visits her at school, taking her out to lunch. This precipitates her going into therapy. From there, her life begins to improve as does her ability to deal with Ian, even to deciding to enter a horse show.

I loved the idea of the book. I grew up around horses and raised them as an adult. However, the book didn’t live up to it’s promise. I enjoyed the chapters describing life on the farm and found them realistic. However, as the book progresses, the author breaks the narrative into Talley as a child and as an adult. She uses tense to distinguish the sections, but sometimes it was confusing when the transitions were very short.

The writing was slow and stilted. I felt the author was trying for a poetic effect that didn’t quite come off. Unless you’re an avid horse fan, I can’t recommend this book.

I received this book from First to Read for this review.

Murder at a Pricey Club in 1930s Boston

Hamish tries to control his anxiety, but it bursts out at inappropriate times, like his first trial case as a new lawyer. Needing to get away to cope with his problem, he flees to Boston where his cousin, Luca, is opening a jazz club, the Flamingo, in the pricey area of Scollay Square. It’s the 1930s and while the bright young things are looking for a place to escape and spend money, the rest of Boston is not doing so well.

Reggie is tired of her pampered life. She wants to be a career girl like the ones in the movies she sees and the books she reads. When Vaughn, her childhood friend, announces that he and Reggie are engaged, she knows she’s had enough. She escapes through her bedroom window, travels to Boston, and lands a job as Luca’s secretary

Hamish and Reggie are instantly attracted to each other, but think it’s as friends. Drawn together to help Luca with the opening of the Flamingo, they wonder if Luca’s business is all it seems. When a woman is found murdered at the club opening, they become amateur detectives to try to keep Luca out of trouble.

The book paints a picture of Depressions Era Boston with the haves and have-nots living in close proximity, with warm ethnic neighborhoods surrounded by the dark side of the city. Hamish and Reggie are characters you want to get to know. They’re naive, but also smart and loyal.

My problem with the book is that it starts very slowly. Since the author is planning to make this the first book in a series, it makes some sense to spend time on Reggie’s and Hamish’s backgrounds. However, that keeps the action from starting until almost a third of the way through the book. If you can keep going through the slow start, it’s a good read.

I received this book from Booklook Bloggers for this review.

A Timely Political Thriller

Emily is a financial forensics consultant with a consulting firm in Washington DC. Emily avoids the limelight. She’s happier with a spreadsheet, but her boyfriend works for a congressman with his eye on the White House. Emily reluctantly accompanies him to political events, but she’s uncomfortable with his boss.

When her firm gets a contract to review the congressman’s finances she draws the assignment. At first nothing looks out of line, but there are disturbing indicators. When the associate who was helping with the analysis is killed, Emily wonders whether the indicators suggest a serious problem revealed by the financial documents. She knows she’s being followed, and finally, she has no choice but to hide to keep from being the next victim.

This is a well done political thriller. The setting in DC and the consulting firm where Emily works are accurately portrayed. Having worked in Washington, I could see that the story could actually happen. I liked Emily she was determined to do the right thing. Her boyfriend was totally wrapped up in the congressman’s campaign, but Emily didn’t let herself get drawn in.

The story is well written. As Emily goes into hiding, she shows that she has real grit and a desire to survive. If you enjoy political thrillers, this is a good one and quite realistic.

I received this book from Net Galley for this review.

The Bronx Zoological Park is Background for a Murder Investigation

Paul Battaglia, New York DA and Alexandria Cooper’s mentor, is dead. He was murdered on the steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In fact, he fell onto Alex, knocking her down. Alex is not in top form. She’s still suffering from the ordeal of being kidnapped and held hostage. She’s drinking too much and isn’t her usual feisty self.

Her position regrading Battaglia’s death is unclear. Is she a witness or a suspect? When she finds herself taken into protective custody and stashed in a mental hospital in the Bronx, it feels more like she’s being treated as a suspect. However, the ordeal yanks her back into her old self and with Mike Chapman and Mercer Wallace, she sets off to solve the mystery.

The background information about New York, particularly the Bronx Zoological Park is fascinating, as is the information about exotic animals captured in other countries and smuggled into the US to serve as sport for avid hunters. I was particularly intrigued by Fairstein including information about Justice Scalia’s death at a hunting ranch suggesting foul play.

I was disappointed in Alex in the beginning of the book. She was more passive than usual. However, she recovered and the ending was up to her usual standard. Mike Chapman is a very understanding partner. In spite of Alex’s scratchiness, he took care of her. It wasn’t the best Alex Cooper novel, but it’s a good read with interesting bits of history.

I received this book from Dutton for this review.

A Family Torn Apart by the Past

Terrible things happened at the boys school behind the Fielding Mansion when Lane’s father was the director. She lived in the mansion and couldn’t wait to escape her father’s misdeeds and her own trouble. She ran away and married immediately after high school graduation. Now she’s living in the Fielding Mansion with her parents with two daughters trying to heal from a divorce she didn’t want.

Lane is drinking too much trying to forget and is ignoring the problems of her daughters. When a girl disappears and then Annalee, Lane’s older daughter, disappears, the town remembers another girl who disappeared years ago. Now there’s talk of a serial killer. Lane is frantic to find Annalee and to protect her younger daughter, Talley.

I found this book rather slow. The plot was good, but the action was drawn out with multiple narrators. One of the confusing aspects was having Daryl, a strange boy who befriends Talley, tell his story in fragments that are out of the time sequence of the unfolding events.

The background is a small town where everyone remembers your past and it can seep into the present. Lane tries to hide from it with too much alcohol until she has to confront the problems that still exist; some of her own making.

The descriptions of the old mansion and the boys school are suitably haunting. This book is almost written like a gothic or a paranormal. There is romance and character development, but it’s the plot that drives the story. If you like a plot that relies on mysteries from this past, you may enjoy this book.

I received this book from Dutton for this review.

Overcoming Tragedy and Finding a Place to Call Home

As a child, some of Annie’s favorite memories involve time spent with her family in a vacation cottage on the Oregon coast. As an adult she’s enjoying life and looking forward to spending Thanksgiving with her cousin, Gabby. When he mother calls asking her to reconsider and join the family for Thanksgiving, Annie feels guilty, but refuses to agree. She’ll see them at Christmas anyway.

Tragedy strikes that Thanksgiving when a mudslide demolishes her family home and kills her parents, her brother and his wife, and her baby niece. Annie thinks she’ll never recover from the tragedy. Gabby suggests that Annie think about the place where she was happiest and go back there. Willing to try anything, Annie returns to the cottage in Oregon and with the help of new friends, particularly Keaton, an artist who knows what it is to feel alone, she begins to heal.

This is a wonderful romance for summer. It reads quickly and the characters are people you’d like to meet. This is not just a boy-meets-girl romance. Keaton and Annie are adults who have been injured and are looking to heal. This is a story of finding love, acceptance and a place to call home.

If you enjoy romance with characters that grow and change in a beautiful small town setting, you’ll want to take this book this book to the beach, or just enjoy it in your living room.

I received this book from Penguin Random House for this review.

A Mystery and a Small Town Romance

Quinn and her best friend Tory are attending Al’s retirement at the Indigo, his coffee house where both girls worked before graduating from college. Quinn is now a teacher and Tory a law student. They’re both hoping that Nick, a good friend, shows up. He’s been through a lot. His girlfriend was killed in an auto accident some people in San Antonio think he caused. Quinn and Tory don’t feel that way. In fact they’d like to get to know him better.

Another problem for Nick is that he runs a competing coffee shop, Faze. Al’s not crazy about the competition. He wants his son, Blaine, to take over the Indigo and worries that Nick will be too successful and that will hurt Blaine.

The book starts rather slowly with the budding romance between Quinn and Nick. We get lots of small town gossip about why Nick is trouble. As with many small towns there’s a lot of righteousness and back biting. However, the story speeds up when Nick gets in more serious trouble. Now the action focuses on how to prove his innocence.

Nick, Tory and Quinn are likable characters, but my favorite was Daniel. He’s quite amusing. This is a clean romance. No sex, but lots of romantic interplay between the characters. The story is filled with twists. Some of the plot was easy to guess, but parts were a real surprise.

I received this book from PR by the Book for this review.

Fantasy with a Christian Background

The story opens with a horrific accident. Ronnie, a teenager, is riding his long board down a twisty three mile stretch of Mullholland Drive in the Santa Monica Mountains when the unthinkable happens. His board skids; he’s thrown against the guardrail, and falls down the ravine. Ronnie is badly injured. He loved the most extreme sports, but now that he’s injured he’s having trouble adjusting. He’s angry that he has to work to get back his ability to move about easily.

From the previous books, one of the leaders of the Trackers, Clynt, has escaped into the present. He wants revenge on the Carson family and has plans to cause trouble. Clynt has been following the teenagers trying get a chance to steal back the star. Mike, who played a role in book 2, is recovering from an accident in the same facility as Ronnie. He befriends the other boy with drastic consequences.

This book is filled with adventure and, as usual, plenty of travel between time periods. The scenes taking place in other times such as the Civil War and WWII give the reader not only adventure, but a chance to learn something about the historical period.

The characters from the two previous books make an appearance along with two new characters, Calie and Courtney. The teenagers are brave and caring. They make good role models for the middle grade readers for whom the book is intended. The lessons the author derives from the teens adventures are one of the best parts of the book giving the reader more than just a fantasy/adventure novel. I recommend this series for middle grade readers, but parents might enjoy it also.

I received this book from PR by the Book for this review.

Not Your Average Cocaine Dealer

Jack Price is doing pretty well. He has a cocaine empire with his own brand of cocaine. He’s also got principles. He doesn’t lead kids into addiction. However, senators and day traders are fair game. He gets up one morning feeling happy, starts down in the elevator, and realizes that the floor below is littered with cops.

Didi the old lady living in the apartment below him has been murdered, assassin-style. He didn’t particularly like Didi. She was a nasty old woman, but he equally doesn’t like having people murdered on the floor below him. He asks a lot of questions, gets beaten badly, and decides to act. He tries to recruit his friend Karenina for protection, but she’s already accepted a job with the Seven Demons, a murderous gang, and their next target is Jack. Now Jack is out for revenge, and the body count gets pretty high.

This book is told from Jack’s point of view, and it’s unique. Jack has a fast paced commentary laced with profanity that doesn’t take into account quotation marks, run-on sentences, or other grammatical niceties. It’s fun to read, if you enjoy Jack’s peculiar view of the world. If profanity, lack of grammatical props, and violence upset you, this is not your book. However, it you’d like an amusing read that is often quite hilarious, give it a try.

I received this book from Knopf for this review.

A WWII Mystery is Unearthed from a Cold Case on an Alaskan Island

Murphy Anderson is living on Kodiak Island in Alaska. She’s searching for her twin sister who she fears was murdered by her serial killer boyfriend, but there is no confirmation her sister is dead. When Murphy’s purse is stolen, the police visit her apartment under a trailer. In the process, they realize that she has artistic skills they could use. Needing the money, Murphy agrees that she’s a forensic artist.

Her job as an adjunct to the police department involves interviewing a dying Russian fisherman who found five bodies on a small island ten years ago. Murphy and the criminalist, Bertie, visit the island, but the weather turns bad. Bertie is injured in a fall, and they barely escape with their lives. This one visit puts Murphy at the center of a widening series of murders: the old Russian and his caregiver, and her landlady when the trailer home is burned. Now Murphy is fully engaged in what is becoming a serious police investigation.

I’ve enjoyed other Parks novels, but for setting this is my favorite. I enjoyed the details about Alaska and the problems of severe and quickly changing weather. Murphy is a likable character, but she’s hiding so much and always on the run that it’s hard to get close to her.

The twists in the plot keep you reading. Nothing is what it seems. There are many hints of the psychological nature of Murphy’s quest to find her sister, but noting is concrete until the end. I found the ending over the top. All the clues were tied together to make a satisfying end to the mystery, but I thought the revelation of Murphy’s character was deceptive.

The writing is good, and the plot moves quickly. If you enjoy a psychological thriller with a female lead and great setting, you may like the book.

I received this book from BookLook Bloggers for this review.

Espionage and Murder Follow a CIA agent for Thirty-five years

Helen Abell is a junior CIA agent in Berlin in 1979. She joined the agency thinking of adventure. Instead, she’s given the job of overseeing the safe houses. These are the places where agents and their sources can meet to exchange information.

Helen hates the fact that she’s been given a job deemed suitable for a woman, but things change one day while inspecting her houses. Helen is upstairs checking out the recording equipment when someone, unknown to her, enters. A meeting ensues and Helen never shuts off the recorder. Her much older lover, Baucom, tells her that she must get rid of the recording. She returns to the safe house late at night and witnesses another encounter between an agent and his source. This one spells present danger.

Thirty-five years later, Helen and her husband are murdered by her son. He’s slow, but has always been gentle. Anna, Helen’s daughter, returns for the funeral. She’s unable to believe her brother committed the murder without a reason. She enlists a neighbor, Henry Mattick, as a sounding board and to find out what happened. Was this crime related to Helen’s past?

If you enjoy espionage thrillers, this is a good one. Helen is a sympathetic character, particularly the way she chafes against her proscribed role in 1979. Anna, her daughter is another strong character. In spite of what she might find, she wants to know what happened to her mother.

I enjoyed the scenes of Berlin in 1979. For me it was the best description in the book. The other areas were more briefly described. The forte of this book is the characterization and dialog. Both are very well done. The story is told between two time periods, Helen’s in 1979 and Anna’s in 2014. Both are realistic. The plot is filled with twists that will keep you guessing.

I received this book from Knopf for this review.

A Summer Camp Nightmare

Camp Nightingale is situated on Lake Midnight, on property owned by the Harris family for over a hundred years. The camp attracted wealthy girls. Emma Davis, 13 years old, doesn’t really want to go for the summer. She and her friends call it Camp Rich Bitch.

It’s late when she and her parents arrive. All the cabins for younger girls are full, so she’s given the fourth bunk in a cabin with Vivian, Allison and Natalie. Vivian is the ring leader. She takes a liking to Emma, telling her she’ll be her older sister for the summer. Emma is trilled to be noticed by someone like Vivian and follows her lead in all things.

Then a tragedy occurs. The three girls go missing and are never found. It’s a situation that has haunted Emma ever since. Now twenty-eight, Emma has a successful career as a painter, but when Franny Harris-White, decides to reopen Camp Midnight she agrees to become the painting instructor. It’s fifteen years later, but the tragedy still hangs over the camp.

This is a real page turner. The author dribbles out the clues leading you ever deeper into the secrets of Camp Nightingale and the girls and staff from fifteen years ago. It’s a hard book to put down. Emma is a sympathetic character. You know her memories aren’t the whole story. There are things she’s not telling you about the past as she tries to solve the mystery of her cabin-mate’s disappearance, but it makes you root for her to tame her demons.

If you’ve attended camp, or just like a good psychological thriller, you’re enjoy this book.

I received this book from Penguin Random House for this review.

Taking a Break from Marriage

Cass and Jonathan appear to have everything in a marriage: good jobs, financial security, and a lovely New York apartment. They’ve been married five years and are discussing whether to have children, but Cass isn’t so sure they’re ready. Her childhood, divorced parents and financial insecurity, have something to do with it. She suggests a six month separation to test their commitment.

Jonathan is surprised. Cass can be irritating, but he loves her. His wealthy family has given him more security, but in the end he agrees with Cass. She takes a job in Los Angeles. This puts them a continent apart the only real contact when they fly their dog back and forth for joint custody.

I wasn’t impressed with either Cass or Jonathan. I thought she was selfish. Marriage isn’t easy. You have to try to communicate. Putting distance between you and your partner only leads to more problems. I liked Jonathan better. He seemed the more balanced of the two. His marriage wasn’t perfect, but he felt comfortable and didn’t want to change things. Both partners made regrettable choices when they were apart.

Their story is told in alternating points of view which gives insight into each partner’s good and bad qualities. The novel is character driven with a thin plot. However, it’s a fast read and would make a good book to take on a vacation.

I received this book from Net Galley for this review.