Presents, Presents, Everywhere!

Welcome to the first giveaway of the season! Up for you today is one of my favorite summer beach reads. (Although, I read it at home. And in the car.)

Here's the book trailer:

 

Lindsey Adams started visiting the mailbox as a teenager. Ever since, she's poured her heart out in letters each year, documenting the good times and the bad. This year, she's returned to Sunset Beach, North Carolina for the first time since her husband left her and her two kids, Anna and Jake.

As she struggles in her sorrow, memories of her first love, Campbell Forrester, arrive. With them come the heartache of rejection, again. Twice rejected by men she loved, Lindsey must decide if she can trust in love again or will avoid it altogether in order to protect herself from the possibility of being rejected a third time. Campbell reappears, making the decision even harder when he takes interest in her again.

If you think you'd like to read about Lindsey's journey to The Mailbox, please leave your comment below. I'd love to hear about a time when God gave you a second chance! Share your story for your chance to win.

Book Review - The Queen by Steven James

Synopsis:

FBI Special Agent Patrick Bowers is sent to a small town in the middle of nowhere in northern Wisconsin. While investigating the murder of one man, he is called out to investigate the double homicide of a woman and her daughter - the husband is nowhere to be found - or at the bottom of an icy lake.

The Queen follows Pat as he begins to uncover a high-tech conspiracy, chases down suspects, and deals with his own personal life all at the same time.

My Review:

The Queen is part of a series, preceded by The Pawn, The Rook, The Knight, and The Bishop. I confess that I haven't read any of the previous Patrick Bowers thrillers. BUT, after reading The Queen, I will be going back and reading through the entire series. I love a good crime-related suspense, and Steven James delivers with The Queen. 

It took me a few chapters to enter into the thrill of the story. Although James opens well, I struggled to figure out who was who until around the sixth chapter. This is probably just me, and if I'd read the previous books, I might have known sooner. Once I figured it out, the story took off, and I couldn't put it down. He had me guessing who the mysterious Valkyrie was all the way to the very end.

I had the honor of meeting Steven James at the 2010 Blue Ridge Mountain Christian Writers Conference. I admire his enthusiasm for the craft of writing, and it shines through in his novel. He masterfully switches from Special Agent Bower's first person view to the third person view of his criminals and his loved ones. It makes the character-filled story easier to navigate.

Available September 2011 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.

To purchase The Queen, please visit:

Revell

amazon

Barnes & Noble

CBD

Please note: I was provided a free copy of The Queen from Revell for the purposes of this review. I was not required to provide a good review, and I believe by crafting a great story, Mr. James has earned the five stars I've awarded him.

Book Review - Someone to Blame by C.S. Lakin

The Moore Family recently moved to Breakers, a small town in the Pacific Northwest, fleeing the heartache of lost loved ones. Their family is fragile, and one wave crashing them against the cliffs could break them – unless the walls around their individual hearts came down.

Billy Thurber has recently shown up in town, as well, selling firewood off the back of his pickup truck. When he arrives, so does trouble. The people of Breakers don’t like the glare in his eyes or the attitude he carries. So when the trouble starts, all the fingers point to Billy…except for one.

Will one person’s compassion set Billy’s heart free from his past? Will the once-quiet town of Breakers find peace again?

In Someone to Blame, C.S. Lakin provides a full cast of characters with real issues. She provides just enough description for the readers mind to envision the coastal fishing town and the surrounding mountains, allowing the reader to imagine the rest. I enjoyed the small-town pace of the book. The action is just enough to keep one wondering what’s coming next, if anything else could go wrong, and who’s to blame for what the town is going through. Once the action peaks, it drops off again as evidence from the once sleepy town is revealed. But keep reading, because the end of the story is the best part of the book.

Lakin sprinkles revelations of God’s love, grace, and forgiveness throughout the story. The tale she tells moved my heart more than once.

Someone to Blame is a fresh story filled with twists and turns resembling the coastal roads it is set against. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it, and I give it four out of five light bulbs.

To find out more about C. S. Lakin, visit her website here: 
http://www.cslakin.com/

Find your copy of Someone to Blame here:

Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/Someone-to-Blame-Amazon

Barnes and Noble: http://tinyurl.com/Someone-to-Blame-BnN

CBD: http://tinyurl.com/Someone-to-Blame-CBD