Weaver's Needle By: Robin Caroll

Back of the Book

Former Army MP Landry Parker fell into the recovery specialist role quite by accident—to help her ailing father. Now that she’s on her own, she is determined to prove herself and honor her family legacy.

After being shot in the line of duty, former police officer Nickolai Baptiste became a recovery specialist, and he’s good at his job—maybe even the best.
           
A potential client pits Landry and Nickolai against one another to find the Dutchman’s Lost Gold Mine map that was stolen from her murdered husband, and the potential payday is too enticing to pass up. The trail takes them from New Orleans to Weaver’s Needle in Arizona where legend claims the mine is hidden. Landry and Nickolai are no strangers to adventure, but the unlikely partners quickly discover there’s someone after the treasure and there are those who want to ensure the lost mine in Arizona’s Superstition Mountain stays lost forever.

Can Landry and Nickolai work together despite their distrust of each other to save the legend before more innocent lives are lost? Will they find the real treasure isn’t the gold, but something more valuable. . .true love and understanding?

My thoughts

Weaver's Needle is an intense entertaining novel with twist and turns that bring more questions than answers.  As Landry and Nickolai work to find who took the map a larger question becomes, who would kill to keep in hidden?  Amazing detail about the area and the culture by Caroll adds more realism and tension to the plot.  I loved every page and anyone looking for a clean novel and great adventure will love it too.

A Love So True By: Meilssa Jagears

Back of the Book

Evelyn Wisely has a heart for the orphans of Teaville and works at a local mansion that rescues children out of the town's red-light district and gives them a place to live. But her desire to help isn't limited to orphans. The owner of the mansion, Nicholas Lowe, is willing to help her try to get the women working in prostitution out of the district as well--if she can gain the cooperation and support of local businessmen to go against the rest of the community. 

David Kingsman has recently arrived in Teaville from Kansas City to help with one of his father's companies in town. While he plans on staying only long enough to prove his business merit to his father, he's shown interest in Evelyn's work and is intrigued enough by her to lend his support to her cause.

They begin with the best of intentions, but soon the complications pile up and Evelyn and David's dreams look more unattainable every day. When the revelation of a long-held secret creates a seemingly insurmountable rift between them, can they trust God still has a good plan for them despite all that is stacked against them?

My Thoughts

Any novel by Melissa Jagears is worth reading and A Love So True is no exception.  While I felt the plot sounded a lot like the first book in the series (A Heart Most Certain), I found myself drawn in from the first chapter to the very end.  There were a few times I felt I had it all figured out but Jagears has thrown in some unexpected twist that will not only entertain you, they bring a whole new level to the story.  Evelyn is an exceptional character with a well developed back story that seems to haunt both her and David through the entire book.  David is an outsider with a heart that is struggling under his fathers pressure.  Being the second novel in the series you might want to read the first to understand a few of the conversations but you can read this novel as a stand alone.

I was given a complementary copy of this novel from the publisher.

What Hope Remembers By: Johnnie Alexander

Back of the Book

When Amy Somers loses her job as a lobbyist, she moves to Misty Willow, well aware that she's crossing bridges she'd burned years before. With all the mistakes she's made and the uncaring things she's done--even to her own family--she can hardly believe that happiness will find her, especially when Gabe Kendall, her first crush and her first kiss, rides back into her life atop a buckskin mare.

A former Marine, Gabe is at loose ends after serving a prison sentence for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. He sees beyond Amy's hard exterior to the girl he once knew and loved, and he longs to see her open her heart. Yet with his vision clouded by shame for his past and fears about the future, he finds it difficult to see the path ahead.

But the memory of that long-ago kiss just may have the power to reignite a romance that brings out the best in both of them.

My Thoughts

What Hope Remembers was surprising in a few ways.  The other novels in the series have been full of depth, strong backstory, and entertaining plot. While the characters have had great affliction in their lives, and they seem to be dealing with big emotional issues, the book never has any really pull that makes you feel remorse, or connect with the characters.  It was very entertaining, and it has a good plot, it just lacked the depth I like in a Johnnie Alexander novel.  I would still recommend this book and will probably read it again it just wasn't what I expected.

I was given a complementary copy from the publisher.

Catching The Wind By: Melanie Dobson

Back of the Book

What happened to Brigitte Berthold?

That question has haunted Daniel Knight since he was thirteen, when he and ten-year-old Brigitte escaped the Gestapo agents who arrested both their parents. They survived a harrowing journey from Germany to England, only to be separated upon their arrival. Daniel vowed to find Brigitte after the war, a promise he has fought to fulfill for more than seventy years.

Now a wealthy old man, Daniel’s final hope in finding Brigitte rests with Quenby Vaughn, an American journalist working in London. He believes Quenby’s tenacity to find missing people and her personal investment in a related WWII espionage story will help her succeed where previous investigators have failed. Though Quenby is wrestling her own demons—and wary at the idea of teaming up with Daniel’s lawyer, Lucas Hough—the lure of Brigitte’s story is too much to resist. Together, Quenby and Lucas delve deep into the past, following a trail of deception, sacrifice, and healing that could change all of their futures.

My Thoughts

Gripping, from the first word to the last.  Not to often do I find a novel that leaves me speechless with it's amazing writing, outstanding plot, and perfect characters, but this book is it.  Catching The Wind is a must read that will give you new perspective and insight into WWII, and the bonds from the era that are never broken.  Both Daniel and Brigitte's stories are touching, overwhelming and soul changing.  I will never look at WWII the same, and while the time frame is full of horrible grief, Melanie Dobson has found a perfect way to show that grief without burying you in it.  I will most definitely be reading this book again.

I was given a complementary copy of this novel by the publisher.