Submerged

Submerged by debut novelist Dani Pettrey is an excellent read. I started it the day I received it in the mail and had finished it by the next day.

The baggage Bailey carries with her about her past is well portrayed and realistic. It may have gotten a little redundant at times, by repeatedly bringing up the same issue as Bailey faces her past, but if I were under the same circumstances, I know I would be dwelling on the same thought and be hard pressed to let it go as well. With this in mind, her confrontation with her past is done even more accurately than I had originally though. And the whole issue of facing the past is relevant to nearly everyone.

I had never read a Christian suspense novel before and I was thrilled with the way Pettrey keeps the readers in the dark till the very end while weaving the aspects of Christianity throughout the story and not getting too preachy.

I cannot wait until the next book in the series, Shattered, comes out in February 2013!

*I received a free copy of Submerged from Bethany House for an honest review

Prize of My Heart

Prize of My Heart by Lisa Norato is a refreshingly straightforward novel. It seems in want of some depth though. The characters' motives were solid, as was the overall plot, but I thought the end was obtained too easily - that it didn't have quite as many twists as I would have liked. One of the main things which kept me engaged in the story was that the plot described in the synopsis was resolved about halfway through the book and I was curious what else there was to write about. It is a good read if you're looking for something simple and lighthearted.

Lorena is a shipwright's daughter of whom Captain Talvis has commissioned a large vessel. They met under odd circumstances involving mistaken identity and a boy under Lorena's charge. This boy is the key to why Talvis chose Lorena's father to build his ship: the boy is Talvis' long lost son. In order to win the heart of his son, he must win the heart of Lorena, whether or not he is ready to give his heart again.

*I received a free copy of Prize of My Heart from Bethany House for an honest review