Protection For Hire by Camy Tang

Tessa has just been released from prison for a murder she never committed. She refuses to go back to work for her uncle the head of the Japanese mafia(Yakuza). Tessa was changed while in prison. Finding the peace and acceptance she never had while working for her uncle Tessa has committed her life to Jesus.

Forced to live with her mother and sister(who is going through a divorce), Tessa tries to find a job to support herself. While volunteering at a shelter for abused women Tessa meets Elizabeth. Elizabeth has left her husband because he was hitting her and her 3 year old son. Elizabeth asks Tessa to become her body guard. Elizabeth is convinced that her husband wants to kill her so she turns to Tessa for protection and friendship.

Charles is looking to become partner in his law firm. His mother asks him to take Elizabeth's case pro bono. When he hears about the abuse it brings up memories of his father abusing his mother. He is determined to help Elizabeth and keep her husband from harming her. Unfortunately at the time of Tessa's trial Charles was a law clerk. He is the one that recommended a longer sentence for her. Neither trust each other, but yet there is an attraction between them that is hard to deny. 

Set in San Francisco Protection for Hire is full of action packed pages. The book captured my interest from the very first page to the very last. Tessa is full of spunk. She has great martial art skills that she uses frequently to protect Elizabeth. She struggles with who she used to be and who she has become in Christ. With the help of Charles' mother hopefully she will see the new creature she has become.  I'm eagerly awaiting the next installment to the series!

Thanks to Zondervan publishers through NetGalley for my review copy.

Weddings and Wasabi by Camy Tang-KINDLE

Jenn just graduated from Culinary School. The family expects her to now run her Aunty’s Japanese restaurant. Everyone knows that this is why Jenn has gone to cooking school. Jenn doesn’t want to run the restaurant for her aunty though. She wants to open her own catering business. But in Jenn’s family what she wants and what is expected of her are two very different things.

When Jenn finally realizes that her family does not care what Jenn’s desires are she decides that she is going to take control of her life and branch out on her own. She decides to open her own catering business instead of going into Aunty’s business. This brings the wrath of her Aunty onto to her. With the support of her cousins Jenn plans her first catering job for her cousin Trish’s wedding. 

While heading to a wine-tasting vineyard Jenn and her cousin Trish are passed by Edward on his Harley. They get a flat tire and Edward turns around to help them out. His family owns another vineyard nearby. He and Jenn are immediately attracted to each other.  He too comes from a large family that can get very loud!  After meeting Edwards’s family she realizes that she has neglected to pray for her business, she has neglected going to church and she has neglected reading her Bible. She soon remedies those things just as her dreams seem to start falling apart.

As always Camy Tangs books crack me up! Filled with a crazy family, a water gun attack, an Aunty bent on revenge, and a goat, Weddings and Wasabi is one wild ride! I do have one complaint though, Weddings and Wasabi was not as long as the other books in the series. I think that Jenn's story could have been more detailed. It was over too soon!

The Dashwood Sisters Tell All by Beth Pattillo

Ellen and Mimi are fulfilling their mother's last wish by embarking on a walking tour of Hampshire, England. Their mother was a Jane Austen fan and her dying wish was for her daughters to walk the countryside that Jane herself had lived in.

Ellen and Mimi have never been close. Ellen is the sensible sister and Mimi has always been the flighty sister. Neither woman has been lucky in love. Ellen feels that she has always had to clean up Mimi's romantic disasters and Ellen herself lost the love of her life while she was in college.

 After arriving at their first hotel Ellen receives a package containing what appears to be the diary of Jane Austen's sister Cassandra. Shortly after that Daniel arrives on the scene. He is the only man that Ellen has ever loved. He is now divorced and his presence causes Ellen much stress.

Mimi in her usual fashion starts flirting with their tour guide Tom. She doesn't mean anything by it as he is way too old for her taste. She really falls for Ethan though and mistakenly tells him about Cassandra's diary. While the girls are studying the diary they soon find a sort of code in the words that Cassandra has written. It becomes obvious to them that Cassandra has left clues to a second hidden diary. One that could be worth much more than Cassandra's. When the diary disappears both girls have suspicions of who took it and for what reason.

What I enjoyed most about The Dashwood Sisters Tell All is the development of Ellen and Mimi's relationship. How it compared with Elinore and Marianne Dashwood's relationship in Sense and Sensibility and then to how it compared to even Jane and her sister Cassandra. I have really enjoyed reading Beth Pattillo's trips into Austen-land!

The Chair by James L. Rubart

Corin Roscoe is a thrill-seeker. He has been for a long time. It is almost as if he has a death-wish. He always has to push the envelope to the very edge of danger. Unfortunately this life of danger has cost him a very important relationship-his brother Shasta.

Years before Corin and Shasta tried a risky ski jump at Corin's insistence. The result was that Shasta is now paralyzed from the neck down. Shasta refuses to speak to Corin. Has refused to speak to him for the last 10 years. Corin would do anything to take back what happened to Shasta.

When Nicole shows up in Corin's antiques store and gives him a very special chair Corin doesn't know what to think. It seems that The Chair is centuries old and made by a famous carpenter. Could The Chair really have been made by Christ himself? And if so, could it really have special healing powers? It begins to look that way when first a young boy who sat in the chair is cured of his asthma, then a friend of Corin's is healed of an old football injury. And finally Corin is healed of a life-long fear of small places.

Of course when you are in possession of something this special people are going to want it. Danger starts lurking at every corner. A famous preacher has offered to buy the chair. Someone else is threatening Corin and those he loves if he doesn't hand over the chair. But Corin has need of the chair himself. Will it be able to heal his brother Shasta? Or is The Chair just what it seems? A nice old antique not capable of healing anyone.

This is a story about restoration and redemption. For that I enjoyed it. But there were other pet-peeves in the book that turned me off. One was the author's frequent use of silly metaphors. An example: "the door squealed like a pig in labor"  I found myself saying, "REALLY?" There were several of those type of sentences that just hit me as being a bit too hokey. One of my favorite sentences in the book was: "The greatest healing would never be physical, but a healing of the heart." That rang so true to me and to the story. 

Rot & Ruin by Jonathan Maberry

Tom and Benny Imura survived First Night when the world as they knew it turned upside down. Where the dead became reanimated. They lost their parents that night.

Mountainside is their home now. A town surrounded by fences to keep the zombies away. Benny is now 14 and has to choose a job in order to keep receiving his full rations. Tom earns a living as a bounty hunter. He goes out into the Rot & Ruin to find people's family members and put them to death permanently.

Benny loves to hang out with Charlie Pink-Eye and his hoodlum friend The Motorcity Hammer. He loves to hear their stories of how they kill zoms out in the Rot & Ruin. In Benny's mind compared to Charlie and Hammer his brother Tom is a coward.

As time has finally run out for Benny to find a job he agrees to go with Tom out into the Ruin to see what the "family business" is really like. What he learns is that Tom doesn't just randomly kill zombies. He teaches Benny that each zombie used to be a REAL person, a member of a family and deserves that respect. Tom "quiets" the zombies he is sent out to find. He reads them a letter from their family member and he then quiets them so they are no longer roaming around as zombies. It gives closure to the family member. This confuses Benny as he has a strong hate for the zombies and after all of Charlie's and Hammer's stories he has never thought of them as being real people.

Benny finds that not all bounty hunters are as compassionate as his brother Tom. In fact he hears about a place that some of the bounty hunters take innocent children to and make them fight zombies. When Benny happens to get a collector card of the "Lost Girl" one day he finds that this is a "mythical" girl that is supposedly out in the Ruin who may know some of the dealings of the bounty hunters.

As a storm rages over the city and the fence fails Benny finds out to what lengths these bounty hunters will go to protect their interest in the gaming park. Benny and Tom go out into the Ruin to rescue Benny's friend Nix and to find the Lost Girl who may be able to show them where the games take place. What happens while out in the Ruin is horrible and will change their lives forever.

Oh my goodness! Why have I waited so long to read this book? It was soooo good! Really though I'm glad I waited because I have my copy of Rot & Ruin and the sequel Dust & Decay autographed by Jonathan Maberry. Dust & Decay comes out in August but I snagged an ARC copy at the TLA conference I went to. Yay me! Anyway, this was such a good book. I had to close it several times because I couldn't take the suspense, but then I would have to open it and read on to find out what happens! Even though this is a zombie book I was more interested in the human relationships that were going on. Excellent read!

The Dark and Hollow Places by Carrie Ryan

The final installment to The Forest of Hands and Teeth Trilogy was not disappointing!

Annah has been surviving on her own in the Dark City for a long time. In fact she has been waiting for Elias to return to her for 3 years. Elias joined the Recruiters 3 years before and has not returned to the city. Annah still has hope that he will come back to her. Finally realizing that she cannot wait forever she is determined to go searching for him. On her way out of the city though she sees someone entering that looks very familiar. In fact she looks just like Annah! She knows immediately that it is her sister that she and Elias left in the Forest many years before.

While searching the city for her sister Annah meets Catcher. She is attracted to him but unable to let her heart care for someone else. At the same time a massive horde has attacked the city. Annah risks going back to her flat to gather personal belongings and weapons. When she arrives she finds Elias there waiting for her. They escape to the island that the Protectorate is living on. The Protectorate hold Annah, her sister Abigail(now Gabry) and Elias hostage and demand that Catcher in his immune state make trips into the city finding supplies to keep the island inhabitants alive.

Annah is elated to finally be reunited with her sister. With that elation comes heartbreak though as she sees the bond between Abigail and Elias. Their love cannot be denied.

The island is a nightmare for Annah. The Recruiters are cruel and heartless. Their commander Ox has stated that Annah and her group should stay clear of the Recruiters because if anything happened he would definitely side with his men. All seems hopeless. Annah begins to wonder why people continue to struggle to survive the massive hordes that are taking over the earth.

All is not lost though and Annah has to believe that all humanity will not be wiped out by the undead.

As with the other 2 books in the series The Dark and Hollow Places is a roller coaster ride of excitement and heart-stopping action. The last several pages had me biting my nails and reading as fast as I could to see the final outcome!

Happily Ever After by Susan May Warren(kindle)

Mona's dreams of opening a coffeehouse/bookstore are about to be realized. She has just purchased an old Victorian house with every dime she has saved up for the last 10 years. Mona is stubborn and determined to do all of the work herself. She realizes after her first look at the place though that she is going to need a handyman to help her in order to get it ready for the opening of tourist season in 6 weeks.

It is not easy for Mona to hire Joe. Mona is independent and does not need any romantic entanglements in her life. Plus there has yet to be a man who meets all of her requirements. She has only found that man in Jonah, a character in her favorite author's books. He is her ideal man and she refuses to settle for anyone less.

After she hires Joe several things happen to make her realize that someone is trying to sabotage her dream. She feels that she does not deserve to realize her dream. She feels that God could not possibly want to bless her with granting her dreams because of the deep guilt that she is carrying around.

Joe has his own secrets to keep. He has been wandering around for most of his life. He can't afford emotionally to become attached to Mona. From the moment they meet though he is drawn to care for her. Unable to forgive the father who left him and his brother and mother when he was 15 he can't seem to grasp that he has become just like him. Always running away from his troubles.

Joe has come to Deep Haven to visit his brother that he hasn't seen in years. He feels guilty about that but soothes his guilt with the fact that he has paid for his brother to stay at a group home. Even when he realizes he has feelings for Mona he cannot reveal to her the true nature of his brother's handicap. But he is keeping another secret from her that may even be more damaging than that.

For the most part I liked the characters of the book. I did get a little tired of the constant battle that both Joe and Mona had within themselves to keep their "deep dark secrets" and to deny the attraction that they felt for each other. Also there seemed to be a lot of teary eyes in this one. I'm not a fan of a character that constantly cries. It seemed like both Joe and Mona were always welling up. It got kind of old. Not only did Mona and Joe keep secrets from each other, it seemed that the author wanted to keep these secrets from the reader too. Maybe if some of Mona and Joe's reasons for keeping secrets had been revealed sooner in the story the tears and fears would have been more understandable to the reader.  

Against All Odds by Irene Hannon (Kindle)

Monica and her father are estranged. Her father gave up his family for his country. Now his job has put Monica in jeopardy. Terrorists have kidnapped 3 American citizens. They have now threatened to kidnap Monica if her father does not give in to their demands.

Mark and his partner Evan Cooper(Coop) are sent to protect Monica. They are part of the FBI's HRT(Hostage Rescue Team). Monica thinks that everyone is overreacting and refuses to go to a safe house. She agrees to let Mark and Coop protect her in her home, but doesn't see the need to disappear. Unfortunately these terrorists are serious about their need for revenge on both her father and on the United States.

Coop and Monica have an instant attraction towards each other. Coop is a man of few words though. Monica has written a book entitled "Talk the Walk" stating that words are necessary in relationships.  Monica has a faith in God that Coop does not understand or think is logical. But he is soon to learn that faith may be all that he can trust in when Monica's life is thrown into even more danger.

I liked the action of this book. The story was suspenseful and entertaining. I thought that the issues of faith were portrayed very weakly though. I appreciate a spine-tingling story without all of the cursing and sex that you find in mainstream fiction. I look forward to reading Irene Hannon's next two books in this Heroes of Quantico series.

In the Shadow of Evil by Robin Caroll

Layla is a contractor. An unusual profession for a woman. But she is very good at her work. In fact she has just been nominated for a prestigious award. When one of the homes that she has built burns down and a dead body is found in the remains Layla becomes a suspect.

Maddox is the detective working the case. He too is good at his job. His one regret is that he was never able to find the person who murdered his mother. With a broken relationship with his father, and resentment towards a God that would allow his mother to die Maddox is only too willing to believe the worst of Layla.

Layla decides that she is going to try to discover who burned the house and murdered the person inside. While seeking answers from the various people that she contracted to work the site the killer realizes that she needs to be warned off. Layla is side-tracked when people she knows are brought to the hospital with bleeding noses that won't stop and respiratory problems. The doctors can't figure out what is the common denominator in the symptoms and they can't identify what is causing the symptoms.

When Layla's sister Alana's fiance' is hurt in an explosion, Maddox and his partner decide that they need to protect Layla from whomever is trying to hurt her. With their growing attraction for each other sparks fly! But Layla's faith baffles Maddox. As the mystery unfolds and relationships are mended Maddox begins to see how faith is an important part of our existence.

As the killer becomes more desperate Maddox and Layla race the clock to find out the reason behind the killings. Will they be in time to prevent another tragedy?

Robin Caroll has written an excitement-filled story that will keep the reader wanting to turn the pages until the very end.

Dear Pen Pal by Heather Vogel Frederick

Dear Pen Pal is the 3rd installment of The Mother-Daughter Book Club series. A group of girls and their mother have formed a reading group to discuss books that they read throughout the year. In Dear Pen Pal the group is reading Daddy-Long-Legs by Jean Webster. This year the mother's have paired the girls up with another Mother-Daughter book club group. This group is in Wyoming. The mother's from both groups decide that the girls should become Pen-Pals. When the mother's say Pen-Pals they do not mean IM'ing, or texting or e-mailing Pen-Pals. They mean actually sitting down and writing a letter and mailing snail mail Pen-Pals. You must read the first two books to be able to follow the characters.

Meet the girls:

Becca: Becca is the newest member of the group. The girls still cannot decide if she is a friend or an enemy. So they call her a "frenemy". Becca's mom has decided that this is the year that she is going to "improve herself" all of her outlandish outfits make quite an embarrassing situation for Becca. Becca's pen pal is Zoe Winchester. Zoe's mom is the mayor of their town. Will Becca and Zoe hit it off or are they too much alike to ever be friends?

Cassidy: Cassidy is a girl-jock. she loves sports. She is the first girl to be on the all-boys ice hockey team. Cassidy's dad has passed away and her mother has recently re-married. To add to Cassidy's disgruntlement with the situation her mother and step-dad inform her and the group that they are going to have a baby. Cassidy is not happy. Cassidy is paired up as a pen-pal to Winky Parker. Winky's family own a Dude Ranch. Cassidy is not getting along with all of the changes in her life. Will this new little one soften her heart?

Jess: Jess's family own a farm. They work hard and there isn't much money to spare. Jess loves her home and loves her friends. Jess is given a scholarship to Colonial Academy. A very prestigious boarding school for girls. Jess doesn't want to leave her friends at Walden Middle School. In order to please her family she agrees to go. She is placed in a room with Savannah, a senator's daughter. Savannah is a typical priviledged girl and the girls do not get along. Jess is paired up as a pen pal with Madison Daniels. Jess's mother figured since Jess loves to sing and Madison loves to play the guitar that the girls should have music as a common interest. Jess likes Emma's brother Darcy. When Savannah asks Darcy to go to a dance with her the little bit of friendship that Jess felt towards her evaporates. Will the girls ever learn how to get along?

Emma: Emma loves to write. Emma loves to read. Walden Middle School has decided to make students wear uniforms this year. Will Emma find that the "Pen is mightier than the sword" and be able to change the faculties mind about uniforms? Emma has a boyfriend, Stewart is Becca's brother. Will Emma be the first club member to be kissed? Emma is paired up as a pen pal with Bailey Jacobs. Bailey's mother owns a bookstore. The girls are sure to get along!

Megan: This year Megan's grandmother moves in with her and her family. Megan seems to get along better with her grandmother than she does with her own mother. Megan's mother doesn't understand Megan's interest in fashion. Megan doesn't understand why she is an only child. Why does her mother have to be so different? Megan is paired up as a pen-pal with Summer Williams. Summer sews quilts and Megan sews clothes, it should be the perfect match right?

So far I have enjoyed all three books in the Mother-Daughter Book Club series. I am looking forward to the next installment. All 3 books deal with friendship issues and with social issues. These novels are  so refreshing from the novels that deal with drugs and sex. I know that middle schoolers are dealing with those issues too, but there are also kids that aren't dealing with those darker issues of life. BUT they still are having to deal with acceptance among their peers, family issues, and other growing up issues. Life isn't all rose-colored glasses, and neither are these novels.