Unspoken by Dee Henderson

Charlotte Graham was kidnapped when she was 16 years old. She spent 4 years with her abductors before she was rescued. Now 18 years later she has a new name, a new life and a new purpose. She has never spoken of what happened to her during those 4 years and she has no intention of ever speaking about it. Her grandfather has left her a very large estate to settle and his rare coin collection has caused her to find someone she can trust to buy the coins. Bryce Bishop is that man.

Bryce is getting bored with his life when Charlotte shows up and offers him a deal he cannot refuse. No longer bored, Bryce becomes intrigued by Charlotte and all of the layers that make up her character. When Bryce becomes aware of the full extent of Charlotte's inheritance he determines that he will help her with her goal. Bryce and Charlotte come to care for each other but there are still many secrets that Charlotte is keeping from him. Also, whatever happened to Charlotte those 4 years has left her broken and angry at God who allowed something like that to happen. Will Bryce ever be able to show her God's love even though He doesn't answer some of our most anguished prayers the way we would like?

MY THOUGHTS:

I have to admit about the first 30% of the book had me fairly bored. The set-up for the whole story was rather long and tedious with lots of facts about the coins and their value and each step of what Bryce was going to do to get them on the market. Once that part was finished the story picked up pace and ended in true Dee Henderson suspense/romance style. I liked both Bryce and Charlotte as the main characters. Bryce was of course the way understanding Knight-in-Shining-Armor sort and Charlotte was a typical damsel in distress who needed rescuing. Ann and Paul from Full Disclosure were also in this book and friends with Bryce and Charlotte. For the most part I did like this story but if you are a fan of Dee Henderson's O'Malley series there may be a sense of dissatisfaction when finished reading this story.

I received a review copy from Bethany House Publishers through NetGalley and I also purchased a copy from Amazon. This review is my honest opinion.

Double Exposure by Susan Sleeman

It has been years since Jennie Buchanan walked out of Ethan Justice's life taking his heart with her. Jennie is getting ready to open a showing of her photographs to raise money for her charity Photos of Hope. Someone is determined that she not open her show and has threatened to kill Jennie. Ethan Justice and his siblings have been hired to protect Jennie.

Having spent years trying to forget her, Ethan's family is worried that he will once again have his heart ripped out and they are not going to let that happen again. From the beginning Jennie tries to keep the walls up around her heart but is it time to let her guard down and allow people to care for her?

As the threats on Jennie's life increase Ethan realizes that he is willing to do whatever it takes to protect her and that his heart never stopped caring for her. Will his love and skill be enough to keep Jennie safe and to show her what Christ's forgiveness is all about?

This is the first in the Justice Agency books and as usual it seems for me I have read the series backwards! I read the 3rd one first, then read the 4th book and now have read this one. Thankfully each story can stand alone although having read the last two books I did know who Ethan would end up with. I really liked this story in that it has a lot of suspense, but it also has a great message of God's forgiveness along with our need to also forgive ourselves. The story was well developed and fast-paced and I never found myself ready to put the book up for the night. I read this during vacation so unfortunately I did have to put it up at times but was eager to pick it back up and get immersed in the story once more. In fact my husband had to do without my company for several miles of our drive today so I could finish! I'm looking forward to reading book 2 Dead Wrong soon.

My review of book 3:

No Way Out

Book 4 Thread of Suspicion comes out October 1, 2013. My review will be up October 2, 2013.

I purchased my copy of Double Exposure from Amazon and was not required to give a review.

Trapped by Irene Hannon

 The second book in The Guardians of Justice series was AWESOME!! This book features Phoenix Inc. former ATF associate James "Dev" Devlin. Dev is the perfect hero for this story and I enjoyed every bit of his story. 

ABOUT THE BOOK:

 Darcy and Laura have not gotten along since Darcy moved in with Laura after her father died. Laura's rules are too strict for 16 year old Darcy and she feels that they would both be better off if she leaves. Planning to start a new life away from Laura, Darcy leaves during the worst storm of the year. With all bus travel cancelled Darcy refuses to go home to Laura. Meeting up with another girl on the streets who helps her learn the ropes of the homeless shelters Darcy is just about ready to go home when they meet someone that offers them shelter in a better place. Believing that with the two of them sticking together they will be safe they take up the offer. Thus begins Darcy's nightmare.

When Laura Griffith hires the Phoenix Inc. group to find her missing run-away half-sister Darcy neither she nor Dev are looking for romance. All Laura can think about is what could have happened to Darcy. And Dev knows that dating the client is against company policy. There is something about Laura though that causes Dev to trust her, even with his most intimate secret. For Laura, Dev quickly becomes a man she can trust.

MY THOUGHTS:

The first book in the series VANISHED kept me turning pages and wanting more of this group of detectives. TRAPPED did not disappoint.  From the very beginning TRAPPED had me hooked. The suspense was intense and the romance was sweet. Now that I have read Cal and Dev's story I am looking forward to seeing what the author has in store for Connor the last partner in Phoenix Inc. There is a teaser chapter at the end of TRAPPED for DECEIVED coming out in 2014. I enjoyed the teasing that the group of friends have with each other along with Nikki their office manager. They were pretty relentless in teasing Dev about their new client Laura so I can  only imagine what is going to happen when Connor has his turn. If you read VANISHED I don't think you will be disappointed in TRAPPED...I wasn't!

I received my copy from NetGalley. This is my honest review. TRAPPED will be available for purchase September 1, 2013.

For my review of VANISHED go HERE.