What I Learned in 2017 (Part II)

By Kelly Bridgewater

Last week, I shared my heart and showed what I struggled with during 2017.

Even through all this struggle, I hunted in the Bible for others who were mad at God. Something to prove I wasn't alone in this despair. God drew me to David in the Psalms.

In Psalms 27, David wrote, " Do not hide your face from me; Do not turn your servant away in anger; You have been my help; Do not leave me nor forsake me, O God of my salvation" (verse 9).

In Psalm 25, David wrote, "For I am desolate and afflicted. The troubles of my heart enlarged; Bring me out o my distresses" (verse 16-17).

In Psalm 6, David also wrote, "But you, O Lord--how long? . . . I am weary with my groaning: All night I make my bed swim: I drench my couch with my tears. My eye wastes away because of grief; 

It grows old because of my enemies" (verse 3,6-7).

I spent many days in the Psalms studying these verses. I even yelled them off my backporch, praying God would hear and understand my despair.

Luckily, even through all this anger, I learned an important lesson.

God created anger. Yes, it is an emotion we are endowed with. But . . . how we use it is the important part.

I could have thrown my Bible to the wind and never looked back at God. (Trust me, there were moments when that seemed the easy way out. He wasn't helping me anyway. At least, in my hurt, it felt that way.)

But instead, God lead me to verses to show David feeling the same way. Alone. Like God didn't care. Hurt. Depressed. I sought refuge in God's Word. I sought peace and understanding that brought a little light to my injustice.

I learned it is okay to be angry at God for the trials in our lives, but how we handle the valleys show the depth of our character. I hope that I have become a better person on the other side and show others God love even when I wanted to throw in the towel or Bible in this instance.

How about you? Do you feel it is okay to be angry at God? My mom didn't. Until I explained what I learned and showed her the verses I found. Now I think my mother has come onto my side.

Have you ever been angry at God? What did you learn?

Roseanna M. White: A Song Unheard

By Kelly Bridgewater

Willa Forsythe is both a violin prodigy and top-notch thief, which makes her the perfect choice for a crucial task at the outset of World War I--to steal a cypher from a famous violinist currently in Wales.

Lukas De Wilde has enjoyed the life of fame he's won--until now, when being recognized nearly gets him killed. Everyone wants the key to his father's work as a cryptologist. And Lukas fears that his mother and sister, who have vanished in the wake of the German invasion of Belgium, will pay the price. The only light he finds is meeting the intriguing Willa Forsythe.

But danger presses in from every side, and Willa knows what Lukas doesn't--that she must betray him and find that cypher, or her own family will pay the price as surely as his has.

From Amazon

My Thoughts:

A Song Unheard by Roseanna M. White combines my love of England, history, and mystery all in one novel. What is better, honestly? With White's novel, I expected to be thrilled with the amount of details in the story, which brings her character to life. I knew the setting was a little off in the first book in this series A Name Unknown, but I hoped that was fixed when I dived into this novel.

With the writing, I am impressed at White's ability to create a setting that really dives off the page. From the first page, I had no problem visualizing the setting, enjoying myself as I traveled around with Willa and Lukas. White does a fabulous job at entering Willa's train of thoughts and allowing me to experience it with her especially toward the end when something bad happens. The setting again occurs during World War I, but some of the things that happen to Lukas's family remind me of World War II. Honestly, I don't read a lot of World War I novels, so it could have happen. White is the one who has done the research, not me. But what happened to them occurred a lot during World War II.

The plot was unique. I really enjoyed seeing Willa who originally was sent to retrieve something from Lukas but instead found a deeper love of her violin and music. I enjoyed how honestly White shows that a natural gift like music or writing, in my case, takes over a person. It becomes their every thought and guides their movements. The plot is very dense, and I had a hard time getting started. It dragged for the first twenty percent of the book.

Willa, the heroine, is a wonderful thief and is admired by many for her talents. I love how White created a relatable background and hurt for her. I felt bad for her when Willa told me her past. It hurt me too. Her transformation story was rich and full of depth. Made me enjoy her as a character. As for Lukas, I found him shallow. He proposes to Willa at their first meeting, and then spends the rest of the story trying to woo her. Then he has the nerve to be mad at her when he learns the truth about her. What a shallow man. Willa is too good for him, in my humble opinion. 

Overall, A Song Unheard by Roseanna M. White is much better than the first book. I felt more connection with Willa and the story line. I recommend A Song Unheard to fans of historical mysteries with a touch of romance. 

I received a complimentary copy of A Song Unheard by Roseanna M. White, but the opinions stated are all my own.

My Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Susan May Warren: Troubled Waters

By Kelly Bridgewater

Billionaire Ian Shaw can have everything he wants--except a happy ending. Or at least that's what it feels like with his fortune recently liquidated, his niece, Esme, still missing, and the woman he loves refusing to speak to him. In fact, he doubts she would date him even if they were stranded on a deserted island.

Despite her love for Ian, Sierra Rose knows he has no room in his life for her as long as the mystery of his missing niece goes unsolved. The only problem is, Sierra has solved it, but a promise to Esme to keep her whereabouts secret has made it impossible to be around Ian.

When the PEAK chopper is damaged and Sierra lacks the funds to repair it, Ian offers a fundraising junket for large donors on his yacht in the Caribbean. But the three-day excursion turns into a nightmare when a rogue wave cripples the yacht and sends the passengers overboard. Shaken up and soaked to the bone, Ian finally has a chance to test his theory when he and Sierra do indeed find themselves washed up on a strange, empty shore.

It will take guts and gumption for the PEAK team to rescue the duo. But it will take a miracle to rescue Ian and Sierra's relationship.

From Amazon

 

My Thoughts:

Susan May Warren is my go-to author when it comes to description and telling a captivating story from the first chapter. With her Montana Rescue series, I haven't been that excited about the series. The first two books were okay, but not great. Not what I expect from Warren. A Matter of Trust was a little better. I was hoping for a much better novel with Troubled Waters, and I was right. Troubled Waters is my favorite book in the series so far.

Having read all three previous books in the Montana Rescue series, I really couldn't wait until Warren got around to fully exploring Ian and Sierra's relationship. They have been hinted out and played around in the background since the first book, but I have never gotten their full story. I didn't know what really broke them and made them into a realistic characters. But finally, Warren allowed me to see their story, and I'm glad that she did.

The writing is clear and concise. I go to Warren when it comes to describing a place. I have studied and studied and tried to mimic her style in describing places, but I'm no where good as she is. I love how I can feel the wind in my hair or the sun beating down on me. In Troubled Waters, she made me cringe with the number of water's scenes. I hate water, so this book made me cringe even more than normal.

As for Ian, he is a broken man who tries to place order in his life. In Troubled Waters, I saw a humble and broken man who transforms into something wonderful. I admired him more and more as the story progressed. He made me fall in love with him just like Sierra did. As for Sierra, she is also a broken woman who wanted better things. Ian included. The story of forgiveness and transformation reached really down hard into me and reminded me of some areas of my life that I need to forgive.

I really enjoyed the plot in this one. Might because of all the survival shows my husband has watched and I catch while reading next to him. I thought of ways Ian and Sierra could have used things nearby to survive. Like I said earlier, I don't like deep water and stay far away from lakes, oceans, or anything to do with those things, so Troubled Waters had many moments of me wanting to flip through the pages, but I'm glad I didn't. I really enjoyed the high action plot with Ian using his survival skills to save others.

Overall, Troubled Waters by Susan May Warren is a fast-moving story set in the hills of Montana and traveling down to the Florida Keys with a top-notch survival of key players. The characters transformation was my favorite part of the story. I believe fans of Warren's previous works will be glad to see another great book. Fans of contemporary romance will enjoy this novel too. It does have a lot of romance in it.

I received a complimentary copy of Troubled Waters by Susan May Warren from Revell Publishing, but the opinions stated are all my own.

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

What I Learned in 2017(Part I)

By Kelly Bridgewater

There are many teachable moments in life. As a Christian, I have a hard time learning what God wants to teach me all the time. Sometimes He has to hit me upside the head or take something away for me to depend more deeply on Him.

The one thing I learned last year that I know is important is ANGER.

Yes, that is right.

Anger.

I learned that it is okay to be mad at God. I know this is probably going against what we learn in church. We should ALWAYS love and adore God, but what about when things go wrong.?

In 2017, my immediate family and I had a lot of injustices done to us that I had a hard time wanting to stay focused on God. I even had many moments where I didn't want to believe in God. There were moments I asked trusted Christians friends if it was really worth it. All the trouble my family is going through is not right. We didn't do anything to deserve this.

Why is God ignoring my prayers?

Why is God picking on me?

Why do a lot of my friends have nice lives with the big houses, newer cars, and nothing appears to go wrong?

The key word there is "appears." Do you have any of those friends on Facebook with the perfect house, the perfect job, the beautiful kids who do nothing wrong? Their parents are always showing off how easy it was to sell one house the same day they listed it and found their new house the exact day they traveled to a new city. 

The mother is not overweight, has no bags under her eyes, and her children are so perfect. What does she do that makes her life just right? Even as a child, they have never struggled. Perfect Christian education. Perfect Christian parents that loved them, supported them, and are still happily married. Went to an expensive Christian college. Married a great guy. Never struggled financially or emotionally.

Sometimes I wish they had real struggles. Like mine. Struggles where you spend days on a phone arguing with the injustice done to you. Struggles with their teenage kids. Struggles with paying their bills. Struggles with their faith. Struggle at all. (I do understand it is Facebook, and it could all just be pictures, not reality. But sometimes it drives me nuts that this is the persona they portray.)

Come back next week where I will show you my solution to this anger issue.

Have you ever felt like this? What did you do?

Lynette Eason: Oath of Honor

By Kelly Bridgewater

Police officer Isabelle St. John loves her crazy, loud, law-enforcement family. With three brothers and two sisters, she's never without someone to hang out with--or fight with. And she knows they'll be there for her when things get tough. Like when her partner is murdered and she barely escapes with her own life.

Determined to discover exactly what happened, Izzy's investigation sends her headfirst into a criminal organization, possibly with cops on the payroll--including someone from her own family. With her dead partner's handsome homicide detective brother Ryan shadowing her every move, Izzy's head is spinning. How can she secure justice for her partner when doing so could mean sending someone she loves to prison? And how will she guard her heart when the man she's had a secret crush on for years won't leave her side?

With her signature fast-paced, edge-of-your-seat action, Lynette Eason invites readers into a captivating new series where justice is a family affair.

From Amazon

My Thoughts:

Lynette Eason is widely popular romantic suspense author, who I have read every single one of her books and novellas. She knows what the fans of romantic suspense want. Non-stop action with a hint of romance. She is heavier on the suspense versus the romance, so if you prefer more romance than suspense or prefer fifty-fifty than she might not be the author for you. As for me, that is what I like. I think suspense should be the majority of the focus, than the romance buds along the way.

The plot for her opening book Oath of Honor to her Blue Justice series is wild. From the first chapter where we meet Isabelle as she mingles with her wild and huge family, I was engrossed in this active family. From there the mystery takes off, throwing me for a loop in every chapter. Eason is a master at ending chapters with cliff-hangers, so she allows the reader, me included, to stay up way too late, trying to finish one more chapter, but then the next thing I know, I have finished the book. Oath of Honor is no exception. I finished the book in a little over one day, and loved it.

Isabelle is a police officer with a huge family. We meet her parents and all her siblings. They're a loving family who supports each other. Isabelle fights for the right for justice for a death of a friend, and the rest of the story centers around finding that killer. Enters Ryan. Her best friend's brother and the guy she had a crush on for  a long time. With the troubles arising, Ryan and Isabelle try to deny the feelings they have for each other, but like I mentioned earlier, most of the story focuses on putting together the pieces to find the murderer and bring him to justice. Not the romance.

Overall, Oath of Honor is a great introduction to a new series by Lynette Eason. With plenty of nail-biting, page-flipping moments and characters who stand out with their big families, Oath of Honor is another book for my Eason keeper shelf. I believe fans of Carrie Stuart Parks, DiAnn Mills, and Dani Pettrey will enjoy this book.  

I received a complimentary copy of Oath of Honor by Lynette Eason from Revell Publishing, but the opinions stated are all my own.

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars