Blind Trust by Natalie Walters - A Book Review

  

Agents at the SNAP Agency find themselves in the position of investigating threats made against one of their own, Agent Lyla Fox. Lyla's impulsive nature and her high tolerance of risk make protecting her difficult, and especially stressful to Agent Nicolás Garcia. Tensions between the two increase as does their awareness of the attraction between them. Natalie Walters has penned a romantic suspense with international intrigue, danger, family drama, and romance with just a bit of sizzle. Suspicions are planted and surprises spring at just the right times to keep readers thoroughly engaged with the story. The humor provided by the team's self-proclaimed IT genius is well played providing the needed break when tensions reach the breaking point. Blind Trust is a very enjoyable read.

I am grateful to have received a complimentary of this book from Revell through LibraryThing without obligation. All opinions expressed here are my own.

Desperate Measures by Sandra Orchard – A Book Review

          

    Desperate Measures is the third book in the Port Aster Secrets series.  I read the books out of order, book two, then book one, and finally book three.  I was able to follow the storyline, and felt in reading book two first that it worked well as a stand-alone read.  I do believe, however, reading books one and two first is important to truly comprehending book three. I have greatly enjoyed the series, and will look for other books by Sandra Orchard. 

     While in several series I’ve read lately each book focuses on a particular character from a family or group of friends, the Port Aster Secrets series follows the adventures of a plant researcher and amateur sleuth, Kate Adams, and her love interest, Detective Tom Parker.  Kate solves a variety of mysteries, many linked to a pharmaceutical company that has its eyes set on her research laboratory, and the mysterious plants she harbors.  Kate’s dogged determination to clear the names of loved ones, to restore relationships, and to ferret out the truth often frustrates Tom, who only wants to insure her safety. The author includes an abundance of red herrings, and does not make it easy on her readers to solve the variety of mysteries that pop up in this book and in this series. 

     My favorite quote in this whole series comes near the end of book three, “Isn’t it funny how often what we think we want is really only how we’d imagined getting it?...Makes me glad that sometimes God says no so he can give us what we truly desire.”  That second sentence is fairly easy to comprehend, but the first takes some rereading to truly capture the wisdom there. 

     I would highly recommend this book, but once again would encourage readers to read the first two books of the series before reading this one. I thank Revell Publishers and Christian Fiction Blog Alliance for providing Desperate Measures for my honest review. I did not receive any monetary compensation for a favorable review and the opinions expressed here are strictly my own.       

Blind Trust by Sandra Orchard – A Book Review

     Kate Adams is the Nancy Drew of pharmaceutical researchers, finding herself in increasing numbers of dangerous situations, some of her own making, some not.  Tom Parker would be the ideal person for her to develop a relationship with, a detective who is used to dealing with trouble, which seems to follow Kate everywhere she goes.  However both Kate and Tom have histories that complicate the matter. Sandra Orchard has also cast a large number of supporting characters who fall in and out of suspicion.  At one point in my reading, I thought I’d use an analogy of Ms Orchard and a tassel maker, someone who ties up all of the loose ends, but it wasn’t too many pages later when the ends began to unravel, and the mystery or should I say mysteries, took an unexpected turn.  Blind Trust will keep the reader up at night, and grabbing minutes whenever they can be found during the day, driven by a desire to know who is behind the counterfeiting that plagues this small town, who is behind the threats directed at Kate, and what is causing the erratic behavior displayed by Kate’s elderly neighbor.

     Ms Orchard has truly mastered the smooth flow of dialogue in her writing.  Conversations sound natural and not contrived, and her readers can easily immerse themselves into the scene being played out with this author’s skill. There is one drawback to Blind Trust, a significant one for me.  I am one of those readers who prefers book series in which the reader can enjoy getting more involved with a particular group of characters while feeling that each individual book comes to a conclusion.  This book does not fit that description.  If you are a reader who likes for the story to continue on throughout a series, lingering with the details of a particular storyline, then this book is for you.    

     Ms Orchard throws in a nice little bonus at the end of this book, a recipe for the muffins mentioned several times within the story.  Our three and a half year old granddaughter helped me to bake the muffins one Saturday afternoon because in her words she, “loves, Loves, LOVES muffins.”  These muffins were a big hit, but I will admit she talked me into doubling the cinnamon in the recipe so that they might taste “more like Daddy’s cinnamon rolls.”

     I received Blind Trust by Sandra Orchard compliments of Revell Publishers and Christian Fiction Blog Alliance for my honest review. I did not receive any monetary compensation for a favorable review and the opinions expressed here are strictly my own.  I hope many of you will also enjoy this book, book 2, from the Port Aster Secrets series.  Happy Reading!