Tag: book-reviews

Cloaked in Beauty

Cloaked in Beauty, Softcover, #3
By Karen Witemeyer / Bethany House

This book is a fun and enjoyable love story set in Texas beginning in 1881 . I chose it to read because I do like “journey stories”. An heiress to a shipping fortune on route back to her childhood home is guarded by a Pinkerton Agent. The young lady’s villainous uncle is committed to thwarting her arrival and makes plans to bring about her demise. The Pinkerton Agent is fully occupied keeping her safe. Along the way, major accidents and harrowing adventures threaten to keep them from their destination. The two main characters Letty Hood (aka Scarlett Radcliffe) and Philip Carmichael discover a deep admiration and abiding love for each other. The author portrays them both as capable and wise. Throughout the story they most often act unselfishly and care deeply about social justice. At first glance the wealthy heiress and traveling security guard may not seem like they could make a future together work, but the author resolves this perfectly. Reader’s will be happy with the conclusion. I also like the elements that gave a nod to fairy tales. There were many instances when what you might expect was turned upside down. For example: While Letty Hood needed protection, she was not damsel in distress. Her country upbringing while in hiding with her grandmother allowed her to acquire a range of skills that helped to keep her safe until she could reach her twenty-first birthday, return home, and claim her inheritance. The other element turned on its head was the wolf’s role in the story. No big bad wolf here. Just a loyal companion named “Rusty” who is a main character in his own right. The duo of Letty and Philip aren’t going to Grandma’s instead they leave her and make the journey away from her home, only to be reunited with her later. A true “fracture fairy tale” and a fun story to read. This book is Book #3 in the Texas Ever After Series

I read an ARC supplied by NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. #CloakedinBeauty, #NetGalley

Hidden in the Night

Hidden in the Night, Softcover, #3
By Elizabeth Goddard / Revell

This book is the third novel in Elizabeth Goddard’s Missing in Alaska series. I chose the book due to this unique setting and early mentions of retrieving a lost manuscript of Jack London. Goddard’s main character is a rare-book collector and former FBI agent. These plot ingredients were irresistible to me. There were many excellent parts to the book. The dialogue was concise and great. The Alaska setting was stellar. I could feel the cold wind. I especially liked all the action in the planes and the stealthy, night time escape by boat. The characters were realistic and interesting. As they moved through the story, they were very active in solving the plot’s mystery. The characters all had different motives for pursuing the lost manuscript and this brought the action to an apex. 

  The romantic theme running through the book was well balanced, with just enough emotion that moved the plot ahead but didn’t make it seem unrealistic or out of place. 

I was lukewarm about the conclusion to the manuscript story.  For me it bordered on the fantastical and made the book more like a doomsday sci-fi novel. Not a genre I typically choose to read. I might have been more in step with the novel if I had read the previous two books in this series. 

I thought the villains in this book were portrayed with sufficient measure of selfishness and greed. Both Carl and Donovan passionately pursued ill-gotten gains but their evil actions were thankfully thwarted by the good guys.  I always read author notes at the back of the book. The information shared here reminded me again why I chose the book to read in the first place. I also was a fan of Jack London’s Call of the Wild. I remember reading it many years ago. Readers will find Hidden in the Night full of action and fast-paced. I received a complimentary copy from the publisher Revell in exchange for my honest review.