Wednesday, September 13, 2017

"Gathering Shadows" by Nancy Mehl



About this book:

  “Wynter Evans is a promising young reporter for a television station in St. Louis, but even a bright future doesn't take away her pain over the disappearance of her brother nine years ago. So when she stumbles across a photograph of a boy with an eerie resemblance to him, she can't pass up the chance to track him down. With research for work as her cover, she sets out with one of the station's photogs for the place where the picture was taken: the town of Sanctuary.
  Almost as soon as she arrives, she meets the town's handsome young mayor, Rueben King, and together they begin to uncover long held secrets that could tear the small town apart and change everything Wynter thought she knew about her life. As the truth of her family's past hides in the shadows, it's clear someone will stop at nothing to keep the answers she's searching for hidden forever--even if the cost is Wynter's very life.”



Series: Book #1 in “Finding Sanctuary” series. 



Spiritual Content- Proverbs 31:25-31 (paraphrased) at the beginning; Scriptures are read, remembered, quoted, & discussed; A few prayers & blessings over food; Church going, songs, & sermons; Being witnessed to; Many talks about God, being angry at Him, trusting Him, & forgiving; Talks about religion & religious people; ‘H’s are capital when referring to God; Wynter stopped going to church as a teen; *Spoiler* Wynter asks forgiveness near the end *End of Spoiler*; Many mentions of God; Many mentions of churches, church going, services, worship, pastors, & sermons; Mentions of prayers, praying, & blessing over food; Mentions of talks about God & churches; Mentions of those & events in the Bible; Mentions of Christians & faiths; Mentions of Amish, Mennonites, their beliefs, & churches; Mentions of blessings; Mentions of sins; Mentions of “religious nuts” & doubting; A few mentions of thanking God; A few mentions of Heaven; A few mentions of Christmases; A couple mentions of miracles; A mention of Sunday School;
*Note: Mentions of a man not liking religious people & being agnostic; Mentions of shrines; Mentions of evil; A mention of a man saying he’s lived through hell.


Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘shut up’, a ‘wimp’, two ‘idiot’s, three ‘stupid’s, and seven forms of ‘dumb’; Some eye rolling & sarcasm; Prologue is when Ryan was kidnapped/tricked (not violent, just a trigger warning); Being held at gunpoint & tied up (semi-detailed); Pain, being drugged, & passing out (up to semi-detailed); A car being ran off the road, pain, & blood/bleeding (semi-detailed); All about mentions of Ryan’s abduction/disappearance; Many mentions of murders, kidnappings, kidnappers, a serial killer, targets, crimes, criminals, bodies, & prisons (barely-above-not-detailed); Many mentions of threats & blackmail;  Mentions of a murder, body, & how it happened (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of killing (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of murders & a break-in; Mentions of pain, blood/bleeding, & injuries; Mentions of children physically abused; Mentions of child abductions & selling; Mentions of a drunk driver hitting & killing a child (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of alcohol, drinking, & bars; Mentions of drugs & growing marijuana; Mentions of cigarettes & smoking; Mentions of poisons & illnesses; Mentions of nightmares & screams; Mentions of divorces & parents walking out; Mentions of lies & lying; Mentions of gossip; A few mentions of an accident & deaths; A few mentions of hitmen & Mafia bosses; A few mentions of jealousy; A few mentions of a puppy shot & almost drowned (it ends up fine though); A couple mentions of child killers & abuse in prisons; A couple mentions of vandals & graffiti; A mention of roadkill; A mention of the possibility of a dog being ran over;
*Note: Mentions of actors/actresses, movies, TV shows, & characters.


Sexual Content- a fingers-to-lips touch, a hand kiss, a forehead kiss, and three barely-above-not-detailed kisses; Touches & Embraces (barely-above-not-detailed); Noticing; Mentions of kisses & kissing; Mentions of blushes & flutters; Mentions of dating, dates, interest, boyfriends, & girlfriends; A few mentions of smutty video & book stores; A few mentions of a pregnancy out of wedlock; A few mentions of good-looking men; A couple mentions of women hiding from their abusers; A mention of children sexually abused; A mention of having a type; Some love, falling in love, & the emotions;
            *Note: Mentions of a baby that died during labor; A couple mentions of butting into another’s business.

-Wynter Evans/Emily Erwin, age 23
                                          1st person P.O.V. of Emily
                                                     314 pages

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Pre Teens-
New Teens-
Early High School Teens-
Older High School Teens-
My personal Rating-
While at first, I was hesitate about reading this novel due to my strong dislike of the cover (I know, I know, that’s wrong) and the prologue being the abduction of Wynter’s little brother took me a bit by surprise, I did like this suspense novel. Overall it was a decent read. I wasn’t a fan of the insta-attraction of Wynter and the guy, it felt forced to me, personally. I did think it was neat, though, that this book was in first person point of view, which I don’t see too much for suspense books. There was also quite a bit of Spiritual Content, so that was nice! :)


See y’all on Friday with a new review!

*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.

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