Books for Christian Girls: "Always Look Twice" by Elizabeth Goddard

About this book:

  “Justice Lies Just on the Other Side of Fear
     At the advice of her therapist, homicide survivor Harper Reynolds has traded her job as a crime scene photographer for a more peaceful life taking photographs of the natural world. But her hopes for a life surrounded by the serenity of the outdoors are dashed when she inadvertently captures a murder being committed in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. She flees the scene in fear--and loses the camera.
    Former Green Beret Heath McKade is a reserve deputy in an understaffed county who has been called in to protect Harper, a childhood friend he is surprised to see back in the area. When Harper learns that the sheriff's department can't find any evidence of the murder she witnessed, she is determined to do what she can to see that justice is done. What neither Harper nor Heath could know is how many explosive secrets from the past will be exposed--or how deeply they will fall for each other.”

Series: Book #2 in the “Uncommon Justice” trilogy. Review of Book #1 Here!

Spiritual Content- Proverbs 18:10 at the beginning & also read, remembered, & quoted later in the story; Prayers & Thanking God; A few talks about God; 'H's are not capital when referring to God; Harper hasn’t prayed in a long time, but prays and wonders if God will hear her; Mentions of God; Mentions of prayers, praying, & thanking God; A few mentions of faiths; A couple mentions of Bibles & Bible reading; A mention of a come-to-Jesus moment; A mention of a Sunday service; A mention of being a Good Samaritan;
             *Note: A ‘for the love of Pete’ is said; A mention of the villain thinking that Providence is shining on him.

Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘blast’, a ‘screw-up’, a ‘shoot’, a ‘suck it up’, five ‘stupid’s, and seven ‘idiot’s; Seeing a murder & the killer (and recalling it, all up to semi-detailed); Seeing someone else shot and killed & the blood (border-line barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed); Finding a body that seems to be suicide (up to semi-detailed); Recalling seeing a murder of a loved one (Harper with her father’s death, up to semi-detailed); Pain, Injuries, Stiches, & Blood/Bleeding (up to semi-detailed): Explosions, Bombs, Fires, & Being caught in and near all of these (semi-detailed); Being locked in a moving vehicle (possibly an abduction/murder in progress), jumping out, & injuries (semi-detailed); Being close to a grizzly bear (close call and thinking about possibly having to kill or harm it in self-defense, semi-detailed); The villain/killer’s point of view on why he murdered people (he says he had no choice because they saw something they shouldn’t have) & his plans to kill others (barely-above-not-detailed); *Major Spoiler* The villain wants to die in a bomb instead of from cancer, and does so *End of Major Spoiler*; Harper has PTSD (homicide survivor’s guilt) after a traumatic event as a child (seeing her father murdered) & her job as a crime scene photographer; Per her therapist’s suggestion, Harper is taking a year break from her job after working on a case that hits close to home for her & has triggered grief and depression; Harper and her sister have a couple conversations about their father’s murder & recalling harsh words said to each other; Heath feel like he is to blame for his mother’s death & his father become an angry monster after her death; All about many, many mentions of murders, witnessing a murder (it’s also said that the woman was being chased and hunted by the killer), murderers, shooters, the terror of such an event, violence, crimes, crime scenes, deaths, bodies, pain, injuries, & blood/bleeding (up to semi-detailed); Many mentions of bombs/explosions, bombers, terrorists, fires, smoke, & injuries (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of a possible suicide & how it happened (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of car crashes, deaths, drinking, a drunk, possible drunk driving, injuries, seizures, & someone being in a coma; Mentions of having guilt after someone dies; Mentions of a mother leaving her (verbally and physically) abusive and drunk husband & leaving her young children with him (*Spoiler* Heath’s mother and when she came back to try again, there was a house fire and she was killed in it; Heath feels guilt about this because he begged her to come back home *End of Spoiler*); Mentions of being shot, psychological pain, weapons, gunfire, & screams; Mentions of injuries, stitches, passing out, & blood/bleeding (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of missing people; Mentions of the Holocaust & an anti-government group that denies the Holocaust happened; Mentions of a stolen car; Mentions of hunting, hunters, & stuffed animal heads; Mentions of cancer, chemotherapy, & someone being near death (border-line barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed); Mentions of nightmares of past traumatic events (childhood traumas); Mentions of lies & lying; Mentions of throwing up; A few mentions of outlaws & robbing a bank; A few mentions of arrests; A couple mentions of 9/11; A couple mentions of women who have been stalked, abused, or traumatized in some way having a look of fear on their faces; A couple mentions of threats; A couple mentions of a child being upset by her parents’ fighting; A couple mentions of abused animals; A couple mentions of jealousy; A mention of a war zone; A mention of a DUI; A mention of drugs; A mention of prison time; A mention of a possible fight; A mention of possible insurance fraud; A mention of a divorce; A mention of animal droppings;
             *Note: Mentions of car brands; A few mentions of brand names (Nikon & iPad); A couple mentions of someone being on medication for mild bipolar depression; A mention of the author Louis L’Amour; A mention of Wyatt Earp in Tombstone.

Sexual Content- Two cheek kisses, two forehead/head kisses, an almost (barely-above-not-detailed) kiss, a barely-above-not-detailed kiss, two semi-detailed kisses, and a border-line semi-detailed // detailed kiss; Recalling a kiss & an almost kiss (barely-above-not-detailed); Wanting to kiss someone (barely-above-not-detailed); Touches, Embraces, Hand holding, Nearness, & Smelling; Wanting to touch & embrace (barely-above-not-detailed); Blushes & Winks; Noticing & Staring (including form-fitting jeans and curves, barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of kisses & kissing; Mentions of dating, dates, boyfriends, & girlfriends; Mentions of flirting, blushes, & winks; A few mentions of crushes; A couple mentions of jealousy; A mention of a guy being said to look gorgeous; Love, falling in love, & the emotions.

-Harper Reynolds
-Heath McKade
                                P.O.V. switches between them, Liam (x3), & the villain (x5)
                                                        367 pages

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My personal Rating-

After devouring the first book in this series, I’ve been eagerly awaiting to read this second book. Mainly because of Heath who we saw in “Never Let Go” and how he instantly intrigued me, but also because of Harper being a crime scene photographer.

After finishing this novel, I’ll say that I found them both to be fine characters. They didn’t capture my attention like Willow and Austin from the prior book, but I still enjoyed reading their story. I thought it was really interesting, though, that Heath felt different from the first book. I think that may because of the difference in who is viewing him (his younger brother that looks up to him vs himself). With Harper and her job, I found the crime scene photography parts fascinating. There wasn’t as many parts of that aspect like I was expecting, but that’s because she’s been on leave for a year, after a hard case. Harper was actually harder for me to connect to because of her not wanting to accept help from others and her lack of reason about a possible villain, but other than that, she was fine and I thought the ending was different and wasn’t expecting how it would all go.

I do wish there had been more faith content because there wasn’t much. My main negative, I suppose, would be that Heath and Harper both looked at themselves as “too broken” and not worthy of the other’s love, which I see so much Christian Romantic Suspense that I had to try hard not to be annoyed at them. I wanted them to get over it and lean on their faiths on those parts. Overall, this wasn’t a bad story, I was interested and stayed interested throughout the 300+ pages. I plan to continue the trilogy and read the last book, Liam’s story, soon.

See y’all on Friday with a new review!