Books for Christian Girls: "Don't Keep Silent" by Elizabeth Goddard

About this book:

  “Justice comes easy for these two. But forgiveness? That's another matter altogether.
   Investigative reporter Rae Burke will do anything to find her missing sister-in-law, even if it means facing Liam McKade, a man who almost lost his life saving hers. A former DEA agent, Liam thought he could find peace at his Wyoming ranch, but he doesn't feel at home anywhere anymore. When the reporter who blew his cover on an important investigation inserts herself back into his life, he's less than thrilled. But Rae's keen investigative skills have led her down the right path--and directly into the dragon's mouth--leaving Liam no choice but to protect her.
   As the danger increases, the past they both tried to flee catches up to them, along with the feelings they once had for each other . . .”

Series: Book #3 in the “Uncommon Justice” trilogy. Review of Book #1 Here! And Book #2 Here!

Spiritual Content- Proverbs 31:8-9 at the beginning; A Scripture is mentioned; Prayers; 'H's are not capital when referring to God; Mentions of God, Him opening doors, & trusting Him; Mentions of prayers & praying; A mention of devotionals; A mention of someone being a godsend; A mention of not knowing someone from Adam; A mention of thinking of someone as a martyr; A mention of Rae exposing sins in her writing;
             *Note: Rae doesn’t understand why humans commit “such heinous acts against fellow humans” and thinks that she wouldn’t ask the creator of the universe why, because “there would be no way to comprehend his answer” (this is not mentioned or brought up again later); Mentions of evils in the world & a man being killed by them; A mention of someone wanting to escape the “living hell” he is currently in; A mention of someone’s demons; A mention of Rae idolizing her father.

Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘dumb’, a ‘shut up’, a ‘stinking’, a ‘sucker’, and two ‘stupid’s; A mention of curses (said, not written); Some Sarcasm; Pain (including emotional), Injuries, Seeing others shot (one killed), Being followed, Being ran-off the road, Being drugged, & being abducted (semi-detailed); Recalling a couple near-death experiences (up to semi-detailed); The prologue is set in the point of view of a woman running away from her abductors, being faced with the possibility of dying, & falling through an frozen pond (semi-detailed); Alan is emotionally distraught after this wife disappears and later thinks that while he isn’t violent, he would kill the man who took his wife away from him; Rae has a panic attack (border-line barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed); All about many, many mentions of abductions, abductors, kidnappings, a missing woman, her possibly being dead, bodies, stalkers, being stalked, physical abuse, beatings, injuries, ransoms, blackmail, & threats (semi-detailed); All about many, many mentions of criminals, crimes, crime scenes, violence, money laundering, drug dealers, drug trafficking, human trafficking, trafficking rings, gangs, & prisons; Many mentions of murders, murderers, & how it happened (up to semi-detailed); Many mentions of pain, blood/bleeding, injuries, bullets/gunfire, shootouts, being held at gunpoint, being shot, being left for the dead, being tied up and threatened, & near-death experiences (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of wars, battles, bombs, killings, & deaths (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of husbands and wives fighting & news stories of them killing each other; Mentions of a police officer thinking that Alan killed his wife & has her body somewhere (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of a fire & death (of a loved one, barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of being ran-off the road, falling down a mountainside, & attempted murders (semi-detailed); Mentions of break-ins, stealing, thieves, thefts, stolen items, & embezzling; Mentions of an alcoholic father, alcohol, drinking, drunks, drunk driving, & deaths; Mentions of lies, lying, & liars (including Alan lying to his daughter about where her mother is); A few mentions of capital punishment & innocent men dying; A couple mentions of a mother leaving her sons with her abusive husband (Liam’s mother); A couple mentions of grieving the loss of a loved one; A couple mentions of hiring a hit man & hits; A couple mentions of divorces; A couple mentions of abused horses & horse abusers (including the mention of a car resting on its side like an abused horse that wants to die); A couple mentions of hunters & hunting; A mention of an avalanche & death; A mention of children not deserving the loss of a parent (yet it happens every day); A mention of cigarettes; A mention of tattoos;
             *Note: Rae & Liam both mention a few times about seeing some victims never getting justice because law enforcement can’t be everywhere & that people die and bad guys get away; Mentions of social media (YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, & Instagram); Mentions of car brands; A couple mentions of PTSD; A mention of an actor (Jason Statham); A mention of Barbie dolls.

Sexual Content- A not-detailed kiss and two detailed kisses; Recalling a kiss (up to semi-detailed); Wanting to kiss (up to semi-detailed); Touches, Embraces, Warmth, & Nearness (up to semi-detailed); Remembering touches & embraces (barely-above-not-detailed); Wanting to touch & embrace (up to semi-detailed); Noticing & Smelling (barely-above-not-detailed); Winks; A ‘babe’ and a ‘baby’; Many mentions of sex trafficking, traffickers, Rae almost being trafficked while undercover, women being violently assaulted, & women in prisons being recruited for sex buyers (all that’s said on the details of such content is that it’s a “never-ending nightmare”, their clients being a part of an “exclusive high-mountain club”, a man “having his fun” with a woman, men paying for a tryst with a woman, that often times women were “used…then disposed of”, & a few hints of what could be happening to a woman (but nothing is actually said beside it being torture); Mentions of a possible affair/cheating and/or a wife leaving her husband; Mentions of kisses & kissing (barely-above-not-detailed); A few mentions of a child being conceived in an assault; A few mentions of couples (married and dating) kissing; A few mentions of jealousy & possessiveness; A few mentions of dates & dating; A couple mentions of flirting; Love, falling in love, & the emotions.

-Rae Burke
-Liam McKade, age 31
                      P.O.V. switches between them, Alan, & Prologue in someone else’s
                                                        368 pages

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Pre Teens-

New Teens-

Early High School Teens-

Older High School Teens-

My personal Rating-

I’ve been really looking forward to finishing this trilogy after really enjoying the first and second book, but unfortunately, this third book wasn’t what I hoped it would be.

I think it’s because of a few different reasons:

1. I struggled with this book much more than I expected to. Is it because I’m struggling following the plot? Because Rae keeps making not the greatest choices? Because she feels super young in her reactions and thoughts? Because of the second chance romance that barely has any interest on his part? Hmm, I guess it could be all of the above.

2. It’s no secret that I’m not a big fan of the second chance romance/relationship trope and with this novel, we’re teased until halfway through were we finally get the full story on what exactly happened prior.

3. We’re told so much in both the prior comment and then also at the end with the big reveal. When it comes to my suspense books, I incredibly dislike being told in conversations what happened and why the suspense elements of the plot played-out in a conversation. I want to see it happen on the pages, not be told in a lot of dialogue. So that was unfortunate about this book’s ending and knocked off a star in my personal rating.

As far as books that indirectly deal with human trafficking, it was probably one of the cleanest and there wasn’t too much other content outside of the typical suspense content (kidnappings, blood, gunfire, etc.). So, it wasn’t a bad read, just one I guess I had higher expectations of before reading.

See y’all on Friday with a new review!