Books for Christian Girls: "Cold Light of Day" by Elizabeth Goddard

About this book:

  “Police Chief Autumn Long is fighting to keep her job in the quiet Alaska town of Shadow Gap when an unexpected string of criminal activity leaves her with a wounded officer, unexplained murders, and even an attack on her own father. Despite her mistrust of outsiders, she turns to Grier Brenner, a newcomer who seems to have the skills and training Autumn needs to face this threat to her community.
   Grier is in Alaska for the same reason so many others are--to disappear--when Chief Long enlists his help. He emerges from the shadows and proves his mettle, but his presence in her life could be a deadly trap for them both. If his secret is exposed, all will be lost. And he's not sure even Autumn could save him.
   As the stakes rise and the dangers increase, Autumn and Grier must rely on each other to extinguish the deadly threats.”

Series: Book #1 in the “Missing in Alaska” series.

Spiritual Content- Micah 6:8 at the beginning & read a few times in the story; A handful of Scriptures are read, remembered, & referenced; Prayers & Thanking God; Talks about God; 'H's are not capital when referring to God; Mentions of God, His purpose, & being in His hands; Mentions of prayers & praying; A few mentions of a man’s truck having “Jesus Saves” and other Christian phrases and symbols on it; A few mentions of blessings & being Blessed; A couple mentions of having faith; A couple mentions of Sunday school classes; A mention of God’s creation; A mention of a chapel & wanting to pray; A mention of a miracle; A mention of a godsend;
             *Note: A couple mentions of a villain saying he attended the best Catholic schools & quoting “there is a season for everything”; A couple mentions of a witch hunt (the phrase, not literally); A mention of it seeming like someone has the “forces of the universe” against them.

Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘blah, blah, blah’, a ‘blasted’, a ‘dumb’, three ‘stupid’, and five ‘idiot’s; Being tortured, pain, & wanting to die (waterboarding, up to semi-detailed); Almost being shot, Being abducted, Being held at gunpoint, Being attacked, Fighting, Gunfire, Pain, Blood/Bleeding, & Seeing others killed, shot, or almost shot (up to semi-detailed); Shooting & killing a criminal (barely-above-not-detailed); Seeing murders & people being killed (semi-detailed); Seeing a car going over a railing (up to semi-detailed); Rescuing others from drowning (up to semi-detailed); Finding bodies (x4, all were affected by nature or animals) & figuring how what happened to them (semi-detailed); A mudslide (semi-detailed); An almost panic attack (barely-above-not-detailed); Autumn’s mother saved her from drowning & was never found (this is recalled by Autumn a couple times and she feels to blame for her mother’s death, *Spoiler* her mother is actually alive and faked her death *End of Spoiler*); Some eye rolling; All about many, many mentions of murders, murderers, bodies, how the murders happened, nature & animals affecting the bodies, seeing murders, seeing people shot, shooters, manhunts for criminals, seeing people held at gunpoint, gunfire, gunshots, blood/bleeding, injuries, pain, missing people, the possibility of being killed, drownings, near drownings, violence, crimes, crime scenes, & criminals; (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of a possible suicide attempt; Mentions of beatings & torture (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of abductions & being drugged; Mentions of hostages & being held hostage; Mentions of avalanches, mudslides, people being killed in them, & injuries (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of fighting, fights, & attacks; Mentions of organized crime groups & trafficking rings (arms, drugs, & people); Mentions of money laundering; Mentions of threats; Mentions of prisons, jails, & arrests; Mentions of dirty cops & officials; Mentions of car accidents, injuries, & deaths (of someone’s parents); Mentions of alcohol, drinking, drunks, drunk driving/DUI, & a bar (including Autumn’s father falling into depression and alcoholism after traumatic events); Mentions of lies, lying, & liars; Mentions of someone’s dog missing & possibly being hurt or dead (the dog is okay); A few mentions of wars (Vietnam & WWII); A few mentions of burglaries, robberies, & break-ins; A few mentions of bringing closure to families of missing people; A few mentions of grief (shown on the pages for a man with his nephew); A few mentions of hunters; A couple mentions of an explosion; A couple mentions of domestic violence; A couple mentions of parents fighting; A couple mentions of stolen cars; A couple mentions of bribes (to government officials); A couple mentions of hypothermia; A couple mentions of gossip; A mention of serial killings; A mention of embezzlement; A mention of eavesdropping; A mention of wounded wildlife;
             *Note: Mentions of Bigfoot and Nantiinaq (& the town cryptozoologist talking about and trying to find him often); Mentions of car, gun, & camera brands; A few mentions of an iPad; A few mentions of fictional characters (Captain America & Steve Rogers).

Sexual Content- Staring at someone’s lips (twice), an almost (semi-detailed) kiss, a barely-above-not-detailed kiss, and three semi-detailed kiss; Recalling an kisses (barely-above-not-detailed); Wanting to kiss (barely-above-not-detailed); Touches, Embraces, Hand holding, Nearness, & Smelling (up to semi-detailed); Wanting to touch & embrace (barely-above-not-detailed); Noticing & Staring (including Autumn staring a bit at Grier changing out of his diving suit, but looking away because it feels “inappropriate” to watch; barely-above-not-detailed); A few mentions of kisses & an almost kiss; A couple mentions of a man being obsessed with a woman because of her beauty; A couple mentions of blushes & winks; A mention of electricity when Autumn & Grier are in a room together; A mention of flirting; A mention of dating; Love, falling/being in love, & the emotions;
             *Note: Autumn hits a man in “his most vulnerable parts”; A few mentions of a wife planning to leave her family for another man.

-Autumn Long, age 30
-Grier Brenner, mid-thirties
                                P.O.V. switches between them & another (in the Prologue only)
                                                        352 pages

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Pre Teens-

New Teens-

Early High School Teens-

Older High School Teens-

My personal Rating-

{Not for those sensitive to murder or torture}

I’ve never been a fan of the “lost in the wilderness” trope (perhaps because that feels like camping and I am absolutely nota camping girl), so I was a little less than excited about this plot, but decided to give it a try because I recently read another trilogy by this author and enjoyed it.

The setting of this book felt like another world. I’ll be honest and say that a lot of the Alaska and diving and areas/places and cold weather things didn’t always make sense to me so I was lost and had to reread quite a few parts. This book reminded me of something I already knew: I’m a Texas girl through and through, who likes hot weather.

Besides those elements, I think my main struggle with this book is the fact that the reader is left out on knowing so much. His background, her family past. And when they finally tell or get told info, it gets cut off or the chapter ends without telling us anything but their reaction. I don’t like being left out in my suspense books. I want to be in the action and reveals with the main characters, right in the thick of it, but that’s definitely not how this book worked. I don’t feel like I got the answers I wanted until 70% in, so it was a struggle to stay interested in the plotline. I feel bad giving it a two-stars for my personal rating, but that means it was “okay” and that’s how I would describe my feeling for it.

See y’all on Friday with a new review!