Books for Christian Girls: "Countdown" by Lynette Eason

About this book:

  “A stalker who wants to finish what he started. A US Marshal who's vowed to protect his charge. And one woman who is determined to put the past in the past.
   Flight paramedic Raina Price has been running so long it's hard to stop. To escape a dangerous stalker, she changed her name and disappeared, building a new life with the help of a friend from her time in juvie. It feels good to put her energies into saving people's lives, but because her stalker was never found, she's never stopped looking over her shoulder. And one can only run so far before the past finally catches up.
   US Marshal Vincent Corelli's job is to hunt down fugitives and protect those who are assigned to him. When Raina is almost killed right in front of him, he vows to protect her at all costs--whether it's his job or not. Together they work to solve the mystery of Raina's past. But someone is out to make sure Raina doesn't live long enough to do it.”

Series: Book #4 and the final book in the “Extreme Measures” series. Reviews of Book #1 Here!, Book #2 Here! And Book #3 Here!

Spiritual Content- Isaiah 41:10 at the beginning; A couple Scriptures are mentioned; Prayers, Thanking God, & Blessings over food; Talks about God, trusting Him, God being in control, & having faith; 'H's are not capital when referring to God; Raina struggles with God being in control because “God seemed to fail her at just about every turn” but wants to trust Him and prays for Him to help her; Raina says that she thinks she’s in a questioning phase, but tries to trust God; Vincent talks to and encourages Raina about God being in control; Mentions of God, Him being in control, & having faith; Mentions of prayers, praying, & thanking God; A few mentions of being blessed (used twice by a man who does not say about having or not having a faith); A couple mentions of the book of Job; A mention of a “come to Jesus” moment;
             *Note: A few mentions of a superstition.

Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘holy smokes’, a cut-off ‘oh my—‘, a ‘rats’, a ‘sucking up’, two ‘idiot’s, two ‘shut up’s, four forms of ‘dumb’, and nine ‘stupid’s; Eye rolling & Sarcasm; A side character is killed on page in their point of view (gunshot, border-line barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed); Lots of helping others (in a medical sense), seeing injuries and blood, seeing neath deaths, seeing someone killed, & doing CPR on someone near death (up to semi-detailed); Being in a car accident/ran off the road, being kidnapped, being drugged (thrice), being shot, being shot at, gunfire, being attacked, fighting back in self-defense, almost drowning, having hypothermia, pain, injuries, blood/bleeding, & passing out (up to semi-detailed); A fire & smoke (up to semi-detailed); Seeing someone drugged (twice, once being attempted murder) & passed out (up to semi-detailed); Threats & seeing someone choke another; A side-character has a shot of whiskey; Raina has a stalker who has nearly killed her before and he did murder others close to her (She says he was abusive, narcissist, obsessive, possessive and violent, and made it where she would only depend on him, up to semi-detailed); *Spoiler* He is extremely upset to find out that she hide their child from him and he plans to make her pay *End of Spoiler*; Raina wants to tell her friends about her past but is scared that something will happen to them if she does; Raina has signs of PTSD and panic attacks but manages to head it off thanks to coping mechanisms; Many mentions of serial killers (including in Book #1), victims being beaten to death, murders, attempted murders, & threats of harm to loved ones (up to semi-detailed); Many mentions of abusive situations, victims, women who died by their husband or boyfriend’s hands, their major injuries, & PTSD *Spoiler* Vince’s sister was killed by her husband *End of Spoiler* (up to semi-detailed); Many mentions of accidents, car wrecks, drunk drivers, pain, injuries (including major), blood/bleeding, passing out, near deaths, & deaths (semi-detailed); Mentions of deaths, grief, & guilt (including a father, a wife, a son (car wrecks), and a mother (cancer), barely-above-not-detailed); Mention of kidnappings (one of the people was killed); Mentions of gunfire, being shot, being shot at, pain, injuries, & blood/bleeding (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of a fire; Mentions of Mafias, hits, arrests, jail/prison, & criminal activities/illegal actions; Mentions of juvie (Rania landed there when she was caught in a stolen car);Mentions of drugs, being drugged, symptoms, passing out, & drug addict (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of alcohol, drinking, underage drinking, teens trying to buy alcohol, drunk driving (and deaths), DUIs, & hangovers (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of lies, lying, & liars; Mentions of nightmares; Mentions of hatred; Mentions of throwing up; A few mentions of a man saying his wife left him when in reality, she died (she used to say that “the only way she’d ever leave was if she was dead”; *Spoiler* this greatly affected their son who has killed almost every women he’s dated when they said they would leave him *End of Spoiler*); A few mentions of a near death from an allergic reaction (barely-above-not-detailed); A few mentions of stealing & stolen cars; A couple mentions of embezzlement; A couple mentions of a divorce; A couple mentions of bullies; A mention of a man using Raina as a punching bag; A mention of someone being stabbed (Book #1); A mention of a robbery;
             *Note: Raina starts to wonder if a family would be better off without their husband/father that caused a bad accident while drunk driving, but quickly cuts off that thought; In Simon’s point of view, we see him compare his sons, say he loves one more than the other, calls the second son the “bane of his existence” & he also says he should have “smothered him as a baby” which someone comments that he’d be in prison and he says he’s not serious *Spoiler* Not being loved by his father and his mother’s death when he was young has affected his other son *End of Spoiler*; Mentions of fictional characters & places (Hulk, Wonder Woman, Iron Man, Superman, & Nancy Drew); A couple mentions of movies (Groundhog Day, The Fugitive); A couple mentions of the Super Bowl; A couple mentions of Boy Scouts; A couple mentions of Google; A mention of FaceTime; A mention of an iPad; A mention of a car brand.

Sexual Content- A fingers-to-lips touch, three head/forehead kisses, a nose kiss, a cheek kiss, five barely-above-not-detailed kisses, and three semi-detailed kisses; Remembering a kiss (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; Raina does not want to be in a relationship again after the number that her ex did on her; *Spoiler* Raina had a child with her abusive boyfriend at the time but we are not told any details about their physical relationship; Raina gave up her baby for his safety as she knew the father would harm him *End of Spoiler*; Mentions of kisses & kissing; A couple mentions of making googly eyes; A mention of Raina moving in with her boyfriend at the time; A mention of a married couple kissing; Love, falling in love, & the emotions;
             *Note: A couple mentions of a couple planning to start trying to have a child as “a pregnant wife was good [for his career]”; A mention of a woman who is not able to have biological children.

-Raina Price
-Vincent Corelli
                                P.O.V. switches between them, Simon, Trent (x1), & Michael (x1)
                                                        299 pages

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Pre Teens-

New Teens-

Early High School Teens-

Older High School Teens-

My personal Rating-

{Add a full star for older girls interested in this field}

Trigger warning: stalking, abusive boyfriends/husbands, and domestic violence

It’s always hard for me to say that I enjoyed a book when it deals with tough subjects like this one did. I enjoy the story, but I don’t enjoy seeing what the characters have gone through, obviously. It’s awkward to say that I enjoyed it, I’m sure other readers who have read this book or books like this know this dilemma.

First things first: I love the bit of a pro-adoption message, teared up at a few different parts and really liked the raw honesty that came with the faith discussions, which really took me by surprise and added to why I liked this book.

Vincent is a good guy, a bit pushy at times but realizes when it’s too much and backs off when needed. I thought that they were good together. Some of the romance was cheesy (particularly at the very beginning and very end) but they were cute together, so it didn’t bother me too much. I don’t typically like reading about a couple that already knew each other prior to the book starting, but it was okay with this one—also because I’ve read the prior books in the series and seen them together a bit before. I do wish Raina would have discussed things before jumping onto plans, but I gave her grace because she’s not used to including others. We—and they—trust her gut a lot, but I suppose that’s what’s needed when Raina has dealt with this stalker before.

This novel (like many others who feature a serial killer) really highlighted how a dysfunctional childhood can affect someone—either into rising above whatever it is and becoming a moral person or into becoming sociopath. We see Raina’s stalker’s family in one point of view and it showed a bit of how he became the way he is.

There was a lot of suspense in the book and I was eager to get to the justice scenes, so I feel like I might have read this book in a hurry. It was a satisfying conclusion to this series and not as bittersweet as I was expecting. I don’t think I could pick between this book and the third book, but the second book is definitely still my favorite from this series.

See y’all on Friday with a new review!