“As a child, artist and potter Dani Bennett witnessed the brutal murder of her parents. With no memory of the incident or her true identity, she was forced to take on a new name and a new life, hidden away in Montana for the past 25 years.
Skeptical but curious, Dani sets out on a journey to uncover the secrets of her past and reclaim her true identity. But someone close to her is determined to keep the truth of what happened all those years ago hidden.”
Series: Book #2 in the “Pearl River” series. Book #1’s review Here!
Spiritual Content- Scriptures are read, remembered, & quoted; Prayers & Thanking God; Church going; Talks about God, having peace from Him, & trusting God; 'H's are not capital when referring to God; Alex thinks about how God sometimes answers her prayers in ways she didn’t want; Mark shares his testimony (about someone witnessing to him) with Dani; Dani has never felt the peace that Mark and her uncle has shared about & Mark comments that it may be that God isn’t her God like He is their God; Dani feels comfort in Psalm 56:3 after Mark shares it with her & repeats it multiple times; Mark feels that sometimes he can claim verses and feel peace, but other times “the darkness had such a hold on him, he froze”; Dani has gotten out of the habit of attending church, but does once in this book with the others; *Major Spoilers about the Villain* The killer of Dani’s parents and uncle is a pastor; He never had any choice about being a preacher as his father and grandfather were preachers; When he’s not expected to make it through, he asks Dani for her forgiveness and when she doesn’t want to forgive him, he adds that the forgiveness is more for her and not feeling like she’s being eaten away (he knows from experience with his father) *End of Major Spoilers*; Dani prays that God will forgive her for telling a lie to a murderer; Mentions of God, having peace from Him, trusting God, & forgiveness; Mentions of Bibles, Bible reading, Bible studies, & commentaries; Mentions of prayers, praying, answered prayers, a prayer chain, & Blessings over food; Mentions of churches, church going, services, a pastor, a sermon, & worship; A few mentions of someone becoming a Christian because his boss introduced him to Jesus; A few mentions of a cross tattoo (crudely done); A couple mentions of those in the Bible; A couple mentions of being Blessed; A mention of saving souls; A mention of a gold cross; A mention of some church congregates expecting a pastor to be able to pull miracles out of a hat; A mention of Christmas; A mention of Easter; A mention of seminary; A mention of a fire-and-brimstone preacher; A mention of a sermon being “more anecdotal than hellfire and brimstone”;
*Note: A sarcastic Hallelujah is said; Mark feels like there’s darkness in him due to events from his time in the military (Dani encourages him that there’s more light in him); Dani asks why people have to be so evil (in regards to what happened to her family); Mentions of evil & the evil that some do to others (& those who were victims like Dani are not responsible for it); A few mentions of luck & being lucky; A mention of a pharmaceutical drug creating miracles in patients; A teasing mention of Mark putting a spell on an older woman (that’s typically not friendly).
Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘darn’, a ‘shut up’, and two ‘stupid’s; A couple mentions of curses (said, not written); Some eye rolling; *Spoiler* Shooting a murderer who is holding others hostage (up to semi-detailed) *End of Spoiler*; Finding a body & the smell of death (border-line barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed); Being attacked, Being held hostage, Being held at gunpoint, Being shot at, Being shot, Gunshots/Gunfire, An explosion, Fighting (self-defense), Being threatened, Pain, Injuries, & Passing out (up to semi-detailed); Seeing someone have a heart attack & the aftermath of a stroke (up to semi-detailed); Nightmares (of past events including military work & parents yelling, up to semi-detailed); Grief & Shock (up to semi-detailed); In the first chapter, we see that Dani’s father was verbally & physically abusive to her and her mother, her parents yelling at each other (it’s commented that he always “smelled funny” when he yelled at her mother), & they are killed off-page (a few mentions of the loud “booms” and them laying on the ground; Parts of that night are recalled a few times, border-line barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed); Dani doesn’t remember her parents or anything about her life prior to the age of nine & her uncle gets upset when she asks questions about their life before they moved to Montana; Dani wonders who could have killed her parents & wonders if the killer found it hard to kill a child like she was as at that time (she also wonders if the killer was her uncle & she’s torn apart by the thought); Dani grieves the death of a mother-like figure (from cancer) & *Major Spoiler* her uncle *End of Major Spoiler*, barely-above-not-detailed); Many of Mae’s friends think she’s obsessed with what happened the nights of the murders, but she doesn’t care what they think because they didn’t lose their whole family like she did; Dani tries to avoid lying to her uncle, but doesn’t correct his mistaken thoughts; Mark shares about a military event that ended with many killed (including his teammates, up to semi-detailed); *Spoiler* Mark feels to blame for the death of a woman he loved & recalls what happened during their time in the military (twice, up to semi-detailed) *End of Spoiler*; Mark has nightmares of events from when he was in the military as a sniper (gunfire and deaths, up to semi-detailed); Dani recalls her parents arguing; A dog is shot at & the side of her head is hit (but will be fine; it’s implied that the shooter was aiming for her); A villain threatens to kill a dog; A dog is drugged (barely-above-not-detailed); All about many, many mentions of murders, how they happened, the killers, crimes, crime scenes, criminals, burglaries, a burglary ring, heists, burglars/intruders, break-ins, thieves, stealing, stolen items, & threats (border-line barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed); Mentions of buried bodies, the decomposing, & finding them (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of war, military actions, bombs, a child bomber, deaths, & weapons (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of grief, deaths, & how the deaths happened (including one from cancer; for a mother-like figure, a father, a husband, an uncle, a daughter, a loved one, & a missing granddaughter, border-line barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed); Mentions of hostages & being held at gunpoint; Mentions of gunshots/gunfire, a shoot-out, being shot at, being shot, shooters, being attacked, pain, blood/bleeding & passing out (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of a bullet grazing a dog, a shooter hitting a dog, a man aiming a gun at a dog, & the possibility of a dog being shot; Mentions of bad car accidents (with no fatalities mentioned); Mentions of jails, prisons, & arrests; Mentions of a pool hall (implies that trouble and riff-raff hangs out there); Mentions of drinking, drunks, being sober, a man having a drinking problem, some drinking too much, & bars; Mentions of tobacco, cigarettes, pipes, & smoking (including side-characters smoking pipes); Mentions of a stroke, a heart attack, symptoms, & the aftermath (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of lies, lying, & withholding information from someone; Mentions of childish phone-call pranks; Mentions of hunting & hunters; A few mentions of Mark trying drugs, alcohol, and therapy for his nightmares but nothing helping except God and dogs; A few mentions of a wife leaving her husband (due to his drinking); A few mentions of underage drinking and gambling at a casino; A few mentions of a prison tattoo of a cross (which was crudely done); A few mentions of gossip; A few mentions of hatred; A few mentions of a boy teasing young girls & getting punched in the nose by one of them for it; A couple mentions of a death in a logging accident (Mae’s husband); A couple mentions of kidnappings; A couple mentions of a missing child (found okay); A couple mentions of potential injuries; A couple mentions of teenagers having too much alcohol & causing trouble; A couple mentions of possible drownings; A couple mentions of the possibility of falling to death; A couple mentions of fires & potential fires; A couple mentions of a teenager being teased for his mom being on drugs & then for being in the foster care system after her death; A mention of a man threatening a single mom with telling CPS that she was doing drugs around her daughter (she wasn’t); A mention of envy; A mention of a Dani as a child wetting herself (& her father going to be unhappy if that happened); A mention of a glare at someone that made them look like a “chicken-killing dog”; A mention of a child saying something hurt that hurts another child’s feeling (a young Dani in a memory);
*Note: Someone tells Dani that her uncle has conditioned her to agree with him & that he’s controlling and manipulative towards her (Dani isn’t sure about that, but later sees signs that he groomed and manipulated her into believing she was dependent on him); Dani’s uncle is very protective & controlling towards her (*Spoilers* Even going as far as telling someone that she’s under the care of a psychiatrist (untrue) and too fragile to live by herself; He also installed two tracker apps on her phone without her knowing *End of Spoilers*); *Spoiler* A couple people tell Dani that her father being a criminal is no reflection on her *End of Spoiler*; When Dani shares about her high school experience, Mark asks if she’s ever thought of “thumbing her nose” at the people who didn’t notice her now that she’s a successful potter and artist (she hasn’t); A man gets upset with Dani & is very rude towards her because of her family (he’s bitter towards the situation and even says he’s not sorry that a man is dead because he ruined his life); Dani comments on wishing she was homeschooled, but her uncle thought she needed social interaction (she adds that he was probably right, but she hated it); After their move, Dani didn’t talk for a year and her uncle had her see a psychiatrist for a couple of years; Mentions of stores, franchises, brand names, & items (Walmart, Wendy’s, Barbie, Blackwing pencil, iPhone, iPad, Dr Pepper, Band-Aid, Jell-O, Henley, Energizer Bunny, Tylenol, Vicks VapoRub, Formica, & a few different gun brands); Mentions of car brands; Mentions of social media sites & apps (Myspace, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Pinterest, & MapQuest); Mentions of TV shows, movies, & fictional characters (Murder She Wrote, Rugrats, Beauty and the Beast, Captain America, & Ebenezer Scrooge); A few mentions of a painting & artist (Van Gogh & Georgia O’Keeffe); A few mentions of hypnosis as a therapy for dissociative amnesia (Dani’s psychologist suggested that and it didn’t work for her; Mark thinks about suggesting for her to try it again); A couple mentions of Dani’s peers in high school thinking that she was stuck-up (she was very shy); A mention of Halloween; A mention of FedEx; A mention of AAA; A mention of yoga (Dani does “yoga stretches” when needing to stretch); A mention of the Westminster dog show.
Sexual Content- Two hand/finger kisses and two border-line semi-detailed // detailed kiss (both mentioning moaning or groans); Remembering kisses (barely-above-not-detailed); Touches, Embraces, Hand holding, Nearness, & Smelling (for the first half of the book, they are mostly comforting touches and embraces; including an embrace where Dani notices his abs, up to semi-detailed); Flutters, Winks, & Blushes; Noticing (including muscles, border-line barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed); Dani notices Mark’s muscles in a picture and thinks that he could be in “one of those calendars of firefighters and law enforcement officers showing off their pecs and biceps”, but then feels embarrassed about her “ogling the man like he was eye candy”; Mark says he isn’t husband material; Dani feels attracted and has flutters about Mark because he’s comfortable and “a little bit dangerous”; For her protection, Dani & Mark sleep in the same house (different rooms and there is no sexual tension about it); Alex isn’t sure why she’s dragging her feet about setting a wedding date, but *Spoiler* realizes towards the end that she’s scared because it’s a big commitment *End of Spoiler*; Dani fusses at herself for mooning over Mark just because he ticks all of her boxes of someone she would be interested in; Dani recalls the last man she mooned over (in college) that broke her heart because all he wanted was “another conquest he could brag about, another notch on his belt”; Dani is attracted to Mark, but when she hears that he doesn’t think he’s husband material, she thinks that she wasn’t looking for a husband but isn’t sure about what her feelings for Mark are; Mark teasingly flexes his muscles to Dani; Mentions of kisses & kissing; Mentions of boyfriends/girlfriends, dating, & dates; A handful of mentions of women fawning over Mark’s good looks; A few mentions of a young man staying the night with his girlfriend & his grandfather not approving of them doing that; A few mentions of husky & breathy voices; A few mentions of blushes; A couple mentions of heartbreak; A couple mentions of Dani not having much experience with men; A couple mentions of falling in love with a high school crush again (Book #1); A couple mentions of a school dance; A mention of a couple embracing; A mention of a honeymoon; A mention of a hot date; Attraction, love, falling in love, & the emotions;
*Note: A mention of a man not being shirtless but his shirt being very tight; A mention of kicking a man in the groin (self-defense).
-Dani Collins, age 34
-Mark Lassiter, age 34
-Mae Richmond, age 78
P.O.V. switches between them & Alex
385 pages
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Pre Teens-
New Teens-
Early High School Teens-
Older High School Teens-
My personal Rating-
{ Add up to a full star for Older Teens interested in law enforcement. }
This is my second book by this author and I was curious what it would be like after finding the first book in the series a bit too creepy for my tastes due to the horror game parts. It definitely wasn’t as creepy or really very creepy at all because of very different plot.
I did like both Dani and Mark well enough, but their dogs were probably my favorite characters. She has a Puli—more commonly known as the small version of the mop dog—and for some reason I really liked that detail? I also really liked all the pottery parts and this book encouraged my wishing for a potter’s wheel, haha!
I honestly got distracted by the found family/amnesia plotlines of this book at the beginning that when the suspense elements entered in, I was surprised and forgot about it being a suspense book! I would have been just fine reading about Mae wanting to find her granddaughter.
It was kind of strange to have the female lead from the first book’s point of view (Alex) in this book as well. But it mostly worked. It was a little odd and added to the page length, but I guess it was fine. I’m curious if we will have an extra POV like that in the third book.
If I could nit-pick one tiny thing it would be that the chapters were typically very short and ended abruptly so that there could be a change on point of view. It was a little jostling, but not that big of a deal. It did feel like an abrupt ending, though, as well. I expect that we’ll see these characters again in the next book of the series. Because of those abrupt endings (and the final ending), it definitely doesn’t feel like it’s wrapped up with a bow—which some readers may like, but I spent 400 pages with this book and I wanted a satisfying conclusion for at least Dani and Mark, her faith, their relationship, and the killer. While the killer is revealed at the end, it just felt rushed, especially for having 400 pages to work with.
There was a decent amount of faith content and I really like seeing Psalm 56:3 mentioned and quoted quite a few times because that’s the Mandie verse! (If you know, you know! ;) )
For the romance element, I never really felt that he was very attracted to her—especially not like she was attracted to him. For the majority of the book, we really only see her interest in him, so I thought she was being a bit unreasonable at times about thinking there was a spark between them. But I did like that Mark was very aware that the feelings he was starting to have for her was affecting his judgment. I don’t see that thought process much with male leads that fall in love with the girl they’re protecting.
Dani did something very stupid at one point towards the end that could have cost her life—easily. I mostly liked her and felt for her situation, but she did feel younger than her actual age and that’s probably because of the whole situation and her uncle basically hiding her away from others.
I’ve had a…well, I guess you could call it a rant, lately, on my heart about Christian Fiction books and I can’t talk about it because it’s a major spoiler for this book. There’s no way around it because it gives away the villain/killer. But that said, it did affect my overall enjoyment of the book some.
I did like this book more than the first book of the series, but there was little things that I wasn’t a fan of seeing and the romance felt a little off. I did like different (somewhat random) elements. Older girls interested in law enforcement and/or this plot may enjoy it.
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.
*I received this book for free from the Publisher (Revell) for this honest review.
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