"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! 

*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.

"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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Pre Teens- 

New Teens- 

Early High School Teens- 

Older High School Teens- 

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! 

*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.

"Never Let Go" by Elizabeth Goddard

About this book:

  “As a forensic genealogist, Willow Anderson is following in her late grandfather's footsteps in her quest for answers about a baby abducted from the hospital more than twenty years ago. The case may be cold, but things are about to heat up when someone makes an attempt on her life to keep her from discovering the truth.
    Ex-FBI agent--and Willow's ex-flame--Austin McKade readily offers his help to protect the woman he never should have let get away. Together they'll follow where the clues lead them, even if it means Austin must face the past he's spent much of his life trying to forget. And even if it puts Willow's tender heart at risk.”


Series: Book #1 in the “Uncommon Justice” trilogy. 


Spiritual Content- A couple Scriptures are remembered; Many Prayers & Thanking God; 'H's are not capital when referring to God; At one point, Willow feels like God is far away from her; Charlie is new to having a faith and prays for God to help her survive (she doesn’t understand why that if God cares about her, why this is all happening, but prays anyway); Katelyn has doubts about continue searching for her baby and thinks that “nothing in Scripture could help her silence the doubts”; Mentions of God; Mentions of prayers, praying, thanking God, & blessings over food; A few mentions of churches & church going; A couple mentions of someone saying another can do miracles; A mention of a Bible; A mention of a man being pushy about his religion, but Charlie was grateful that she listened to him on that point; A mention of being Blessed; A mention of a monk on the way to evening prayers; 
             *Note: A few mentions of battling demons; A mention of evil winning with the death of someone; A mention of someone being lucky; A mention of a Phoenix; A mention of a family curse being that they hide things from each other.
 

Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘heck’, a ‘hurts like heck’, a ‘shut up’, a ‘suck it up’, a ‘what the heck’, two ‘idiot’s, two ‘shoot’s, and seven ‘stupid’s; A couple mentions of curses (said, not written); A bit of sarcasm; Recalling seeing a murder of a loved one, being threatened, & being chased by a murderer (border-line barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed); Throwing a knife & killing someone (up to semi-detailed); Being shot, being tased, being held at gunpoint, being attacked, being abducted, being chased, a car wreck, pain, injuries, blood/bleeding, & passing out (up to semi-detailed); A break-in, being threatened with a knife, gunshots, & shooting at someone (self-defense, up to semi-detailed); A fire & being trapped (up to semi-detailed); Jumping into a river (barely-above-not-detailed); Thinking you could be killed & pushed down a ravine (barely-above-not-detailed); Panic attacks & close ones (up to semi-detailed); Nightmares (up to semi-detailed): Lying (for answers that they need and also to not reveal what they’re thinking); A dog runs away (and does not return); The prologue is of a woman stealing a newborn baby from a hospital (an abduction; the biological mother has cancer and wasn’t expected to live long); Grieving (Willow is grieving the sudden death of her grandfather who raised her & Charlie is grieving her mother); All about many mentions of abductions (mostly child abductions), the abductors, & ransom notes (including how Austin used to work in the Child Abduction Rapid Deployment team, a few mentions of someone having to shoot another who was going to kill a child in front of the child, and a couple mentions of a few children dying or almost dying at the hands of their abductors (either directly or indirectly), all up to semi-detailed); Many mentions of murders, murderers, seeing a murder, being threatened & a hit-and-run (which caused a death of someone on a bicycle, all up to semi-detailed); Mentions of car accidents, deaths, & drunk driving (Willow’s parents & Austin’s dad, barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of fires, a death, someone being trapped, arson, & arsonist (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of gunshots, shooting at someone, others being shot, a close call, injuries, pain, & blood/bleeding (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of break-ins, crimes, & criminals; Mentions of stalkers & being stalked; Mentions of a mother leaving her abusive husband & leaving her young children with him (*Spoiler* Austin’s mother and when she came back to try again, there was a house fire and she was killed in it *End of Spoiler*); Mentions of alcohol, drinking, drunk driving, & an alcoholic and abusive father (*Spoiler* Austin’s father and him being brutal towards Austin and his brothers; Austin feels guilt over his father’s death because he let him drive off drunk, though Austin didn’t know he was drunk because he had a high tolerance from drinking for so long, but it’s revealed at the end that his father wasn’t actually drunk *End of Spoiler*); Mentions of lies, lying, & liars; Mentions of cancer diagnoses & someone being told they have a certain amount of time to live; Mentions of grieving (a grandfather, parents, & a daughter); Mentions of nightmares; Mentions of moose and elk being hit by cars (the cars are totaled and the injured animals disappeared); A few mentions of wars & the Holocaust; A few mentions of an ex-husband beating his ex-wife almost to death; A few mentions of plane crashes & a death; A few mentions of stolen cars; A few mentions of jail/prison; A few mentions of search and rescues for missing people; A few mentions of jealousy; A couple mentions of terrorists & them taking children; A couple mentions of bombs/explosions; A couple mentions of a man giving a woman bruises; A couple mentions of gossip; A couple mentions of divorces; A mention of someone’s daughter being involved with drugs; A mention of thugs; A mention of cigarettes; A mention of tattoos; A mention of hunting; A mention of something possibly happening to a runaway dog; A mention of animal droppings; 

             *Note: There is a side character with dementia; Mentions of brand names & items (GoPro, iPad, iPhone, Sirius Satellite Radio, Coach purses, Crocs, Dr. Pepper, Crock-Pot, & Coleman); Mentions of car brands; A few mentions of McDonald’s; A couple mentions of social media sites (Facebook); A mention of a fictional character from Lord of the Rings; A mention of a magazine (Reader’s Digest). 
 
 
Sexual Content- Two detailed kisses; Recalling a kiss (barely-above-not-detailed); Touches, Embraces, Tingles, Warmth, Nearness, & Smelling (up to semi-detailed); Wanting to touch & embrace (mainly Austin to longs for Willow, border-line barely-above-not-detailed to semi-detailed); Noticing (including Austin noticing Willow’s form-fitting jeans, barely-above-not-detailed); Willow and Austin broke-up prior to the story starting due to Austin not being willing to share about his past/secrets or his family; Mentions of affairs, cheating, & secret children; Mentions of kisses; Mentions of boyfriends/girlfriends, exes, & break-ups; A few mentions of flirting & flings; A couple mentions of a woman meeting a man at hotel & her willing to have his baby (unmarried); A couple mentions of jealousy; A mention of a family’s children being taken by terrorists for sex trafficking (the country this happened in is not named); A mention of staring at someone’s lips; A mention of a man’s possessiveness over a woman; A mention of a crush; Love, falling/being in love, & the emotions.
 
-Willow Anderson
-Austin McKade
                        P.O.V. switches between them, Charlie, Katelyn (x1), & Heath (x2)
                                                        363 pages

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Pre Teens- 

New Teens- 

Early High School Teens- 

Older High School Teens- 

My personal Rating- 

My first book by this author was a hit and I’m thrilled about it. 

I wasn’t sure what to expect about this book; in all honesty the back-cover blurb didn’t sound the most exciting to me (mostly because I’m not a big fan of reading the second-chance romances/old flames reunited trope—more on that in a bit) but the forensic genealogist aspect of the book really intrigued me. This might be an odd thing to note, but if you’re someone who, when at a cemetery, looks at different grave markers and wonder about those people’s lives, this might be a book that would interest you. (Obviously, I’m this kind of person, but I know there has to be others like this, so I refuse to think that it’s weird.)

First things first, I really, really, really liked the writing style found in this novel. It was very much a play-by-play of every important action or event and was what really pulled me into the story. 

As far as our main characters go, both Willow and Austin were good characters. He was very much that “written by a woman” male lead (a man that’s kind, respectful, and just an overall good guy that’s very much in love with the main girl), but I still liked him. He wasn’t afraid to show his emotions even though he’s keeping a lot of secrets from Willow, his ex. Like I’ve said previously, I’m not one for the second-chance romances/old flames reunited trope, but it worked well in this story. It was nice to see both of them having a faith, though the faith content was on the lighter side with only them praying and talking to God often (no discussions or comments, really). A couple kisses were a bit much for my tastes, but I do appreciate that they weren’t focused so much on the other’s physical looks. 

The ending felt a little out-of-left field and a touch rushed, but I suppose that it could happen like that. I wasn’t unsatisfied by the ending, at least.  

I actually paused halfway through reading this book to make sure I owned the second book in the series because it’s Heath’s story—needless to say, I’m very much looking forward to reading that one soon! 

 

 

See y’all on Monday 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.