Showing posts with label by Kelly Irvin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label by Kelly Irvin. Show all posts

Wednesday, December 19, 2018

"Tell Her No Lies" by Kelly Irvin


About this book:

  “As children, Nina Fischer and her sister were plucked from foster care in Florida and brought to Texas by a wealthy uncle they’d never met after their mother went to prison for selling drugs. Now, as an adult, Nina loves her adopted father and wants to please him, but she’s chosen her own career path as a photographer and poet—choices state district court judge Geoffrey Fischer can’t appreciate. When she finds him murdered in his study on a night they’re home alone, she’s the prime suspect and has to prove her innocence or face her own prison term. Is she her mother’s daughter, after all?
  The two men in her life want to help, each for their own reasons. Can she trust her on-again, off-again boyfriend, attorney Rick Zavala, whose political aspirations seem more important than Nina’s tragic loss? Can she trust her friend, photographer Aaron McClure, or will he use their friendship to break the biggest news story of his career?
  While cleaning out her father’s things, Nina discovers a box of old letters and photos, revealing the secrets her father had been concealing for so long. When her biological mother makes an appearance at Geoffrey Fischer’s funeral and asks to be welcomed back into her daughters’ lives, Nina is even more determined to find the truth about her past. Following the evidence leads her on a journey of discovery about her father’s shocking masquerade as a law-abiding, family-loving Christian. Unlocking these secrets could prove deadly, but it’s the only way Nina will ever be able to trust love again.”


Series: As of now, no.


Spiritual Content- Exodus 20:12 at the beginning; A few Scriptures are mentioned, remembered/repeated, & talked about; Prayers; Talks about trusting God; Nina has trust issues & finds it hard to believe about a loving Father or trusting anyone named ‘Father’; Aaron is a believer & tries to witness to Nina; *Spoiler* While it’s never blatantly said that Nina has prayed/committed her life to God like most Christian Fiction books, by the end, she is mentioning God and praying more *End of Spoiler*; Mentions of God & Christians; Mentions of prayers, praying, & blessings over food; Mentions of churches & church going; A few mentions of hymns; A mention of a good Samaritan;
             *Note: a ‘Thank God’ is said by someone who most likely doesn’t mean it; A mention of someone having a master’s in Eastern religions.


Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘biddy’, a form of ‘crap’, a ‘crummy’, a ‘dumb’, a ‘give a flip’, a ‘kick-butt’ (used to described something), a ‘little poop head’ (when referring to a cat), a ‘shush’, a ‘sissy’, a ‘suck it up’, a ‘wuss’, eleven ‘idiot’s, thirteen ‘stupid’s, sixteen forms of ‘shut up’; Curses are said, not written (by Rick and Melanie) & mentions of curses; Eye rolling; Finding a body of a loved one murdered, blood, & seeing how it happened (semi-detailed); Finding another body that was murdered, blood, & seeing how it happened (semi-detailed, *Major Spoiler* Rick was the murderer for this murder, and while we do not see it happen on the pages, we see his view after the shooting when he is remembering *End of Spoiler*); Being Punched & Blood/Bleeding (semi-detailed); Being pushed down the stairs & Pain (semi-detailed); Being held at gunpoint, aiming guns, guns are shot, & a setting up for a murder who look like a fight (up to semi-detailed); A car accident/crash & pain (up to semi-detailed); Rick has a hangover & remembers drinking; Rick remembers when he did drugs & wishes for a line of coke; All about many mentions of murders, how they happened, who did them, & blood (semi-detailed); Many mentions of gambling, taking bribes, & hiding it from a spouse; Many mentions of alcohol, alcohol addictions, drinking, drunks, hangovers, bars, & parties; Many mentions of cigarettes, tobacco, & smoke; Many mentions of lies, lying, & liars; Mentions of all the deaths Aaron has filmed (including a person being run over, a body that was stabbed, horses who were abused, and children dying from a car crash, barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of assassins, hiring one, & killing adults and minors; Mentions of a car running someone over & the murder/death; Mentions of morgue humor & jokes about dead bodies and deaths; Mentions of shootings, gunshots, injuries, & deaths; Mentions of being punched, injuries, blood/bleeding, & intruders/burglars; Mentions of someone being hit in the face by a gun (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of a police officer shooting his partner (more details on how/why is not given); Mentions of wars overseas, fighting, & PTSD; Mentions of threats & blackmail; Mentions of prison/jail; Mentions of rehabs; Mentions of gossip & rumors; Mentions of drugs/pot, drug users/addicts, & drug sellers; Mentions of divorces & wives wanting one; Mentions of nightmares; Mentions of throwing up; Mentions of tattoos; Mentions of a threat of shooting a pet; Mentions of hunting; A few mentions of accidental deaths; A few mentions of graffiti; A couple mentions of mothers who lost their children from drive-by shootings; A couple mentions of a car accident & deaths; A couple mentions of deaths from cancer; A couple mentions of Rick getting beatings from stepfathers when growing up; A couple mentions of gangbangers; A couple mentions of being hateful & hatred; A couple mentions of DUIs & being a designated driver; A mention of a singer who was killed by a fan; A mention of a gang selling meth; A mention of grave robbers; A mention of a club; A mention of poker; A mention of seeing something like a pit ball mauling a kitten; A mention of someone passing gas;
             *Note: Many mentions of singers & songs; Many mentions of brand names and designers; Mentions of TV shows, movies, characters, & actors; Mentions of car brands; Mentions of painters & paintings; Mentions of social media platforms; A couple mentions of Girl Scouts; A couple mentions of Starbucks; A couple mentions of Hallmark & Lifetime; A mention of GQ.


Sexual Content- two cheek kisses, a forehead kiss, two barely-above-not-detailed kisses, three (unwanted) semi-detailed kisses, and a detailed kiss; Remembering kisses (up to semi-detailed); Wanting to kiss; Touches, Shivers, & Embraces (barely-above-not-detailed); Noticing; four ‘babe’s; Rick hugs Nina once when his hands going down her back into “forbidden territory”; Rick also forces three kisses on Nina and hints to wanting to do more with her (while the kisses are said to give her a burn, Nina says she does not want to bring children into the world that she couldn’t care for. Aaron comments on one of the kisses that Rick was groping her); Mentions of Nina’s sister getting pregnant out of wedlock (they later got married, the slang of her getting knocked up is said twice); Mentions of Rick’s past flings (including Melanie commenting that he always liked her bedroom); Mentions of kisses, kissing, & seeing others kissing; Mentions of dating, girlfriends, & boyfriends; Mentions of romance books (the Hallmark kind); A few mentions of Nina’s biological mother bringing different men to her room; A few mentions of a man’s crush on a married woman; A couple mentions of a man (Rick) looking at a woman’s well-endowed chest and figure & the woman looking at his backside; A couple mentions of jealousy; A mention of Nina’s biological mother getting “knocked up” and pregnant out of wedlock with Nina; A mention of Nina’s biological mother not having any idea who Jan’s father was; A mention of a man not being hinky with women; A mention of a man’s seduction moves; Love, falling in love, & the emotions;
             *Note: A mention of her sister’s curves that Nina always wanted; A mention of Jan’s attributes that make men pay attention to her; A mention of a woman’s amazing body (from Rick’s perspective); A mention of not meeting intruder while just wearing underwear; A mention of a woman’s cleavage showing; A mention of another woman having work done on her face and chest; A mention of getting a butt out of bed; A mention of someone who is a pain in the butt; A mention of butting heads; A mention of hauling someone’s butt to a police station; A mention of a baby’s butt; A mention of someone being a horse’s patootie; A mention of prostate cancer; A mention of someone having assets up the wazoo.

-Nina Fischer, age 27
                                P.O.V. switches between Nina, Rick, Aaron, & Melanie (x1)
                                                        330 pages

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Pre Teens-

New Teens-

Early High School Teens-

Older High School Teens-

My personal Rating-

{Older girls interested in criminal justice may add up to a full star to the Oldest age category.}
That was 330 pages of intense action and an insanely dysfunctional family.
I knew that this book would be either a hit or a miss for me, and while I definitely wasn’t a fan of the majority of the content (I mean, there’s murders and a jerk), I did really like Nina as a character with her passion for film photography and people experiencing homelessness, but she also had her flaws that were very noticeable.
This book teetered between a two-star rating because of Nina and the film photography parts and a one-star because of the obvious content and the content of Rick (which I strongly disliked him, his forced kisses, and the lack of a restraining order that Nina should have done on him). I did have a bit of trouble with the writing style a few times as a handful of parts felt choppy or used a lot of slang/abbreviations. This was a roller-coaster of a book, but because of different content, the ratings are low for this suspense book.  


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 (Thomas Nelson) for this honest review.

Monday, August 28, 2017

"An Amish Summer" by Shelley Shepard Gray, Amy Clipston, Kathleen Fuller, & Kelly Irvin



About this book:

   “A new novella collection of sweet, summer romances from some of our favorite Amish authors!”


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“A Reunion in Pinecraft” by Shelley Shepard Gray

About this book:

  “When sisters Sharon and Sherilyn Kramer attend a wedding in Shipshewana, one of them returns with a new penpal while the other returns to her job at the bakery. After sending weekly letters back and forth, Sherry and Graham Holland arrange a reunion in Pinecraft. Upon Graham s arrival, however, he realizes he s been writing to the wrong sister. He decides to use the reunion as a way to get to know both sisters, but can he sort through the confusion in time to turn the worst vacation ever into something truly wonderful?”


Spiritual Content- Luke 6:37 at the beginning; A Scripture is remembered; Talks about God; ‘H’s are capital when referring to God; Mentions of God; Mentions of prayers, praying, & blessings over food; Mentions of blessings & being blessed; A few mentions of giving thanks to God.


Negative Content- Minor cussing including: an ‘idiot’, and three ‘stupid’s; A bit of Sarcasm;
Mentions of pain, blood/bleeding, injuries, stitches, scars, burns, & how it happened (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of lies & lying; A couple mentions of throwing up.


Sexual Content- a semi-detailed kiss; Touches, Shivers, Embraces, & Hand Holding (barely-above-not-detailed); Noticing; A bit of Staring (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of dating/courting, dates, & boyfriends; Mentions of a breakup & cheating; Mentions of flirting & flings; Mentions of falling in love; A few mentions of blushes; A couple mentions of married couples kissing; A couple mentions of jealousy; Love, falling in love, and the emotions;
            *Note: A couple mentions of a guy thinking a girl looks really nice in a bathing suit.

-Sherilyn Kramer, age 20
-Sharon Kramer, age 25
-Graham Holland
                                         P.O.V. switches between them
                                                        100(-ish) pages

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Pre Teens-
New Teens-
Early High School Teens-
Older High School Teens-
My personal Rating-
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“Summer Storms” by Amy Clipston

About this book:

  “Arianna is counting down the days until her wedding to Jesse. They have been friends longer than Arianna can remember, and that friendship turned into love over the past couple of years. But when Arianna s brother Isaac, who happens to be Jesse s best friend, gets them both into trouble, Arianna s father puts an end to her engagement to Jesse. Some summer storms pass quickly, but Arianna is afraid the damage from this one may be too much to repair.”


Spiritual Content- A few Prayers; Church going (once); ‘H’s are capital when referring to God; Mentions of God; Mentions of prayers, praying, & blessings over food; A few mentions of church, church going, services, & a youth group; A couple mentions of Christians; A couple mentions of a bishop.


Negative Content- Many mentions of alcohol, bottles, drinking, drinking problems, getting drunk, & a drunk; Many mentions of buggy races, accidents, injuries, & blood/bleeding (up to semi-detailed); A few mentions of lies & lying; A couple mentions of a nightmare; A mention of a hunting trip.


Sexual Content- a cheek kiss, a not-detailed kiss, and a semi-detailed kiss; A bit of wanting to touch; Touches, Tingles, & Hand Holding (barely-above-not-detailed); Noticing, Staring, Smelling, & Butterflies (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of dating & a boyfriend; A couple mentions of a crush; A mention of stealing a kiss; Love, being in love & the emotions.

-Ariana Smucker
-Jesse Zook, age 24
                                         P.O.V. switches between them
                                                        100(-ish) pages

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Pre Teens-
New Teens-
Early High School Teens-
Older High School Teens-
My personal Rating-
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“Lakeside Love” by Kathleen Fuller

About this book:

  “Esther has always lived in the shadow of her beautiful younger sister Sarah. Even the boy she has known and loved her entire life, Judah, only has eyes for Sarah. But when a handsome young Englischer comes to live with the family for a summer, everything begins to change.”


Spiritual Content- A few Prayers; Church going (once); Mentions of God & His help; Mentions of prayers & praying; Mentions of churches, church going, services, & a minister preaching; A few mentions of faiths; A couple mentions of blessings; A mention of missionaries.


Negative Content- Minor cussing including: two ‘stupid’s, and a ‘wimp’; A mention of a curse (said, not written); A bit of eye rolling; A few mentions of pain, injuries, & blood/bleeding; A few mentions of lies & lying; A couple mentions of saying something hateful; A couple mentions of throwing up.


Sexual Content- three barely-above-not-detailed kisses, and a semi-detailed kiss; Remembering a kiss (up to semi-detailed); Wanting to kiss a girl (barely-above-not-detailed); A bit of Judah staring at girls’ lips; Touches, Nearness, Embraces, Hand Holding, & Warmth (barely-above-not-detailed); Noticing & Staring (barely-above-not-detailed); Butterflies & Smelling (barely-above-not-detailed); Many mentions of jealousy; Mentions of kisses & kissing; Mentions of dating, dates, playing hard to get, boyfriends, & girlfriends; Mentions of flirting & flirts; A few mentions of wanting to kiss someone; A couple mentions of Judah finding the perfect place to kiss a girl on her neck; A couple mentions of nearness; A couple mentions of swooning; A couple mentions of romantic moments; A mention of Judah noticing a girl’s lips that beg to be kissed; Love, falling in love & the emotions.

-Esther Coblentz
-Judah King
                                         P.O.V. switches between them
                                                        100(-ish) pages

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Pre Teens-
New Teens-
Early High School Teens-
Older High School Teens-
My personal Rating-
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“One Sweet Kiss” by Kelly Irvin

About this book:

  “Everybody in little Bee County, Texas, can see the obvious: Jacob King and Martha Byler are meant to be together. Everyone, that is, but Martha. Ever since her mother died when Martha was a young girl, she has taken over the role of caregiver to her large family. And reckless Jacob, who has had a little too much fun on his rumspringa, only seems to add to the list of people to manage. But one summer changes everything, and these two may just find a way to meet in the middle and share one sweet kiss.”


Spiritual Content- Proverbs 3:5-6 & Jeremiah 17:7-8 at the beginning; Prayers; A Scripture is referenced; Talks about God, His plan, & trusting Him; ‘H’s are capital; Mentions of God; Mentions of talks about God; Mentions of churches, church going, services, singings, & hymns; Mentions of baptism classes; Mentions of bishops, deacons, & pastors; A few mentions of prayers & praying; A few mentions of a youth group; A few mentions of faiths; A few mentions of blessings & being blessed; A couple mentions of Jesus; A mention of Praising God; A mention of sin.


Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘dumb’, a ‘son of a gun’, a ‘sucks’, a ‘what the—‘, a ‘wuss’, two ‘idiot’s, two ‘stupid’, and three ‘shut up’s; Mentions of curses (said, not written); A bit of Pain & Blood/Bleeding (barely-above-not-detailed); A riled alligator & being near it (barely-above-not-detailed); Many mentions of alligator hunting & the possibility of drowning or getting eaten; Many mentions of alcohol, kegs, drinking, underage drinking, a drunk, & drunk driving; Mentions of a car accident & death; Mentions of parties & partying; A few mentions of blood/bleeding; A few mentions of jails & a prison; A few mentions of smoking & tobacco; A few mentions of throwing up & burping; A few mentions of divorcing; A couple mentions of nightmares; A couple mentions of lies & lying; A mention of using the bathroom outside.


Sexual Content- a fingers-to-lips touch, two almost kisses, three not-detailed kiss, a barely-above-not-detailed kiss, and two semi-detailed kisses; Touches, Embraces, & Hand Holding (barely-above-not-detailed); Nearness & Smelling (barely-above-not-detailed); Noticing (barely-above-not-detailed); four ‘baby’s; Mentions of dating/courting, liking someone, & a girlfriend; A few mentions of kisses, kissing, & wanting a kiss; A few mentions of staring; A couple mentions of hand holding; A mention of a girl producing a child at age 16; A mention of exes; Love, falling in love & the emotions.

-Martha Byler, age 22 (?)
-Jacob King, age 20
                                         P.O.V. switches between them
                                                        100(-ish) pages

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Pre Teens-
New Teens-
Early High School Teens-
Older High School Teens-
My personal Rating-
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Pre Teens-
New Teens-
Early High School Teens-
Older High School Teens-
My personal Rating-
This was a decent novella collection! Let’s give some thoughts on each one:
Shelley Shepard Gray: Some parts seemed a little unrealistic from other Amish books I’ve read, (but I am in no way claiming to be an expert about the Amish) like in the case of an Amish man taking off his shirt to show a girl his scar (& by default, his muscles). I pretty sure I read something very similar in another Amish book I read earlier this year. It was overall an okay novella.
Amy Clipston: Ooooh, I wanted to slap Ariana’s father. Not a good thought, I know, I know, but I’m sure it’s a common thought for those reading about him! I enjoyed seeing these new characters and seeing these first two in a new series being in love. :)
Kathleen Fuller: Wasn’t a fan of Judah because of his major jealousy, but by the end he grew on me and I did really like that last chapter!
Kelly Irvin: I couldn’t follow along as well as the other novellas due to all the characters mentioned. I did love Simon & Amanda (not the main two) and found them to be precious. They’re the only reason the rating went up a bit for me. I really couldn’t get into this one.
Best guy out of these main heroes is: Jesse! (Amy Clipston’s novella) I really enjoyed his caring heart and how much he wanted to prove himself to Ariana’s father.
There wasn’t really a main girl I thought was the best, but I would say out of the four, Ariana (Amy Clipston’s) was my favorite.


See y’all on Wednesday 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 (Thomas Nelson) for this honest review.