B.D. Lawrence's Blog, page 2
July 3, 2025
Book Review of With Mercy’s Eyes by
This book is about true redemption twice over. The lives of two interesting and similar characters are intertwined. The reader is taken on a painful, frustrating, emotional, and ultimately inspirational journey of both these characters as they learn what true love is and what it truly means to follow God. No, it’s not a romance.
Lane Harris is an up-and-coming actor who has just lost his husband in a serious car crash. This is the beginning of Lane’s life completely falling apart. I’m not giving any of the details as I don’t want to spoil the journey. If you’re familiar with Job, it’s kind of like that, only Lane’s starting from a point of completely rejecting God.
Vic Garrison is the author of a book that is being made into a movie. I will spoil one small piece. She handpicks Lane to be the star. Vic and Lane interact over the course of the book. The reader is also taken back in time to watch the story of Vic’s life, one with a similar course as Lane’s. Enough on the plot.
Why should you read this book? Powell does a wonderful job portraying three segments of American society. There’s the non-Christian, represented by Lane. Then there’s a segment that is two sub-segments represented by one set of characters. One sub-segment is the legalistic Christian who believes they can use the Bible to tell the world how to live (As homework for the Christian reader, read Romans 2:1, 1Corinthians 5:12, and Matthew 7:3). The second sub-segment is the Christian in name only, also self-righteous and judgmental. This segment is represented by Lane’s parents. I felt they could fall into either sub-segment. Finally, there’s the true followers of Jesus. Certainly not perfect, but who recognize their own faults and recognize that to God, sin is sin and the way to win others is through love. These are represented by Vic and her family and church.
If you’re a reader that likes your emotions to run rampant while reading, then this book is for you. I felt anger, frustration, pity, grief, sympathy, empathy, and inspiration all throughout. I will admit, I wanted to smack Lane upside the head many times. He makes so many bad decisions and his relativistic philosophy infuriated me.
This is a book everyone who professes Christianity should read. I believe non-Christians will also benefit from reading it. At a minimum they will gain a better perspective of who Christians are supposed to be, not the way we are portrayed by the media or Hollywood.
This is a Christian novel. There are several trigger warnings at the beginning, but it’s clean. No profanity, no sex, and the little violence is necessary. Also included at the end of the book is a discussion guide and a set of chapter-by-chapter discussion questions.
I’ll rank this one number four so far this year. It’s over 500 pages, but it reads fast. Again, I highly recommend reading this book to potentially gain a new perspective on one of the hottest topics in our country today.
Love’s True Calling by Lori DeJongThrough Thorny Ways by Jennifer Q. HuntThe Seven Day Resurrection by Chevron RossWith Mercy’s Eyes by D.T. PowellJustice by Jeff HillAlready in the Kudzu by Hannah Hood LuceroThe Misadventures of Itchy Izzy by N.Y. DunlapRanch Showdown by Tina WheelerThe Shocking Truth by Steve RushDaughter of Darkness by Ed GormanBurning Angel by James Lee BurkeIrresistible Impulse by Robert K. TanenbaumThe Longest Day by Terry TolerLeft to Die by Lisa Jackson
Commission earned
June 18, 2025
Book Review of Burning Angel by James Lee Burke
This is the eighth book in the Dave Robicheaux series from Mr. Burke. It’s the third or fourth I’ve read. As always, justice is served. No redemption or vengeance in this one. There is an interesting mix of the supernatural in this story. But then it’s set in Louisiana not far from New Orleans, so a little supernatural fits in.
Robicheaux is a deputy for the sheriff’s office. Then he’s not. Then he is again. The case involves some interesting happenings out at a plantation. Burke brings in a shady friend of Robicheaux’s, Sonny Boy Marsallus, who has a journal that a number of people want to get a hold of. These two things collide and make for a complex but fascinating set of circumstances.
As usual, Mr. Burke weaves in an eclectic set of characters. Mobsters, plantation owners, common folk, even some highly trained ex-military people. And there’s Clete. Always fun to read about Clete. And as always, Burke is a master of setting, mood, and ambiance. For me, his descriptions of the area are worth the read. And this one has a high level of suspense. There’s a giant sledgehammer waiting to fall. We don’t know when or how, though. Finally, Mr. Burke wanders into social political topics around race relations in the South.
The one challenge I had with this story was that Robicheaux makes a lot of what I consider bad decisions that put himself and his family in danger. He seems to show an inordinate amount of pride and impulsiveness that I don’t recall him exhibiting in other books I’ve read.
Not a clean read by any stretch. A plethora of profanity. Several on page sex scenes. Violence, though not gratuitous. I’ll rate this one number ten so far this year. Not the best Robicheaux I’ve read. But from a writing craft perspective, I’m glad I read it.
Love’s True Calling by Lori DeJongThrough Thorny Ways by Jennifer Q. HuntThe Seven Day Resurrection by Chevron RossJustice by Jeff HillAlready in the Kudzu by Hannah Hood LuceroThe Misadventures of Itchy Izzy by N.Y. DunlapRanch Showdown by Tina WheelerThe Shocking Truth by Steve RushDaughter of Darkness by Ed GormanBurning Angel by James Lee BurkeIrresistible Impulse by Robert K. TanenbaumThe Longest Day by Terry TolerLeft to Die by Lisa Jackson
Commission earned
June 5, 2025
Book Review of Irresistible Impulse by Robert K. Tanenbaum
Reaching way back to 1997, this novel, being a legal thriller, is about justice, though not always served. One could argue there is some redemption, but more lessons learned than true redemption. And vengeance runs through one of the two highlighted cases. This is a Butch Karp and Marlene Ciampi novel. They are married. Karp is the head of the homicide division in the district attorney’s office and Marlene has her own private investigation company that provides protection for celebrities and for battered and abused women.
There are two ongoing cases with some overlap. Karp takes on a high-profile murder case where a young, wealthy man dressed up like an African American and murdered elderly African America women. Marlene is searching for a stalker of a well-known cellist. Tanenbaum throws surprises at the reader toward the ending of both cases. I did not see the conclusion of Marlene’s stalker case coming.
The characters are well-drawn and interesting. I had no trouble jumping into this book, though it’s several into the series of these two characters. The story is also well-done, though it dives into demented sexual depravities and goes into more detail than necessary. Though it’s over four hundred pages, the pace is kept steady, and the book reads quickly. With all that, I still prefer Grisham’s style over Tanenbaum’s, at least in this book. It is my first Tanenbaum, so I’m not sure all of his books are written like this. There were a couple brief point-of-view jumps into the stalker, which didn’t add anything to the story. Otherwise, we see most of the story from Karp’s and Marlene’s points of view. But like many established successful authors, strict point-of-view is not adhered to. There is head hopping throughout (this is for the writers reading this review).
Profanity is splattered throughout. As mentioned earlier, a lot of on page sexual activity, much of it deviant. There is some violence, but not over-the-top. I’ll rank this one tenth of what I’ve read so far this year.
If you like legal thrillers and can put up with the lewdness, this is a good read.
Love’s True Calling by Lori DeJongThrough Thorny Ways by Jennifer Q. HuntThe Seven Day Resurrection by Chevron RossJustice by Jeff HillAlready in the Kudzu by Hannah Hood LuceroThe Misadventures of Itchy Izzy by N.Y. DunlapRanch Showdown by Tina WheelerThe Shocking Truth by Steve RushDaughter of Darkness by Ed GormanIrresistible Impulse by Robert K. TanenbaumThe Longest Day by Terry TolerLeft to Die by Lisa Jackson
Commission earned
May 12, 2025
Book Review of The Longest Day by Terry Toler
This is a strange book. It won Best Book Award for Religious Fiction in 2020 from American Book Fest. It’s about redemption but seems to be in reverse. The first half of the book covers one day. The second half is many years later and covers a longer timeframe.
Adam Lang is an astronaut who is going to go into what is called the Stream and travel faster than the speed of light to a planet far away that NASA has discovered. His daughter, Jamie Austen is the same Jamie Austen that has her own series after this. In this book, she’s a college student, but later becomes a spy. The first part of the book is Jamie trying to get to her father before he leaves earth. I’ll leave the why to the reader to discover. The second half is Adam’s space trip.
To me, this book was a comedy of errors. I’m not sure if that was Mr. Toler’s intention. It’s a tragedy in which the main characters, Adam and Jamie, make one bad decision after another. It is book one of an eight book series, so maybe there is redemption for Adam eventually.
The writing is okay. The story in this first book is predictable. As soon as Adam lands on a particular planet, what will happen isn’t that hard to figure out, especially if the reader has a Biblical background. It is an interesting twist on the fall of man. Some of the science is questionable, so if you’re a hardcore science fiction reader, you’ll have to look past that.
Being a Christian novel, it’s clean. No profanity, no sex, and the violence is muted. And only a little violence, anyway. I struggled to like Adam. He’s paranoid, a social outcast, and, as mentioned earlier, makes bad decision after bad decision. I liked Jamie Austen much better in Save the Girls (link is to my review of this book), her first spy thriller. With Mr. Toler, I’ll stick with the Jamie Austen series and the Cliffhanger series. I will probably not dip back into this series.
I’ll rank this one ten out of the eleven I’ve read so far. Not a bad book, just not that satisfying and a little strange.
Love’s True Calling by Lori DeJongThrough Thorny Ways by Jennifer Q. HuntThe Seven Day Resurrection by Chevron RossJustice by Jeff HillAlready in the Kudzu by Hannah Hood LuceroThe Misadventures of Itchy Izzy by N.Y. DunlapRanch Showdown by Tina WheelerThe Shocking Truth by Steve RushDaughter of Darkness by Ed GormanThe Longest Day by Terry TolerLeft to Die by Lisa Jackson
Commission earned
May 9, 2025
Book Review of Love’s True Calling by Lori DeJong
This book is all about redemption, especially God’s redemption, but personal redemption as well. It’s not often I want to get finished with the book just so I can write the review, but this book is so good and so important in today’s world, that I couldn’t wait to get to this review.
The book is Christian Romance. And yes, it has the usual romance elements, but it’s also about God’s calling to ministry. The book was especially touching to me because I spent eleven years working in youth ministry. And that’s the underlying theme of this book, helping teenagers through this troubled world we live in.
Harper Townsend is the female lead. She comes from a well-to-do family. Her parents have their own counseling clinic. Harper was one of those teenagers who on the outside had it all. She was popular, a cheerleader, and part of the in-crowd. Her best friend as a youngster was Wyatt McCowan, an intelligent young boy who is more a nerd in high school. The two of them drift apart due to the different social circles they hang with in high school.
This is a second chance romance, so yes, these two meet later in life. Ten years later. That’s enough plot summary. What is most important about this book is the way Ms. DeJong deals with teenage social circles. Wyatt’s passion is to help fringe students. Those on the outside, like him. Harper comes along and develops a passion for helping not only those students, but also students in the seemingly in-crowd. The message the author elegantly plays out in this story is that there are teenagers in all social circles that need help, that are lonely, that are lost, that are hiding the real challenges they are facing. We cannot assume because of their looks, their accomplishments, or the people they hang out with that they have it all together.
It’s this clash of philosophies between Harper and Wyatt that drives the conflict in the book. Everyone needs the love that Jesus provides. And just because someone looks like they have it all together, that doesn’t mean he or she isn’t struggling. But we can get stuck in tunnel vision based on our own experiences and live with our assumptions. It may take a wake-up call from God to break us out of that rut. That’s my sermon for the day.
If you’re a parent of teenagers, or if you’re a teenager that isn’t sure you have it all together, you need to read this book. And if you’re a teenager that thinks you do have it all together, you really need to read this book. And of course, anyone that loves a good, clean romance should read it.
Being it’s a Christian romance, it’s clean. No profanity. No sex. Some kissing. No violence.
This book easily claims the number one spot for me so far this year. And unless I read another Charles Martin book, it will probably stay there.
Love’s True Calling by Lori DeJongThrough Thorny Ways by Jennifer Q. HuntThe Seven Day Resurrection by Chevron RossJustice by Jeff HillAlready in the Kudzu by Hannah Hood LuceroThe Misadventures of Itchy Izzy by N.Y. DunlapRanch Showdown by Tina WheelerThe Shocking Truth by Steve RushDaughter of Darkness by Ed GormanLeft to Die by Lisa Jackson
Commission earned
May 1, 2025
Book Review of Ranch Showdown by Tina Wheeler
This fast-moving romantic suspense is about justice and the redemption of a relationship. I am amused by the series title. Love Inspired Suspense. Not in this case. The suspense is due to greed and criminal behavior. But there was inspiration romance.
The book takes place in about forty-eight hours in the town of Sedona, AZ. Sierra Lowrey comes home to find a man in her house. It’s her sister’s ex-boyfriend. And he’s looking for something that is critical to his staying out of prison. He believes that something is hidden in Sierra’s house. He has a nefarious past and gives Sierra forty-eight hours to find and turn over what he’s looking for. Not a spoiler. This is the first five pages.
Enter police detective Cole Walker. You guessed it. Sierra and Cole had a past, but it didn’t work. The romance part of this romantic suspense is second chance romance. Cole and Sierra try to find the missing item and capture the bad guy. Well, Cole focuses on capturing the bad guy. And determine if their romance can be rekindled.
Plenty of action. And of course, the romance. The story moves fast. The bad guy keeps winning. The situation looks hopeless. But of course, you can guess the ending. I’m not a huge fan of romance novels, but this one kept the romance in check and there weren’t that many times where it seemed out of place. I’d read more romantic suspense with this balance.
This novel is a Christian novel so it’s clean. No profanity. No sex and the violence is necessary and not gratuitous. Another great example of a heart-pounding thriller that doesn’t need eight hundred f-bombs.
It’s a fun read and if you like romantic suspense where there’s more suspense than romance, this would be a read for you. I’ll rank this one number six so far. But the differences between numbers one through seven are thin margins.
Through Thorny Ways by Jennifer Q. HuntThe Seven Day Resurrection by Chevron RossJustice by Jeff HillAlready in the Kudzu by Hannah Hood LuceroThe Misadventures of Itchy Izzy by N.Y. DunlapRanch Showdown by Tina WheelerThe Shocking Truth by Steve RushDaughter of Darkness by Ed GormanLeft to Die by Lisa Jackson
Commission earned
April 21, 2025
Book Review of The Misadventures of Itchy Izzy by N.Y. Dunlap
Definitely a story about redemption; the only kind of redemption that really matters. Redemption from God. This is a Christian romance that is humorous and fun. Not the type of book I generally read (been reading a lot of those the last couple years), but a welcome break from hard-boiled crime fiction.
Isabelle Chevalier is a rich socialite who just lost her mother. This loss is devastating to her. But through this loss, she meets her childhood best fiend Peter that she had not seen in many years. He’s a construction worker and a strong Christian. The two of them embark on a journey to rediscover each other and for Izzy, to discover God and his redemptive love.
This book not only deals with Christian romance (so much better to read about than non-Christian romance) and finding God, but it also deals with the impacts and repercussions of cult life and dealing with tragedy without God. I found these parts the most interesting. It’s what sets this book apart from a standard Christian romance.
Because it is overtly Christian, it’s a clean read. The lack of profanity in any book never takes away from the story and usually makes it more pleasant to read. The only sex is the occasional kiss and a lot of handholding. There is no violence. This book does have a bunch of internal dialogue. In most cases, it added rather than detracted from the story.
The only negative is the occasional typo and one cousin of Isabelle’s that is Chloe in one paragraph then Nora in another, then Chloe, then Nora. Her name keeps changing. If you’re looking for a break from negativity, this is good book to cheer you up. The beginning is heavy, but overall, it’s a fun, heartwarming story. I’ll rank this one fifth of the books I’ve read so far this year.
Through Thorny Ways by Jennifer Q. HuntThe Seven Day Resurrection by Chevron RossJustice by Jeff HillAlready in the Kudzu by Hannah Hood LuceroThe Misadventures of Itchy Izzy by N.Y. DunlapThe Shocking Truth by Steve RushDaughter of Darkness by Ed GormanLeft to Die by Lisa Jackson
Commission earned
April 10, 2025
Book Review of Left to Die by Lisa Jackson
This is the first of the Selena Alvarez and Regan Pescoli novels. This one featured justice and vengeance, though that’s not evident until the end. Hopefully, that’s not a spoiler. The story is set in the mountains of Montana during the winter when they are getting heavier than normal snowfall. A serial killer is leaving women to die tied to a tree in Granite Falls, a small mountain town.
It’s a good thing I read Born to Die, number three in the series, before this or I would not have read any more of this series or possibly any more of Lisa Jackson’s books. It’s suspenseful and the mystery carries it along. I didn’t remember that much about Alvarez and Pescoli, but in this book, I really didn’t like either main character. They are not likeable people. Opposite ends of the spectrum. One way out there, the other way too reserved. I found myself unable to root for either one. There were two likeable characters. I don’t want to get into them as it would be a spoiler.
I’m also not a fan of thrillers that give a first-person point of view from the killer. It didn’t add anything to the suspense as far as I’m concerned. And it made the book too long. Like Born to Die, this book is at least a hundred pages too long. It clocks in at 498 pages. Stephen King, she’s not. And here’s my biggest complaint about this book. It didn’t end. I read 498 pages to find out the final mystery and Jackson leaves me out in the cold with a major cliff hanger. That’s a gimmick to buy the next book. Won’t work, because I’m done with this series.
I also felt the author unfairly manipulated the reader with another gimmick. I don’t want to reveal it, though, as it would be a major spoiler. Finally, this book is full of sex. To the point of ad nauseam. Some profanity. A little violence. Nothing over the top. This is the worst book I’ve read this year. It’s well written, I just didn’t like the gimmicks, the excessive length, and the way too much sex and thinking about sex. On to other authors.
Through Thorny Ways by Jennifer Q. HuntThe Seven Day Resurrection by Chevron RossJustice by Jeff HillAlready in the Kudzu by Hannah Hood LuceroThe Shocking Truth by Steve RushDaughter of Darkness by Ed GormanLeft to Die by Lisa Jackson
Commission earned
March 30, 2025
Book Review of Already in the Kudzu by Hannah Hood Lucero
This suspenseful romance novel is all about redemption with justice added in as the cherry on top. I call it suspenseful romance, because like almost all of the genre of romantic suspense, the suspense takes a back seat to the romance. See my blog article on this topic here. This is the first novel in the Sons of Vigilance series by Ms. Lucero.
The particular son of vigilance in this novel is Kael, a marine who has finished his last tour and is ready to walk away. However, something tragic happens and he’s forced to visit a quiet Blue Ridge Mountain town to deliver some letters and a message to J. Moreno, who is Jamie, the other main character of this novel.
Jamie and Kael are both emotionally messed up individuals, so of course they are perfect as a romantic couple. Kael suffers from severe PTSD and Jamie suffers from severe guilt over her past life in Colorado. She has been keeping a secret from everyone except her best friend Trip, who is in the early part of the novel. I easily guessed the secret, but that didn’t take away from the emotional unfolding of it.
Being that this is a romance, I assume the only thing that bothered me is what avid readers of romances want. All the feelings stuff. The constant thoughts of attraction and desire. The ooey gooey stuff, as I call it. A little is okay, but I felt over half the book was all this stuff and from both Jamie’s and Kael’s points of view. Again, not necessarily a criticism, just not my cup of tea. As I read, I wanted the confrontation with the bad guys to happen. But I had to wade through the feelings stuff. One other minor thing was that Jamie’s name was Jamie from her point of view, but everyone else called her James. The first time this happened, I was confused as to who James was.
This is an overtly Christian novel. (A good thing as far as I’m concerned) Though both characters struggle with their faith. The redemption part really comes in with Jamie, who has walked away from God before this story starts. Both characters are surrounded by Christians. It’s a good example of how even believers can fall away, but God always finds a way to bring them back.
As a Christian novel, it’s clean. No profanity. The violence is muted. And there’s no sex, other than kissing and appropriate touching. As I alluded to earlier, though, too much kissing and appropriate touching, and then internal analysis of both from both characters.
Readers of Christian romance will love this well-written book. The suspense added in gives it an element that kept me reading. I’ll rank this one number four so far. One side note, one of the characters is reading a novel by Jennifer Q. Hunt, who is currently still occupying the number one spot for me this year.
Through Thorny Ways by Jennifer Q. HuntThe Seven Day Resurrection by Chevron RossJustice by Jeff HillAlready in the Kudzu by Hannah Hood LuceroThe Shocking Truth by Steve RushDaughter of Darkness by Ed Gorman
Commission earned
March 14, 2025
Book Review of Daughter of Darkness by Ed Gorman
This thriller features justice, vengeance, and redemption for both the main characters. An overall good read. Some elements of mystery, but mostly suspense. It doesn’t seem to be part of a series, but it was written as if it could be. I guess Mr. Gorman decided to dedicate his talents elsewhere.
Michael Coffey is a retired homicide detective now working as a cabbie in Chicago. On one of his frequent visits to Sister Mary Agnes’s shelter he meets a woman who isn’t sure who she is and who was found outside the shelter. This starts a bizarre sequency of events. Coffey becomes obsessed with the woman and is intent on helping her.
This book dives into some strange, but interesting topics. There’s a lot of psychology. There’s secret government sponsored experiments. And as always with Gorman, many interesting characters.
The middle of the book drags some, but the suspense heightens in the last quarter. And Gorman throws in a major surprise that I did not see coming at the end. Justice is served in several interesting ways.
This book has profanity and several graphic sex scenes as well as many sexual references. Some violence, though nothing gratuitous. If you can tolerate the lewdness, it’s worth reading. Gorman’s writing style is engaging. There’s enough description to set the stage and the character, but not too much to overwhelm.
Due to the content, I’m going to rank this fifth so far. But if this is the worst book I read this year, it will be a great reading year.
Through Thorny Ways by Jennifer Q. HuntThe Seven Day Resurrection by Chevron RossJustice by Jeff HillThe Shocking Truth by Steve RushDaughter of Darkness by Ed Gorman
Commission earned
