Someone wants to stop Becki Graw from claiming her inheritance. Police officer Joshua Rayne is just as determined to keep his beautiful neighbor safe. She may not be the tomboy Josh remembers, but she's just as stubborn. Becki is intent on keeping her grandparents' remote farmhouse—no matter the danger. Becki's feelings for her childhood crush may be rekindled, but she's seen too much to risk opening her heart. As the threats against Becki escalate, the list of suspects grows longer. Josh must convince Becki to trust him with her heart—and her life—before a madman ends their chance at happiness…permanently.
Sandra leaps off the garden trails of her herbal-researcher-turned-amateur-sleuth (Port Aster Secrets) series, to the museum corridors of her plucky FBI art crime agent Serena Jones, in A Fool and His Monet.
When not plotting crimes, Sandra plays make-believe with her grandchildren or hikes with her hubby along the escarpment, near their home in Niagara, Canada.
Her novels have garnered numerous awards, including the National Readers' Choice Award, a Holt Medallion Award of Merit, an RT Book Reviews Reviewers' Choice Award, the Daphne DuMaurier Award of Excellence and five national Canadian Awards.
Heroine Becki Graw inherits her late Grandparents' farmhouse. When she arrives at the house and starts to settle in she is attacked in the barn, she receives a note saying "you don't belong here", accidents happen with the house and the car, she receives strange phone calls... It seems like someone is trying to get Becki to leave her new home. An old friend and neighbor (hero Joshua Rayne, who is a police officer) helps Becki try to find out who is behind all this.
This was a fast-paced, action-filled read. I liked the main couple. The hero was nice and protective of the heroine, the heroine was strong and gutsy at times. I liked their two dogs, Tripod and Bruiser.
“"YOU DON'T BELONG HERE." Someone wants to stop Becki Graw from claiming her inheritance. Police officer Joshua Rayne is just as determined to keep his beautiful neighbor safe. She may not be the tomboy Josh remembers, but she's just as stubborn. Becki is intent on keeping her grandparents' remote farmhouse—no matter the danger. Becki's feelings for her childhood crush may be rekindled, but she's seen too much to risk opening her heart. As the threats against Becki escalate, the list of suspects grows longer. Josh must convince Becki to trust him with her heart—and her life—before a madman ends their chance at happiness…permanently.”
Series: As of now, no.
Spiritual Content- Ezekiel 14:23 at the beginning; Scriptures are read & remembered; Prayers & Blessings over food; Church going & Singing Hymns; Talks about God, trusting Him, & believing; ‘H’s are capital when referring to God; Becki doesn’t think praying will help or that God cares, *Spoiler* *End of Spoiler*; Joshua has a faith; Mentions of God; Mentions of prayers; Mentions of churches, church going, services, singing, & Sunday school; Mentions of blessings; A few mentions of a painting of Jesus; A couple mentions of thanking God; A mention of a book of Bible promises; A mention of a miracle; *Note: A mention of burning in Hell.
Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘stupid’, a ‘what the—‘, and two ‘idiot’s; Being hit and shot at, & blood/bleeding (up to semi-detailed); A car crash (up to semi-detailed); A kidnapping/hostage, explosion, & pain (up to semi-detailed); A dog is shot (but only grazed, it’s okay); Many mentions of deaths, bodies, & carbon-monoxide (barely-above-not-detailed); Many mentions of threats & prowlers; Many mentions of a robbery, thefts, & a thief; Mentions of deaths, bodies, car accidents, & injuries; Mentions of possible murders happening; Mentions of gunfire, shooting, being shot at, & bullets; Mentions of being hit, injuries, pain, passing out, & being drugged (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of creating a fire, someone covered in gasoline, & threats of burning someone; Mentions of spousal abuse, beatings, wanting to leave an abusive husband, & injuries/bruises; Mentions of a stolen car; Mentions of parents abandoning their children; Mentions of divorces; Mentions of lies & lying; Mentions of hunters & hunting; A few mentions of a bar; A few mentions of gossip & rumors; A few mentions of nightmares; A couple mentions of shooting someone; A couple mentions of jail; A couple mentions of beer bottles & graffiti; A couple mentions of tattoos; A mention of partying; A mention of putting down farm animals; A mention of a kitten that had been hit by a wagon (not-detailed); A mention of cow manure.
Sexual Content- A couple thumbs-to-lips touches, a cheek kiss, a nose kiss, four forehead/head kisses, a band kiss, and three semi-detailed kisses; Remembering kisses & embraces (barely-above-not-detailed); Touches, Handing Holding, Embraces, Tingles, & Butterflies (barely-above-not-detailed to semi-detailed); Wanting to embrace; Noticing, Staring, & Smelling; Becki tries to get over her crush on Josh; a ‘babe’; Mentions of touches, embraces, & remembering; Mentions of dating, dates, girlfriends, boyfriends, breakups, & exes; Mentions of crushes, mooning over someone, having it bad for someone, & rejection; Mentions of jealousy; A couple mentions of a woman being hit on at work; Love, falling in love, & the emotions; *Note: A mention of a shirtless guy (not-detailed); A mention of a low-cut dress.
-Becki Graw, age 27 -Joshua Rayne P.O.V. switches between them ??? pages
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Pre Teens- One Star New Teens- One Star (and a half) Early High School Teens- Three Stars Older High School Teens- Four Stars My personal Rating- Four Stars I thought it book was a really interesting one with all the details the author adds to every story she writes. There’s always a quirky part and this one would be Josh’s dog has only three legs and is named Tripod! Haha, I love it! There was no gore or icky stuff in this book, but still in the suspense genre, so it was quite nice! :)
Poor Becki! What is the problem here? Why do people seem like they want to prevent her from claiming her inheritance? You don't realize just how much her inheritance could be until it later comes out...the truth. This is an excellent book. I can always get right into a Harlequin intrigue but this was a Love Inspired Suspense book and it turned out just as good as all of the Harlequin Intrigue Books I've read...if not better! This was a fast, quick read. It was so entertaining and I couldn't put it down because I had to find out the truth. I had to find out who was the person doing all the damage and causing all the trouble. Lo and behold...who did you expect it to be? The person you should have suspected all along...right there in front of your eyes (or in the back of your thoughts?). Enjoy!
All Becki Graw wanted was to settle in at her grandparents' farmhouse which was her inheritance,but from the beginning it's obvious someone is out to foil her plans. This is a fantastic read which holds your attention waiting for the next event and to keep trying to figure out who is the culprit. It is full of emotions which make you feel that much closer to the characters,plus has 2 great dogs who I really loved in the story. If you want a great read for this part of summer,pick up a copy of this latest by Sandra Orchard,and you will see why she has become one of my favorite authors! Another wonderful book,Sandra!!
Every book I've read by Sandra Orchard has been so good. Fatal inheritance had me stumped all through the book. I would think it was this person then I would think it was someone else trying to find the stolen jewels. Very pleased with the ending of this book. Now I need to read another book by Sandra Orchard!
"The suspense is laced with the right amount of romance to keep readers thoroughly engaged throughout this fantastic novel. The characters take the reader on a ride through a number of detours and surprises to discover God working behind the scenes." RT Book Reviews, rated 4 1/2 stars
Well, it's amazing how one sentence can nosedive an enter book. If it weren't for two sentences in this entire book, this would have easily been a 3 star review. But we'll get to that...
First! Becki Graw decides to move into her recently deceased grandparents farmhouse because she had such fond memories of country living. She drops her job and everything else to make this change. Almost immediately upon her arrival someone is out to terrorize her until she leaves. Joshua Rayne is a police officer and next door neighbor to Becki's place. Like, right next door despite both of them living on property that used to be farmers. They are also childhood friends and Josh briefly dates Becki's older sister, Sarah. So he's determined to keep her safe.
So, lets see...Becki is immediately attacked and hit of the head with a 2 by 4, falls down the stairs, she has her well tainted, has multiple break ins at her house, survives a car crash by bailing out the door (figure that one out), gets hang up phone calls, can't get a job, etc. But by god, she's staying!!!
Okay okay, it wasn't terrible for a christian romance. Though I found it annoying that the author uses her grandparents' whirlwind 3 week romance/courtship before the grampa proposed as an excuse to have Josh contemplating marrying Becki in...2 weeks? Cause marriage and people and circumstances and such never change right? Fortunately she didn't put down an actual time period for when they got married. So you can pretend it was a year later if you really wanted to, though everything implies it was a lot faster. But that said, and ignored, I actually liked the majority of this book...until...
Now that part that nosedived this book! The fact that the author had Sarah get back together with her husband who USED HER AS A PUNCHING BAG on multiple occasions AND STALKED HER TO HER SISTER'S PLACE AND TRIED TO RUN THEM OFF THE ROAD!!! I'm sorry, but what...? He liberally beats the shit out of her repeatedly and you like "oh, they went to counselling and everything is better. Marriage is forever!" Uh, screw that! You think a man with a high powered job, who's been beating his wife for years would, a)agree to counseling and b) actually stop? I only know a couple of women who have ever been unfortunate enough to be in this situation, and between talking to them and talking to my cop friends, the likelihood of this happening is slightly above zero. SLIGHTLY. Very slight. Most often, women who continually go back continue to be abused, and it usually escalates, and it's not uncommon for the woman to end up dead if they don't come to their senses. I cannot figure out why no one else bothered to mention this issue in their review. Yes it was snuck in under the gun with just a few sentences, but serious, what kind of message is this sending abused and battered people? "If you married a partner-beater sucks to be you! Marriage is forever!" Please, even the catholic church has acceptable reasons for divorce and this is one of them.
In Conclusion
If it weren't for the wife going back to the wife beater and it potentially ending in rainbow unicorn farts this would have actually been a decent book. Just my opinion.
Fatal Inheritance by: Sandra Orchard will have you pulling your hair out because of how fast it goes. And Inheritance that has a person killing a couple and attempting to make Becki Graw leave her Grandparents home. But she is a very determine person to stay so her child hood friend Joshua Rayne a very Handsome Police Officer will risk every thing to keep her safe and find out who killed her Grandparents and who is trying to do her in as well and all the time trying not to fall in love with her all the while she is trying not to fall for him to. Read and find out what happens next.
First book I've read by author Sandra Orchard, but won't be my last. Drawn by the beautiful front cover and intriguing title, I picked up this book and was captured from the first page. No waiting on the suspense! I really loved the two main characters, Bec and Josh and felt they had great chemistry. Wonderful little book--easy reading but with lots of suspense and sweet romance.
I appreciated Becki and Josh being childhood friends, and I liked how their relationship bloomed over the course of the book. That said, Becki's ex-boyfriend Neil being the bad guy could have been better foreshadowed. Her sister's relationship with her abusive husband was more of a distraction than a good plot point.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Light mystery, light romance, no crass language, no detailed romance scenes, just over 200 pages. Good story, quick read. Perfect for in between the more heavy duty reading.
This is the 2nd book I read by Sandra Orchard. I'm sorry I only read chapter 1 because chapter 1 was so unbelievable that I decided not to read the rest of the story.
This was a delightful book to read. It emphasizes in a gentle way the values of integrity, strength, confidence, honesty, respect and love.
In the book there was the following reference to sunsets which to me summed up this novel.
"A pleasant place that allows our memories to whisper through our thoughts and to think of those people throughout our lives who became part of what has become your sphere of influence. Sunsets are a chosen time of reflection as God works behind the scenes in ways we can not always see."
I always look for words that I am not familiar with or have not heard for a long time and while there were not any that I had not heard before in this book there were some that I had not heard for quite some time such as bereft, derision, ruse and scuttlebutt. I also learned that scuttlebutt has not only its informal meaning of rumour or gossip but it actually has a nautical meaning of an open cask of drinking water or a drinking fountain for use by the crew of a vessel.
Possibly my favourite descriptive phrase in the book was this one about a storm: - Lightning fractured the blackness, followed by a bone shuddering crack
At the end of the book Sandra Orchard thanks her readers .... a gesture I thought most admirable. In turn I thank her. This is the first Harlequin book I have read. My mother gave it, and a few others, to me last week when I was visiting her and I was most pleasantly surprised. I initially started to read this because Sandra is a Canadian Author and I am Canadian. I loved the sprinkling of religion and did not miss, for one minute, the absence of violence, vulgar language and sex that saturates most books these days.
I totally agree with the author that God does not promise to spare us from bad circumstances. He only promises to carry us through. You must trust in God.
Becki Graw was a young woman who had a lot of uncertainty in her life. The one constant was her grandparents, but now that she had lost them, her decision to break up with her boyfriend, Neil, and move to their farm was an easy decision. She had inherited the farm while her sister, Sarah, had inherited all the liquid assets. Sarah wanted her to see the farm, but Becki was determined to hold on to it. What better way to prove she wasn't selling than to live there. The only problem she could think of was that she would need a job. Upon arrival, who is the first person she sees, but none other than her childhood crush. Joshua Rayne is a young police officer who owns the farm next to hers. He has always been a very compassionate person, almost like a knight in shining armor. He remembers Becki and Sarah from his childhood with Becki being the tomboy who was always writing stories and loved living on the farm. Stubborn was a word he used to describe her and from the looks of things she really hadn't changed any. A chain of events that started on the first night bring Josh and Becki together in a way that neither could have anticipated. Josh, being a cop, soon realizes that Becki is in trouble and needs protecting, but to his dismay she intends on keeping her inheritance regardless of the danger. For Becki the danger may be more than she bargained for.
Sandra Orchard brings us a combination of mystery, romance, suspense and questions of faith. She brings us real life dialogue that readers can easily relate to. This story reminds us to keep the faith and be thankful for all our blessings whether small or large. God is always with us.
Becki Graw has just inherited her beloved grandparents’ home, but someone doesn’t want her to take possession. Her neighbor, police officer Joshua Rayne, is keeping an eye on Bec and trying to figure out who is behind the threats against her. Mix in an old antique car and a jewelry theft and you have the makings of a great suspense story.
When her grandparents died and left their house to Becki, she decided to leave her job and the city and move back to the only place she ever felt loved.
She also returned to Josh, her childhood crush who is now a police officer and there to protect her at every turn. Which is a good thing because a lot of things start to happen, starting with a note in the mailbox before she even gets to the house. Who is causing all the problems? Is it her sister who wants her to sell and split the money with her? Her brother-in-law? Her ex-boyfriend, or maybe even the man who is claiming to be a PI hunting down stolen jewelry?
Love Inspired Suspense Becki has inherited her grandparents old farm house that she has always loved. She and her sister use to spend summers at the farm. Someone doesn't want Becki to stay there. Josh, A police man/neighbor/childhood crush still lives on what is left of his parents farm. He helps her discover the reason she isn't wanted to have the home! Saving her life several times.
I really enjoyed this book. I was sucked in to the mystery of who was causing all the trouble right from the beginning and it kept me guessing all the way through. When it was revealed who was behind it all I was surprised. I had suspected he was guilty of something, but didn't think it was what it was. I look forward to reading more from Sandra.
Becki Graw inherited the farm from her grandparents, and she is determined to hold on to this legacy from two people she adored. When it is clear that somebody is out to get her, her neighbor, police officer Joshua Rayne steps in to protect her. Together, they fight danger as well as growing feelings for each other. I liked the antique car angle, which added a fresh twist to the mystery.
When Becki Graw's grandparents pass away, she decides to return to the one place she only remembers happiness. Her grandparents leave her their home where she loved being as a child. Everything goes down hill from the first day, except when she meets up with her childhood friend, Josh Rayne.
A most enjoyable read! Starting with a cryptic note 'You don't belong here', the author continues with the heroine receiving a blow to her head leaving her lying in the dark. The suspense continues as you wonder how the choices made will affect Becki and those around her.
Becky inherited her grandparents house but with it came pure turmoil. She got hit in the head in the barn, things were happening to her, and nothing added up. I thought this read was quick but also one that kept you wondering almost to the end!