Although I usually read fantasy, I decided to buy this novel one evening and am glad I did. Color of Danger is a Christian, romantic suspense with a strong female main character, and I was surprised by how much she has in common with the lead in my Alissia Roswell Series. Both women come from child abuse and have a love interest named Luke.

With a bad past, the main character has trust issues, and the author explores this deeply within the story. I’m not one for love at first sight and was pleased to find this was not one of those romances.

Unlike the fantasy reads I’m used to, this story follows the mystery surrounding a serial killer on the loose. The story is tight and put together well, with the romance being sweet and not overpowering to the mystery-themed plot.

The characters are adults, but with this being a clean, Christian novel, I believe teenagers who love mysteries would also enjoy this read.

The author also listed discussion questions at the back of the book, and I highly recommend this to Christian book clubs. The questions are already there, and the discussion would be about trust.

I’ve had Christians tell me they don’t like to read Christian novels as much because they find them predictable or the main characters keep getting saved from bad circumstances, not putting enough danger in the story. (I’ve seen this myself with some of my past reads.) However, that’s not the case with Color of Danger. It’s true to life–bad things happen, and the characters have to learn to deal. That’s where forgiveness, faith, and trust come in, no matter how hard to do at times.

Programmed for Danger:

Computer programming isn’t usually a dangerous occupation, but Andrea Kingston finds herself fighting for both her love and her life when she’s hired to solve Ferverill-West Company’s computer problems.

Andrea Kingston is surprised by the cool reception she receives when she arrives with her team of troubleshooters to work on Feverill-West’s computer problems. It’s not the first time she’s dealt with people aggravated by programming flaws and hardware malfunctions. Nor is she any stranger to corporate politics and bickering. But normally people are happy to see her since she promises to fix their technical issues. The level of hostility she encounters this time is new, as is the serious nature of the incidents plaguing  Feverill-West’s data processing system.

With the reluctant help of Feverill-West’s attractive Operations Manager, David Purcell, Andi tackles the problems, only to discover that at least some of them are deliberate sabotage. The closer she gets to the source of the attacks, the more personal and vicious they become.

When someone knocks her out to prevent her learning anything more, Andi realizes that more than just her professional reputation is on the line. She’ll have to risk her life to solve the crimes being perpetrated against the company.

Book Questions:

Is this book part of a series?  If so, when do you expect the next one to be available? No, it’s not part of a series.

What age would you say this novel is written for? Avalon Books were considered young adult because of their length and the insistence on clean language and lack of adult content, but I think the story would be suitable and enjoyable for anyone from pre-teen to adults

If it is not a YA novel, what content pushes into the adult market? The protagonists are adults, and the plot centers around a mystery that arises in the course of their employment

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 Read an excerpt here.

A Gift for Murder:

For fifty-one weeks of the year, Heather McNeil loves her job as assistant to the director of the Washington, D.C. Commerce & Market Show Center. But the Gifts and Home Decorations trade show, the biggest show of the year at the center, is a week-long nightmare. This year’s version is being worse than usual. Misplaced shipments, feuding exhibitors, and malfunctioning popcorn machines are all in a day’s work. Finding the body of a murdered executive dumped in a trash bin during the show isn’t. The discovery tips throws Heather’s life—personal and professional—into havoc.

The police suspect the victim’s wife killed him, but Heather doesn’t believe it. She’s gotten glimmers of an entirely different scenario and possible motive. Questioning exhibitors about the crime doesn’t make her popular with them or with her employers, but if she doesn’t identify the murderer before the show ends, the culprit will remain free to kill again.

Her only help comes from an exhibitor with ulterior motives and the Market Center’s attractive new security officer, Scott Brandon. Despite opposition from some of the exhibitors, her employers, and the police, Heather seeks to expose the killer before the show ends. To solve the mystery, she will have to risk what’s most important to her and be prepared to fight for answers, her job, and possibly her life.

Book Questions:

Is this book part of a series?  If so, when do you expect the next one to be available? Yes, it’s part of a projected series. I’m just finishing up the next book, so it may not be available for quite a while yet.

What age would you say this novel is written for?  Adults

If it is not a YA novel, what content pushes into the adult market?  The protagonists are adults, and the plot centers around a mystery that includes some adult themes.

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Read an excerpt here.

The Night Prowlers

Graduate assistant Jan Lindell has her hands full supervising a team of archaeology students as they excavate the site of a Colonial-era inn in central Virginia. Sweltering heat, feuding students, vandalism, a visit from the local lunatic fringe, and complaints from the handsome son of the property’s owner are all complications she doesn’t need.

Her problems increase when it becomes clear someone doesn’t want them around. Vandalism turns into threats and then attacks on the students. On the bright side, when Gary Simpson, whose mother owns and lives on the property, assists her in the effort to thwart and identify the assailants, they discover a mutual attraction.

But someone seriously wants to stop them. When the attacks escalate and threaten to turn deadly, Jan realizes she’s fighting for more than a graduate degree and an archaeological site. All of their lives may be at stake.

Book Questions:

Is this book part of a series?  If so, when do you expect the next one to be available? No, it’s not part of a series.

What age would you say this novel is written for? This is a republished version of a book originally published by Avalon Books. Their books were considered young adult because of their length and the insistence on clean language and lack of adult content, but I think the story would be suitable and enjoyable for anyone from pre-teen to adults

If it is not a YA novel, what content pushes into the adult market? The protagonists are adults, and the plot centers around a mystery that includes some adult themes.

Cover currently being redesigned.

Read an excerpt here.

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I read this over the summer, and although I immediately wrote a review, I did not publish it.  It was harsh.  This author, Kristin Cashore, actually got me mad, and I’m not the only one bothered by this book.  I have read many reviews from people complaining of the same thing.  This is not a kid friendly book, as it is supposed to be.  It sends the wrong message to children.

The first half of the book was great.  I actually loved the two main characters and their coming romance.  The female lead is a strong, trained killer, yet she had a feminine side to her.  I say had, because all of that changed suddenly around the middle of the book.  I was reading this late at night and put it down, because I suddenly disliked and couldn’t relate to the character.  I even thought she had been drugged or something.  There had to be an explanation for her sudden crazy actions.

When she realized there was a chance she could like the man she was traveling with, she took all of her clothes off and jumped into a freezing stream and swam laps.  She basically freaked out and went crazy.  By this time, she had already chopped all of her hair off and started acting differently than in the beginning of the book.

The idea of love and marriage was not an option for her.  (Remember, this is targeted at children.)  So, what was the solution?  Casual sex.  Both the man and woman agreed to this.  This book portrays love and marriage as weak and negative, but casual sex is good.

What?!  Forgive me, but what was the author thinking?  At least the couple used a potion to keep her from getting pregnant.

I don’t know if this author went through a divorce in the middle of writing this novel or what, because the beginning showed promise of a great teen romance.  However, by the end of the book, I felt like the author had an anti-love and marriage agenda.

I’ve read many other reviews about this book.  (It is a big seller.)  I’ve even read reviews written by feminists that are upset with the way the author portrayed feminists, as if they all cut their hair off and don’t wear dresses.  Although this book is getting great reviews by some, it’s also getting negative reviews for the same reason as I’m giving one.  By the end of the book (targeted at children), you walk away feeling as if the author was pushing a hidden agenda on you.  It was supposed to be a romance, yet it was loveless and weak.

Over the summer my husband and I found a television series called Fringe on Netflix.  There are five seasons in total, and there are over twenty episodes per season.  We started watching the series and soon found ourselves addicted, which is not something I can say we’ve ever done before.  We watched the show almost every night until we reached the end.

It’s a science fiction show, and they take the impossible and make it possible, which gives way to chaos.  I don’t want to say too much.  I read a review of the show before I began to watch it, and the review gave away a detail that I wish I had not known.  It would have been better to figure it out on my own.  If I don’t give you any details, the first two seasons will be better for you.

I can say that since watching the show, I’ve seen others typing about it on Facebook.  It seems my husband and I weren’t the only people addicted to it over the summer.

The first two seasons are fun and interesting, but the third and fourth season get a little deeper and suspenseful.  The fifth season is nothing like the others.  It’s much darker and intense, and I wonder if they had a different set of writers or director.  In the end, you’ll love the characters and feel for all they go through, which is a LOT.

As for my rating of the show, there is a lot of gross and bloody, scientific scenes, but I wouldn’t call it gory.  There’s only a couple of sexual scenes, and I considered them mild.  The scientist in the show does have a struggle with his belief in God, and if you are a Christian, there are some moments where you’ll cringe at what he says.  However, his comments are balanced out in his later self.  Although it is a scientific show and there is a struggle with science and God, the writers seemed to try to balance faith with science, which I found surprising.

I highly recommend this show.  You can watch it instantly if you have Netflix, and Prime members can watch it for free on Amazon.  I also noticed there are some books on Amazon that seem to be an addition to the television show.  I think they were written for the fans after the show began.  I doubt I will be reading them.  I have a large stack of books I need to read from my author friends.  It will be a while before I buy other books to read.

Eona is the second book in Alison Goodman’s Eon and Eona series.  To read my review on Eon, click here.  Since they are categorized as young adult fiction, I will give a conservative parent’s review.

Eona is very different and better than Eon.  No longer is she surrounded by rules and pretending to be a boy.  She can now be herself, and we don’t have to read about all the proper ways she is to do things.  There’s more adventure and fantasy in this one, as she is traveling and learning to use her dragon’s power.  This read is also less morbid than the first one, where just about everyone was unhappy and had to deal with slavery or some type of abuse.

It read like an adventure with challenges and happy moments along the way.  The love triangle was done well, and her emotional struggle was believable.  The author introduced new characters into the story and mixed things up this time.

As for sexual content for a teen, there was no sex, just heavy kissing.  (He was shirtless on one of them.)  She does have a power relationship (hard to explain without giving too much detail and spoiling) with one of the men, and that power comes through sexual type emotions.

The Eunach is still a main character, and so is the transgender, Lady Dela.  Although, Lady Dela has to dress as a man in this book.

If you’ve already invested your time in Eon, I would go ahead and read Eona.  It is much better and written very differently than the first novel.

I was recently given a proof copy of Red and Grey, written by Christine Brant, and I must admit that I stayed up until 6:15 in the morning to finish reading it.  It’s been a while since I enjoyed a book this much, and I highly recommend it to other lovers of fantasy romance.  I even appreciate the beautiful cover design!

Although the story has some references to Little Red Riding Hood, it is done in such a creative way that I could not help but smile as it all started coming together.  It’s filled with magic, mystery, and romance, and it kept me intrigued all through the night.  It was well worth only getting two hours of sleep before my busy day began. I finished the book with a smile–and a little guilt and worry from the light starting to come through the window and the sound of birds rising from their slumber.

I easily bonded with the main characters and enjoyed the romance in this novel.  I can’t wait to see what happens next and will be watching for the next book from Ms. Brant.  This is her debut novel, and she is such a gifted storyteller.

As for my conservative parent’s rating, I will label this one R because of one slightly graphic sex scene. There were about two curse words in the book. Other than that, the characters held an old world belief when it came to sex outside of marriage.  They did not believe in it.

Be sure to click on the link below to read a detailed description of Red and Grey.  While there, you can also read the first portion of the book.  Here’s an interview I did with Christine.  Hope you enjoy!