Positive Grace by Deb Haggerty

Deb’s Dozen: The Angel Abductor Terrorizes Nashville For Over a Decade-Who Is He?

Teenage girls with long blonde hair go missing–and are found dead in shallow graves with a bullet wound in the middle of their foreheads. On the ground nearby–a Polaroid picture. Local police, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation are both stumped. The FBI is called for the assistance of a profiler, Special Agent Jordan Lambert. The TBI agent, Garrett Addison, gets hit with another such case his first week on the job–and the FBI agent is the woman he let get away some years before. Time passes, more girls are abducted and killed; some are found, some not.

Throughout the long years of investigation, Garrett and Jordan walk in and out of each other’s lives. They both regret what they don’t have with each other, yet can see no future together. And still, the case goes on. Can the Angel Abductor be that good? Is he hiding in plain sight? Why do the girls go with him without an apparent struggle? What have they missed?

Garrett and Jordan separately became very real to me. I wanted to shake them both and tell them to wake up to their attraction and get on with their lives together! But then the Angel Abductor would strike again, and I’d feel catching him the priority over personal feelings. You’ll get caught up in both lives-and the deaths of the poor girls.

In Vanishing Point, Lisa Harris has written a serial killer novel that perplexes the police agencies. She’s also written an unusual romance. In addition, she ties in her previous Nikki Boyd Files novels by having Nikki become a police officer (Nikki’s sister Sarah was one of the undiscovered victims). You wonder what takes so long to solve the crimes, but then that’s what often happens in the real world. Vanishing Point is a standalone novel even with the loose tie to the Nikki Boyd books-almost as if Harris didn’t think this one would have enough credibility on its own. I give this one three and a half stars.

Lisa Harris has written more than thirty books, is a Christy Award winner and has won the Best Inspirational Suspense Novel from the Romantic Times twice. She and her family have spent fourteen years living as missionaries in southern Africa. Find out more about her at LisaHarrisWrites.com.

Revell Books gave me a copy of Vanishing Point, but I was in no way obligated to write a review.

Deb’s Dozen: We all have our giants. Overcome yours by living a fruit-filled life.

Jesus and the Beanstalk by Lori Stanley Roeleveld. The book has long been released. I was on her street team. I was supposed to read and tout the book throughout my social media. I was supposed to write this review and post it everywhere during her blog tour. I didn’t.

I confess I had a very hard time reading this book. Lori always makes me think. She makes me consider things I don’t necessarily want to face—my giants. She causes me to ponder and consider and remember and confess. Most of all, she makes me desire to change.

Lori, through her blog, LoriRoeleveld.com, and through this Jesus and the Beanstalk book, makes me want to grow closer to Jesus. She makes me want to spend more time with him. She makes me want to love you—and I must admit I don’t always. She challenges me to think about virtue and perseverance and knowledge and true love. Of faith and godliness, of goodness and self-control. I don’t like to think of those things; I fall too short in embodying them. But we all do, and there stands Jesus. He knows we can’t be or do or exemplify any of these things without him.

I took months to read this book. I missed all my commitments to help promote the book. But I’ve learned, I’ve thought, I’ve started to change. So, I challenge you to go on this journey with Jesus and the Beanstalk. Begin today to live a more fruitful life and grow closer to him—without needing magic beans and a beanstalk.

Five stars. Buy Jesus and the Beanstalk. Savor the wisdom and teaching. And conquer your giants.

Lori Stanley Roeleveld is an award-winning author who lives and works in a small town, Hope Valley, Rhode Island. She has written Running from a Crazy Man (and other adventures traveling with Jesus) and Red Pen Redemption. Her blog was voted into the Top 100 Christian Blots by RedeemingGod.com and has received over 1.5 million views. Lori frequently teaches at writers’ conferences, sharing her wealth of information.

Abingdon Press gave me an advance reader’s copy of this book. I was not obligated to write a favorable review.