Positive Grace by Deb Haggerty

Deb’s Dozen: Trust me with your life? Sure! Trust me with your heart? Maybe.

What an exciting book! A Matter of Trust by Susan May Warren intrigued me from the very beginning! First, I love rescue team adventures because they are so varied. And this is a rescue team in the mountains—even more exciting. I’m a wannabe skier—I mostly managed to ski down hills sitting on my skis, and once, most embarrassedly, had to walk out from an extremely high, extremely icy slope. So, Susan had me hooked.

Gage Watson was once a champion backcountry snowboarder, but after an accident that left someone following his line dead, he’s abandoned that life and is now on the PEAK rescue team. Not only did he leave behind his dream, but he left behind the woman he was falling in love with, Ella Blair.

On the job, he runs across two young daredevil boarders who are attempting to go into an off-limits territory. He catches them and takes away their passes to the mountain. When he apprehends them in a local bar, one of them recognizes him and relates he’s going to follow Gage’s line down the mountain that ended Gage’s career. Trying to find and stop Oliver, Gage and Ty Remington go to his condo—where Gage comes face to face with his almost love, Ella.

You will thrill to the love story, but even more, you’ll thrill to the rescue scenes when Ella and Gage head down that same mountain to rescue Oliver and his friend, Bradley.

Gage and Ella became real to me, as did the rest of the team, especially Brette, Ella’s best friend, and Ty. The entire team has stories to tell and we learn fragments of each of them. Warren has done a fantastic job of telling Gage’s and Ella’s story—I can hardly wait to hear the stories of the rest of the team. A resounding five stars!

Susan May Warren is a bestselling, much-awarded author of several series. She is a USA Today bestselling author and has won the HOLT, RITA, and numerous Christy Awards. She writes historical, contemporary, mystery-suspense, and comedy—all laced with a healthy dose of romance. Find her at susanmaywarren.com

Revell Books gave me a copy of A Matter of Trust, but I was in no way obligated to write a good review.

Deb’s Dozen: A SEAL Team Died—Is the President above the Rule of Law?

Rule of Law by Randy Singer is one of those books you can’t put down. Page after page, you’re drawn into the web woven by the president, her staff, the CIA, and the State Department. But are they above the law or must they too follow the rules even in the area of foreign policy?

A SEAL team is dispatched on a rare presidential mission to rescue an American journalist and a Saudi prince who have been captured by the Houthi rebels in Yemen. The prisoners are scheduled to be executed on Easter Sunday. The team views the mission as a non-eventful in and out—dangerous, of course, but routine—or so they thought. The mission goes horribly wrong; they were expected, and they all are killed.

Those left behind are in deep mourning. Paige Chambers, an attorney courted by one of the SEALs, regrets she did not accept his proposal. Kerstin, one of the wives, cannot understand how she’s been left to raise their two boys alone. Then they are contacted by the PATRIOT, a faceless voice who has proof the CIA and the State Department colluded and knew the SEALs would be ambushed.

A crusty, crafty, and cantankerous lawyer, who has been retained by Kerstin, decides to sue the government and the president as well. Did she play political games with these young lives? The stakes are huge and the case goes all the way to the Supreme Court—is there equal justice under the law?

My husband read Rule of Law first and rated the story and the writing five stars. With believable, compelling characters you quickly care for, and an extremely plausible story, you too will be enthralled. Indeed, five stars!

Randy Singer is a critically acclaimed writer and a seasoned trial attorney. He said he wrote Rule of Law to raise the questions, “Should the CIA be fighting shadow wars with drones and special forces in countries where we have not declared war? What happens when the lives of service members are sacrificed for political gain?” His debut novel, Directed Verdict, won the Christy Award and in 2015, The Advocate won the ECPA’s Christian Book Award for fiction.

Randy is an attorney, an author, and a teaching pastor for Trinity Church in Virginia Beach, VA. He also serves as Attorney in Residence and Director of the Singer Civil Litigation Practicum at Regent Law School. He and his wife live in Virginia Beach and have two adult children.

I was given an Advance Reader Copy of Rule of Law by Tyndale House, but I was under no obligation to write a favorable review.