Book Tour Book Review: Guardian

Author: Terri Reed
Title: Guardian
Publisher: Love Inspired Suspense
Publish Date: April 1, 2017
Buy: Amazon
Book Blurb: 
PROTECTING THE SINGLE MOM

When a fellow FBI agent is kidnapped and a protected witness vanishes, Leo Gallagher will stop at nothing to find them both. So when he discovers a link between the case and a single mother in Wyoming, Leo and his trusty K-9 partner rush to question Alicia Duncan. Could she be the key to locating the missing persons? Not if a killer has anything to say about it. Someone is determined to keep Alicia from talking, so Leo and his chocolate Lab must keep her and her little boy safe on their family ranch. With danger lurking around every corner, Leo must work overtime to not lose another person who's important to him.

Review: Terri Reed writes exceptional suspense novels. I really wish she would step out of the inspirational genre though, because the references to God, don't have anything to do with the story, they just seem to be there, so that the book can fall into the genre.  Mostly asking the Lord for help. It works better when its Alicia, rather than a tough as nails FBI guy.

There's very little romance in Guardian. The story focuses on Alicia who witnessed a murderer tossing a body into a lake.

Enter Leo, a FBI agent who sees a link between this case and one he's working on. He's got a lot of issues. He feels responsible for the kidnapping of his partner and the death of his sister in his childhood. (I won't go into why..cos..well SPOILERS)

Alicia's, husband, who was a cop, died and she found he wasn't what he seemed. She is a mother of a young son, who is a good part of the story, without being too central to things.

Both lead characters are broken but tough and they feel an instant connection.

The HEA in this story that comes after the resolution of part of the case doesn't fit. There is no way that in a matter of days that true love blooms and a marriage is in the offing. For me that just doesn't work.

If the romance was taken out, this story works well. It is full of suspense and definitely a great read.

Rating: 3 flowers

Book Review: Ransom

Author: Terri Reed
Title: Ransom
Publisher: Love Inspired Suspense
Publish Date:  Feb 1, 2016
Buy: Amazon

Book Blurb: 

"WE HAVE YOUR SISTER."

Liz Cantrell is terrified when she receives a call from a man holding her newlywed sister captive—and she's convinced her sketchy brother-in-law's involved. Willing to pay any price for her sister's freedom, Liz flies to Niagara Falls with the ransom: an uncut diamond necklace worth millions. But the moment she lands, a handsome, world-weary Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent takes her into custody. Blake Fallon's determined to catch a ruthless diamond smuggler—and the pretty antiques dealer trying to save her sister could be just the break his case needs. But as they team up to rescue Liz's sister and trap the criminal mastermind, a desperate standoff will threaten everything they hold precious—including their lives.

Northern Border Patrol: Keeping the US-Canada border safe.

Review: I don't often read Christian suspense novels. I always fear the amount of "faith" that is involved in the story and how it will affect things.

Ransom worked really well. It is a very clean romance with a strong mystery. Liz wasn't the typical  Christian fiction heroine. Though she was strong in faith, she was really smart and had a strong love for her sister.

Blake was great and though there was one point where I shook my head at his dialogue. I can't see any border control agent would describe Santini as "a bad man." This was a man that smuggled diamonds and had no qualms about possibly killing someone to get them.

Once I got past that Ransom was a very enjoyable story. The pacing was fast enough to keep my interest and a whole lot of drama.

There was the added villain in Ken who was trying to cut into Santini's business.

I loved the Niagara Falls setting. It made me long for the one vacation I had there when I was a little girl. I could really picture the frozen falls.

I loved the way the relationship between Blake and Liz grew even though they both had things in their past that made them weary of getting involved.

The other thing that bugged me was Jillian and her desire to stay married to Travis. He could have had her killed and she was ok with keeping her marriage vows. Sure there might have been some goodness in him, but stealing and getting someone kidnapped, that would have been a deal breaker for me.

It was a great read for this genre.

Rating: 4 flowers

Terri has provided us with a playlist to go along with the book!

 Song Playlist: A prepared playlist of songs that embodies the book’s characters and their love story.

I can’t write without music playing, the more upbeat the better. Here are some songs that make me think of my characters from Ransom and their love story.

1. Niagara sung by Sara Evans --this country love song is so pretty, full of conflict and angst. And the book is set in Niagara Falls, after all.
2. All for Love sung by Rod Stewart, Bryan Adams and Sting—the awesome talent of the three guys notwithstanding, this is such a powerful song and I think of Blake, the hero of Ransom, when I hear it.
3. Some Kind of Wonderful sung by Michael Bublé—such an upbeat tune and the words are indicative of Blake and Liz. They both are so closed off yet they have all these feelings that they don’t know how to express.
4. Waiting for a Girl Like You sung by Foreigner—not only is this my absolute favorite song from one of my favorite bands (I saw them in concert three times when I was in college-okay dating myself!) but also it speaks to the heart of Blake and Liz and the wounds of the past and the hope for the future.
5. Here and Now sung by Luther Vandross—a throw back to the 80’s but one of the all time best love songs and perfect for Valentine’s and for Blake and Liz’s HEA.

Book Review: Texas K-9 Christmas

Author: Shirlee McCoy, Terri Reed
Title: Texas K-9 Unit Christmas
Publisher: Love Inspired Suspense
Publish Date: Nov 5, 2013
Review Copy Provided By: Net Galley
Buy: Amazon

Book Blurb: 

CHRISTMAS COMES WRAPPED IN DANGER…

Holiday Hero by Shirlee McCoy

Emma Fairchild never expected to find trouble in sleepy Sagebrush, Texas. But when she's attacked and left for dead in her own diner, her childhood friend turned K-9 cop Lucas Harwood offers a chance at justice—and love.

Rescuing Christmas by Terri Reed

She escaped a kidnapper, but now a killer has set his sights on K-9 dog trainer Lily Anderson. When fellow officer Jarrod Evans appoints himself her bodyguard, Lily knows more than her life is at risk—so is her heart.

Texas K-9 Unit: These lawmen solve the toughest cases with the help of their brave canine partners

Review: Texas K-9 Unit Christmas is 2 short stories that take place in Sagebrush, Texas. It's part of the Texas K-9 Unit series for Love Inspired Suspense. All of these books are stand alone so you don't need to read them in order to enjoy this one.

The first story is Holiday Hero by Shirlee McCoy. I really enjoyed this one. It had more of a family feel to it. Emma and Lucas were childhood friends, so it made for an easy transition to a romance.

I also loved Emma's Aunt Bea. She was so sweet.

When Emma is attacked while working on her new diner, she meets her childhood friend and his K-9 partner. There is wonderful chemistry between these two.

I only wish that it wouldn't have been so easy to know who the criminal was, or at least the motives of the criminal. I found myself wanting to scream at Lucas to look to the past to find out who was after Emma.

Overall, this was a nice read, more on the romance side then the suspense.

Rescuing Christmas is just the opposite. This story is more suspenseful. Dog trainer Lily is being stalked. She escapes a kidnapper and runs straight for offer Jarrod Evans, whose dog she's supposed to be training.

For the most part of the story, you think you know who is after her...but Terri Reed throws you a curve ball at the end.

I liked that both Jarrod and Lily had things in their past that made them a little weary of getting close to people.

There was a lot of romantic tension between these two, but you didn't get the feel that this was a romance. This story was definitely darker and at times a lot more scary, complete with building blowing up and other assorted bomb threats!

Both were good reads and the K-9s from both stories were wonderful characters, though I have to admit Ranger and Max were my favorite police pooches.

Rating:  4 flowers