Jeff Sexton

More Action, Arguably Less Romance. Still Bybee. This book - arguably a version of a take on 21 Jump Street (though admittedly my only exposure to that franchise is the Tatum/ Hill movies) - continues Bybee's recent (2020+) path of moving to less saccharine / comedic romances and to more thriller-ish romances. There is still comedy and sweetness here, but it takes more of a backburner to the thriller elements. Also continuing is Bybee's more recent examination of weighty real-world topics while telling a romance tale, and in this case the topic in question is sex trafficking - particularly of high school/ just after high school age young women. Bybee, at least in my experience with her books, isn't really known for having multiple sex scenes throughout the tale, and this particular book is no exception to that norm. Truly a solid romance, with all of the old RWA standards I am aware of met, and a pretty good (low body count) thriller to boot - particularly when considering that the author is more known in the romance world and has written far more in that genre. This reader, for one, is looking forward to seeing where this series goes. Very much recommended.

Return To Vieques. As it turns out, this book is a sequel to Life And Other Near Death Experiences. I didn't know that going in, but I've read a couple of Pagan's other books and had to read this one too. (And yes, I have Life already, I just haven't read it yet. :D) But this is a “sequel” in that it follows some of the same characters years later, rather than being an “immediate aftermath” type sequel. So in that sense, think of it more along the lines of Nicholas Sparks' The Wedding (“sequel” to The Notebook, years later) or maybe the new Saved By The Bell reboot (which I haven't seen yet, but have seen the premise of). In other words, not knowing the first tale might have slight detriments here as far as getting the full potential impact of certain scenes, but overall this book is closer to being a standalone book rather than a “you MUST read this other book first” type.

Within this tale itself, you get a strong look at what life in the Caribbean (and, technically, nearby Atlantic) can do for a “mainlander” - but also a view of what life there is really like, specifically in the aftermath of storms like Irma and (specifically used in the text) Maria. Potential real world spoiler sentence: (Indeed, it seems that Pagan uses a fair amount of real life observation, as she herself is married to a Puerto Rican native and they regularly go back with their kids to Vieques - much as the characters in the book do - and were there during a storm as she was writing this book.) And we're back: Overall, this book is what I've come to expect from Pagan: Tackling solid, hard hitting issues with enough humor to be enjoyable and enough heart to be heart wrenching. So read it, enjoy it, and consider the possibilities. Very much recommended.

Too Much Faith, Not Enough Doubt. I've read McLaren for a few years and knew him to be of the more “progressive Christian” bent, so I knew what I was getting myself in for in picking up this book. But as always, he does have at least a few good points in here, making the book absolutely worthy of reading and contemplating. However, he also proof texts a fair amount, and any at all of this particular sin is enough for me to dock any book that utilizes the practice a star in my own personal war with the practice. (Though I do note that he isn't as bad as other writers in this.) The other star removal comes from the title of this review, which is really my core criticism here. As is so often in his previous books as well as so many other authors, McLaren has good points about the need for doubt and how to live in harmony... but then insists on praising cult figures on both sides of the aisle such as Greta Thurnberg and David Grossman. In encouraging evaneglicals to doubt their beliefs, he seems rather sure of his own beliefs in the religions of science and government - seemingly more comfortable worshipping these religions than the Christ he claims. Overall, much of the discussion here truly is strong. It simply needed to be applied in far more areas than McLaren was... comfortable... in doing. Recommended.

Another Solid Entry In Series. At this point, the Cold Case world Pine has created is fairly similar to later seasons of long running police procedural/ action TV shows like Law and Order or NCIS. Long time fans will love this latest chapter, but there is enough distinct story in this “episode” that people wanting to try out the show can understand what is happening here and see if they like the style and want to go back and see how the regular characters got to this point. (Which is very much recommended, btw.) The mystery here is compelling - the coldest case the team has worked yet. The family dynamics are interesting - will Ronan go back to being a cop? The Christmas scene in the epilogue is fun, touching, and sets the stage for future episodes. In other words, the book solidly accomplishes everything it is supposed to. Very much recommended.

Informative and Poetic. Gregory knows his subject extremely well and knows how to explain it well to an audience that doesn't necessarily have near the academic pedigree in the field that he seemingly does. Ostensibly a story about the space rocks that land on earth, this tale is part history, part chemistry, part theoretical astrophysics, and a whole lot of detailed yet understandable explanation of how all of these fields interact as it relates to the subject at hand. I learned more about chemistry from reading this book than I ever understood from my high school chemistry class. Very much recommended.

Funny With Heart. This is one of those Hallmarkie type romances with a lot of humor and some mild ish angst. The humor is broad enough to cross cultures (being set in Australia and written by an Australian, even this American reader thought it was hilarious at times :) ) and the drama/ angst was of a type that most any adult can identify with nearly all of it, between career and personal issues. I sound a bit repetitive right now with noting that this is a great escape for a couple of hours in nearly every review I write this week, but hey, sometimes you just get in a mode where you really need the escape, and this really does work for that. :D So if you're looking for a fun, mostly light romance that still tackles some pretty tough subjects, you're gonna wanna read this book. If you're just looking for any book that can take your mind off the “real” world for a couple of hours, give this one a chance. And if you have kids of your own and only have a very limited amount of reading time... this one is near perfect, as it is a fairly short read (under 200 pages) to boot! Very much recommended.

Premium Presentation. This is a solid start to a new series from Benjamin, and one that does its job of telling a compelling romance, creating a new world, and introducing the remaining series leads. The romance here is a tad trope heavy (billionaire heir questioning family legacy, woman on the run), but it works well even so. Overall a solid and fairly standard-ish Christina Benjamin Young Adult Romance - meaning if you're open to the genre at all and haven't read her works, this is a good place to start. If you're a fan of hers already, you're going to like this one as well. And I, for one, am looking forward to seeing just where the stories go next. :) Very much recommended.

And Now, Part 2. In the second part of this courageous series of romance books, Leigh goes from MF romance in Book 1 (Forgiven) to MM romance here, a genre she is apparently much more well known in. And given the vitriol for MF romance in so much of the MM world, I expect this book to be received better than the first book was - and at this moment, the early Goodreads reviews are at least trending slightly in that direction.

Here, we get the full-on romance of two characters first introduced in Forgiven - the brothers of both of that book's leads. And it is again a fairly standard gay/ bi romance. Fairly high degree of angst, lots of issues for both men to work through, sex scenes later in the tale given the inexperience of one of them, etc. If you like MM romance generally, this one will be another solid one for you. If you're just exploring the genre, this is a good one to try out - and maybe even read Forgiven first, if you're more comfortable in the MF romance space.

While I don't see where this series goes from here, if indeed it is to continue, I'm not opposed to coming back to this world. Leigh does a truly solid job of establishing it and allowing her characters to live mostly real lives within it, including the added tag of drama near the end of this one - which can happen to most anyone. Very much recommended.

Solid Romance That Does What It Must. With this particular book seemingly bringing the story of the Castleton String Quartet to a close, there were certain events that those following this series knew had to come to pass - and when they did, it was utterly heartbreaking. And yet Evans manages to wrap a solid romance around this and even give a Mr. Holland's Opus finale level sendoff to the series to boot. And since that is one of my favorite musical moments in film ever... that is high praise and is a style that is always appreciated by this reader. :) Very much recommended.

Startling Look At (Mostly Relatively Recent) Medical History. I consider myself a fairly well-read guy who is fairly knowledgeable about a very wide range of topics. Here, Offit shares stories of medical breakthroughs - including several which are now literally every day occurrences - and how the initial days of these breakthroughs weren't always so routine. Indeed, many of the stories Offit shares about these breakthroughs - some of which were still being litigated within the last decade - are quite horrific, both from the practitioners really not understanding what they were doing and in some cases when they did know what they were doing - and did it anyway. Including one tale in particular about the (now) famous Jonas Salk himself that was quite disturbing to read. In the end, the book does exactly what it sets out to do - shows that there is always inherent risk in any medical procedure, particularly novel ones, and that often times it is those whose lives will be cut short with or without the procedure that take the risks that ultimately reduce those risks for later people and indeed enhance the lives of people they will never know many years down the line. And yes, all of this is wrapped around the current debate over the COVID-19 vaccines - though while these are discussed, they are not actually a core component of the text itself. The discussion here is current circa early November 2020 and is slightly outdated even as I read the text in early February 2021 - and certainly will have advanced even further by the time of the book's actual publication in mid September 2021. Ultimately a truly fascinating read that is equally disturbing and enlightening, this book is very much recommended.

Solid If Brief History Marred By No True Scotsmen. This is a seemingly comprehensive - more comprehensive than any other I've ever read, and I've read many - yet brief (around 100 pages, including all non-narrative book material such as table of contents and bibliography) look at the issue. It even manages to include several historical facts of which I was hitherto unaware. Which is not overly easy to do, given that I've been speaking on this exact issue, from both sides at varying times, in depth off and on for over 20 years now. HOWEVER, particularly in its later chapters when it begins to get into more modern times - the last 40-50 years or so -, Balmer allows a tinge of “No True Scotsman” to invade his narrative. Even though I largely concur with these particular points, that the Baptists of the modern era - particularly the Southern Baptist Convention post “Conservative Resurgence” - have lost much of what it historically meant to be a Baptist (even in the SBC itself!), it taints what is otherwise a largely strictly fact based discussion of the history of the separation of Church and State in the land now known as the United States of America. Still, I don't find it quite significant enough to downgrade the overall rating a full 20% that the loss of one of five stars would denote (though if I were grading on a typical A-F scale, I would probably drop this into B+ territory over the issue). Very much recommended.

Interesting Counter And Companion To Learning To Speak God From Scratch By Jonathan Merritt. Having now completed ARC readings of both of these books about Christians speaking about their religion, I can definitely see why Merritt's work is quoted so often in the first part of this work. Whereas Merritt spends much of the back part of his book looking at individual words heard nearly every time Christians speak, Shenk spends more of her time looking at how Christians speak. Their tones, their mannerisms, the very way we speak religion as a social construct. Which is a very interesting dichotomy when Merritt's work is also something you've considered. But be forewarned: Shenk does come from a “progressive”/ leftist background, so there is quite a bit of “white man evil!!!!” and other standard leftist tropes here, and even a degree of radicalism not even any vegan I've ever encountered professes as it relates to her eating habits (discussed in a late chapter). However, whereas Merritt's work could strike some as being a tad too conservative - he comes from a background where his dad was the President of the Southern Baptist Convention during his later teens/ the early George W Bush years, including 9/11 - the dichotomy continues here with Shenk's leftist background. Which is yet another reason the two books are so intertwined to me, and why they balance each other so well in my mind. Beyond the leftist drivel (and hypocrisies), Shenk makes a lot of genuinely great points and has a truly solid discussion about the need for Christians to reconsider exactly how we speak religion both within our communities and to the larger world, and indeed that we need to be more proactive in doing so. Ultimately, the reduced star here isn't over Shenk's beyond-the-scope-of-this-narrative commentary, but because she, as so many others in this genre, prooftexts. In one case late in the text, literally the next paragraph after decrying the practice. Still, on the beyond-the-narrative-scope stuff here, the book is very much YMMV level - the more partisan you are either direction, the more you'll love or hate that part of the book. On the actual thesis of the book, the book is enlightening in areas and thought provoking, at minimum, in many others. And thus, very much recommended.

Solid Romance, More Drama Than Usual For Evans. This book has Evans stretching herself as a storyteller and introducing much more drama than is typical of her, almost to the level of becoming a romantic suspense. What saves this book from that particular marketing is the presence of a personal favorite character from her previous series, the Brighthead Running Club...CASHMAN! Seriously, fans of that particular series will LOVE Cashman's appearance here – nearly to the point of stealing this book! The comedy there is comedic gold, and some of Evans' best. Overall, the two parts of the tale are integrated well – Cashman serves as an advisor of sorts on some of the earlier points of the suspense side – and play off each other in-world superbly. Very much recommended.

Those That Do Not Know History... The time period is (basically) a century ago. Most of the action is taking place within about 3 years either side of 1920. And you have a nationally popular and very rich business tycoon running in an election that ends with allegations of fraud and demands for recounts. Sound familiar? This is only part of the story of a piece of American history that despite having a tangential connection to (my step-grandfather - the only second grandfather I ever knew - was from the Muscle Shoals region and was born there during the period discussed in this text), I had never heard about before seeing this book. I've known of the TVA, I've even considering applying for jobs there in my professional career. But this story of how they began - really nearly a decade before the Great Depression and FDR's New Deal - is quite fascinating on so many levels. Hager does a tremendous job of showing the breadth of what was happening and why as it relates to his central thesis, and people would do well to learn the lessons of this particular episode of American history. While the Bibliography was a bit lacking (at roughly 9% of this text vs a more common 20-30% or so), the author explains that much of his research was from original records and correspondences not captured in any previous volume, so that makes a fair amount of sense. On the whole, this seems well done and well balanced, and is very much recommended.

Complete And Well Documented Examination of Disaster. This is a book that looks not just at one disaster or one type of disaster, but at all of them. It doesn't look to one threat or another threat or a third threat, but moves between types of threats and shows how they, really, are all interrelated by a common element: the human, and in particular the governmental, response to them. From ancient plagues and volcanoes to hot-off-the-press (at the time of writing a few months prior to even my own seeming first public review level early read) details of the current global catastrophes. While docking a star for Ferguson's high praise of John Maynard Keynes (suffice it to say I tend to hold economists such as Hayak, Bastiat, and Von Mises to levels Ferguson holds Keynes), that isn't really my style since those are more a couple of aside level comments randomly in this near 500 page volume. But also, don't let the near 500 page count deter you - in my copy, 48% of that text (or nearly 200 pages) was bibliography, making this one of the more well documented books I've read in the last few years. Truly a book that needs to be considered by at minimum policy makers but really the public at large, at times it doesn't really go far enough to point out that voluntary community based disaster preparedness can often do more good than government top down approaches (even as he continually points out that the failures most often happen at middle management levels). Very much recommended.

Action Packed Finale. This book picks up moments after the ending of Book 2 (CyberSpace), and therefore you really need to read at minimum that book before reading this one. (Reading Book 1, CyberStorm, isn't as imperative, as most of what you need to know from that book is explained in CyberSpace - but you should absolutely read that book as well anyway. :D)

That noted, this really is an action packed finale, with levels of action similar to Matthew Reilly or Jeremy Robinson's craziest stories - which is high praise indeed, as I've rarely seen any other author even approach that level of insanity. Indeed, this book feels a lot like riding the Kraken rollercoaster at SeaWorld Orlando - absolutely insane, your mind is never really sure what the hell is going on or what is coming next. It misses the overall sense of dread that CyberStorm invoked, and it largely even misses the overall sense of scale that CyberSpace at least attempted to invoke. But what you do get here is an intensely personal tale that manages to balance the personal and the larger impact a bit better than either of the two previous books. Several shocking revelations, a few solid points about real-world politics (though absolutely in service of the particular story being told here, rather than being preachy), and a bit of a mind bending finish that is explained in the extended epilogues. (Though nowhere near as extended as The Return Of The King from Lord of the Rings, where it feels like half the dang tale is epilogue. This is more 3 ish chapter epilogue rather than short coda most books do there.) Ultimately a fun and satisfying read if you've made it this far, and thus very much recommended.

Not What You Expected, But What You Need. As is often my norm when getting ready to write reviews, I had a look through the existing ones first. And so many were so critical of this book claiming it was effectively a bait and switch and had too many characters.

Now, I'm a man that can have and has had a dozen different books going, and can easily track what is happening in all of them. I've compared my (Autistic) mind to an AEGIS threat detection and tracking system before - able to track far more things than most can even readily know is happening. I also happen to be the child of two people who each have more siblings than our lead female does here, so again, I'm used to large families and tracking everything. But yes, if your mind is smaller in scale and can't cope with a dozen ish important characters... you're going to struggle with this tale. For me, this was actually fairly normal and I thought the dynamics were very solidly portrayed, with no characters feeling unduly flat, other than perhaps the children that were only in a scene or two. (And even then, within those scenes the children in question felt quite alive.)

As to the “bait and switch” of “claiming to be a romance” and actually presenting a “women's fiction”... The timing for me was actually quite interesting, as in a prominent multi-author book group on Facebook, one of the founding authors asked just yesterday what kind of endings people preferred. Of 416 responses across 8 options, with multiple selections allowed per voter, over 2/3 of the respondents to this particular (18 hr old at the time of this writing) poll responded with some form of “surprise me (174) / give me something to think about (75) / messy endings are fine (17) / pull lots of threads together (15)”. So at least in this particular group of readers, I honestly think most of them would be along the lines of how I personally felt about this: I personally thought it was a wonderful tale of life, love, and other mysteries. (Kudos if you get that reference, you're awesome! :D) YES, if you are an RWA purist, this book will NOT fit all of the RWA rules for “romance”. If you argue (as I do) that Nicholas Sparks writes romances that are often far more emotional and loving than many RWA-pure romances and thus should be considered romances themselves... you'll be fine here. (Though note: This is NOT a tragedy ala Sparks, but that is as close as I get to revealing anything here.) Further, examining the description and even genres listed by the publisher on Amazon, I find no evidence of them claiming this is a romance novel. Instead, the marketing tagline is that you will get a “life-affirming and uplifting tale of love, family, friendship, and risking it all for happiness”.

I would argue that the tagline given is exactly the book we ultimately get, and thus any claims of being led to expect one thing and being given something else (aka “bait and switch”) are ultimately baseless and indeed utterly absurd.

For me, this book was a very solid, very fun tale with aspects not seen in many other places, including struggles with childlessness, fostering, different takes on what it means to be married/ have a happy marriage, and even, yes, its central premise and ultimate resolution thereof. For me, this was a book that completely worked from top to bottom, and enough that I personally will be on the look for future books from this author. Which means that, of course, this book is very much recommended.

Excellent Story With Explosive Ending. So some people of late have decried reviews that even mention anything at all about the ending. If you're such a person, stop right here. I'm not going to give away any spoilers- not my style at all - but that ending deserves a mention: It sets up what could be one HELL of a book 3.

Beyond that though, this book does an excellent job of showing the dichotomies of life on Puerto Rico and the nearly-as-divisive-as-mainland-US-politics issue of whether PR should be granted Statehood, maintain the status quo, or become an independent nation. Even while the main thrust of the actual action and mystery actually revolves around Big Pharma, how they are treating the citizens of PR, and terrorism. Indeed, we pick up not far after the ending of the first book, which was explosive in its own right and which set in motion the events here, at least as far as Parker's involvement in them.

Truly an excellent mystery with plenty of action in a cool tropical setting (and with the requisite hot, mysterious woman), I'll have a bit more to say about my own story that actually blends well with the overall story here when I participate in the publisher's Blog Tour on my blog (BookAnon.com) on release day. So you might want to check that out - I even have a picture to share. ;)

Obviously, I can't wait for Book 3 - even if it is a possible finale, it should be an epic one. Very much recommended, both this book and the series.

Sometimes All It Takes Is A Break. This was a remarkable tale of a woman who was down on her luck being given a chance to take a break... who comes to realize all that she does have, and, perhaps, all that she needs to change. The book-within-a-book was a great technique that is sure to grab the attention of the literati types, but overall Lilliane's story was a great crossover between Greene's mountain based Cub Creek series and beach based Emerald Isle series, one full of heart and... well, grace. :D The ending left this particular reader hoping for at least one more book with these characters, though the two sentence description of that book is quite clear of where it needs to go. So y'all need to go buy this book and give Greene a reason to come back to these particular characters. :D Very much recommended.

Forgive the Low Star Reviewers, For They Know Not What They Do. Apparently I had a completely different experience with this book than most of the other ARC readers, because while this thing wasn't mind blowing in the slightest, it was a solid romance with a crap ton of sex, characters who both despised and loved each other, and a solid concept for at least a short series. Really, it was fairly standard ish romance - which is all that I really expected here. If you're looking for LGBT romance, this isn't it - and never claims it is, despite the author being more well known in that space. If you're looking for sweet or clean or tidy... this isn't that either. There is a lot of hard core, rough, passionate, hate filled sex - because that is the space these characters are in after the way life has treated them over the last decade, and the last thing either of them wants to be dealing with is the one that got away all those years ago. And yes, there is an out and proud gay brother - and another brother whose sexuality is less clear in this text - who will be the foci of the next book in the series. Which alone merits reading this series, as extremely few authors have the balls to combine different sexualities into the same series - or even write books outside a set sexuality. I've actually already started the other book, since I'm also reading it early - for a blog tour, in fact - and so far it continues in the same tone as the others.

Ultimately, I would've read this one from the hate filled reviews alone - just because when a book gets so heavily panned, I find myself reading it for myself just to see if indeed the hatred is warranted. It wasn't in the most personally-famous case of me doing this (reading DIVERGENT trilogy because ALLEGIANT got this same level of hatred over its ending), and it isn't in this book either.

This book, and so far this series, is a refreshing change of pace in so many ways, and is therefore very much recommended.

Not So Excellent, But Enhances The Discussion Anyway. Up front, this book had its cool moments in that it quoted from a decently wide range of pop culture for its opening chapter quotes and even at times inside the discussion itself - you don't usually see that in a book clearly designed for the Christian Living market. But it also lost its first star because of rampant prooftexting, a practice wherein Christian authors cite seemingly random Bible verses out of context in “proof” of their claims - and a practice which I have declared absolute war on, with my automatic star deduction being my primary review-based weapon.

The other star was lost here because this book had a potentially profound premise... that it absolutely squandered in gearing its discussion only to conservative Evangelical American Christian interests and language. Within that particular subculture, this book will likely be absolutely beloved and possibly one of those destined to be handed to new high school graduates heading to college as graduation presents every year - which can be a sales bonanza, as you're easily talking hundreds of thousands, maybe even lowish millions, of copies every year.

But this book, with its premise of looking at Identity Politics from a new and seemingly enlightening angle, could have been so much more. It had the potential to be one of those books that I can take into any political space and urge people to read it and consider its points and make a truly persuasive case no matter the reader's own individual politics or religious beliefs, but instead Glanzer chose to focus on what he knows and lives. Which again, isn't an overly bad thing.

I can still take this into many realms and use it to talk to the moderates within them, the ones who can see past the conservative American Evangelical Christian culture this book was designed for to see the larger points Glanzer is making. And this is exactly why the book doesn't lose any more stars - because once you get beyond the trappings of that particular culture, the overall points here are strong enough to deserve consideration in a much wider arena.

And ultimately, that is the saddest part of this text for this reader, that so many other readers who could be enlightened by it won't be, specifically because of the approach entailed to discussing its overall thesis. Still, this book is recommended.

Seldom Saccharine Sweet. This is the book in this trilogy about (in part) three brothers from a small Southern town where this eldest of three brothers from a small (ish) Southern town really started identifying with these boys. Particularly since I left my own hometown 15 years ago this summer and only rarely go back, almost always to spend time with my family there. Which is what Cole is doing here - coming back to town for his sister's wedding. And Cole's mom? Much moreso than in Book 1 (Palmetto Passion), here she sounds so much like my own mother I could actually hear my mother's voice when she was speaking. Granted, my family doesn't have any towns named after us, but there is a (small) lake north of Atlanta that bears my mom's family's name (and the road the lake is on to boot :D)

All of which to say, this book really felt like home in ways that few books have ever quite evoked. And yes, I know, people from other areas of the country/ world won't get quite the same effect (even though the location of this book is a few hundred miles away from my own home region, to be clear :D), but even then - it does provide a pretty solid view of what family life is like for at least some in the region. :)

Benjamin always does solid work creating mostly quick-read romances (and this one clocks in at just 180 ish pages) with heart, and this one is no different. And at this point, I'm really looking forward to Book 3, since at this point we know so very little about that particular brother. Oh, and if you liked the movie Sweet Home Alabama with Reese Witherspoon... well, this reader found this book to have at least some strong similarities with that tale. Which is a very good thing for this reader, since he very much enjoys that movie. :) With this noted, this book is very much recommended.

Commingled Couples. Ah. The brother who fled town and never really looked back. The middle child in this band of brothers... and myself (the oldest) in my own. As with Book 2 (Saltwater Sweethearts), there was a fair amount here that hit a little close to home, and the mother yet again proves wise indeed. But arguably the strongest point about this book is just how effectively it weaves in and out of familiar scenes from one or the other (and often both) of the prior books in the series - yet never feels shoehorned in or contradictory to those scenes. Indeed, the mind effect is more akin to a How I Met Your Mother style “ok, now let me tell you what this character was doing at that moment” or even, perhaps, an Avengers: Endgame “time heist” sequence where the current characters revisit scenes in “prior” books (though in this case, set in the real world, in real time rather than in the characters' past) yet blended perfectly in with the existing scenes. Thus showing Benjamin's skill as a storyteller (and, perhaps, her editor's skill in keeping things intact ;) ). Very much recommended.

Blame And Forgiveness. Let's face it, the central conceit of this tale - a mostly abandoned boat left on a property that a family purchases that the parents and older kids then use as a mechanism to control the younger kids - is a bit... strange. And I note this as the son of two people who both had six or more siblings each - so while I only have two brothers myself, large family dynamics are not completely foreign to me. This noted, once your brain accepts the central conceit here, the actual story is truly a very solid one of finding oneself, struggling with roles that are not always chosen and not always permanent - both by choice and by situation, and, ultimately, self-recrimination of past wrongs and the need to forgive both yourself and others. The back half really picks up, and actually features a scene reminecent of one particular story of my own family history that I was told for years - in this case, a particular confrontation at a particularly ... inopportune... time. (Doing my best to note that this was a phenomenal scene without giving much away, since it does happen in the climax of the tale.)

Ultimately, those who have only known smaller families - where you and your entire family you've ever known have had the stereotypical-ish 2-3 kids or less - may struggle a bit with keeping up with the fairly large family and the dynamics therein. But work with it, because most everyone gets their chance to be a mostly-realized age-appropriate actual person... even as most of the actual action really does focus on the more senior people. (In other words, even the toddlers get a chance to be toddlers, but the teens and adults ultimately drive the story.)

Truly a great work, and a Toby Keith level master class in “I can spin off a story about anything”. (Look up the story of TK's “Red Solo Cup” to understand that reference. ;) )

Very much recommended.

Satisfying (Seeming?) Conclusion. After Bratt rushed things a bit with Book 2 of this series (No Place Too Far), combining elements that I felt - and mentioned both to the author and in the review - could better be done in multiple books, here she takes the same approach. Yet here, the story is more condensed generally, taking place over just a week or so and having two concurrent storylines that work quite a bit better as a pairing. In one, Jules, the true matriarch of this series, has a medical issue that sidelines her yet gives her a compelling storyline. In the other, and happening concurrently, her youngest daughter has gone missing - and Jonah, the PTSD-suffering Iraq veteran who decades earlier already lost one sister (see Book 1 - True To Me) has to find her.

As with much of this series, it is loosely based on Bratt's own daughter's adventures living in Hawaii - the author's note at the end actually notes a much more perilous event that made the news there in the last few years as the inspiration for the missing daughter piece.

And as with Bratt's immediately prior book to this series, Dancing With The Sun, this book is essentially a love song to one of her own daughters, and another cry of just how strong her love for that daughter is.

Bratt's writing, at least in the time I've known it, has always been about putting her real world heart on her sleeve and then pouring it into “paper”, while creating worlds that allows her to explore and convey the emotions she is feeling at any moment. It makes her personally vulnerable - but also makes for some of the most compelling reading of the last few years. This story is ultimately no different here. Read it because it is truly an excellent book, one where she took the (light) criticism from its predecessor and largely corrected. Knowing a bit of the backstory - and I haven't noted anything here beyond that which she has said (IIRC, in much more detail) publicly - only makes it that much richer.

Very much recommended.