Sunday, June 14, 2020

Practicing Murder

Graduate student Maddie Clare is never talking to her ex-boyfriend Joze Evans or God again. Still broken from Joze's betrayal, Mattie has to go home for her Aunt Lonna's funeral. But after a run-in with a stalker who insists Maddie knows the secret that had Aunt Lonna investigating him, Mattie is afraid for her life and must accept Joze's protection.

As the stalker draws closer, Maddie and Joze have to face the past and a love that never died. Maddie sees she needs God's help to end her fears and to get through the new danger.

Can Maddie stay out of the stalker's grip long enough to figure out who he is and what secret he possesses? And how will Joze keep Mattie from being buried with the stalker's true identity?

My thoughts: When circumstances beyond their control throw Maddie and Joze back together, neither one of them are very happy to have to be around the other. With their relationship having ending with betrayal and distrust, it's hard for them to figure out how to move forward. But, as Joze starts to really listen to what Maddie has been claiming, his eyes start to open up about the past and where to go from there.

The mystery and suspense in this story was wonderful! It really keeps the reader racing to figure out what is going on. Overall, I enjoyed this book and the characters, though I do get a little tired of the back and forth in a relationship like Maddie and Joze's. It was still a good book to pick up though.

I received this book from Celebrate Lit. This is my honest review.

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About the Author

Erin Unger was raised in the hills of Virginia, exploring abandoned houses and reading the scariest books she could find. After marrying so young it would make a great romance novel, she has enjoyed an exciting life with her hubby. But her fast-paced life sometimes rivals the suspense in her books thanks to all her grown children and a couple grandkids.

More from Erin

Books are powerful. Whole other worlds can unfold in a few well-stated sentences. There’s nothing like that feeling a reader gets when the perfect book is open on their lap and it pulls them in on the first page. It’s like a gift. Sometimes they make us rethink long held ideas. At times they mirror what we’re going through. And sometimes they remind us of areas in our lives we haven’t worked on.

But not every book is for every person. Sometimes it’s not the best seller that struck the right cord, or the book everyone’s reading, it’s the one you stumbled upon on a special or heard of from a friend. It’s a God-ordained tool to show us His ways and plans.

As Christian writers, the power to transform is even more in our hands. We have the ability to show how great our God is and how he works in the most unusual ways at times. We use our gift to do more than only entertain, we want to make Him more real to our readers. We want to show them how to grow and change as our characters do. And it’s amazing that we can use fiction to do so.

Next time you pick up a book, see if you can find the message hidden in the character’s struggles. Maybe God used a writer to put it there just for you to learn.