Digitalis

My review at the end. Thank you to CFBA for the opportunity to review some amazing books over the past couple of years!

This week, the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance is introducing Digitalis Barbour Publishing, Inc.(January 1, 2011) by Ronie Kendig



ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Ronie has been married since 1990 to a man who can easily be defined in classic terms as a hero. She has four beautiful children. Her eldest daughter is 16 this year, her second daughter will be 13, and her twin boys are 10. After having four children, she finally finished her degree in December 2006. She now has a B.S. in Psychology through Liberty University in Lynchburg, VA. Getting her degree is a huge triumph for both her and her family--they survived!!



This degree has also given her a fabulous perspective on her characters and how to not only make them deeper, stronger, but to make them realistic and know how they'll respond to each situation. Her debut novel, Dead Reckoning released March 2010 from Abingdon Press. And her Discarded Heroes series began in July 2010 from Barbour with the first book entitled Nightshade.



This is the second book in the series.



ABOUT THE BOOK

Step into the boots of a former Marine in this heart-pounding adventure in life and love. Colton “Cowboy” Neeley is a Marine trying to find his footing as he battles flashbacks now that he’s back home. Piper Blum is a woman in hiding—from life and the assassins bent on destroying her family. When their hearts collide, more than their lives are at stake. Will Colton find a way to forgive Piper’s lies? Can Piper find a way to rescue her father, trapped in Israel? Is there any way their love, founded on her lies, can survive?



If you would like to read an excerpt of Digitalis, go HERE.

Pattie's Review:

Like Nightshade, Digitalis is a very intense book. It gets a bit confusing with the call signs and dual identities of the Nightshade team, and without having my copy of Nightshade (I gave it to a friend), I could not use the glossary at the front to keep the characters straight.

There are many layers of complexity in this story. The author does well in leaving the ending of the book solved for now, yet open for the third book in the series. However, it took me awhile longer to get into the storyline of this book. It was still a very good book, well-written, but not as immediately engrossing as the first book was.

Colton and Piper, the two main characters, kept denying their love and feelings for each other, and even though everyone else insisted they should get together, and that they loved each other, they kept denying away. That sort of got old after awhile.

I think Ronie Kendig did a superb job of picturing the entire "flashback" phenomenon of veterans. Colton's flashbacks are indeed scary, and I wish that more work had been done with the counselor. But at least he WENT to the counselor. That's more than some of our wounded veterans will do.

So yes, a mixed review of Digitalis, but overall, for those who enjoy military suspense with a hefty dose of faith, definitely check out this series.

My review of Nightshade is here.