Fade to Blue

My review is at the end. Thanks so much for visiting and reading!

This week, the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance is introducing Fade to Blue B&H Books (May 15, 2011) by Julie Carobini



ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

A word from the author:

I grew up as Julie Navarro, in a family of truly right-brained individuals. Among us you’ll find writers, artists, and musicians, all of us willing to talk about the arts at a moment’s notice.

Over the years, I’ve published several hundred articles and stories in magazines and books, including Aspire, Decision, Expecting, Focus on the Family, Key Magazine and God’s Abundance: 365 Days to a Simpler Life. As I wrote, I found a common theme cropping up: my family, the sea, and God’s timely work in the lives of those around me.


Maybe it was time to incorporate those interests into novels, I thought.

And so I did. Not once, but twice. Both times, God shut both doors and windows. So I continued to write and dream and raise my kids with Dan. Eventually I decided to write romantic seaside novels, and that’s where I found my voice.

When I’m not writing, marketing, or editing for others, I’m driving my kids around town, imagining that my mid-sized SUV is actually a sleek sailing yacht.


ABOUT THE BOOK

Suz Mitchell is the determined dreamer we should all be and won't allow her ex-husband Len's jail sentence to ruin their young son Jeremiah's life. An accomplished artist, she moves with her child across the country to California's central coast and lands a sweet job restoring priceless paintings at the historic Hearst Castle overlooking the ocean.


To her utter surprise, a serious old flame, Seth, is also now working at Hearst and jumbles the dreams inside Suz's heart. While sorting out the awkwardness of their past split and current spiritual differences, a repentent Len shows up eager to restore his family.


Suz must learn to let God be the true restorer of all that once seemed lost.

If you would like to read the first chapter of Fade to Blue, go HERE.

Pattie's Review:

While I did like this book, I have to be honest and say it is not my favorite Julie Carobini novel (That would be Chocolate Beach). Suz is a likeable enough heroine, but it does seem a little unreal that everyone she meets is charmed by her. However, I do identify with her being harder on herself than others are on her. I'm that way myself.

I wonder, too, if perhaps I would have had a little more invested in the characters if I'd read the first two in this Otter Bay series. This is book three, and while I think there was enough backstory about Suz's brother Gage and his Callie to get the general idea, I do think I might have missed some things about Suz in that book.

The story is good, suspenseful enough but not too scary, and we do figure out the bad guy pretty early on - the twist is, we don't know how and why he's the bad guy, and what he is really after, until the end. The ending is satisfying, but felt rushed to me - maybe a little more time taken with the falling action and denouement would have made it a little bit more believable to me instead of boom, it's over, the bad guy is locked up.

The spiritual lessons of divorce and forgiveness are well-played out and addressed. Both of these tend to be touchy subjects, and the author handles them well without giving a black-and-white answer to a very gray subject area.

Overall, a solid new novel from Carobini, with plenty of grace.