Our Best Reads For April

Gerard's Favorite: Handle With Care by Jodi Picoult
Can't Put It Down--Jodi Classic (100 stars!)
First off, for anyone who has Osteogenesis imperfecta (O.I.) and their families and friends, my prayers and thoughts are with you. As for the book, I loved it!! This is a hard-to-put-down book. I went back and forth with how I felt about the people in this book. So many twists and turns and story lines everywhere. It's just awesome!!!! It left me wanting more, and then, if that's not enough, the last 50 or so pages were even better!! I finished it 3 days sooner than I expected I would. Nineteen Minutes is the standard I judge Jodi's books by because I really liked it a lot! That was one awesome book and this matches it. I cried at the end, hated the ending!!! I've read so many good books this year so far--this is one of them for sure. Read this book, you will never forget it!

Karen's Favorite: Has to be The Kanner Lake Series by Brandilyn Collins. I can't pick just one because I liked them all. They are all quick reads:

Violet Dawn
This is the first book in the Kanner Lake series and is splendid! Violet Dawn is a double mystery! It has a murder mystery plot as well as a personal mystery plot. The author builds to a climax and then switches to another story line altogether and leaves the reader hanging. This pattern occurs throughout the book and kept me hanging on--kind of like a soap opera. It has both suspense and action that made me want to keep reading. I was hooked right from the start along with Leslie, the small town reporter looking for her big story. I recommend this to anyone who likes suspense or mysteries.

Gerard read Violet Dawn too and says: Good, quick read (4 stars)

This book is another book in the Kanner Lake Series. This is the second book I've read by this author. Her books are good. They go quick but to me there is not a whole lot of substance. Her books will not stay with you if you know what I mean. This book gives away the killer too early in the story. It does have a nice twist to it concerning the main character though. If you like nice quick reads and a good story, then you will like this. If you want a book with more staying power, pass this by.

Coral Moon is a murder mystery that involves evil spiritual forces and that was a hard one to figure out. It is certainly unusual and spooky. It deals with ghosts, curses, demons and seances. I didn't like the creepiness of this one but it kept my interest to the end.

I liked Crimson Eve because there was excitement and a fight for survival right from the start. It dealt with consequences of sin and showed how our actions can have an impact on others. Carla, the main character, is pursued by a hit man hired by someone in her past and goes on the run. She has kept a lot of secrets but the truth comes out eventually. Fantastic book that I think women would especially enjoy. This was hard to put down.

I loved Amber Morn. It is the first one I ever read by Brandilyn Collins but I will be reading more. "Amber Morn" is filled with action and suspense brought about through a hostage situation in a small town at a café where older people do a blog together. I finished reading this book in just two days. It held my interest and I was anxious to keep on reading. It is the last book in the Kanner Lake Series but I still enjoyed it even though I hadn't read the other three first. It has Christian overtones through it but does not preach at all. I liked the way it ended too.

Gerard Read this too and says: Good Quick Read (5 stars)
You can read Amber Morn in two days. I would have liked the characters to be more developed. I haven't read the other three books in this series yet so maybe the characters were already more expanded. I will probably read the other three at some point.

It was hard to pick just one book for each of us this month, we've read so many good ones. As you can see, I picked the whole series, it was so good. I recommend reading them in order so that by the time you get to the last one, you know the characters. Check out our other book reviews for April at our Zemek's Updates Blog.