Blog Tour and Review: A Slow Burn

A few months ago I read and reviewed Mary Demuth's Daisy Chain. I enjoyed the book but found it heavy and dark. I have to say the same about the second book in the trilogy, A Slow Burn (Defiance Texas Trilogy, Book 2)

A Slow Burn picks up where Daisy Chain leaves us. Daisy is dead; but who killed her? While there are some elements of a murder mystery, mostly this is the story of redeeming love. Hixon is the illegitimate son of a White woman and a Black man. His mom never loved him, and moved from man to man until she died, at which time she left her property to her sorority, not to him. He was "adopted" my Murial, a white widow whose husband had been an arch-segregationist. At the beginning of this book Murial is dying of cancer, and tells Hixon to marry Daisy's mother. Daisy's mother, Emory, who Hixon calls Missy (Miss E), was also an unloved child. She is now a drug addict and dealing with the guilt of losing a child, a child she never loved as she should have.

I'd call the ending of this book more hopeful than happy. We still don't know who killed Daisy, or why.

Hixon's faith is the main reason he acts as he does toward Emory. He wants her to know the love of Jesus, a love than can make up for other loves that are lacking. Still, it is obvious that accepting Jesus hasn't made his life a bed of roses.

If you are looking for a well-written book, this is one. If you are looking for a light happy read, this is not. If overt Christianity in a book bothers you, this is defintely not the book for you, but this book isn't preachy; it teaches by showing. It is the second book in a trilogy but does stand alone reasonably. However, having grown attached to Daisy in the first book and to her mother in this one, I don't like having to wait until book three to learn who dunnit.

Book Info:
A Slow Burn
By Mary DeMuth
Zondervan
ISBN - 0310278376
368 Pages
PUB DATE: October 2009

To Purchase from Amazon.com: A Slow Burn (Defiance Texas Trilogy, Book 2)

Publisher's webpage