Review: The Mountains Bow Down

The Mountains Bow Down (A Raleigh Harmon Novel)

About the Book:

Everything's going to work out. Time away always makes things better . . .

That's what FBI Special Agent Raleigh Harmon believes as she boards a cruise to Alaska. A land of mountains and gems and minerals, the Last Frontier is a dream destination for this forensic geologist who's hoping to leave behind a hectic work schedule and an engagement drained of romance.

But when a passenger goes missing and winds up dead, Raleigh's vacation suddenly gets lost at sea. The ship's security chief tries to rule the death a suicide, but Raleigh's forensics background points to a much darker conclusion: Somewhere onboard, a ruthless murderer walks free.

Engulfed by one of her toughest cases yet, Raleigh requests assistance from the FBI and receives her nemesis-handsome Special Agent Jack Stephanson. As the cruise ship sails through the Inside Passage, Raleigh has five days to solve a high-profile murder, provide consultation for a movie filming onboard, and figure out her increasingly complicated feelings for Jack-who might not be as arrogant as she originally thought.

And that's only her work life. Family offers even more challenges. Joined on the cruise by her mother and aunt, Raleigh watches helplessly as disturbing rifts splinter her family.

Like the scenery that surrounds the cruise ship, Raleigh discovers a mystery so daunting that even the mountains might bow down before it.

My Comments:

I loved the previous book in this series (my review) so I was thrilled to be asked to review this one.  Again, I loved the language.  Here is the opening paragraph:

With the trajectory of launched missiles, the mountains soared from the ocean.  Smothered with evergreens, the steeps pointed to a sky so blue it whispered of eternity.  Though it was June, snow on the granite ridges refused to melt despite almost twenty-four hours daily of sunlight.  And where a liquid silver sea lapped the rocky shore, a bald eagle surveyed the cold water water for fish.

It is a murder mystery with some romantic elements and it kept me going back to the treadmill, which is where I read it.  While classified as Christian fiction, I think it is a book that anyone who likes relatively non-gory mysteries could enjoy.  "Christian" in this case mean Raleigh has qualms of conscience when she lies in order to help catch the bad guy--the old conundrum about doing bad for a good result.  She also has issues with the on-board chaplain, but it is such a minor part of the story that it shouldn't be the reason someone dislikes the book.

I'd like to thank Amy at Litefuse for sending me a review copy of the book.  Grade:  A- 

Monday Memes

 

Mailbox Monday is hosted this month by I'm Booking It.  Stop by to see what other book bloggers got in the mail (or email as the case may be) this week.

Via snail mail I got:

The unique stories in Doctor Confidential speak directly to anyone in medical training or considering a career in medicine, but also to the patient in all of us. Pulling back the veil of secrecy that too often surrounds medicine, Doctor Confidential provides compassion, humor, and ultimately hope that, when sick and most vulnerable, each of us can be heard, understood, and deeply touched by our physician.

After a mistake at her infertility clinic, Carolyn Savage learned she was carrying another couple’s baby. In this memoir that belongs at the top of any truth-is-stranger-than-fiction list, she and her husband tell the tale of why they decided to go through with the pregnancy and deliver a healthy boy to the biological parents. (Basically, it’s because of their religious beliefs.) The book, which shifts between Carolyn’s and Sean’s perspectives, would have been better had biological parents Shannon and Paul Morell contributed, too. From the beginning, Carolyn seems to resent Shannon for not being sufficiently appreciative, and even after she says she is giving up baby Logan with no strings attached, she is peeved that Shannon sends her the same birth announcement “in the same way that she had announced him to her extended family and distant friends.” Ultimately, the Morells bring Logan to meet the Savages, but it’s unclear how often they will see each other.

NetGalley also sent me several books this week:

A young mother VANISHES in plain sight...

Since she was a little girl, Marisa Angelo has been haunted by the image of her mother walking away, suitcase in hand, to return to her Amish roots.

Marisa and her “Englischer” father never saw or heard from her again. Now Marisa has received a shocking call from police. Her mother’s bloodstained suitcase was found hidden inside the wall of an Amish farmhouse.

Desperate for answers, Marisa heads to Lancaster County. But no one—not the police or Marisa’s tight-lipped Amish relatives—can explain what happened to her mother.

Only one man is as determined as Marisa to unravel the mystery— Link Morgan, the handsome ex-military loner who found the suitcase in the house he inherited from his uncle. Because both Link’s and Marisa’s family members are implicated in the decades-old disappearance.The secret lies somewhere in the quaint Amish settlements. But someone will do anything to ensure the truth remains hidden forever.

After losing her job as a journalist and the security of a good salary, Caitlin Kelly was hard up for cash. When she saw that The North Face-an upscale outdoor clothing company-was hiring at her local mall, she went for an interview almost on a whim.

Suddenly she found herself, middle-aged and mid-career, thrown headfirst into the bizarre alternate reality of the American mall: a world of low-wage workers selling overpriced goods to well-to-do customers. At first, Kelly found her part-time job fun and reaffirming, a way to maintain her sanity and sense of self-worth. But she describes how the unexpected physical pressures, the unreasonable dictates of a remote corporate bureaucracy, and the dead-end career path eventually took their toll. As she struggled through more than two years at the mall, despite surgeries, customer abuse, and corporate inanity, Kelly gained a deeper understanding of the plight of the retail worker.

 

 Conner Creed knows exactly who he is: a hardworking rancher carrying on his uncle’s legacy in Lonesome Bend, Colorado. Maybe a small-town cowboy’s life isn’t his dream, but he owes the man who took him in as a kid. Until the identical twin brother he’s been estranged from for years reenters his life.

Conner struggles with identity issues as he gets to know his wilder brother. And then he meets Tricia McCall, a beautiful woman who knows a thing or two about living someone else’s dreams. Together, they just might find their own dreams right here in Lonesome Bend.…

Claire Bradford needed a wake-up call.

What she didn’t need was a tragic car accident. As a single mom and the owner of a successful bead shop, Claire leads a predictable life in Hope’s Crossing, Colorado. So what if she has no time for romance? At least, that’s what she tells herself, especially when her best friend’s sexy younger brother comes back to town as the new chief of police.

But when the accident forces Claire to slow down and lean on others—especially Riley McKnight—she
realizes, for the first time, that things need to change. And not just in her own life. The accident—and the string of robberies committed by teenagers that led up to it—is a wake-up call to the people of Hope’s Crossing. The sense of community and togetherness had been lost during those tough years. But with a mysterious “Angel of Hope” working to inspire the town, Riley and Claire will find themselves opening up to love and other possibilities by the end of an extraordinary summer…

Praised by Bon Appetit, DailyCandy, and Sunset magazine, the secrets behind Dani Cone's signature handmade, aPraised by Bon Appetit, DailyCandy, and Sunset magazine, the secrets behind Dani Cone's signature handmade, all-natural miniature pies are revealed for the first time inside Cutie Pies: 40 Sweet, Savory, and Adorable Recipes. Whether you're grabbing the perfectly portable Flipside on the way to work, enjoying a Piejar as a tasty afternoon treat, or looking for a fun and impressive dinner party dessert, Cutie Pies provides the perfect morsels to satisfy sweet and savory cravings alike.Inside Cutie Pies, Cone presents 40 exclusive recipes inspired by the unique line of compact pastries she serves at her Seattle-based Fuel Coffee and High 5 Pie locations, which have received a Best of Seattle Weekly award. Sweet, one-of-a-kind treats like a Mango-Raspberry-Lemon Piepop mingle with savory recipes like Cone's Curry Veggie Piejar, all in a distinct and delightful design.Cutie Pies is illustrated throughout with more than 20 mouthwatering, full-color photographs, and its contemporary fashion and straightforward recipes enable bakers everywhere to create these tiny treats with big flavor.ll-natural miniature pies are revealed for the first time inside Cutie Pies: 40 Sweet, Savory, and Adorable Recipes. Whether you're grabbing the perfectly portable Flipside on the way to work, enjoying a Piejar as a tasty afternoon treat, or looking for a fun and impressive dinner party dessert, Cutie Pies provides the perfect morsels to satisfy sweet and savory cravings alike.Inside Cutie Pies, Cone presents 40 exclusive recipes inspired by the unique line of compact pastries she serves at her Seattle-based Fuel Coffee and High 5 Pie locations, which have received a Best of Seattle Weekly award. Sweet, one-of-a-kind treats like a Mango-Raspberry-Lemon Piepop mingle with savory recipes like Cone's Curry Veggie Piejar, all in a distinct and delightful design.

Every summer, Samantha Wheland joins her childhood friends—Isabel, Kendra and Mina—on a vacation, somewhere exotic and fabulous. Together with their mixed bag of parents, they’ve created a lifetime of memories. This year it’s a beach house in Honduras. But for the first time, their clan is not complete. Mina lost her battle against cancer six months ago, and the friends she left behind are still struggling to find their way forward without her.

For Samantha, the vacation just feels wrong without Mina. Despite being surrounded by her friends—the closest thing she has to family—Mina’s death has left Sam a little lost. Unsure what direction her life should take. Fearful that whatever decision she makes about her wealthy French boyfriend’s surprise proposal, it’ll be the wrong one.

The answers aren’t in the journal Mina gave Sam before she died. Or in the messages Sam believes Mina is sending as guideposts. Before the trip ends, the bonds of friendship with her living friends, the older generation’s stories of love and loss, and Sam’s glimpse into a world far removed from the one in which she belongs will convince her to trust her heart. And follow it.

It's Monday, What Are You Reading is hosted by Sheila over at BookJourney.  She asks bloggers what they read or blogged about last week and what they plan to read this week.
I posted reviews of the following:
   My Review
 My Review
 My Review
 My Review
 My Review

I finished reading
 and will get a review up the first part of April

What's up next?  Well, I'm in the middle of

Review: In Name Only

In Name Only

About the Book:

1876, Philadelphia. Caroline Martin's life has finally taken a turn for the better. After years of hard work, she has met a virtuous and wealthy man whose love seems to promise the kind of life realized only within the comforting novels she keeps on her night table. Tragedy, however, will teach Caroline of the complexity with which God Himself authors the lives of those who turn toward Him.

My Comments:

I wanted to like it; I really did.  I did find it to be a better written better plotted novel than Gable's first novel, Emily's Hope (my review) and if you are looking for a Catholic version of Christian fiction and are looking for or can handle an extremely religious book, then you may like this one--most of the Amazon reviewers gave it five stars, but I won't.  

The basic story line was good.  However, the book was too long, and went on tangents unrelated to the main plot which did little except make the characters seem extraordinarily good.  For example, two of the servants marry and Gable makes a point of letting us know that they are of different races, though it plays no part in the book and frankly makes them more unbelievable than human.  There is one incident that is apparently miraculous and the answer to a prayer.  In general, the whole story needs to be tightened up and some of those incidental side stories dropped.  

Gable is obviously writing to bring forth the Catholic beliefs about marriage and family planning but given the time period about which she writes, ends up with some scenes that don't ring true.  For example, Caroline and her husband were married under duress.  They had not consummated their marriage.  He decides to become Catholic and then they decide they want to consummate their union.  He speaks to the priest who states that since they were pressured into marriage, their marriage wasn't valid and they would have to re-marry in the church before consummating.  Maybe I'm wrong, but I think arranged marriages were still quite common at that time as well as marriages confected more for economic than romantic reasons.  While I'm sure that today a marriage that happened under the circumstances theirs did would be be declared null if one of the parties requested, in those days a civil divorce was highly unlikely and an annulment even more so.

One of the characters hits rock bottom and ends up in a Catholic church where, after speaking to a priest, he decides to reform his life and join the Church.  We don't enter the confessional with him, but we are told he goes, and what he did that required confessing.  We see the sacraments administered.  We hear passages from the Douay Bible.  We hear some of the Latin at mass.  We hear him explaining to his wife that Catholics don't worship statues and insisting that the one year old be baptized.  The book ends with Caroline looking back on things that have happened and realizing that God worked it all out for the best in the end.  

I purchased the Kindle edition of this book with my own money (well actually a gift card someone sent me for  completing some survey).  Grade:  C+

Sunday Snippets--A Catholic Carnival

I hope the weather is as wonderful where you are as it is here.  I took my youngest to Storyland, part of the park where they have play areas modeled after things in story books, this afternoon and it was a pleasure to be outside.  This evening we got some crawfish and had supper on  the back porch.  I love summer, but spring is pretty nice too!

I'd like to welcome everyone to Sunday Snippets--A Catholic Carnival.  We are a group of Catholic bloggers who gather weekly to share our best posts with each other.  To particpate, go to your blog and create an entry titled Sunday Snippets--A Catholic Carnival.  In it, highlight one or more of your posts from the past week that you believe would be of interest to Catholic bloggers---whether they are posts reflecting on spiritual matters or posts about antics of Catholic kids, or anything in between.  Come back here and enter the URL of that post into Mr. Linky.  Finally, go visit other participants, and leave comments!  If you want a weekly reminder to post, join our yahoogroup.

I've posted quite a few book reviews this week, but none of a particularly religious nature.  I do want to call your attention to Bless This Mouse, a children's book set in a church.  My Monday Memes post lists the book In Name Only which is a religious novel written from a Catholic perspective.  I like it better than the first book  by the author, and will write a review this week.

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