TITLE:  The First Love
AUTHOR:  Beverly Lewis
DATE:  2018
PUBLISHER: Bethany House
STARS: ****

It's the summer of 1951, and Maggie Esh is in need of some hope. Sweet-spirited and uncommonly pretty despite struggling with chronic illness, she is used to being treated kindly by the young men of her Old Order Amish church district. Yet Maggie wishes she were more like other courting-age girls so she could live a normal, healthy life.

To make matters more complicated, Dat has recently remarried, less than a year after her mother died. And while her stepmother is kind, Rachel is much younger than Mamm, and she simply doesn't understand Maggie or her illness the way Mamm did.

When tent revival meetings come to the area, Maggie is curious, and the words of the Mennonite preacher challenge her to reconsider what she knows about faith. Can she learn to trust God even when hope seems a distant dream? 

The First Love is a sweet story, gently told, of Maggie, a young Amish woman crippled by rheumatoid arthritis. I appreciated this unusual choice for a heroine and related to her in many ways. While Maggie suffers pain and sometimes discouragement, her faith remains strong. Her pluckiness in doing whatever she can, day by day, inspired me to persevere.

Her new stepmother, Rachel, fights an uphill battle, too, as she tries to win the hearts of her husband’s children, still mourning their mother. Hers is a sympathetic character, and while the Amish way of quick remarrying puzzled me, it held my interest.
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The author used quite a bit of telling in this novel, but it didn’t detract too much from my enjoyment. Faith is a crucial part of the story, woven in like a well-planned tapestry. The First Love earns four stars. This book was provided courtesy of Graf Martin Communications and Baker Publishing.

TITLE:  The Cost of Betrayal
AUTHOR:  Dee Henderson, Dani Pettrey, Lynette Eason
DATE:  2018
PUBLISHER: Bethany House
STARS: ****
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In Dee Henderson's novella "Betrayal," Janelle Roberts is freed--thanks to people she doesn't know--after serving six years of a twenty-year sentence for a murder she did not commit. But a murderer is still at large, and Janelle needs to be somewhere safe with someone she can trust. She may not survive another betrayal.

My review: Unlike this author’s well-known and acclaimed older series, Betrayal did not fit the suspense category. Slow in pace and lacking in suspense, this story barely held my interest. I did appreciate the character of Greg, but never got to know Janelle as her point of view was not mentioned. Disappointing. It could have been a great story, but I can only award it two and a half stars.

In Dani Pettrey's "Deadly Isle," Tennyson Kent is trapped on the isolated island of her childhood by a storm surge, and she is shocked when the typically idyllic community turns into the hunting grounds of a murderer. Cut off from any help from the mainland, will she and first love Callen Frost be able to identify and stop a killer bent on betrayal before they become the next victims?

My review: I loved this one! Danger held me captive from the first sentence, and Teni and Callen made terrific main characters. The culprit’s identity remained a mystery until the planned reveal, a sign of a well-written suspense story. The unusual setting added to the mystery and intrigue. Deadly Isle easily earns five stars from me.

In Lynette Eason's "Code of Ethics," trauma surgeon Ruthie St. John saves the life of Detective Isaac Martinez. After a betrayal leads to him getting shot and then attacked while in recovery, Isaac is now a key witness determined to testify. But someone is intent on silencing him--and those around him--forever. Together, Ruthie and Isaac go on the run, desperate to escape the killers hunting him. 

My review: I’ve read most of this author’s St. John family series and enjoyed each one, so getting to know Dr. Ruthie St. John delighted me. This story also grabbed me from the very beginning and didn’t let go until the satisfying end. Suspense is high, and the budding romance between the main characters played well and realistically. Since the St. John family sticks together through all circumstances, rekindling acquaintances with them added to my enjoyment. Code of Ethics also easily earns five stars and brings the overall rating to four.
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This book was provided courtesy of Graf Martin Communications and Baker Publishing.