AUTHOR: Tracy Krauss
DATE: 2018
PUBLISHER: Fictitious Ink Publishing
STARS: *****
Tempest. Stella. Cherise. Fate brought them together, but can their friendship survive the tangled web of danger and deception that threatens their very lives? When Cherise convinces Tempest to pretend to be her so that she can sneak out of the country to be with her dashing Italian boyfriend, she is inadvertently implicated in an international drug ring. An unexpected complication forces Tempest to prolong the charade and she finds herself attracted to the very man who might be out to cause her harm. Meanwhile, Stella’s high ideals are met with suspicion and disdain at her father’s Texas ranch, until she uncovers a dangerous secret that could put all their lives in jeopardy. At the same time, her own errant emotions take over as she falls in love with two brothers at the same time. Things heat up when Cherise is kidnapped and the three friends must turn to one another – and God - to get out of harm’s way. Three Strand Cord is a story of intrigue and romance told from three different points of view, all coming together to prove that when it comes to true friendship, ‘a three strand cord is not easily broken’.
Disclaimer: I was given this book as a gift. All opinions are my own.
Is it necessary to identify with the characters of a book in order to enjoy the story? Identification may make reading more pleasurable, but sometimes I enjoy being challenged by difficult personalities. When I first began reading Three Strand Cord, Cherise’s behavior bothered me. A lot. But the storyline kept me reading, and I’m glad I did.
This is a story of sisterhood, not by birth but by choice. Tempest, Cherise and Stella couldn’t be more different in backgrounds and personalities, but the bond formed in elementary school continues to adulthood. The story begins with Cherise, the one I could not identify with at all. Her less-than-moral lifestyle put me off, and it wasn’t until the other two young women entered the story that I could feel compassion for all three. Once the action began, it kept me flipping pages, wondering how it would play out.
Three Strand Cord is not your typical sweet Christian fiction. Author Tracy Krauss’s tag line is “Fiction on the edge without crossing the line.” This story, in my opinion, nudged the line a couple of times, but those scenes turned out to be important to the development of the characters. The faith aspect was subtle but important, and the symbolism of the trio’s braided bracelets carried the plot to a higher plane.
I must admit, I wavered between giving four or five stars to this story, but the fact that it has stayed with me for several weeks pushes it to five stars.