Finding Jake

"Shots have been fired at the high school. Calmly report to St. Michael's across Route 5."

These are the word no parent ever wants to hear. Yet those are precisely the words that appeared as a text message on Simon Connolly's phone. Part of your mind wants to believe it's a joke, but deep down inside you know it's not. These are the things that happen in bad neighborhoods, not in the city the Connolly's live in. In fact, it is because of the excellent schools in the area that forced the Connolly's to make a move from the city to one outside the city. Where neighbors look out for one another, but today is not that day.

As Simon Connolly races to St. Michael's he is worried for his two children that attend that school, Jake and Laney. All kinds of thoughts run through your mind when you get a message like that and all you want to do is anything to protect your kids. They know that 13 students are dead and that the shooter apparently killed himself. One by one, parents wonder if they will be called to get their child and go home relieved, or will they face a parents greatest fear, that your child is one of the victims. All Simon knows is that he will do everything he can to find his children to make sure they are safe.

In the compelling novel Finding Jake by Bryan Reardon, it takes the readers into the real fear every parent has, that one day, their child might find themselves in this situation. While I don't want to give away the main part of this novel, it does give readers an inside look I had never considered before. How parents who are captivated by their own grief can target the parents of the shooter as if there was anything that could have been done to prevent this. You see how they are very much the victim and yet also on trial from the media, family and friends, and complete strangers who will threaten them in ways that are often times criminal. As a parent, I could relate to seeing things from both sides of the fence but more significantly it made me realize how we as a society can ostracize people who truly don't deserve it in trying to understand the why's of what happened.

I received Finding Jake by Bryan Reardon compliments of William Morrow, a division of Harper Collins Publishers for my honest review. I did not receive any monetary compensation for a favorable review and the opinions are strictly my own. While I can understand this novel might not be something everyone wants to read, I applaud the author for taking us behind the scenes to what is often lacking in the news, to see things from different perspectives and make you understand in a safe manner, that things like this happen. It is what we will do when it does, that makes us who we are! For me, this one rates a 5 out of 5 stars simply because it took me someplace I never expected to be, and that is seeing things from different perspectives and hoping it changed me for the better in regards to stereotyping people based on their looks or actions. We seriously don't know who people are until we are willing to look much deeper. 

For more information on Finding Jake, Bryan Reardon, or where you can pick up a copy of this novel today, please click on the links below:

Finding Jake by Bryan Reardon

You can also find Bryan Reardon on Facebook to stay up to date with all his latest novels.

To read more reviews on Finding Jake, please visit William Morrow's website.

Fiery Secrets

The one thing we can never hide from is God, yet so often times we try to convince ourselves that what we are attempting makes sense. No one will ever be able to judge if they don't know. That sounds fine, until that guilt begins to eat away at you bit by bit. Pretty soon however, what you are holding inside gets to be too much for you to justify any longer especially if those secrets can keep you from moving forward and finding true freedom. The enemy would prefer you keep that to yourself.

Such is the premise behind Stephanie McCall's novel Fiery Secrets. Grace Taylor became a doctor to aid in the care and treatment of her ex husband Kyle when he was diagnosed with brain cancer. Instead of seeing that as a blessing Kyle found that his illness was an excuse to verbal and physically abuse her. His childhood became the backdrop to teaching Kyle that abuse was something he could use to get what he wanted in life if he wasn't given freely to him. But when Grace divorced him, Kyle began to take control any way he could by abusing alcohol and drugs. Now with having custody of their son Jacob being stripped from him as well as his $100,000 trust fund, he knows he has to do something to keep his addiction going any way he can.

Grace has been struggling with her own demons from the past. She too, became addicted to alcohol when she was married to Kyle in an effort to find a way to get along. The more they both drank, the less hostile he would be to her. But soon it would become too much especially after Jacob was born. But when her drinking cost her joint custody of Jacob, she resolved to become a better mom and put her entire past behind her and that included trusting men ever again. No one would ever be good enough for her and she would do all she could to win back Jacob no matter what the costs.

Now that Jacob has been struggling with his test scores feeling unworthy and stupid according the labels his father Kyle placed on him, he retreats further into himself in an effort to protect what little remains of who he is in the eyes of his mother and father. But when Chris Anderson, is assigned to him as a tutor, he excels and finds self esteem is found in those who believe in you and teach you to believe in yourself. Now if only Chris could take that same advice and apply it to his own life. Giving up his career as an exceptional teacher when a school shooting took the life of three of his students. Believing he could have done more to save them, he takes a tutoring position while he continues to deal with the effects of PTSD from that day as well as overcoming the drug addiction his doctor inadvertently put him through. What he didn't expect was to fall for both Jacob and his mom, Grace.

I received Fiery Secrets from Stephanie McCall compliments of Hope Springs Books for my honest review. I did not receive any monetary compensation for a favorable review and the opinions expressed in this review are strictly my own. This is such an amazing story of hope amidst pasts that Grace and Chris believe will deem that as unworthy in anyone's eyes. We all have pasts we aren't proud of, but with God's grace and mercy we can find forgiveness and redemption. We can have a new chance at life, if we are willing to learn to take Jesus' advice and simply trust He can make good things come from all those past hurts and breath new life into each one of us. Stephanie utilizes this through this novel and shows us all what awaits us if we only are willing to try. I easily give this one a 5 out of 5 stars in my opinion.

For more information about Fiery Secrets, Stephanie McCall, or where you can pick up a copy of this novel today, please click on the links below:

Fiery Secrets by Stephanie McCall

You can find Stephanie McCall on Facebook to stay up to date with all her latest novels.

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: HopeSprings Books (July 2, 2013)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1938708164
• ISBN-13: 978-1938708169
• Product Dimensions: 0.8 x 5.4 x 8.4 inches