Book Review and Giveaway: Saving Hope: The Men of the Texas Rangers - Book 1 by Margaret Daley

This is wonderful, gripping Christian romantic suspense.

Saving Hope: The Men of the Texas Rangers - Book 1
(The Men of the Texas Rangers series)
by Margaret Daley

• File Size: 584 KB
• Print Length: 336 pages
• Publisher: Abingdon Press (March 1, 2012)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B0071OOB1M

Genre: Romantic Suspense
My Rating: 4.5 of 5.0

Book Description
Publication Date: March 1, 2012
When a teenager goes missing from the Beacon of Hope School, Texas Ranger Wyatt Sheridan and school director Kate Winslow are forced into a dangerous struggle against a human trafficking organization. But the battle brings dire consequences as Wyatt's daughter is terrorized and Kate is kidnapped.

Now it's personal, and Wyatt finds both his faith and investigative skills challenged as he fights to discover the mastermind behind the ring before evil destroys everyone he loves.

Review:
Kate Winslow is a daughter of society who has opened the Beacon of Hope School, a home for young girls rescued from the streets. These are teens who were either run-aways or lured into drugs and prostitution. The girls have lived under the manipulating, demanding, frightening thumb of those who use abuse and fear to control the girls and keep them quiet. Even with Kate’s sincere hope, faith and love, and a supporting staff, it takes a long time for the girls to trust.

Wyatt is a Texas Ranger who has volunteered for a special task force to fight a child prostitution ring. Wyatt's investigation into the death of a young girl leads him to the Beacon of Hope School. Wyatt joins Kate to help find Rose, who has gone missing from the home.

Kate’s mother has never liked her daughter’s involvement with ‘those girls’. When she hears of the missing girl she pulls the funding she has given the school. Now Kate has to worry about finding alternate funding while she copes with finding Rose and the fragile condition of the other girls.

Meanwhile Wyatt is coping as a single parent with a 14 year old daughter, Maddie, and a mother who has trouble with keeping to any project or boyfriend for any length of time. Maddie is at an age where she views her father as overprotective, especially with peer pressure pushing her to seek independence.

There is plenty of tension and suspense as Wyatt and Kate ferret out clues that bring them closer to the local leader of the prostitution ring. But Wyatt and Kate have no idea how close to home the bad guys are.

Ms. Daley pulls the reader in with the natural, true to life characters and the strong, suspenseful plot.  I enjoyed how Kate continually looks to the Lord for help and shows that faith to the girls.  The writing is crisp and reads smoothly. All of the ladies in book club agreed that this is one of the best books we have read in a while. I had read the third book, Scorned Justice, in this series two years ago and enjoyed it too. I highly recommend this series and this author to those who like Christian based, romantic suspense.

I picked this book up  in print for my Ladies Book Club. I have had the ebook in my Kindle library since July 3, 2012. It qualifies for my COYER event, TBR Double Dog, and as Author I Really Like in my 2015 Full House Challenge.

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Book Review: When Night Falls by Margaret Daley

I liked this quick and engaging mystery.
When Night Falls
by Margaret Daley

• File Size: 179 KB
• Print Length: 38 pages
• Publisher: Steeple Hill Love Inspired Suspense (October 9, 2009)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• ASIN: B002TKFF18

Genre: Mystery
My Rating: 4.25 of 5.0
Free book at Kindle!

Book Description
Publication Date: October 9, 2009
A violent encounter in a deserted parking lot is FBI agent Sam Pierce’s only clue to the menace who is stalking child psychologist Jocelyn Gold. A random event? Or a client’s revenge? When darkness falls, the danger deepens....

Review:
This is a really quick mystery that hops right into the action and suspense. Very quickly it appears there is an interest between Jocelyn and Sam that has not been acted on or expressed yet. First Sam comes just in time to rescue Jocelyn and then she seeks to help him from the same attacker. From there they have to figure out who is so angry at Jocelyn that they would seek to kill her.

The writing was sharp and fit with the fast paced story. I liked the characters even though there is a lot left to learn about them. The short plot worked for me for a quick read to fill in between review books. This was a good taste of the author’s writing and made me want to read more of these characters. This was written as a prequel and it's too bad I recently gave away the book: What Sarah Saw. I might have to get it on Kindle instead.

I have read and reviewed Ms. Daley before (Scorned Justice) and look forward to reading more suspense by this talented author.  I am fairly certain I have another Daley book in my TBR boxes that I can pull out to enjoy!

I read this from my Kindle free books TBR library as my October Just For Fun read.

Book Review: Scorned Justice: The Men of the Texas Rangers by Margaret Daley

This is a wonderful, Christian, romantic suspense with strong characters and great tension.
Scorned Justice: The Men of the Texas Rangers
by Margaret Daley

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Abingdon Press (April 1, 2013)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 142671436X
• ISBN-13: 978-1426714368

Genre: Christian Fiction, Romantic Suspense
My Rating: 4.5 of 5.0

Book Description
Publication Date: April 1, 2013 | Series: Men of the Texas Rangers (Book 3)
Texas Ranger Brody Calhoun is with his parents in west Texas when an unexpected attack injures the brother of Rebecca Morgan, Brody's high school sweetheart. The local sheriff, a good friend, asks for Brody’s help. At first, it seems like an open-and-shut case.

As Brody digs deeper, he realizes the attack may be related to an organized crime trial Rebecca will be overseeing. With Rebecca's help, he compiles evidence involving cattle rustling, bribery, and dirty payoffs that shatter the entire community and put Rebecca directly in the line of fire.

Brody expects to protect her. What he never expects is to fall for Rebecca all over again, or for a murder to throw the case wide open. Is Brody's faith strong enough to withstand not only deep-rooted corruption and cattle rustling, but also love?

Review:
Rebecca Morgan is a Judge overseeing a high profile trial of an organized crime leader.  Soon after the trial begins, Rebecca’s brother is injured while riding out on their joint ranch.  Although it appears to be an accident more security is  assigned to protect Rebecca, her sister-in-law and nieces against any threat of retaliation.

Brody, a steady, strong Texas Ranger is directed to protect Rebecca. They were best friends in school and he finds himself glad to be around the woman he lost after high school when they went separate ways and she married someone else. He has remained single all these years and even though she claims she will never marry another cop he knows there is a strong connection and attraction between them.

Continuing attacks, near misses and dead bodies in Rebecca's house have the authorities scrambling to determine which of the rival crime gangs has targeted Rebecca. The author includes thoughts from the villain’s view so the reader knows there is more going on before the characters do. This helped keep the tension and suspense running high and the heart pounding.

I was quickly pulled into the lives of the likeable hero and heroine. Within the first chapters I wanted a second chance for Brody and Rebecca. I was rooting for Brody and just waiting for Rebecca to realize that she couldn’t control all circumstances of her life but she shouldn’t miss out living to the fullest due to fear.

I really like Ms. Daley’s honorable characters and the underlying faith that gives them inner strength. The faith messages are natural to the characters and their circumstances and not preachy. There are good secondary characters including Brody’s feisty father who is recovering from a heart attack but still wants to share his skills as a detective.

The writing is full, easy and moves at a good pace. The descriptions are vibrant and the suspense is non-stop. The romance is a sweet backdrop to the danger. There are Discussion Questions at the end which are good for groups or for your own brain pondering. If you like good romantic suspense I highly recommend Scorned Justice. Although it is apparently a third book in a series it works fine as a stand alone. I will be looking for more of Ms. Daley’s books to read.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rebecca struggles with control issues and Brody challenges her on it:

   "I'm used to being in control. As a judge. As a prosecutor. But with this situation I have no control....
    When she looked at him again, he glimpsed fear in her expression. "How much time do you spend worrying about that control--planning your life down to the smallest detail?"  Page 156.

I received this book for an honest review as part of Pump Up Your Book Tour. 

This story is set in and near San Antonio, Texas for my 2013 Where Are You Reading Challenge. This is also a New Author for me.

To find out more about Margaret visit her website or say hello at:

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Visit the other blog tour sites for more review input.