Thursday, June 8, 2017

My Review: Weaver's Needle


Description:
Two recovery specialists.
One murder.
A hunt for the Dutchman's Lost Gold Mine becomes a race of survival.
 
Former Army MP Landry Parker fell into the recovery specialist role quite by accident—to help her ailing father. Now that she's on her own, she is determined to prove herself and honor her family legacy.

After being shot in the line of duty, former police officer Nickolai Baptiste became a recovery specialist, and hes good at his job—maybe even the best.
           
A potential client pits Landry and Nickolai against one another to find the Dutchman's Lost Gold Mine map that was stolen from her murdered husband, and the potential payday is too enticing to pass up. The trail takes them from New Orleans to Weaver's Needle in Arizona where legend claims the mine is hidden. Landry and Nickolai are no strangers to adventure, but the unlikely partners quickly discover there's someone after the treasure and there are those who want to ensure the lost mine in Arizona's Superstition Mountain stays lost forever.

Can Landry and Nickolai work together despite their distrust of each other to save the legend before more innocent lives are lost? Will they find the real treasure isn't the gold, but something more valuable. . .true love and understanding?


About the Author:
Robin Caroll's passion has always been to tell stories to entertain others and come alongside them on their faith journey—aspects she weaves into each of her 25 published novels. When she isn't writing, Robin spends quality time with her husband of twenty-six years, her three beautiful daughters, and two handsome grandsons, and their character-filled pets at home. Robin gives back to the writing community by serving as Executive Director/Conference Director for ACFW. Her books have finaled/placed in such contests as the Carol Award, Holt Medallion, Daphne du Maurier, RT Reviewer's Choice Award, Bookseller's Best, and Book of the Year.


My Review: 3.5 stars
“Weaver’s Needle” is the first book I’ve read from Robin Caroll in quite a while and I was so excited to get started!  I loved her “Evil” and “Justice Seekers” series and was super stoked to see she had a new book coming out, so of course, I had to read it!  I can happily say that I enjoyed this book, though I do confess that there were a couple things I might’ve liked done differently.

I really enjoyed Ms. Caroll’s writing and definitely the mystery aspect of the story.  I was very intrigued at the story line, two Recovery Specialists pitted against one another to find a missing map first and I appreciated how she wove the story, keeping me on my toes and guessing “whodunit.”  Though it’s more of a treasure hunt than a murder mystery, the two were so intertwined that they often overlapped and had me playing out the same scenarios as Landry and Nickolai, trying find motive and wondering who was attempting to force them off the case.  The story did seem a bit convoluted, with several rabbit trails and side trips in their search for answers.  I also found myself getting lost a time or two, trying to keep up with all of the names and how each person fit into their role.  There were also a couple things that were restated, as though the author had forgotten that she’d already brought up a topic, so it was mentioned again.  Despite that, I definitely enjoyed the mystery side of things and was right there with Landry and Nickolai, wanting to search for the mine and see the hunt to it’s conclusion.
The characters are usually my favorite part of any book, but in this case, I didn’t quite connect with them as well as I would’ve liked.  Landry Parker and Nickolai Baptiste are both interesting characters, but they sometimes felt almost secondary to the mystery.  And I’m not entirely sure about the overall time line, but I do have to add that their romance felt a bit rushed, with how quickly everything was happening.  It also seemed that something would happen, such as a fire or a car accident, and instead of following that up, the suspense would taper off and the story would move to their personal lives.  I appreciated that the author was working to build characters that I would care about, but at the same time, it caused a bit of a lag in the story and I didn’t find it holding my attention as well as I would’ve liked.

This story focuses around a Native American legend and discusses their beliefs quite a bit, something that I found both interesting and a little difficult to read at times.  Some of their rituals are described from the perspective of someone going through them and there is some debate regarding what they believe, verses Christianity, and the author chose to leave it as a bit of a gray area.  I can appreciate her tact regarding a different belief, but at the same time, part of the ending left me a bit uncomfortable with the whole thing.

Overall, this was an interesting read that dealt with some unique topics and is one I would recommend if you enjoy mystery and treasure hunts.

*I received a complimentary copy of this book from Barbour Publishing and was under no obligation to post a review.


Thank you so much for taking the time to read my review!  I hope you enjoyed it and will stop back again, soon!
As always, if you're interested in learning more about the book, links are below.  :)

Have a joy-filled day!








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