In Darkness Light Shines by John Galt Robinson

 

Wow! In Darkness Light Shines is an intense read! Book four and supposedly the final book about Joe O'Shanick, Christy Tabrizi and friends had me riding an emotional roller coaster. I love the fact that they kept their faith through out the horrendous experience they endured. I will certainly miss reading about there adventures. Thank you John Galt Robinson for many hours of exciting reading.

So grab your favorite beverage and snack, then curl up in your favorite reading chair and enjoy!

All thoughts are my own.

Message from John Galt Robinson that I am happy to share:

John Galt RobinsonJanuary 26, 2025 at 9:29 PM

Thank you so much for the very kind and complementary review. I would like to make one correction: I am not by any means done writing this series. In fact, book number five, titled “The Harvest“ will be out in the next few months and I’ve already finished writing book 6 “Silent Victors” which is about to enter the editing phase and have plans for many more. I never want to stop writing stories about Joe and Christy! I’m glad you like them. I HAVE started a new series which is about to begin the query stage looking for a literary agent but plan to write both series for years to come. Thanks again!

Fron Amazon:

A last minute October surprise to resurrect Senator Robert Fowler’s presidential campaign lands Navy SEAL Joe O’Shanick and his close friends Navy SEAL Matt Ramsey and Dr. Christy Tabrizi in prison for crimes they did not commit. They soon realize they have been marked for death in order to keep them from revealing secrets that could

end Senator Fowler’s political career and put him in prison. Far away from the battlefields of the Middle East and Central America, O’Shanick and Ramsey find themselves in an entirely different kind of war, a high stakes political war of treachery,

betrayal, and death, with no rules of engagement.

About the author:

I grew up on Grand Island, New York, just a few miles upstream from the majestic Niagara Falls. My love of reading was handed down from my father who named me after the hero of Ayn Rand’s Epic, Atlas Shrugged. Growing up, I enjoyed sailing with my family. Additionally, I raced my own sailboat and crewed for other sailors on Lake Erie and the Niagara River. I graduated from Grand Island Senior High School, where I competed in football, swimming and lacrosse.

I began attending college at Georgia Tech as part of the Navy ROTC program. An untimely ankle fracture disqualified me from military service which led me to pursue a career as an athletic trainer. After graduate school in Buffalo, NY, my wife and I moved to Middle Tennessee where I was employed as an athletic trainer providing care for several high school athletic programs. A few years and three children later, we took a big risk, and I enrolled in medical school at East Tennessee State University. After earning my medical degree, we moved to Columbia, South Carolina where I began residency in Emergency Medicine. We continue to live here today where I practice in a large regional hospital emergency department.

I still sail with my family and I am also an avid fitness enthusiast having competed in triathlons of all lengths including Ironman and Half Ironman. Reading remains a passion and I am happy to say that my wife and younger daughter are avid readers as well. With their encouragement, I began the process of writing and I am now hooked. I signed with KCM Publishing in December of 2020 and we published my first novel, Forces of Redemption, in March of 2021. Since then the next two novels in the O’Shanick/Tabrizi series, Power City and, most recently, Lost Angels, have been published with more to come! I have previously been published as a co-author in a medical journal but fiction is my true passion. I enjoy reading thriller/suspense novels along with historical fiction and biographies. My favorite authors are Tom Clancy, Vince Flynn, Clive Cussler, Ben Coes, Mark Dawson and Brad Thor.

Lost Angels by John Galt Robinson

 

Lost Angels is the third installment of John Galt Robinson's series following  the adventures of Navy Seal Joe O'Shanick and Christy Tabrizi MD. This book was hard to read due to the subject matter. Christy runs across a young woman who has been trafficked leading her and Joe deep into a rescue attempt of many human trafficking victims. This book is full of faith and supense with a touch of romance. The plot is very good and fast moving. The settings feel authentic. I do suggest you read Forces of Redemption and Power City first as it sets the scene for Lost Angels. I highly recommend this series.

All thoughts are my own.

From Amazon:

A powerful organized crime syndicate is abducting young women from college campuses and enslaving them into human trafficking. Charles Courtnall is a wealthy investor willing to sacrifice his personal fortune to find his daughter. He hires Clay Whitmore and his team of investigators to find her, only to find out she is being offered to the highest bidder in a global dark web auction. Clay and his team are stymied at every turn by a sinister criminal organization that has deep government ties and stays one step of ahead of them.

Dr. Christy Tabrizi, an Emergency Medicine physician, treats a young woman who managed to escape the human trafficking ring. Christy enlists the help of her close friend, Joe O’Shanick, a Navy SEAL, to locate and rescue the other women. O’Shanick and his teammate, Matt Ramsey, join forces with Whitmore’s team in a desperate attempt to rescue the women before it’s too late. Perhaps too late, they discover the corruption exceeds that which they imagined.

Lost Angels explores the dark world of human trafficking, organized crime and political corruption while weaving a story of faith, selfless love and heroic commitment in a suspenseful tale of crime, medicine and military action.

About the author:

I grew up on Grand Island, New York, just a few miles upstream from the majestic Niagara Falls. My love of reading was handed down from my father who named me after the hero of Ayn Rand’s Epic, Atlas Shrugged. Growing up, I enjoyed sailing with my family. Additionally, I raced my own sailboat and crewed for other sailors on Lake Erie and the Niagara River. I graduated from Grand Island Senior High School, where I competed in football, swimming and lacrosse.

I began attending college at Georgia Tech as part of the Navy ROTC program. An untimely ankle fracture disqualified me from military service which led me to pursue a career as an athletic trainer. After graduate school in Buffalo, NY, my wife and I moved to Middle Tennessee where I was employed as an athletic trainer providing care for several high school athletic programs. A few years and three children later, we took a big risk, and I enrolled in medical school at East Tennessee State University. After earning my medical degree, we moved to Columbia, South Carolina where I began residency in Emergency Medicine. We continue to live here today where I practice in a large regional hospital emergency department.

I still sail with my family and I am also an avid fitness enthusiast having competed in triathlons of all lengths including Ironman and Half Ironman. Reading remains a passion and I am happy to say that my wife and younger daughter are avid readers as well. With their encouragement, I began the process of writing and I am now hooked. I signed with KCM Publishing in December of 2020 and we published my first novel, Forces of Redemption, in March of 2021. Since then the next two novels in the O’Shanick/Tabrizi series, Power City and, most recently, Lost Angels, have been published with more to come! I have previously been published as a co-author in a medical journal but fiction is my true passion. I enjoy reading thriller/suspense novels along with historical fiction and biographies. My favorite authors are Tom Clancy, Vince Flynn, Clive Cussler, Ben Coes, Mark Dawson and Brad Thor.

Break My Fall, Gossamer Falls Book 2 by Lynn Blackburn

 

Break My Fall is book number 2 in Lynn Blackburn's Gossamer Falls series. I really enjoy Lynn Blackburn's writing as she creates characters who are strong and full of faith. The story is strong and suspenseful. The plot is strong and very engaging. I loved the characters and I really enjoyed the cameo appearnces from previous books. The town of Gossamer Falls seems like a great place to live.

I suggest you grab a large cup of tea, a cozy blanket and settle in for a great read. 

I was given a copy of Break My Fall with no expectations. All thoughts are my own.

From Amazon: 

She's determined to make an impact in her community.
He's determined to make sure she lives long enough to do it.

Dr. Meredith Quinn always planned to return to Gossamer Falls to practice dentistry. Now that she's back home, she's made it a point to offer clinics to children and adults in nearby underserved areas. Unfortunately, those same areas are known to harbor drug traffickers, and Police Chief Grayson Ward suspects that local law enforcement is looking the other way.

After too many losses, Grayson has closed off his heart. But with Meredith in his life, he feels his walls crumbling, leaving him exposed and vulnerable. To keep her alive, he must keep her close, but that makes it impossible for him to retreat and rebuild.

Will she be the one who finally helps him emerge from isolation? Or will this force of nature leave him shattered?


Praise for Never Fall Again

"The start to Blackburn's new Gossamer Falls inspirational thriller series is an exciting story of difficult truths and second chances."--Booklist

"Romance, danger, and deadly crime-fighting scenes make this a perfect read."--The AR Critique

About the author:

Lynn H. Blackburn loves writing romantic suspense because her childhood fantasy was to become a spy, but her grown-up reality is that she's a huge chicken and would have been caught on her first mission. She prefers to live vicariously through her characters and loves putting them into all kinds of terrifying situations while she's sitting at home safe and sound in her pajamas!

She’s currently writing the Gossamer Falls series set in the mountains of Western North Carolina. The series will include three novels and one novella and kicks off with Never Fall Again.

Unknown Threat, the first book in her Defend and Protect series, was a 2021 Christy Award finalist, and her previous titles have won the Carol Award, the Selah Award, and the Faith, Hope, and Love Reader’s Choice Award.

Lynn lives in South Carolina with her family. You can stay up-to-date by signing up for her newsletter at her website and following her on social media @LynnHBlackburn.

Dawn Of Grace by Jill Eileen Smith

 I enjoyed reading Dawn Of Grace by Jill Eileen Smith. Her attention to details along with her storytelling skills brought Mary Magdalene to life. She created a backstory for a little known character from the Bible.  Her descriptions the despair one would feel at being possessed compared to the joy of deliverance really made me think. Reading Dawn of Grace made me review the life I have and be thankful for everything God has given me. I highly recommend Dawn Of Grace. 

I was given a copy of Dawn of Grace with no expectations. All thoughts are my own.

From Amazon:

She's been pulled up from the depths of despair--but what happens when the hope she has found slips from her grasp?

From her earliest days, Mary Magdalene has known fear and loss at a level so deep she has no hope of surfacing. Bound to the demons within her and incapable of freeing herself, Mary walks in shadow--until one day she encounters a healer, a rabbi who is radically different from the religious leaders and family members who could do nothing to help her. One touch from Jesus and Mary is never the same.

Now Mary's one mission in life is to serve the one who freed her. She is determined never to leave his side, fearing that if she loses him, she'll return to her former bondage. Even when the unthinkable happens and her savior is arrested and sentenced to execution, she cannot abandon him as so many others did. Let her be buried in his tomb, for she cannot live without him.

On the brink of despair, Mary is about to discover that while the life of faith is never perfect, perfect love casts out fear--and Jesus makes all things new.

About the author:

Jill Eileen Smith is the bestselling and award-winning author of many biblical novels, including her first series The Wives of King David. Her upcoming release Dawn of Grace, Mary Magdalene’s Story, will hit the shelves in February 2025. After twenty years of closed doors, she has published 24 books, fiction and non-fiction, and had one of those books optioned for film. She loves Jesus and His Word and all things related to learning more about the culture and times of the people of the Book, particularly the women, whom God has immortalized there.

While she loves writing and researching, she is willingly interrupted by her west-coast children and adorable grandchildren. Traveling to Israel was a highlight of her life, but traveling west is her new favorite vacation location. When she’s not packing her bags, she can be found reading stories that take her away, playing too many games and puzzles on her phone (call it down time), or snuggling her lovable, mischievous cats Kody and Kaelee. She has been married to the love of her life for 47 years and counting and lives in a quiet neighborhood in southeast Michigan.

Lost In Time by A. G. Riddle Disclaimer: Not Christian fiction

 

I have never read anything by  A G Riddle. Lost in Time stretched my mind in many ways. I struggled at times to follow the concepts but ended up really enjoying it. In fact I have spent a good bit of  my dayoff binge reading to find out the conclusion. I highly recommend this book 

All thoughts are my own.

From Amazon:

WINNER OF BEST ALTERNATE HISTORY NOVEL AT THE 2023 DRAGON AWARDS

The SUNDAY TIMES bestseller

"Amazing! One of the twistiest time-tales I've ever read."
–Diana Gabaldon

"Crichtonesque thrillers don't come much better than this... Readers won't be able to turn the pages fast enough."
–Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)

"Are we talking plot twists? More like spirals. Gripping, clever, mind-bending stuff."
–Daily Mail

From the worldwide bestselling author of Departure and Winter World comes a standalone novel about a father and daughter trying to unravel an intricate murder mystery spread across time – with a jaw-dropping twist.

Control the past.

Save the future.

One morning, Dr. Sam Anderson wakes up to find that the woman he loves has been murdered.

For Sam, the horror is only beginning.

He and his daughter are accused of the crime. The evidence is ironclad. They will be convicted.

And so, to ensure his daughter goes free, Sam does what he must: he confesses.

But in the future, murderers aren't sent to prison.

Thanks to a machine Sam helped invent, the world's worst criminals are now sent to the past – approximately 200 million years into the past, to the dawn of the time of the dinosaurs – where they must live out their lives alone, in exile from the human race.

Sam accepts his fate.

But his daughter doesn't.

Adeline Anderson has already lost her mother to a deadly, unfair disease. She can't bear to lose her father as well.

So she sets out on a quest to prove him innocent. And to get him back. People around her insist that both are impossible tasks.

But Adeline doesn't give up. She only works harder.

She soon learns that impossible tasks are her specialty. And that she is made of tougher stuff than she ever imagined.

As she peels back the layers of the mystery that tore her father from this world, Adeline finds more questions than answers. Everyone around her is hiding a secret. But which ones are connected to the murder that exiled her father?

That mystery stretches across the past, present, and future – and leads to a revelation that will change everything.

About the author:

A.G. Riddle spent ten years starting and running internet companies before retiring to focus on his true passion: writing fiction. He is the author of thirteen novels that have sold over six million copies worldwide in twenty languages.

In 2023, his standalone novel, Lost in Time, won the Dragon Award in the Alternate History category.

He lives in North Carolina with his wife, two school-aged children, and an extremely photogenic dog.

Jack, Book 1 of the Minnesota Kingston's by Susan May Warren

 

I always look forward to reading Susan May Warren's books. Most of her books have cameo appearances from characters in her former books. Jack is no exception. I also love the way she weaves faith and suspense through her stories. Jack points out the realities of second chances both with people and even more so with God. I look forward to reading the rest of the stories in this new series.

I was given a copy of Jack with no expectations. All thoughts are my own.

From Amazon:

There's Trouble in the North...

Meet Jack, a tracker with a past he’s trying to escape the first epic book of the Minnesota Kingston series by USA Today bestselling author Susan May Warren.

Her secret blew apart his life—and now she needs his help? If only he could say no…

Ten years should be long enough for Jack to forget the girl-next-door, his kid sister’s bestie and the woman—no, girl—who derailed his life. Now, he sort of likes his loner world as a missing person’s tracker. Well, mostly. But of course, when he returns home for his sister’s wedding, there she is…
Nope, not forgotten at all.

Of course Jack the Grump has shown up for his sister’s wedding, and by the way he looks at Harper, um, clearly her sins aren’t forgiven. So what—she’s sooo over her best-friend’s brooding, dark oldest brother. Really.

Then a bridesmaid goes missing.

And sure, Harper is a journalist who knows how to sniff out truth, but the clock is ticking and there’s only one person who can help…Perfect. No problem. She’s not going to fall for her childhood crush again. Promise.

Yes, Jack can admit that Harper’s not the girl he used to call Pigtails anymore. She’s all grown up…but he’s not going to get burned again. Still, what’s a guy going to do?

So, find her missing friend, get the bride down the aisle and ditch town before they find themselves in over their heads…or worse.

Dead.

Jack is a best friend’s brother, childhood crush, grumpy-to sunshine, sweet but sizzly romantic suspense about second chances and finding the family you always wanted…

Tropes:

• Second Chance at Love
• Unrequited Love
• Return to hometown
• Grumpy/Sunshine
• Secrets
• Boy/Girl Next door
• Kissing only

The Minnesota Kingstons
Book1: Jack
Book 2: Conrad
Book 3: Doyle
Book 4: Austen
Book 5: Steinbeck

About the author:

Although I attended the U of Minnesota, I’m a woodsy girl at heart. Or maybe I’m an adventurer—having lived and traveled all over the world, including Siberia, Russia as a missionary for eight years. That’s why my characters seem to get into one scrape after another—they’re too much like me! I love God, my family, my country, my church, and feel privileged every day to be able to write stories.

And my 'official' bio:

With nearly 2 million books sold, critically acclaimed novelist Susan May Warren is the Christy, RITA, and Carol award-winning author of over ninety novels. Known for her compelling plots and unforgettable characters, Susan has penned contemporary and historical romances, romantic suspense, thrillers, rom-coms, and Christmas novellas. With books translated into eight languages, she's a USA Today, ECPA and CBA bestseller, and has received numerous starred Publisher Weekly reviews. Library Journal says, "Warren’s characters are well-developed and she knows how to create a first rate contemporary romance.”

Susan is a nationally acclaimed writing coach, and winner of the 2009 American Christian Fiction Writers Mentor of the Year. She is the founder of Novel.Academy, author of the popular writing method, The Story Equation, and a founding partner of Sunrise Media Group.