The final installment of the 9/11 series, Every Now & Then was a good audio read. Years after 9/11 Alex Brady's hate was allowing the terrorists to win by robbing him of all the things he once held so dear. Kingsbury does a wonderful job of highlighting what bitterness and revenge can do to a person and their relationships most importantly, with God. Alex’s journey to find peace and restoration was satisfactory but predictable. It read like a “Hallmark” movie. Although I do enjoy happy endings the story lacked the twists and turns that I enjoyed in the first two books. However, the bond between Bo and Alex was extremely touching. I am always moved by the unwavering loyalty of animals to their humans. I also did appreciate the realness of Jamie and Clay’s emotions as they worked through her feelings and memories of her first husband, Jake. I can imagine that the scene is similar to what real couples in relationships involving a widower would go through. Altogether, I would say this series was a win, and I would highly recommend it. ( )

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Hmmm . . . I have very mixed feelings on this book.

While I enjoyed it from the perspective that it is a clean, Christian, enjoyable piece of action-filled fiction, I also had some issues with it.

This is only the second book by Kingsbury I have read, but I am getting a distinct impression: Kingsbury is good at writing Christian themes, she's good at writing suspenseaction, she is good at writing emotion, she is good at writing clean content, but somehow, as a whole, her books just really . . . lack. The first one I read was very "meh", and this one was the same. Just kind of left you with an "Hm. Well that happened." Rather disappointing.

But, while this was disappointing on some levels, there was a fair bit about it I did like. The characters were all enjoyable. Alex was . . . um, depressed. I struggle to relate to and understand the depressed, "nobody could ever love me" type characters, perhaps because I am such a happy person. All in all though, his struggle was realistic, and his character arc was fairly well done. I think my favorite character was his girlfriend. I wished there was more with her POV! I could really relate to her character. Jamie and Clay were also fantastic! I love the older, mentor-type characters.

It took me a few chapters to really get into the story, but once I did, I just wanted to keep reading. The climax, of course, happened late at night, so I stayed up past 11 pm to finish it. I loved the whole police officer element - I love stories with emergency personnel as the main characters. And the whole K9 aspect was definitely fascinating.

I think what really bothered me most about this book was Kingsbury's writing style: it's very minimalistic in regards to punctuation, and such, which frustrated this Comma Queen. While yes, a lot of it was stylistic, and just more the way I'm used to thinglike things, there were a few instances where comma rules dictate a comma, and there wasn't a comma. Commas are dying an unnatural death, and I don't like it. Who cares about saving the planet? Save the commas, people!

But anyway, overall, this book just didn't really cut it for me. If you are looking for a clean, thriller read, with strong Christian themes, then definitely give this a try.

CONTENT NOTE: The main character is a police officer, so there are various issues portrayed throughout, such as driving under the influence, arson, gun play, death, violence, and a few characters get trapped by a wildfire. For those reasons, and for somewhat deep subject matter, not recommended for anyone under the age of 15. ( )

I didn't realize this was related to two other books I've read until Jamie's time in NYC was mentioned. I vaguely remember that from one of the Tuesday Morning books. I like Kingsbury in general though her fiction seems to have an "unreal" quality to it. Unreal in the sense that real life doesn't generally work out in the way that it does for her characters.

How do you react when tragedy strikes your life? Do you turn to God or turn away from Him? After his father dies in the collapse of the twin towers, Alex hardens his heart and closes out everyone but his K9 partner, Bo. He can't reconcile how a loving God would allow firefighters to die in the line of duty. Others struggle with this question also, but have already found their way back to a relationship with God.

Evil will always exist in this world. No matter how much anyone tries, no matter how many people try to eradicate it, it will continue to exist. In the end, the only evil we have any control over is what's inside us--and even that we can only do with God's help. ( )

He's on a desperate quest to rid the city of heartache but first he must find a way to deal with his own.

9/11 series Book III