Wednesday, January 6, 2016

Noble Man, by William Miller

I first of all want to thank William Miller for contacting me directly and asking me to review his new book. I was very impressed with his writing and very interested in the real world issue of "Sex Slave" trade that he wrote about. Following is my review of the book.

This was truly a good read provided by a new author. It takes the work of a CIA clandestine operator and gives us an insight into a not so new world problem but one that has been lost in the mix of terrorism and drugs and crime syndicates. The problem is the "sex slave" trade. We all know that slavery was done away with in most countries, including the United States, but the sex slave trade is growing and is not just on other continents but it is also in the United States.

William Miller weaves a story around the thriller aspect of a clandestine operator who has the task of breaking down the sex slave trade. The problem, Jacob Noble does too good a job and when someone dies in one of his operations that embarrasses our government they look for a fall guy and it's Noble.

But then when another diplomat we work with has his daughter kidnapped because she operates a rescue center for women caught in the sex slave business, where does the CIA turn? Well, they come to Noble because they want her rescued, but they don't want it tied back to them or to our government if things go wrong.

The rest of the story weaves through the underbelly of society and those who kidnap and sell young women and children into the sex slave business. To complicate matters Bati Ramos is a diabetic and they only took one insulin syringe when they kidnapped her. That sets the clock ticking and Noble has just a couple of days to travel the world, search out where she is being held and then rescue her.

To Complicate things there are others out there looking for her as well and they don't particularly want Noble to find her. So, they are doing their best to eliminate him while looking for the girl.

William Miller gives us much to think about as we read. He highlights the real problems of this issue and points out how many young women and children disappear every year into this business and are forgotten.

Once you read the novel (which is fantastic) you need to go to the web site he suggests and learn more about this political / moral / society problem and see what you can do to bring it to light and help fight against it.

Thanks William for giving us a great look at a terrible problem.

Friday, January 1, 2016

Undaunted Hope, by Jody Hedlund

First of all I want to thank Net Galley and the Publisher for making an advance review copy of this book available to me for review. You may pre-order the book on Amazon or at your favorite book distributor. It will be released in a month or so.

In this third book of the series we have Tessa moving to a new location to be a school teacher. She has left behind her sister and brother-in-law and the lighthouse where she grew up. She hates lighthouses and wants nothing to do with them since they were the cause of her mother's death, her father's death and where her younger sister died from illness. She is done with lighthouse work and light keepers.

She has come to Eagle Harbor as the new school teacher. It is a copper mining town that is cut off from the rest of the world during the winter because Lake Superior freezes over.

When she arrives she is accosted by a deck hand from her boat who tries to seduce her. She resists and falls off the pier and into the water. A man who had been fishing comes to her rescue.

He is handsome, strong, rugged, etc. the only problem is, he is the assistant Light Keeper for the local Lighthouse. So, Tessa wants nothing to do with him. Alex Bjorklund though might have other ideas, because frankly, Tessa Taylor is beautiful.

To complicate things the town was expecting a male teacher. Mr. Updegraff the town boss doesn't want a female teacher, he wants a male teacher. He will make Tessa's life harsh all winter.

So the scene is set and the novel that follows is well developed, has several themes running through it from grief and loss to judgmental and prejudicial people to sexual misconduct, etc.

The story is going to keep your interest and give me much to think about. How will Tessa fare? How will the children do under her teaching spell? How will Mr. Updegraff handle the situation? And finally how will Alex be able to win Tessa's heart, or will he?

I'm sure you will enjoy the story.