Love wasn't on Trudy Lynn Brown's to-do list, though she certainly needed someone to help her get rid of the vandals threatening her campground. And her best friend's brother fit the bill. Injured in a white-water rafting accident, Cody Keringhoven had come to Serenity, Arkansas, to recuperate and rebuild his broken faith and shattered dreams. Watching over the campground kept him in constant contact with the ever-surprising—and delightful—Trudy Lynn, whose sunny nature soothed his battered spirit. Yet the criminals would stop at nothing to drive her off her property….
Although I have been a published author since the mid 1980s, I have been writing women's Christian fiction almost exclusively since 1999.
There is a longer, more detailed bio on my website so there's no need for me to repeat all that here. Right now, I write for all three Love Inspired lines, Romance, Suspense and Historical. I'm delighted to have been included that broadly and besides, it keeps me so busy that I stay out of trouble. Well, mostly.
You'll find me on the LI Historical blog as well as other LI features. If I try to do much more I won't have time to write my books!
Cody and Trudy Lynn frustrated me--it seemed first one, then the other were being testy. As with most Love Inspired books, they both assume things about the other's mindset that aren't true but rather than talk about it with each other, they're afraid of revealing themselves to the other and being rejected.
My other big concern for the book is that the two go from meeting each other to getting married in the space of a few weeks which really isn't enough time to assure that you truly know the other person or that you'll be compatible in the long run.
There is some foreshadowing of who's behind the vandalism on Trudy Lynn's camp--and once the name was out there, I suspected we'd hear it again.
Over all this is a good story. I especially liked Sailor, the Newfoundland.
Some of the dialog is too wordy and over done. Trudy Lynn is very naive and too trusting. It does not make sense that she would put her troubled teenage second cousin in charge of her finances. If she wanted to hire Jim as a favor to his grandmother, give him a job maintaining the grounds with Will as a his supervisor. The way Trudy Lynn keeps stating that she can do things just fine on her own is tiring. It's obvious that she needs help and cannot do everything on her own.
OUTSTANDING and riveting Inspirational romance suspense! You will love the feistiness of Trudy Lynn Brown! She will have you in stitches in some scenes and next to tears in others! She is indeed a true Believer and tries her best to put her complete trust in God to protect her always. Cody Keringhoven, whose battered spirit, leads him to have different ideas! But Trudy never gives up! Someone wants her dead and to take over her property...but who and why?? She and Cody had some scary, hair raising, and nail biting moments in their search for answers. This book is definitely one that is not easy to put down! It is one of Valerie's older books (2009) but is still available on Kindle and hardback at Amazon. I highly recommend this book to anyone that likes love inspired romance suspense novels with lots of adventure and is written for the Glory of God by a wonderful Christian writer.