The Prodigal Daughter (Mette Ivie Harrison)

Why I have this book: I borrowed it from the ebook library.

Well, of all the books in the series, this is the first that has rated 4 stars from me. (I think the rest were given 3 stars.) I think I could talk myself down to 3 stars if I wanted to... it wasn't as long as the first four, so it didn't necessarily have as many plot twists as the others. Some of it seemed a little unlikely or unrealistic, in my opinion.

For whatever reason, though, this one got me a little deeper than the others. I think it was because it was just so sad in the sense of how life isn't very black and white. It's also not always fair or just. Sometimes we try to do good and be good, and then discover that the expectations we had don't really work out. I don't know... this book was sad, but I appreciated the message.

The next book won't be out until 2022 (no idea which month), but I'll need to keep my eye out for it. I know the author's life has taken some turns, so I'm curious how that will play out with the protagonist's life in the books.

There may have been a swear word or two? The plot centers around a gang rape (not descriptive), and there is an attempted murder.

Goodbye, I Love You (Carol Lynn Pearson)

Why I have this book: I've heard of it for years, and somehow it came up as available for pretty cheap on Kindle. I'm not even sure how I came across it. Anyway, I decided to give it a read.

I gave this book 3 stars on Goodreads because some of the dialog just seemed really superficial even though the emotions and story (a true one) are so much more intense.

I'm glad I read it. It's hard to imagine living this kind of experience, especially during a time when homosexuality and AIDS were so much more taboo. I don't know if I would have been able to retain as much love as the author did for her husband considering his choices. It's pretty amazing. I'd say she was ahead of her time with being able to have a more open-minded and fair view of the gay community. 

The author is a published poet, and I really liked these words of hers. She added the last two lines after realizing she was surviving a really hard trial with strength she didn't know she had.

I dim, I dim - 

I have no doubt

If someone blew

I would go out.

I did not.

I must be brighter than I thought.

Clean'ish considering the subject matter. There is obviously a lot of talk about homosexuality, and there may have been a few swear words, too, if I'm remembering correctly.

Beyond the White River (Kristen McKendry)

Why I have this book: I borrowed it from DBS+ because I needed a second light read during my quiet few days. :)

I actually had this one on my Amazon Wish List for years now, and it finally showed up for free on DBS+.

It was another "okay" book. I thought it was pretty good (like "3 stars" good) for most of it, but the ending seemed a little far-fetched, so I dropped it to two stars on Goodreads.

(I don't know why I sometimes use the actual number (i.e. 3) in my "stars" and why sometimes I spell out the name of the number (i.e. two). I have no explanation, and I just don't care enough to worry about it. Just saying this in case any readers are as particular about editing as I tend to be with the books I read. Haha...)

Clean. There is some talk about a rape that occurred, and there's a wife who's the victim of domestic violence, but neither is described in detail.

Mountains Between Us (Jenny Proctor)

Why I have this book: I borrowed it from DBS+ because I had a quiet few days to myself, and I needed a light read.

Let's see... what was this book about? (I just read it...)

Oh, right. Now I remember. It was okay. Definitely a light read. I never got too invested in the characters, but it kept my interest well enough. I didn't find the love story convincing. 

I gave it two stars on Goodreads.

Clean.

The First Four Books in the Linda Wallheim Mystery Series (Mette Ivie Harrison)

The Bishop's Wife

His Right Hand

For Time and All Eternities

Not of This Fold 

Why I have these books: I borrowed them all from the ebook library because I noticed a fifth book was coming out, and I wanted to reread the first four before I read the fifth.

Okay, so as I mentioned, I've read all of these before, and I only reviewed the first two because I was kind of embarrassed that I read all of them. I like the writing, but I also felt like the author had an agenda against the LDS Church (of which she was a member at least while writing the first few books).

Anyway, I have a new outlook on her perspective, especially after reading an interview she gave which explains more of her life experiences. I wanted to see how what I thought of the books now that I know more about her.

I still enjoyed them, and I had more understanding of some of the things she said, but I still think she stretched the truth and threw in some things that just aren't true at all. I guess I don't feel embarrassed about reading them and enjoying them anymore, though, and I'm looking forward to when my turn comes up on the fifth book.

I gave them all 3 stars on Goodreads. There was a need for an editor for typos and other mistakes. (She even changed the spelling on one character's name from one book to the next.)

Mostly clean, although there are occasional swear words, and one book involved a transgender man with some just weird extra stuff thrown in there. Obviously, they all involve murder, but it's more of the "cozy murder" type of mystery.

The Apology Project (Jeanette Escudero)

Why I have this book: It was a freebie in the Amazon First Picks program. I read the few reviews (because First Picks come out before the books are actually released, so not many have read them yet), and one review made me think it was fairly clean.

I wouldn't classify it as clean. There was plenty of swearing (including F-bombs), and it starts out with what we assume is going to be a drunk one-night stand. (It's not descriptive, but it's still obvious.) I was ready to quit the book early on, but for some reason I kept reading. I think it was because the writing was super easy to get into.

In any case, I ended up enjoying the story quite a bit. Like I said, the writing made it easy to get swallowed up in the story, and I liked the experiences the protagonist had with her family, her (newly found) extended family, and the people she reached out to as part of her "apology project." 

I honestly would have given this four solid stars if there wasn't the casual sex (again, not described) and the swearing. The story itself was great. Because it wasn't clean (and because those things were definitely not needed to make the storyline work), I only gave it three stars on Goodreads.

Not really clean. Described above, and I'll add that there are a handful of instances of using the Lord's name as an expression of exclamation, and there's way too much drinking.

The Moses Lake Series (Lisa Wingate)

There are four books in the series:

Larkspur Cove

Blue Moon Bay

Firefly Island

Wildwood Creek

Why I have these books: I actually read the first book in the series a few years ago, but never moved on to the others. I ended up buying a four-books-in-one ebook last month when I was still in my "I need a light read" mode. (I might still be there, to be honest.)

On Goodreads, I gave all the books three stars except one. Blue Moon Bay only got two stars. I don't remember why... I think I felt like it was a little contrived by the end.

I also would like to reiterate that these authors need me to edit their books for them. Not as the main editor, maybe, but rather as a "final read" editor. I could catch things like the overuse of words such as "caliche" and "diaphanous." I mean, they are impressive words, but because they aren't commonly used words, they become a distraction when they are used over and over again in a book (or in a series of books). I also would catch things like when you put events out of order. This just causes confusion for the reader who then has to go back and forth to figure out what is happening.

Otherwise, I did enjoy the series. I think the first and last books were my favorites, even though they were very different from each other.

Clean.