Friday 4 January 2013

Book Review: The Breath of Dawn by Kristen Heitzmann

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Kristen Heitzmann in her new book, “The Breath of Dawn” Book Three in the Spencer Family series published by Bethany House takes us into the life of Quinn Reilly.

From the back cover: Corporate turnaround specialist Morgan Spencer, dubbed the “success guru,” has a Midas touch in business. But losing his wife sent him to the brink, and his two-year-old daughter, Livie, is all he’s living for–until they encounter a woman whose trouble just might draw him out of his own.

Four years ago Quinn Reilly did the right thing. Now the man her testimony put in jail is getting out. Though she has put up barriers to protect herself and those around her, she has come to care for the Spencer family, especially the winsome Livie and her mercurial father. Unwilling to put them at risk when the threats begin, she requests something she hopes the super-successful Morgan might be able to deliver.

Fixing problems is what Morgan does best, but his counterproposal takes them in a direction neither is equipped to handle. Determined to confront the past, will they survive to build a future?

My Reflections:
Get ready to dive into a wonderful new novel by Kristen Heitzmann.
You get the treat of being reunited with a few familiar characters (Noelle/Rick & Jill/Morgan).  Ms. Heitzmann has brought back members of the Spencer family in the third installment of her, "Rush of Wings" series. This fabulous romantic suspense also introduces us to Quinn Reilly and her relationship to Morgan and Livie.

Morgan Spencer is morning the loss of his wife. He is desperate to make a good life for his little daughter, Livie, but he is a man griped in his grief.  When he buys a house adjacent to his brothers property, he meets Quinn Reilly (named after her grandpa's dog) Sparks are imminent, but Morgan wants to keep his distance and his little daughter central in his life.

Quinn, is a woman who lives off the grid - to keep someone she sent to prison from finding her, she does what she must to protect herself. She keeps busy, and supports herself buying and selling goods through eBay.
Will meeting Morgan and little Livie be enough to change a woman on the run? Can she trust him?
 I will not give one iota of this narrative away, and seriously hold onto your story line because the twists and turns are abundant and the suspense is enough to keep those pages flying hotly into the wee hours of the night.

This is a chunky book at 433 pages long, but you will be wishing it never ended when you sink your teeth into It. This book is complex and engaging with drama and suspense, the story line feels at times to be a tad slow but I think the point of this is to engage the reader and set the stage, for a more complete read and to really get to know the characters. I love the way Heitzmann writes, it is such a pleasure to read her masterfully written story lines.

In addition to weaving a gripping tale, Heitzmann adds themes of trust and integrity (in God, family, prayer and faith) I think this was my favorite attribute of the book, what could be better than a good tale with solid Christian values!

I recommend this book to any avid reader who has nothing better to do than read, because that is all you will want to do!

I received this book for reviewing purposes from Bethany House Publishers.
 Thank you Bethany House!

About the Author: 
Kristen Heitzmann Author Photo
I spent my first six years in South Bend, Indiana in a house with a tornado cellar that gave me a love of damp, musty, mysterious places. To this day, I breathe in a cool cellar like incense. You may have noticed a few underground elements in my stories!
Transplanted at six, Colorado seemed dry and desolate, the towering mountains a view that could not replace green grass and lightning bugs. But I learned to watch for barrel cactus in the straw-colored fields in which my brother and I played cowboys and Indians. (I always played the Indian because the bow really shot the arrows and all he had were caps.) We tramped pasture land, waded holding ponds teeming with tadpoles, and toted them home in coffee cans to hatch into hundreds of speckled, penny frogs. At night, with the neighbor kids, I played kick the can on the gravel roads and acreage around our far flung houses.
Between classical violin lessons, I rode my teacher’s purebred Arabians up and down the scrub oak covered mountain slopes. My sister, brother and I played Mozart at church on Christmas, and I subsequently taught myself piano, recorder, tambourine and guitar.
My passions were reading, art, and writing stories. But I also had a wild streak that called me outside to dissect grasshoppers and catch rock lizards and salamanders–for pets. Now my main passion is hiking the mountains I can’t live without.
I loved learning, but broke out of the family mold, by leaving college to marry my husband Jim (celebrating 32 this year.) I have two precious grandbabies who took my heart and won’t give it back.
While home schooling my four kids, I wrote my first novel. I pitched it for publication, and it became the first of a five book historical series. Since then, I have written three more historical and twelve contemporary romantic suspense novels. The Still of Night was nominated for the Colorado Book Award. The Tender Vine and Indivisible were Christy Award finalists and Secrets won a Christy Award in 2005.
People often ask why I started writing, and I say to get the stories out of my head. Some say they’d like to write a book, but I say if you’re not wracked with labor pains, there are easier ways to express yourself. Being a writer is a solitary, eccentric, and often compulsive path. But I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

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