"If I LIve" by Terri Blackstock

If I Live by Terri Blackstock is the third and final book in the “If I run” series. Casey is still on the run, but the police are closing in. Her time is running out! Will she be able to get the truth out? Will anyone believe her? Dylan is trying to do what he can to keep Casey safe, but danger lurks! This book was WAY BETTER than book two! I suggesting skipping book 2 and going right to this one instead. There is more action for one and I enjoyed the interaction between the different characters. This is a good series!

(Gerard’s review, 5 stars)

Teaser from pg. 27:  God is on the case with me, fighting this battle.  As I cling to the image of his sword slashing the evil around me--and around Casey--I fall back to sleep and, this time, dream of victory. 

Karen's review, 4 stars:
If I Live by Terri Blackstock is the last book in the If I Run series. It is about Casey, a fugitive who was framed for murder by dirty cops, and detective Dylan who is hired by the victim’s family to work with the police to find Casey and bring her back. Instead, he believes Casey was set up and helps her prove it, aiding her along the way. Casey comes to look for God being at work and finds lots to be thankful for even as she is on the run. Dylan keeps trusting in Romans 8:28 which says all things work together for good to them who love God and are called according to his purpose.

This was pretty good. I skipped the second book and jumped right to this one and felt I didn’t miss much. It had some Christian overtones and some far-fetched incidents. When Dylan unscrewed the light plate with his fingernail while his hands were tied, I found that very hard to believe. At least he wasn’t able to unscrew the screws in the door hinges at the cabin! SPOILER ALERT—STOP READING NOW IF YOU HAVE NOT READ THE BOOK: I thought the ending was very rushed with Dylan and Casey jumping right into marriage and odd that he did not have Dex as his best man or any of his family at the wedding.


Have you read this one? What did you think of it? If you reviewed this too, feel free to share your link to your review in the comments. To find books on a specific topic, scroll to the bottom and click on the topic you want. Happy Reading!

"If I'm Found" by Terri Blackstock

If I'm Found by Terri Blackstock is the follow-up book to If I Run.  Casey is on the run for a murder she did not commit and Dylan is looking for her to help her.  But, does Casey trust him?  Meanwhile, Casey gets involved in an injustice that she sees.

This book kept me engaged for sure!  Casey and Dylan are really good characters and it has a good ending.  Although not quite as good as the first book, I think you will still like it as I did.
(Gerard's review, 4 stars)

Have you read this one? What did you think of it? If you reviewed this too, feel free to share your link to your review in the comments. To find books on a specific topic, scroll to the bottom and click on the topic you want. Happy Reading!

"Predator" by Terri Blackstock

Predator by Terri Blackstock is a contemporary fiction page-turner about online security.  When Krista’s 14-yr-old younger sister, Ella, is murdered, Krista is horrified to find discover that Ella gave up-to-the-minute details about her whereabouts on the social media GrapeVyne (similar to Facebook).  Krista is determined to find her killer and warn others about posting so much personal stuff online, especially one’s whereabouts.  The killer continues going after more girls and the suspense builds as Krista becomes his next target. 

I enjoyed this book because it moved along and addressed an important issue in an interesting way.  The ending wasn’t very believable but overall it is a good read.  It shows the importance of not posting things on-line that you wouldn’t want a predator to see.  Don’t think only your friends see what you post!  

(Karen's review 2/26/13)

Predator by Terri Blackstock should serve as a warning to people, especially young girls who put way too much information online.  Bad guys are out there and this book tells the story of one of them.  This book is a real page turner.  You can quickly identify with all the characters in the story.  The writing is very good and there are a lot of interesting twists and turns.  It goes fast--a very good read!
(Gerard's review 6/19/10)

Have you read this one? What did you think of it?

"The Gifted" by Terri Blackstock

Fun Christian Read

"The Gifted" by Terri Blackstock is a quick Christian fiction read which shows how Christians should work together to meet needs of others and introduce them to Jesus. When Andy, Carl and Bree were discouraged that they were the only ones who showed up for their Bible Study after work in an effort to reach their co-workers with the gospel, a tornado hit and they were crushed under the rubble. God answered their prayers and their lives were changed once they experienced God's power.

This is a powerful little book that challenges Christians to use the gifts God has given them to serve Him by serving others and meeting their needs. It is a fun read because each of the main characters are endowed with supernatural powers which makes for a good read but isn't very believable. Here's a little teaser that gives you an example:

"Where are we going, anyway?" Bree looked around them.
"I'm not sure, but my feet know."
Bree laughed. "Do you know how stupid that sounds?"
"Of course I do. It's downright ridiculous, but it happens to be true."
The hospital came into view, and Carl's feet picked up their pace. "Okay, now I've got it. We're going to the hospital."

(Karen's review)

If you have read this, I'd love to hear what you thought of it.  If you reviewed this too, feel free to share your link to your review in the comments. Happy Reading!

"Downfall" by Terri Blackstock

Downfall by Terri Blackstock is the final book in the Emily Covington saga and it's a good one!  It had my interest from page one and only took me a day to read.  As usual with Terri's books, this has a strong Christian flavor which is not bad at all!  I enjoyed it more than I thought I would and look forward to her next novel.
(Gerard's review)

Karen read this too:
Downfall by Terri Blackstock is a Christian suspense novel that is the third book of the Emily Covington series.  The first two are Intervention and Vicious Cycle.  This is about Emily’s struggle to stay clean and figure out who is framing her.  She has been clean for two years, attends college, and works at a drug rehab facility. One day as she leaves for class, she finds a bomb attached to her car when it causes a fire.  The same morning, the wife of one of the addicts from the rehab place is killed while asleep in her bed.   This is a quick read about family, murder, revenge and love that is predictable but still pretty good.  

Have you read this one? What did you think of it? If you reviewed this too, feel free to share your link to your review in the comments. Happy Reading!

We linked up with Mama Kat's Writer's Workshop to respond to this prompt:  Book review time! Some people STILL read books…share one of your more recent reads and tell us what you thought!

We are donating 50 cents for each legitimate comment we receive on all our blogs during April to the Paralyzed Veterans of America.

"Vicious Cycle" by Terri Blackstock

Vicious Cycle just might be Terri Blackstock’s best book yet!  It held my interest from the first page to the last.  It is the story of a young teenage girl with a drug problem who delivers her own baby.  When her man, also a drug addict, wants to sell the baby for money, she dumps it into a car of a friend of hers and takes off.  This is a great story with characters I cared about and a really good ending!  I enjoyed it very much!
(Gerard's review)

I was hooked into Vicious Cycle by Terri Blackstock from beginning to end!  It is actually about two families, one Christian family with a teenage daughter (Emily) who is just getting out of rehab after being in for a year and the other who is addicted to meth and wants to sell the teenage daughter’s baby for $45,000.  The only glitch is that the girl, Jordan, does not want to sell her baby but wants to give it up for adoption instead, and gets Emily’s brother (Lance) to help her get it away from her mother and brother. 

Vicious Cycle is a good Christian fiction suspense novel that I couldn’t put down.  I cared about the characters and was anxious to see how things would turn out.  It shows how drugs can ruin lives and how hard it is to get off them, but that it is possible.  I especially liked Lance because he’s a good teen who really cares about others which got him into some dangerous situations.  I liked how the author shows the contrast between the two different families and yet the fact that anyone could get hooked on drugs.  Every day we need to do the next right thing. 

I recommend Vicious Cycle to anyone who likes stories about family, suspense or teens.  This book is about the same Christian family that is in Intervention, the story of the mother getting Emily into rehab for her drug addiction.  It’s very good too! 
(Karen's review)

Here's the book trailer:


Have you read this one? What did you think of it? You can help Canine Lifeline (a dog rescue organization that saved our dog, Abby) by leaving a comment on any of our blogs in March. We will donate 50 cents per comment at the end of the month.

"Word of Honor" by Terri Blackstock

Word of Honor by Terri Blackstock is a fast-paced novel about Frank Harper, a Vietnam war veteran who suffered brain damage while saving others in his unit, who escapes from the mental hospital and plants a bomb in a post office of a small town which kills three people and badly injures a little boy.  Frank gets Jerry, an army buddy whose life he saved, involved by asking him to drive him to the post office that day.  While Jerry waits for Frank to come to meet him at a hotel later, the police arrive instead and Jerry takes Jill, the attorney staying in the adjoining room, hostage.  There is quite a bit of action in Word of Honor which addresses the question of keeping your word with a romantic subplot between Jill and Dan, a firefighter afraid of commitment.   

I really liked this Christian fiction book because the characters were very believable and likable.  Jerry was caught between keeping a covenant he made with his army buddy and breaking it to protect his family and save himself.  I think Terri Blackstock did a great job in this book at incorporating a challenge to be serious about giving our word and having a covenant relationship with God and our spouse.  I recommend it to everyone!

This is actually the third book of the Newpointe 911 series but can stand on its own. Others in the series are: Private Justice, Shadow of Doubt, Trial by Fire, Line of Duty. I look forward to reading these as well! I really like that her books have clean language and a sex free.

Have you read this one? What did you think of it?

“The Listener—What If You Could Hear What God Hears?” By Terri Blackstock

The Listener--What If You Could Hear What God Hears? by Terri Blackstock is a short Christian fiction book that gets across the urgency to share about Jesus with people we come in contact with on a daily basis.  It’s about Sam, a Christian who hasn’t led anyone to Jesus in years and really never thought about it until God gives him a supernatural ability to actually hear the thoughts of people around him like God hears.  At first when he starts hearing voices, he thinks he’s going nuts, but then he sees how many people have spiritual needs and need to hear about Jesus that he tries to get more people from his church to go with him to witness.  The whole theme of this book is that people need the Lord and Christians need to introduce them to Him.

I enjoyed this book because it showed the urgency of reaching people with the gospel of Christ in such a fun way.  I recommend it to any Christian
Have you read this one? What did you think of it?

"Intervention" by Terri Blackstock

Intervention is A Real Page Turner!
This is a fiction story about a mother who tries to get help for her daughter, Emily, who is on drugs by having an intervention.  The person who is going to help the daughter gets killed while escorting Emily on the way to the rehab center and then the daughter is missing.  The last 100 pages of this book are really good.  That’s when the action starts
(Gerard's Review 2/19/10)  (5 stars)

Intervention by Terri Blackstock is a book about a single mother’s love for her children and the struggle to help her daughter, Emily, get off drugs.  What begins as an intervention quickly turns into a nightmare involving murder and Emily’s fight for survival.  I found this book to be interesting, exciting and captivating.  The author wrote from first-hand experience with her own daughter who had a drug problem.  This is Christian fiction that shows the power of prayer and how God intervenes in our lives.  The ending was predictable as with most Christian fiction, but not the journey getting there.  I liked this book and think any parent would find it interesting and could relate to the mother.

(Karen's Review 2/13/10)

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