Wasted ~ Review

Wasted
Windy City Westons #2
By Jerusha Agen

Victoria Weston's life starts falling apart when she tries to convince the police that her patient was murdered. But the detective in charge is less than thrilled with what he considers Victoria's interference in what he considers a clear accident. The only person to encourage her to follow this path of thinking is Cillian Doherty, her newest coworker and her high school crush. 

When Victoria's life is threatened and she finds herself on the wrong side of the law, she finds her tight control over her life slipping. What's worse, she's upsetting her father and not the perfect example that her younger siblings need her to be. And she knows that the more she works with Cillian on this case, the harder it will be to make her father happy and keep her heart safe.

Wasted is the second book in the Windy City Westons series, which is a study of family dynamics. I love how Victoria's brothers and sisters rally around her in support and to help her find the truth about the death of her patient. There is a definite whodunit throughout this book. And the ending is just WOW! I love Victoria's dog, Max, and would love to get his backstory.  Books are always better with dogs. This book can be read as a standalone title if you have not read the first book. 

I was provided with a complimentary copy with no expectations. All thoughts expressed are my own.

About the Book:

She always follows the rules. But what are the rules for murder?

Victoria Weston encounters tough things as a home health physical therapist, but this is a first—a dead body. The police call the patient's death accidental. Victoria knows that can't be true. Her efforts to convince the police they're dealing with murder get her labeled a troublemaker by all but one man—the troubler of her youth.

When Cillian Doherty returns to right the wrongs of the past, he finds his high school flame in a different kind of danger than he expected. As a social worker, he's in the perfect position to corroborate her cry of murder or give her what she wanted—to handle her problems without his help.

But someone wants to silence Victoria. When lies escalate to violence and threaten more lives, the Weston siblings join the battle to save their sister. But it will take a God more powerful than all of them for Cillian and Victoria to make peace with their past and catch the killer. Before the killer catches them.

Wasted continues the thrilling Windy City Westons series, featuring five siblings who encounter danger, love, and God in the city of Chicago. (Each book can stand alone or be read as a series installment.)

With Me in the Storm ~ Review

Welcome to the Blog Tour for 

With Me in the Storm by Karen E. Ingle, 

hosted by JustRead Publicity Tours!

With Me in the Storm 

By Karen E. Ingle

She made a mistake, she trusted the wrong person and is trapped in a world she doesn't control. The man she trusted now controls her life and she is a commodity. If she doesn't end the life of her unborn baby today she will pay for it - possibly with her life.

Reaching out for help will take a courage she had lost years ago. And starting over even more. And admitting the mistake she made to the people who knew and cared for her before she turned her back on all that she had, almost impossible to imagine. The ugliness that she has been part of could turn them against her. 

With Me in the Storm is a book that takes the reader into the life of someone who has been caught in the web of trafficking. Lies, manipulation, and a cycle of abuse have trapped Maddie in a life she doesn't want to live. But knowing what she has been a part of makes her feel as if she has no choice but to continue living it, all the while trapped in the web she unwittingly allowed herself to be drawn into when she was at a low point in her life.

What Maddie has been caught in is not portrayed on the page but rather alluded to so the true depth of humiliation and cruelty isn't graphically portrayed. But the reader gets an idea of what she has been through as she slowly reveals just how low her misplaced trust has taken her. But we also are offered a glimpse of how those who she left behind have suffered from her mistake.

This book looks at difficult topics - sex trafficking, drugs, abortion- and offers hope to those who have been trapped in it. But there needs to be a hand ready to reach out and offer help to those who want to escape. I found it interesting how Maddie was living life amongst others who looked with envy at the life they thought she was living. Maddie was controlled and manipulated into thinking she was optionless. In a way, her unwanted pregnancy saved her life, it gave her the chance to get away from her abuser - her handler. But leaving this life behind is more than walking out a door and this book does address that and just how difficult it truly is.

The story while difficult, is presented in a way so that the reader is drawn into it. This is a Romantic Suspense but it is also a story of second chances and new beginnings. It also offers hope that it is never too late to change. But it also warns one of the far reaching tendrils of the darkness that have trapped so many within its grasp. Overall I'd say this was a well-written story that entertains while sharing a difficult message that all should be aware of because anyone could easily find themself in a similar situation because of a single choice or misplaced trust. In my opinion this book, though written for an adult audience, could be read by teens who are in need of the cautionary warning this book offers. This would also make a great community read because there can never be too much awareness. 

I was provided a complimentary copy of this book with no expectations but that I provide my honest opinion. All thoughts expressed are my own.

** Of note there are contacts in the back of the book to help people to get help or aid others in the effort to stop trafficking. **                                                                                                                                   

About the Book

Title: With Me in the Storm 

Author: Karen E. Ingle 

Publisher: Trilogy Christian Publishing 

Release Date: September 19, 2022 

Genre: Christian Romantic Suspense

If she escapes her past, can she survive the storm to come?

Maddie's California dream-turned-nightmare is a perfect storm of abuse, trafficking, and unwanted pregnancy. She sees only one way out, until a network of strangers offers a solution that could save her life and her baby's. 

But escaping back to Minnesota hinges on Chris, the fiancé she rejected for the drug dealer who now owns her. After all she's done, is it too much to hope Chris will perform this generous act of love? 

And what if love isn't enough to protect Maddie when a deadlier storm closes in? 

PURCHASE LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes and Noble | BookDepository | IndieBound

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About the Author

Karen Ingle admires women’s resilience and courage that emerge when faced with a pregnancy that rocks their world. As a freelance writer, she has interviewed such women, met them, and served them. She’s also rubbed elbows with the gutsy people who care deeply enough to support women in their journeys out of dark despair into bright hope. Now Karen is weaving those true stories into the compelling novel, With Me in the Storm, and others still to come in her Rumors of Light series.

Connect with Karen by visiting kareningleauthor.com to follow her on social media or subscribe to email newsletter updates.

 

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Tour Giveaway

(1) winner will receive a signed paperback copy of With Me in the Storm, 

$10 Amazon gift card, notecard, sticker, handmade bookmark, 

and a packet of "Maddie's favorite hot cocoa mix"!

The full tour schedule is linked below. 

The giveaway begins at midnight February 20, 2023, 

and will last through 11:59 PM EST on February 27, 2023. 

The winner will be notified within 2 weeks of the close of the giveaway 

and given 48 hours to respond or risk forfeiture of prize. 

US only. 

Void where prohibited by law or logistics.

Giveaway is subject to JustRead Publicity Tours Giveaway Policies.

Enter Giveaway

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Follow along at JustRead Tours for a full list of stops!