The Fight by Luke Wordley

★★★★✩
Goodreads | Amazon

The battle over a man's past. 

A fight for a boy's future. 

Sam Pennington’s life has fallen apart. His father is dead. His mum’s started drinking. And now they’ve been dumped in a dismal public-housing complex in East London. Sam’s anger at his circumstances puts him on the brink of expulsion from school and into dangerous conflict with those around him.

Professional boxing trainer Jerry Ambrose has finally gotten everything together. After a turbulent early life, his newfound faith has helped him reconcile with his past and dedicate his life to helping others.

But when a brutal street fight leads Sam to Jerry’s boxing club, both their futures are thrown into question. As Jerry reaches out to Sam, an extraordinary fighting talent emerges – a talent that reopens the wounds of Jerry’s own life. Both find themselves battling what can happen to a man’s soul when his anger is channeled through his fists.

Despite wowing ringside crowds, Sam’s boxing success fails to bring him peace or happiness, while Jerry’s inner struggles threaten the very core of his beliefs. Can Sam be saved from his rage? Or will Jerry’s reawakened ambition tear them both apart?

Luke Wordley’s The Fight surprised me. After starting to read, I realized the story is not as much about boxing as I initially assumed. More important are the relationships and interactions built between characters, using boxing as merely a starting point and connection. In this narrative, Wordley offers an engaging spiritual discussion of the reasons for fighting – holding on and letting go, victory and surrender, salvation, redemption and second chances. It’s raw, it’s emotional, it’s thought-provoking – definitely worth a read.

However, I should note, there were a couple aspects of The Fight that held me back from absolutely, wholeheartedly loving it:

     1. I did not feel compelled to keep reading. I could set the book down and pick it up later without too much thought in between.

     2. A few moments, especially in Jerry’s plotline, seemed a bit extreme and left me thinking, Wait, how did it get this bad so quickly? Did I miss something?

Still, even with these notes, I enjoyed Wordley’s The Fight and, like I already mentioned, would recommend it. I thank Tyndale House Publishers for providing me with a copy of this novel and the chance to honestly review it.

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I've Read So Far This Year

Hosted weekly by The Broke and the Bookish.

(It's really hard to choose just ten out of all the books I have already read this year. To make my choices a bit easier, I am choosing ten books I read without later reviewing.)

Truth Stained Lies by Terri Blackstock

★★★★✩
Goodreads | Amazon

When truth doesn't make sense, will lies prevail?

Cathy Cramer is a former lawyer and investigative blogger who writes commentary on high-profile homicides. When she finds a threatening note warning her that she's about to experience the same kind of judgment and speculation that she dishes out in her blog, Cathy writes it off as mischief… until her brother's wife is murdered and all the 'facts' point to him. The killer has staged the crime to make the truth too far-fetched to believe. Working to solve the murder and clear her brother's name, Cathy and her two sisters, Holly and Juliet, moonlight as part-time private investigators. Juliet, a stay-at-home mom of two boys, and Holly, a scattered ne'er-do-well who drives a taxi, put aside their fear to hunt down the real killer.

Stakes rise when their brother's grieving five-year-old son is kidnapped. As police focus on the wrong set of clues, the three sisters and their battered detective friend are the only hope for solving this bizarre crime, saving the child, and freeing their brother.

Terri Blackstock’s Truth Stained Lies opens with intrigue and suspense. Immediately, the plot pulled me in, leaving me eagerly wondering how the sisters would ever clear their brother’s name. It seemed such a daunting conundrum. However, as the plot continues from there, I found my hooked interest waning bit by bit for a couple reasons – primarily because, throughout the novel, Blackstock uses six different characters to tell the story. To me, this felt overloaded at times, and with each transfer of perspective, it became a bit more of a challenge to continually and truly connect with the characters. Additionally, Blackstock introduces the culprit, as well as most of the motive, relatively early within the plot, so from there, much of the suspense seems to dissipate, in my opinion, as the novel neatly wraps up.

Yet, even though Truth Stained Lies did not keep me as riveted as I expected, I still did enjoy reading it. As a whole, the novel is interesting, as Blackstock offers more than just crime and mystery in her fiction, sneaking in a bit of romance and reflective spiritual discussions. It is a fun, light, well-rounded read, and I plan to check out more from Terri Blackstock, when I have the chance. Thanks to Zondervan and NetGalley, I received a free digital copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review. 

Liebster Award

Thanks, Rayleigh, for nominating my blog for this award!

Here it is: my first not-a-book-review post on Book by Book. I didn’t know this day would come, but it certainly has arrived with unexpected style.

The Rules:

1. Thank and link back to the person who nominated you.

2. List 11 facts about yourself.

3. Answer the 11 questions asked by the blogger who nominated you.

4. Nominate 9 bloggers who have fewer than 200 followers.

5. Ask them 11 questions.

6. Let them know about the nomination.

11 Facts About Myself:

1. My go-to “weird” fact is “I have never used a port-a-potty.”

2. Glacier National Park is probably my favorite place on Earth. If I could snap my fingers and just be there, I would.

3. I am purposefully training myself to be a morning person.

4. If I had to pick one book to be my favorite, it would be The Giver by Lois Lowry.

5. I have absolutely no aspirations of ever skydiving - not even for my bucket list.

6. My brothers like to make fun of me because I laugh out loud when I read.

7. I love to eat out of a coffee mug.

8. I hate moths. They gross me out.

9. I habitually check out from the library more books than I could possibly have the time to actually read.

10. Mustard is my favorite condiment.

11. I have no recollection of anyone pronouncing my full name correctly on the first try.

Rayleigh’s 11 Questions:

1. Flip-flops or cowboy boots?

I’ve never worn cowboy boots, so I’ll have to go with flip-flops. Besides, I don’t think I could pull off cowboy boots.

2. If you could have absolutely any animal in the world as pet (can be extinct), which would it be and why? And just a bonus question here, what in the world would you name it?????

Definitely a polar bear. Hands down. His name would be Ronald.

3. Favorite reading genre?

I’m a sucker for historical romance, but I’ll read just about anything.

4. Your plane crashes on a deserted island that has nothing but thorns, poisonous animals, and constant rain. Which fictional character keeps you from totally losing your mind and comes up with a brilliant plan of escape?

Batman.

5. Favorite classic book?

Is The Catcher in the Rye considered a classic yet?

6. Do you prefer the story of Old Yeller or Where the Red Fern Grows?

Where the Red Fern Grows. (But I only have experience with the movies...)

7. Favorite color?

Red.

8. Mexican food, Chinese food or seafood?

Oh, tough choice, but I’m going to say, “Chinese food.”

9. Favorite season?

Sweater season. I love to rock my thrift-store treasures.

10. Is there a book that you think needs a better title? If yes, then what would you rename it?

Honestly, I’ve never thought about this before… So, off the top of my head, I can’t think of any.

11. Favorite card game?

Gin.

Now, this is where I am supposed to nominate nine other bloggers for the Liebster Award and then give them eleven questions to answer. While I would love to promote other bloggers and their blogs, I am unfortunately not too connected within the great blogosphere and know next to zero bloggers. So, I’ll deviate from the rules and just stop here. (Lame, I know.)

Well, it's time for me to return to hiding behind the books. I'll be back soon with more book reviews. In the meantime, happy reading!

Full Steam Ahead by Karen Witemeyer

★★★★★
Goodreads | Amazon

When Nicole Renard returns home to Galveston from an eastern finishing school, she's stunned to find her father in ill health. Though she loves him, he's only ever focused on what she's not. Not male. Not married. Not able to run their family business, Renard Shipping.

Vowing to secure a suitable marriage partner, Nicole sets out with the Renard family's greatest treasure: a dagger personally gifted to Nicole's father by the pirate Jean Lafitte. Many believe the legend that the dagger is the source of all Renard Shipping's good fortune, though Nicole is sure her father's work ethic and honorable business practices are the keys to their success. Before she can board the steamer to New Orleans, Nicole finds her father's rivals – the Jenkins brothers – on either side of the gangplank, ready to grab her and steal the dagger. Quickly, she decides to instead travel north, to Liberty, Texas, where she can decide what to do next.

Darius Thornton needs a secretary – someone to help him get his notes in order. Ever since the boiler explosion aboard the Louisiana, Darius has been a man obsessed. He will do anything to stop even one more steamship disaster. The pretty young socialite who applies for the job baffles him with her knowledge of mathematics and steamships. He decides to take a risk and hire her, but he's determined her attractive face and fancy clothes won't distract him from his important research.

The job offer comes at exactly the right time for Nicole. With what Darius is paying her, she'll be able to afford passage to New Orleans in mere weeks. But Mr. Thornton is so reclusive, so distant, so unusual. He can create complex scientific equations but can't remember to comb his hair. And his experiments are growing more and more dangerous. Still, there are undeniable sparks of attraction between them. But Nicole is leaving soon, and if she marries, it must be to a man who can manage a shipping empire. Darius certainly doesn't fit that description. And the Jenkins brothers have not given up on kidnapping Nicole and seizing the Lafitte dagger for themselves.

I can definitively say, I have not yet read a Karen Witemeyer novel I have not loved (– and I have read all of them). She always manages to create, time and time again, captivating storylines, filled with fast-paced action and heart-melting romance set against intriguing history. Always a pleasure. Needless to say, Full Steam Ahead is another exceptional Witemeyer read, and I absolutely loved every bit of it. The brilliantly quirky hero, Darius Thornton, and the clever and capable heroine, Nicole Renard, run the show beautifully. With their witty dialogue and outrageously fantastic antics, I could not help but root for these two as they navigated the difficulties of a haunting past and an inescapable future. Their story is all-around sweet and fun and exciting. It is definitely an entertaining read for fans of historical romance, and I highly recommend it. I cannot wait to read more from Karen Witemeyer!

Thanks to Bethany House, I received a free copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review.