Title: After the Thaw
Author: Therese Heckenkamp
Publisher: Ivory Tower Press
ISBN: 978-0-9968-057-04
“And who you are doesn’t change by what someone thinks or says. Not what your grandfather says, or Max, or me. Or even Ben,” Charlene is told in Terese Heckencamp’s novel, After the Thaw.
~ What ~
Second in the Frozen Footprints series, this three-hundred-sixty-page book targets those who like Christian romantic suspense. Containing slang words, topics of torture, abuse, murder, and death may not be appropriate for immature readers. Acknowledgments and the author’s biography are at the end.
In this current-day story, twenty-three-year-old Charlene Perigard has tried to move on after being kidnapped five years ago. Engaged to the clean-cut, acquiescent Ben, she has rid also herself of her wealthy grandfather’s controlling clutches.
When she promises to give Clay, an ex-con and one of her kidnappers, a letter from his mother, her world is turned upside down when they reconnect. Dealing with harassment, arson, knife curses, and near-death situations, she cannot seem to get past her case of Stockholm syndrome.
As Charlene and Clay dance around restoring their fractured relationship, more than one revengeful person is out to harm them. A prison inmate, a pregnant woman, a collector of knife relics, and Charlene’s grandfather taunt the couple as they struggle to get on with their lives. Being Catholic, the two rely on prayer and rosaries to understand the truth.
~ Why ~
Having not read the first book, I gleaned enough information in this one that it can be read as a stand alone. The plethora of characters flows in and out of the storyline. I like the author’s constant reminders that God is in control of all things.
~ Why Not ~
Those who do not like continuing stories of romance and suspense may not enjoy this one. I had trouble with the jumping around from the past to present and feasibility of various characters and their actions.
~ Who ~
The author of two prior novels, Heckenkamp was born in Australia and lives in Wisconsin with her husband and children.
~ Wish ~
The tale was predictable in both the romance and relationship departments. Some of the issues seemed either stereotypical or inconceivable.
~ Want ~
If you like a romance that focuses on a kidnapping in the past and how it affected two people’s lives, this may be a good series for you, but it was not a favorite of mine.
Thanks to Bookpleasures and the author for furnishing this complimentary book to read and review.
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GRAMMARLY was used to check for errors in this review.
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