Romance and suspense...

It was pretty recently that I found out this author of one of my all-time favorite historical ChristFic series, American Anthem, also wrote contemporary ChristFic mysteries earlier in her career. So I decided to check out this first of the Daybreak Mysteries published back in the '80s.

I personally wouldn't call it a mystery, though, as it isn't a puzzle with an unfolding series of clues to follow for solving a case. Because it's actually just a story of encroaching danger rather than a case the characters are trying to solve, and much (maybe most?) of the story is a romance, I'd call it romantic suspense. Granted, I wouldn't be surprised if the ChristFic genre didn't have a romantic suspense category at the time.

The first main thing I noticed are the identical character traits the hero in this story shares with the American Anthem hero, which the author wrote more than fifteen years later. Both men are dark-haired, bearded, blue-eyed musicians/composers who lose their sight in accidents, and both men are the employers of the heroine in each story. Also, the epilogue in this novel is quite similar to American Anthem's epilogue. With such conspicuous similarities, I can't help imagining that the author eventually took a chance to reuse a particular character but to set him in a different period and to improve upon his story the second time.

I don't know if contemporary suspense simply wasn't the right fit for this author, or if this book serves to show that she grew to become a better writer with time. (Many to most writers do.)

The character development and emotional flow are rather awkward in this story. Jennifer's and Daniel's feelings and attitudes are tricky to follow at times, and the development of their romantic relationship isn't the best. Also, Jennifer's concern for Daniel is sometimes so consuming that she seems to have little concern or attention for anyone else, including herself, and she doesn't exercise crucial common sense at a critical point while she's panicking about Daniel.

The story's villain rather comes off as an evil caricature, and the pages of the extended faith lesson are overdone and a little redundant to me. There are also some minor issues like the overuse of italicized words for dramatic emphasis, and the characters saying each other's names over and over in their conversations, especially Jennifer repeating Daniel's name, even when they're the only two people in the room.

Nevertheless, I remained curious enough about how the element of danger in the story would resolve, so I read it through to the end. And because the books in this series aren't that long, I'm curious enough to try at least one more.

Content note: There's a moment of lethal but non-graphic violence against a minor and an animal in the novel. ( )

Mystery along w/romance! Good reading! :) ( )

This was just an all around good story. The book says that the author "weaves spellbinding stories of faith, love and suspense" and this is a very good description of what this story was like. Jennifer Terry accepts a position as executive assistant at a Christian Radio Station. Her employer is Daniel Kaine, who was blinded in a car accident by a drunk driver. Jennifer finds herself really liking her new employer and is astounded by how well he accepts the fact that he is blind. She is struggling with how a sovereign God can let bad things happen to good people. Then there is the person who for some reason is out to do Daniel harm and it all climaxes in a life and death situation.

I really liked the wisdom that came from Daniel as he tried to help Jennifer and one example was "Jennifer, He will never, ever give you less than His best for your life. Even when it involves loss or suffering or a broken heart, He knows exactly what He's doing." Daniel kept a journal of his thoughts as he "bounced back" from the realization that he would never see again. Near the end of the story Jennifer gets a chance to read it and his thoughts in his journal for me was worth the whole story. Of course Daniel's tender feelings for Jennifer throughout the book were also very romantic and sweet. I just closed the book wishing for more and guess what? There are 5 books in the series so I am on to book 2, "The Domino Image"! ( )