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Book Review: Still Life by Dani Pettrey

Hey guys,

I planned to have this review up for you all first thing this morning. Unfortunately, life doesn't always go as we plan, and I ended up spending a couple of hours at the vet with my poor sick kitty. 

Thankfully she appears to be on the mend, and so I'm ready to sit down and share my thoughts with everyone on a book I had the opportunity to read last week, by one of my all time favorite authors, Dani Pettrey.




Source: Publisher Via Netgalley

Publisher: Bethany House

Publication Date: January 31st, 2017

I was provided with a digital advanced reader's copy of this novel by the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are one hundred percent my own.


Synopsis:

Work hits too close to home for crime scene photographer Avery Tate when her best friend disappears. The only lead is a chilling photo of her--apparently dead. As Avery, her boss Parker, and her friends dig into the case, she's forced to confront her feelings for Parker when they come face-to-face with a dangerous criminal.

My Review:

Still Life is the second book in Dani Pettrey's Chesapeake Valor series. I had really enjoyed the first book in the series, as well as her previous series, Alaskan Courage, and so I was really excited to finally get a chance and sit down and read this one. Dani Pettrey writes inspirational suspense novels, and they're not the kind of books I would ever recommend wanting to read right before you go to bed. While I don't tend to read a lot of these type of books overall, there's just something about Dani's writing that has me coming back again and again for more.

Still Life mainly revolves around Avery Tate, a character who made appearances in the first novel, Cold Shot. Avery has been invited by her friend Skylar, to an art show opening, where Skylar has served as the model for one of the exhibit's photographs. However, Avery's suspicions are on instant alert when Skylar fails to show up for her big break, and the chilling photograph she appears in, is both the only clue to her disappearance, and not the original photo that was supposed to be showing at the gallery.

Avery's quest to find her friend, and bring justice where it's deserved will have her falling back in with the familiar crowd from the first novel. Parker, who Avery may finally have to deal with her feelings for, as the two of them work together to solve her best friend's disappearance. Griffin and Declan; who are both called in to help on the case, and of course, appearances from Kate, Tanner, and Finley, who are all desperate to help their friend in any way possible.

One of my favorite things about picking up a Dani Pettrey novel is how her character's always come to feel like old friends, and that was definitely the case here. The mystery had me on the edge of my seat the entire time, and the writing was spot on, and had me not wanting to put the book down. However, it's the characters that truly made this a remarkable read for me; as they've all been dealt some pretty horrific life circumstances, and it's refreshing to read how determined they are to put their faith first in every decision, and to rely on God's wisdom and guidance to help them solve their cases, and bring justice to light.

This was a remarkable novel that kept me on the edge of my seat, and had me second guessing everything right from the start. However, I ended up rating this novel four out of five stars, instead of five stars like I'd been expecting. And this was mainly due to the fact that this is honestly a lot darker of a novel than I'd been anticipating. Now, I've read all of Dani Pettrey's other novels, and I've definitely come to expect them to be intense, nail biting, don't read them before bed type of novels, but this one goes further than any of her other novels, and dealt with some aspects of criminals that weren't quite something I'd been expecting to read. It was definitely still an amazing book, and I will for sure be recommending it to my friends to pick up. I simply want to forewarn anyone that doesn't deal so well with graphic content, that this novel might not be one you want to pick up.

Overall, I enjoyed getting to read more about the characters that have come to feel like family to me, and I will be sitting here eagerly anticipating the release of Blind Spot, the third novel in the Chesapeake Valor series, as I'm desperately hoping there will be more on solving the mysteries surrounding Luke and Jenna!

I thank Bethany House for the opportunity to have read this, and I thank all of you guys for reading today's review.


Have a great weekend, and I'll see you all again on Monday.


The photo does not belong to me, and all rights to the respective owner. 

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