Being a proud original member of Violet Dawn so I could read the story and audition for Pastor Hank Detcher, one of the side characters in the book. I read the book several months ago, but I wanted to wait for the blog tour to talk about it in depth.

“Paige Williams harbored a restless kinship with the living dead.”

With that line, the adventure in Kanner Lake begins. I remember Brandilyn sharing that line on her blog one day, and I thought “What on earth could she be planning?”

Never doubt the possibilities when it comes to a Brandilyn Collins book.

Hot tubs are supposed to be sanctuary from the weariness of the world. As Paige slips into her rental’s hot tub in the middle of the night, all she is thinking about is getting some rest. But as tendrils of hair wrap around her, she leaps out of the tub, since she is sharing it with a dead body.

The book takes place over the next 14 hours, as Paige frantically tries to deal with her situation. She is concerned with survival. The real murderer is concerned with death. Sheriff Vince Edwards works on finding the truth in the midst of his own trials. Leslie Brymes, young hot shot reporter for the local paper is looking for the big scoop to advance her career.

Brandilyn’s tagline is “Don’t forget to b r e a t h e…” and this book doesn’t disappoint. The opening chapter grabs you, and the final chapter ties the opening round of the Kanner Lake series with a satisfying close – see if you can find the significance of the final words. The suspense keeps you turning the pages, wanting to see what happened next. I remember reading outside of my work on nice spring days, cursing that lunch was over so that I couldn’t keep reading.

Besides the twists and turns of suspense that keeps you guessing, the characterization mostly puts you in the place of Paige, Leslie, and Bailey nicely. I felt that Sheriff Edwards major character point was forced in the midst of the action. Otherwise, the characters have good motivation by what they do, and it spills over into the side details about them. Leslie Brymes “in-your-face” nature is shown not only by her determination to get the story, but her bright green VW bug with a pink daisy on it!

Overall Violet Dawn is a wonderful book. It is a good read with interesting pacing and plot, and you have to read it to see fully what I’m saying. So check it out, and tell Brandilyn that Pastor Hank sent you 😉

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I mentioned a couple weeks ago that I was going to do a little series out of Francis Schaeffer’s book Art and the Bible. The various blog tours I’m involved in changed schedules up some, and it threw me off. Next week I plan on starting this. And I have a little something for those who read this series. Leave a comment anytime throughout the Art and the Bible discussion, and I’ll send you a free book! More details coming…