My Soul to Keep by Melanie Wells: a review

This week, the
Christian Fiction Blog Alliance
is introducing
My Soul To Keep
(Multnomah Books - February 5, 2008)
by
Melanie Wells

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

A native of the Texas panhandle and the child of musicians, Melanie Wells attended Southern Methodist University on a music scholarship (she's a fiddle player), and later completed graduate degrees in counseling psychology and Biblical studies at Our Lady of the Lake University and Dallas Theological Seminary.

She has taught at the graduate level at both OLLU and DTS, and has been in private practice as a counselor since 1992. She is the founder and director of LifeWorks counseling associates in Dallas, Texas, a collaborative community of creative therapists.

When the Day of Evil Comes is her first published work of fiction, and the first of a three-book series. The second work, The Soul Hunter was released in May, 2006. Melanie lives and writes in Dallas.

ABOUT THE BOOK:

As nasty as I knew Peter Terry to be, I never expected him to start kidnapping kids. Much less a sweet, funny little boy with nothing to protect him but a few knock-kneed women, two rabbits and a staple gun…

It’s psychology professor Dylan Foster’s favorite day of the academic year…graduation day. And her little friend Christine Zocci’s sixth birthday. But the joyful summer afternoon goes south when a little boy is snatched from a neighborhood park, setting off a chain of events that seen to lead nowhere.

The police are baffled, but Christine’s eerie connection with the kidnapped child sends Dylan on a chilling investigation of her own. Is the pasty, elusive stranger Peter Terry to blame? Exploding light bulbs, the deadly buzz of a Texas rattlesnake, and the vivid, disturbing dreams of a little girl are just pieces of a long trail of tantalizing clues leading Dylan in her dogged search for the truth.

“Like water rising to a boil, My soul To Keep’s suspense sneaks up on you…before you know it, you’re in the thick if a frightening drama…Superbly crafted.”
---ROBERT LIPARULO, author of Deadfall, Germ, and Comes A Horseman

“Written with passion, a good dose of humor and, dare I say it, soul, this novel reminds us that we all, with grace and good fortune, bumble our way toward salvation.”
---K. L. COOK, author of Late Call and The Girl From Charmelle

My thoughts: If you know anything about me and my book reviews you know that I have a really long TBR list. If you did not know that, look at my archives and see it. Anyway, it's long, I just have so many things that are calling my name. Well, I received this book My Soul to Keep and it is book three of a series. I'm one of those people who does not like to read things out of order, so I planned to put this one further down in the pile and maybe read the others first, but then I read a couple reviews on various websites and the blurbs in the front cover and decided to at least read the first chapter and intro. Well, next thing I know I'm starting chapter 6, then chapter 14, then it's the next day I'm halfway through and just have to finish it. So now, being finished with this novel I'm extremely glad that I read it. This book was un-like anything that I have read, it was better than almost any mystery film that I have seen. The main character, Dylan a female psychologist is the most fun-loving hilarious character that has ever existed. She is so real, and just what you need in a character to make you fully enjoy the book. The main point in the book is a kidnapping, but so many other things happen one after the other and you think it's all just ridiculous, but in a not so crazy sense, it is really is not. It makes complete sense. This book brings in a little paranormal with Angels and non-Angels, and it makes me curious about her other books. If you want some mystery, and some realistic faith, and lovable characters in a story, then please read this book! You will chuckle more than giggle, and you might even cry a little, I did.

MJ