Book Review: Thicker Than Blood

This is a book review and to keep the federal government pencil pushers happy, I am writing this review of my own free will. I purchased the book with my own money and neither Tyndale nor C. J. Darlington paid me any money for my comments concerning this book. She didn't even buy me a cup of coffee. That being said, I'm going to try to keep to my previous commitment concerning book reviews and keep this review positive. Fortunately, that isn’t impossible with this book.

First, let me say that this book is not what I expected. “Christy Williams never imagined that a stolen Hemingway first edition would leader her back to the sister she left fifteen years ago,” the back of the book says. “But when things begin to unravel, she finds herself on May’s doorstep, fearing for her life. After a bittersweet reunion, will the two discover that some hurts can’t be healed or is there a tie that’s thicker than blood?” After reading that, I expected that the story would begin with Christy out of touch with her family (which it does) and then when she is accused of taking the book she must turn to her sister for help, but before they can resolve that problem they must resolve their own unresolved issues. In other words, I really expected that this would be a book about the sisters’ relationship to each other. This is not the case.

 

Thicker than Blood is about a young woman who has made all the wrong choices, including getting involved with a man named Vince. Christy is has dumped him, but after getting picked up for drunk driving, she calls him to get her out of jail. She insists that this isn’t because she wants to continue the relationship, but Vince isn’t one to let a girl dump him. While in his apartment, Christy discovers that Vince has been stealing books from their mutual employer. Vince persuades her to help him steal even more books, but she backs out. Vince then steals the aforementioned Hemingway and plants a similar copy in Christy’s car. As a result, Christy is terminated from her job. After another fight with Christy, Vince torches her apartment. Having nowhere else to go, Christy goes to stay with her sister on the ranch. But Vince is resourceful and tracks her down, with a gun in his hand.

This book certainly has its moments and I don’t recall finding any section particularly boring. And while there are plenty of examples of things that I would have done differently, I think that fans of this type of fiction will have no trouble enjoying this book.

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