I won a copy of Sandpiper Affair through the Desert Breeze blog (check it out if you are looking for ebooks at http://desertbreezepublishing.blogspot.com). I wanted to love Sandpiper Affair so I could rave about it for my fellow writer, but alas, a few things got in the way. First, of no fault of Janis Lane's, the book isn't written from a Christian worldview, so from the get go I'm missing one of the main aspects of life that I enjoy exploring in fictional characters — their walks with God. (But, of course, an absent walk with God is real and a good reminder to me, also.)
Second, the book opens with an awkward scene with the heroine crawling on her stomach to take pictures of Sandhill cranes and the hero, park ranger, walking into her camera view up close and personal in a way that seemed impossible unless he purposely flipped his head over to look into her camera. (And if you've read many of my reviews, you know how I am with rocky starts.)
But the writing improved and I didn't have issues following the characters as they fall into attraction, begin to date, find a dead body, survive a burning house, and various other adventures (often dealing with birds and cameras) before the bad guy is disclosed and captured.
I loved the quotes at the beginning of each chapter. All quotes read as from a bird book (exactly what the heroine was working on), and they introduced the content of the coming chapter. For example, "The dove's call is a sweet, low-pitched coo coo. The sound can be heard especially during courtship when the male puffs out his chest feathers and struts in front of the female, both calling repeatedly to each other."
For the purposes of "Seek Truth. Read fiction," I will say that at one point our heroine Abby has returned home for a short visit with her parents and holds a heart-to-heart conversation with her mom about her fear of giving up her identity to be with a man. Her mom responds, "Do you think I have no identity, honey? I doubt your father would agree with you." She paused to think. "I think the answer is that identities are blended, but not lost, when two people become one. Marriage takes two stones and rubs away the rough edges until the two parts fit so closely they appear to be one. We're separate identities still, but we're different people from the two who started out together."
Wisdom, yes?
Now the question remains will Abby believe and seek a life with park ranger Adam? Or will fear continue to drive her decisions? This story is the first in a series.
