Good morning, book nerds!!
Today is my stop along the A Firm Place To Stand blog tour! With its serpentine twists and Scripture-centered messages, this Christian-based thriller caught me completely off guard. Shocked from more than just the plot twists, I’m thankful I gave this new-to-me genre a shot. Scroll down to find out why in my review and make sure you enter for a chance to win YOUR very own signed copy plus a $25 gift card to the Texas-based indie of your choice!
Goodreads/Amazon/Barnes & Noble/Interabang Books <= My local indie!
A Firm Place To Stand by Lori Altebaumer
Title & Author: A Firm Place To Stand by Lori Altebaumer
Genre: Christian Fiction/Romantic Suspense
Release Date: January 25, 2020
Publisher: BookBaby
Series Details: Standalone
Page Count: 321 pages
Opening Lines: “Journalists traveled light — especially the unemployed ones running from a tsunami of poor choices.”
She’s either being stalked or losing her mind.
A job at a camp in the rustic and often rugged landscape of West Texas offers Maribel Montgomery
a chance to escape both, especially if she makes sure no one knows she’s there. But when the body of a woman washes up in the river on her first morning, her hopes of a safe place to start over are swept away.
The suspicion that she’s being watched follows her to her new home, and Maribel is forced to take a stand or keep running. Does she have the courage to face the danger stirring at the Pool of Siloam Camp? If she doesn’t, another girl might die. If she tries and fails, it could be her.
Circumstances force her into the acquaintance of Conner Pierce—a man with secrets of his own. Can Maribel risk working with him in order to save the next victim and find a missing girl? Or is he the killer?
CLICK TO ORDER:
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║Bookshop║Interabang Books║Goodreads║
Thank you so much to LSBBT, the publisher, and the author for providing me with a finished copy in exchange for an honest review.
“A dead woman, a missing girl, and a family secret. All connected by way of the Pool of Siloam Camp.”
Maribel Montgomery can’t afford to be picky. Literally. As a penniless — and recently evicted — former journalist, she feels a job at a summer camp for teenage girls in West Texas is as good a place as any to regroup and rebuild. Haunted by her past sins, Maribel expects her stint at the Pool of Siloam camp to serve as a brief escape from her financial woes until she can save up for her next hideaway. But Maribel will soon discover days in Turnaround, TX are far from the uneventful reprieve she’d envisioned. Faced with a multitude of Faith-forward characters and near-death experiences, Maribel is forced to reexamine her life and her understanding of the world around her.
“Grace and mercy…I don’t think you understand the meaning of the words. If you did, you’d know their power is because no one deserves them. They’re a gift.”
Now obviously I can’t delve too deep into the plot for fear of spoilers, but I can confess that this Christian-based thriller delivered more than the usual twists and turns. In addition to truly shocking reveals, A Firm Place To Stand dishes out a sweet (and at times spicy) romance subplot, tackles several heavy topics from suicide to sexual assault, and provides a thorough examination of the concept of forgiveness. Rooted in Scripture, but conveyed without sounding preachy, this novel’s illustration of Maribel’s journey to forgiveness will stick with me long after this tour has ended. Watching her loosen her protective armor of control and abandon her guilty conscience in favor of hope affected more than just my tear ducts. And while I’d normally base the merit of a “whodunnit” on the who that had done it, it’s this emotional connection to Maribel and her plight to healing that I’ll remember most.
“But God isn’t limited by statistics. He makes the odds, He doesn’t play them.”
Despite some SPAG issues, a handful of confusing similes, and some voice issues amongst alternating POVs, A Firm Place To Stand was an unexpected treat that pulled me in quickly and packed drama through its conclusion. I do believe the story got a little murky in the middle with repetitive passages and some unneeded red herrings, but Altebaumer is ultimately able to deliver a highly relatable message inside a crazy action-filled story. Focusing on “progress not perfection,” this Christian suspense provides a fictionalized path for readers to gain the courage to stand.
Please shoot me a DM or leave me a comment if you’d like the full list of Trigger Warnings.
A life-long Texan,
Lori lives in a small community not far from the rugged West Texas landscape she loves to write about. The mother of now-grown twins, she has learned that the secret to survival is a well-developed sense of humor and an active prayer life. After years spent working in the insurance business, Lori now uses her time to educate, inspire, encourage, and entertain through the written word.
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║Goodreads║Amazon Author Page║BookBub║
THREE Winners!
1st Prize: Signed Copy of A Firm Place To Stand + a $25 Gift Card to the winner’s Texas-based Indie Bookstore of choice
2nd Prize: Signed Copy of A Firm Place To Stand
3rd Prize: eBook of A Firm Place To Stand
April 30, 2020 – May 10, 2020
(US Only)
Enter Here!
VISIT THE OTHER GREAT BLOGS ON THE TOUR:
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4/30/20 |
Notable Quotable |
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4/30/20 |
BONUS post |
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5/1/20 |
Review |
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5/1/20 |
Excerpt 1 |
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5/2/20 |
Review |
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5/3/20 |
Excerpt 2 |
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5/4/20 |
Review |
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5/4/20 |
Review |
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5/5/20 |
Top 5 |
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5/5/20 |
Review |
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5/6/20 |
Review |
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5/7/20 |
Playlist |
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5/7/20 |
Review |
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5/8/20 |
Review |
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5/9/20 |
Review |
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5/9/20 |
Review |
Blog tour services provided by:
nerdnarrationblog.wordpress.com 
It’s great when an author can do all that it sounds like Altebaumer has done in this book — solid messages, relatable characters, and excellent suspense! Thanks for the review!
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