Wow. This was a really good one to sink your teeth into. We have Kinsey showing why she is really a good investigator and her also having to deal with changes to her professional life. I thought the writing was great as well as the flow of the book. The ending comes with a very nice gut punch too. What is great though is that some of these characters pop up in a later book. 

In "J is for Judgment" Kinsey is asked to investigate if Wendell Jaffe is still alive. This is an issue because years ago, Wendell Jaffe disappeared, believed to die at sea. Too bad this happened before he disappeared after taking a lot of investors money with him. Kinsey works for an insurance company which is asking her to go where Jaffe is presumed to be hiding out (in Mexico) and get evidence he is still alive. 

Kinsey ends up becoming wrapped in the lives of Jaffe's family (two sons and a wife) who struggled to go on after he was presumed dead. Now collecting the insurance money should help their lives out. And one of Jaffe's sons has a problem that really is going to need a lot of money to deal with.

Kinsey feels a lot more freer to me in this one. We get to see how she was able to track down Jaffe and how she went about tying all of the pieces together once she returns back to Santa Theresa. We still get updates on characters like Henry and Rosie. We also get a really good look at Kinsey's history. We know her Aunt Gin raised her, but now we get even more details that leads to more questions about her past for Kinsey. 

I loved the writing and flow. Sometimes the flow can get dragged down when Grafton tried to juggle too many things, but this one was really well done.

I always love these books for being set pre-cell phone and computer age era (the 1980s). We see Kinsey using her brain a lot and her piecing things together with her notecards (or her deduction cards).

The ending was a surprise. We are led to one mystery with Kinsey giving us readers a partial answer. I am so sad we will never get to see Z is for Zero. But it's fun re-reading this series. 

“Stop telling people they need Jesus, and instead show them they matter. Stop using fear or scare tactics and start loving. Stop talking and start showing. When the people God brings into your life begin to experience a truly giving, sacrificial, unconditional, authentic, and vulnerable love from you, it will have an impact.”

Not your typical Christian nonfiction book, “Marked by Love” truly stands out in the genre. I went into this expecting to glean information about how Jesus expressed His love for us and how we, in turn, are to demonstrate that love to others, but wow, this turned out to be so much more! Many of the points that Tim Stevens articulates are anticipated, and yet he takes them further and stretches them in a way that is honest and raw and, yes, sometimes uncomfortable. An apt description for this book would be eyebrow-raising. Stevens explains that we should move past using the title of “Christians” because it has taken on such a negative connotation over the centuries and is more often than not offensive and use instead a term such as “Christ follower.” At first I was taken aback at this; however, as with so much of this book, I found that when I put aside my initial reaction and considered what Stevens was saying, I understood his point.

The best aspect of “Marked by Love” was that it was thought-provoking. It was an immersive reading experience; it didn’t just reinforce my theological views and ideas but rather challenged me to look outside the box and consider aspects of my faith and life in general in ways I hadn’t before. Stevens doesn’t purport to have all the answers, and although I didn’t always completely agree with him 100%, he expressed and explained his views logically, reaching out to the reader and drawing them in instead of just preaching to them. Many of the Scriptures used throughout the book were taken from The Message, a translation which I have not used before and which offered a new perspective on otherwise very familiar passages. Overall, I found “Marked by Love” to be radically countercultural, especially for conservative, traditionalist Christians (I should say Christ followers!), and doesn’t that also describe Jesus’ ministry during His time here on earth? Breaking down barriers and meeting people where they were with compassion, shattering hypocrisy and judgment by extending love and leaving an example for us to follow so that we can choose to be marked by love.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Barbour Publishing and was under no obligation to post a review.

While transporting an esteemed Starfleet scientist to his new posting, the U.S.S. Enterprise encounters a situation seemingly in defiance of the laws of science: an M-class planet orbited by a tiny black hole. As the crew proceeds to investigate the implausibilities of the new planet quickly mount: teleporting down to the planet via transporter is impossible, shuttlecraft no longer function after landing, and phasers can be used to stun the aggressive fauna but will not function when set to kill. Soon the crew of the Enterprise encounter the reason for the mystery — and in the process discover a threat to the existence of the entire Federation.

Regarded today as one of the giants of the genre, Joe Haldeman was just beginning his career as a science fiction author when he was approached by Bantam to write for their series of Star Trek novels in the 1970s. This, the first of two he would write, demonstrates all of his skills as an author: gripping action, interesting scientific ideas, and a plot that engages the reader throughout its length. Like many an episode what starts as a puzzle becomes a problem, then a challenge that threatens like lives of the Enterprise crew. Though Haldeman incorporates a trope from the original series, his employment in it is done in a way that is both fresh and with real consequences for the story. All of this makes for a delightful novel that shows the possibilities inherent in the series in the hands of a true master of the craft.

I saw a lot of this in Black Bolt, and the whole 'see it from someone else's point of view' only plays if you show something new.   This felt word-for-word the same; since the dialogue has to be...

It didn't add enough from Medusa or Black Bolt's point of view for me to appreciate this retelling. 

The emotional content felt flat, but this is after reading the Jenkins/Lee run, Soule's amazing run on a bunch of Inhuman series, and Black Bolt.   Ewing's one-shot just doesn't hold up or do them justice.   I'll be honest: Ewing gets a lot of play and love from the fans, and I'm usually left wondering why this is the case.   

Glad I read it to get the full story, because I'm a completist like that, but this isn't even a favorite Inhumans title.