Monday, July 29, 2019

No Greater Love by Gina Holder


About the Book



Book: No Greater Love  
Author: Gina Holder  
Genre: Christian Romantic Suspense  
Release date: April 30, 2019  

He said he’d never risk leaving a widow. She said she’d never love a man in uniform.

Paige McDonald collects antique literature and works at the largest bookstore in Portland, Oregon. When her grandfather, a firefighter, was killed, she vowed never to fall in love with a first responder. An old Bible leads to an unexpected discovery and disrupts everything she knows about herself, her family, and God. Her desire to know the truth sends her to the town of Whitman directly into the radar of Patrol Officer Hamilton Bryant. After the loss of his best friend and fellow officer, Hamilton vowed never to marry. He won’t risk leaving a widow. Instead, he reserves his passion for serving his family and the town he’s sworn to protect. When a series of robberies and threats against the mayor correspond with Paige’s sudden appearance in Whitman, their paths intersect.



Click HERE to purchase your copy.




My Review

So, overall, I felt like this book showed so much potential for a newer author, especially in conveying emotion as well as clearly portraying action in a way that makes the story seem more real. I really related to Paige and her book loving self. I liked how the book came from two sides to those that are first responders and are family members of them, and I felt she made their fears and lives really understandable to someone who hasn't experienced that before. I felt that the plot was steady paced, the suspense was just the right amount, and the multiple storylines converged really well. I felt the characters overall were well developed, but some of the sub-characters seemed a little flat, and felt a little overdone perhaps to fit into a certain mold. Coming from my personal experience, saying simply in regards to family relationships in the book, I had issues with some aspects of the ending of the book that were a let down to me and resulted in a lower rating for me. (Don't want to give away spoilers!!) The book flowed pretty well, but I just felt like information and action seemed a little awkward and the transitions just weren't quite there like I felt they should be. Overall, kudos to the author for giving us a realistic look at a difficult topic for people that live these lives, and making it understandable for the rest of us with a really nice thread of faith throughout. I recommend this one for those looking for some suspense, a nice contemporary romance, or enjoy a nice length contemporary Christian fiction.



I received a complimentary copy of this book, and all opinions given are entirely my own. 




About the Author



Gina Holder completed the Long Ridge Writer’s Group “Breaking into Print” course and graduated from Faith Bible Institute. In August 2017, she published her first novel, Whither Shall I Go. She is active on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Goodreads. Her Website and Blog is found at http://storiesbygina.wordpress.com. She lives in Colorado with her husband and daughter. When she’s not working on her next novel, she enjoys reading, watching movies, singing, and playing the piano and organ.

More from Gina

Fun Facts about No Greater Love (Don’t worry, spoilers weren’t invited to this party.)
  1. I love the smell of coffee, but I don’t like the taste. I asked my coffee-loving friends on social media for their favorite coffee drinks to use in the story.
  2. Tyler, Tony, and Timothy Thorne were modeled after three brothers I saw playing on a beach in Hurgadah, Egypt.
  3. R. Electronics was based on an actual store my husband and I saw in a mall.
  4. When Paige and Hamilton meet, he is looking for a runaway goat. This happened to my husband and me. We were out admiring large mansions, when a police officer pulled up behind us. We thought we were in trouble for loitering. Instead, he asked if we’d seen a goat running around the neighborhood.
  5. Hamilton’s deceased best friend is named after my childhood friend, William Donnelly. Will was a U.S. Marine killed in battle in Afghanistan. Like the character in the story, he got married only two months before his death and was killed on Thanksgiving Day. No Greater Love is dedicated in his memory.
  6. The character Jessie Faye is named after an elderly woman my husband knew while living in Fossil, Oregon.
  7. The diners in the food court scene were written from personal observations at a food court in Colorado Springs.
  8. While Whitman is a fictional town, it is modeled after the real town of Enterprise, Oregon, at the foot of the Wallowa Mountains.
  9. Several locations in the book are real establishments in Enterprise, including Heavenly’s Restaurant, the Espresso and Car Wash, El Bajios, and the Bowlby stone courthouse.
  10. There are several beloved pets in No Greater Love, including a parrot named Gerald, a Persian cat named Delilah, and a labradoodle named Bruce. All the pets have names except for Aunt Hattie’s Dalmatians.
  11. Paige McDonald works at Powell’s City of Books in Portland, Oregon when the story opens. Powell’s lays claim to the status of the “largest independent used and new bookstore in the world.”
  12. Portland is the fifth city in America with the most coffee shops per capita.
  13. The statistics for the Whitman school—100% graduation rate and a 1:13 student-teacher ratio is not fictional. They are the actual statistics of the Enterprise High School.
  14. Behind the cash registers at Powell’s, there is a fake dictionary definition—“Smell bound: held as if under the spell by the scent of books.” This is the inspiration behind the opening scene of No Greater Love. The word, Bibliosmia, means the smell of old books.



Blog Stops



Giveaway


To celebrate her tour, Gina is giving away a grand prize of a signed paperback copy of No Greater Love and Whither Shall I Go plus a $50 Amazon gift card!!
Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter. https://promosimple.com/ps/e54f/no-greater-love-celebration-tour-giveaway

8 comments:

  1. Thank you for your honest review! I have this one on my want-to-read list, partly because I live on the Oregon coast and Portland is less than a two hour drive away, and I love suspense with a dash of romance. Stories set in my state are always fun to read, it's like traveling to places I know without leaving my house 😊

    Thanks for participating in the blog tour and spotlighting Gina's book! I've enjoyed following along and reading each person's perspective on "No Greater Love".

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    1. Thanks for reading! I agree about reading books set close to where you live, that's always fun!

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  2. Thank you for you honest review and being part of the tour.

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  3. Intriguing cover, thanks for the chance!

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  4. Thanks so much for both the book description and giveaway as well. I enjoy hearing about another good book.

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