Overall, I liked the series a lot. Blackstock has an engaging writing style with great energy and flow. Her characters were human, relatable, and likeable. Her dialog stayed crisp through the series. Her pacing got a little lax in a few places -- there were a couple spots where I felt like monkey wrenches got thrown into the plot just to make the books longer. However, in the author's note at the end of If I Live, Blackstock said that this series was initially inspired by the classic TV series The Fugitive and the way that Dr. Kimball (David Janssen) would find a modicum of peace and comfortability somewhere doing a job or helping someone, maybe even start to make friends, and then the police or the one-armed man would show up and he'd have to flee again. Once I read that, I was like, "OH! That's what she was going for. Okay." In retrospect, it really did have that feel to it, so if you're a fan of that series (::cough:: Eva ::cough::), you would probably dig the way this is set up.
This book had a lot of nice, believable, non-mushy romance in it to go along with the thrill ride, which was extra fun :-) I also liked how it didn't end with the end of the manhunt for Casey, but went on to show the aftermath of the whole plot, how it affected not only Casey and Dylan, but people in Casey's family, the bad guys' families, and the families of victims too. It didn't wind up too quickly, which some suspence novels do, and I liked that.
I didn't like the amount of decision-based theology that this one had, though. The first two books stayed pretty neutral, theologically, but this one definitely weighed in on the "you have to make a choice/decision to believe in Christ" side in a heavy way.
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As an individual book, I liked If I Live better than If I'm Found, and maybe better than If I Run too, just because it has a very satisfying ending. As a series, these books gave me a good ride. I'm going to see if the library has more of Blackstocks books, as I'd really like to try more of her stories.
Particularly Good Bits
"I'm more myself when I'm with you than I've ever been with anybody else" (p. 226).
If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG-13 for violence and suspenseful situations.
You know, I wasn't really interested in these books, but after reading that it was inspired by The Fugitive, I just might have to give it a try. And what you said about the romance sounds right up my alley! (I enjoy books with well-written romances - just as long as the romance isn't the main focus.)
ReplyDeleteThat photo is so pretty! <3
I love the ending of this one <3 I felt like the romance was just a wee bit faster than I would've liked, but what can I say? I mean, I ship it. XD So....definitely loved this series! <3 So glad you did too!
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