Book Review (and a Giveaway!): Pursued by Linda K. Rodante

Posted March 3, 2018 by meezcarrie in Christian, contemporary, giveaway, Linda K. Rodante, mystery/suspense, romance / 46 Comments


about the book

The man Cristina Torres has fallen in love with kisses her and then disappears for ten years. Now he’s back but with two detectives as shadows, and someone’s trying to kill her.

Should she trust him or run for her life?

Dr. Chase Richards has fled his Christian roots long enough. He’s returning to his hometown in Tennessee to make amends—at what he thinks is God’s direction. But the way is not just hard, it’s almost impossible.

The girl he once loved is now a woman—and she wants nothing to do with him.

In addition, the opioid study he started and left in Virginia has followed him across state lines. The police have warned him that he’s in imminent danger. His well organized life is no longer safe or ordered—and neither is Cristina’s.

Can he discover who’s trying to kill them before she becomes collateral damage?

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SERIES: Dangerous #6
GENRE: Inspirational Romantic Suspense
PUBLISHER: Lone Mesa Publishing
RELEASE DATE: December 14, 2017
PAGES: 244

Other Books In This Series

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“So what if free sometimes felt like lonely…”

Pursued is my first book by Linda Rodante but it won’t be my last! And while it’s the 6th book in her Dangerous series, it can be easily read as a stand alone. Characters from book #4 – Looking for Justice – play a role in Cristina and Chase’s story but, other than feeling like Luke and Alexis had a story of their own somewhere, you don’t ever feel lost or like you’ve missed something important.

Cristina is a strong heroine who does battle in the courts as a children’s advocate lawyer. She’s not easily intimidated but she carries a lingering burden of abandonment by the man she fell in love with at 16. Completely understandable since he kissed her and then pretty much immediately disappeared with no contact for 10 years. If I was Cris’ friend, Chase would be in my purse-whomping sights. Just saying.

Chase is a good guy who made some stupid decisions in his young adulthood (and who hasn’t?) – decisions that cost him a lot of relationships. After dealing with the grief that made him act out and renewing his relationship with God and others he hurt in the grief process, he has one remaining name on his list – Cristina. I love love LOVED his gentle pursuit of her in Pursued. Coincidence? I think not 🙂

The way the author framed the title throughout the story has many great layers. Cris and Chase are not only being pursued by some malicious-minded person (perhaps the same one?), but Chase is intent on pursuing Cristina’s heart once again. In the meantime, God has been unceasingly pursuing Cristina since the day she walked away from Him in anger and disillusionment. He hasn’t given up on her, and neither has Chase. And while the first pursuit clearly means her harm, the wooing from both Chase and God has only the best of intentions for her tender heart. I always love it when a book’s title has more than one meaning to the story, and Rodante nails it in this story!

Bottom Line: A Tennessee mountain setting, tense suspense, sweet romance, diverse & compelling characters. My kind of book. The story is well-paced, and you’ll want to be friends with all the main characters. While some parts of the plot become a bit predictable toward the end, you won’t care because of the smartly-drawn action and character development. It deals with timely real-life issues like opiod/prescription drug addiction from more than one angle. A swoony ending will put a smile on your face, and the message of restoration is clear without being preachy.

(I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book which I received from the author. All views expressed are only my honest opinion.)

My Rating: 4 stars / Love it!

KissingBook Level: 3 / May forget to breathe on occasion

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about the author

Linda was born and raised in Florida. She is married with two grown sons, a daughter-in-law, and three grandchildren. At twenty-six, she discovered the miraculous love of Jesus Christ. God blessed her with a passion for the written word—especially mysteries and romantic suspense novels, from Nancy Drew to Agatha Christie, from Dee Henderson to Kristen Heitzman. She speaks about and works against human trafficking. Visit her blog on this subject: Writing for God, Fighting Human Trafficking.

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Other Books by Linda K. Rodante


I am giving away a Kindle ebook of Pursued to one of my readers! (Open internationally, as long as you can accept an ebook from US Amazon. Void where prohibited by law) This giveaway is subject to Reading Is My SuperPower’s giveaway policies which can be found here. Enter via the Rafflecopter form below.

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What about you? What interests you the most about this book?

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46 responses to “Book Review (and a Giveaway!): Pursued by Linda K. Rodante

  1. Martha T.

    I think that the theme of good boy turns bad and then turns back to God is interesting!

  2. Winnie Thomas

    I enjoy a good romantic suspense book. This one sounds intriguing! Thanks for the review, Carrie!

  3. Marilyn Brown

    It’s been a long time since I’ve read a good Christian mystery/romance. Would love to read it.

  4. Gina Johnson

    The suspense and subject matter knowing people who have had addictions to opioids and how doctors give them for pain management and they hold a person hostage (not me, but a family member).

  5. Janice, it was definitely fun and hard to write at the same time! I moved to Tennessee this year and was writing in between the moving and selling and buying a new house. But when we finally settled in Tennessee the opioid problem was here as well as in Florida where we moved from–as if God just dropped it in my lap (or was pushing me to write about it).

  6. MS Barb

    I am curious to see how the main characters resolve conflict! I’m not good dealing w/ conflict! I want GOD to swoop in & straighten up the people who are trying to “mess up” my life! 🙂 I like my life neat & orderly too–but–sometimes life has a way of upsetting what I perceive as “orderly!” Thanks for a nice Giveaway!

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