Not This Time by Vicki Hinze

It seems like it has been forever since I had time to read. I know that there is time, if I am willing to make it. Although, we went through a stretch where I'm not sure I could have kept my eyes open to read if I had wanted to. In fact, the one book that I just finished reading, I had started several months ago but didn't get around to finishing.

The book was Not This Time by Vicki Hinze. The challenge - I just couldn't seem to get focused on the book. I would read a few pages at swimming lessons, but just wasn't caught up in the book. Despite my slow start, I am so glad that I didn't give up on the book. It turned out to be an amazing, page-turner that I couldn't put down. There were a few nights where I stayed up later than I should have once I got into the book, but I simply had to know what happened next and would have stayed up longer, if I hadn't considered when I would have to get up the next morning.

I think that part of the challenge to get started was that I was trying to read it in short snippets at the natatorium, while I my daughter called out "Mommy, watch this" (her teacher has to love her need to call out to me the whole class). I think the other part was that it took me a while to identify with the characters, to get to know them. Turns out that this book was the third in a series, so whereas it is a great stand alone read, there likely was some expectation that you could jump into the story - when it picked up at some point after the last one left off.

It actually wasn't until I got to the end that I actually realized that there had been two other books in the series. I probably should have realized it sooner - the other two books are called out on the cover, I just didn't realize that they were from the same series, I figured that they were just two other well known books by the author. Lately, I seem to have a knack for picking up a later book in a series. In many instances, it has not been an issue. Once I knew the characters, I was happy to go back and read the earlier books in the series. Unfortunately, I'm not sure that this is the case with Not This Time. You see, it is a suspense series, and there were several references back to the events of those earlier stories. I would love to go back and learn a little more about the characters and how they were shaped, but I already know how it ends. Is a suspense story any good if you know, at least to some degree, how it turns out because you know where things wound up later (ie in the last book). The good news for me is that Vicki Hinze has written several other books and has a few upcoming books - so there are still many options for me to read more books by her.

Not This Time is the third book (as I mentioned) in the Crossroads Crisis Center series. The story is focused around Sara and Beth. Together they have built a strong business and friendship. When Sara gets married to a man that Beth can't trust, their otherwise strong friendship is challenged. Sara pushes Beth away, sharing cryptic information like protect yourself from me. When he is kidnapped, Beth becomes a suspect in his disappearance. The story follows their journey to find Sara's husband. Along the way, Beth is falling in love - it is always a nice touch when you can weave in a bit of a love story. It soon becomes obvious that there are 'villains' amongst them, making them unsure of who they can trust and who they can't.

I would recommend this book. You may want to consider starting at the beginning of the series, but even if you don't it is a fully contained story that is well worth the read.

No compensation was received for this post. A copy of the book was provided through Blogging for Books. All opinions expressed are my own or that of my family.
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