‘Forget Me Not’ by Vicki Hinze – Book Review

Although Vicki Hinze has written many books in his career, ‘Forget Me Not’ is the first book of hers I have had the pleasure of reading.  And it was indeed a pleasure!  This is her first book with a Christian theme.

Here is a brief biography of this author from the back cover of the book:

Vicki Hinze is an award-winning author of twenty-three novels, three non-fiction books, and hundreds of articles.  Selected for Who’s Who in America in 2004 as a writer and educator, Hinze is active in Romance Writers of America and serves as a vice president of the International Thriller Writers Board of Directors.  Vicki lives in Florida with her artist husband, a retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel.

And here is the book trailer for this on-the-edge-of-your-seat book:

‘Forget Me Not’ is the first book in the new ‘Crossroads Crisis Center’ series.  The owner of the center, Benjamin Brandt, is grieving the loss of his beloved wife, Susan and his darling young son, Christopher, who had been murdered three years prior to the events of this novel.  The tragedy has left him broken and questioning the faith which he had held so dearly.        

Into his life comes a mysterious woman who has been on the run for the last several years.  She comes to the Crossroads Crisis Center having been beaten and left for dead; her memory is faltering and she does not known who she is or where she came from.  Interestingly, she bears a striking resemblance to Ben’s wife Susan.  Benjamin, who inherited a large estate from an uncle in England, is an extremely cynical man, as they have been many women over the years who have come to him trying to extort some of his millions.    

Although she doesn’t remember who she is, she is very aware that she is a woman of strong faith in the Lord.  In contrast, Ben has given up on God; he cannot understand why God would let his family be taken from him.

Eventually, the mystery woman’s identity is discovered; her name is Kelly Walker, and she also has inherited a fortune from a deceased relative.  There is an attraction between Ben and Kelly.  However, she won’t consider him as a potential mate until she returns to the Lord.      

Mrs. Hinze wrote a novel that is full of intrigue and suspense.  I am a little out of practice on reading suspense novels, so it took me a while to get the hang of it.  There are quite a few characters in this story, but it is just a matter of paying attention!  Several of the characters are not fully developed, so it was difficult for me to be very interested in them.  However, this was the case with the ‘bad guys’ more than the other characters, so I would not necessarily have been interested in them anyway.    

The second book in the ‘Crossroads Crisis Center’ series will be released in Spring 2011.  The main characters in that novel will be Lisa and Mark, peripheral characters in this novel.  I look forward to the next one by the talented Mrs. Hinze!

You can read the first chapter of this novel here.  You can order a copy of this book here.

This book was provided to me by Waterbrook Multnomah for review purposes.