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At Love's Command (Hanger's Horsemen, #1)
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Have you ever read a book by Karen Witemeyer? If not, you are missing out on some of the best fiction books out there. At Love’s Command is the first book in a new 3 (or 4) book series and wowzah what a fun start to the series it book was. Even if you do not like westerns, I can guarantee that you will like this one. Karen Witmeyer has a similar writing style to that of Mary Connealy, and Ronie Kendig.

I think I smiled within the first few pages of At Love’s Command as Karen Witemeyer brought forth her character's fun wit and charm. I loved their believable personalities and their willingness to be strong in their beliefs. Matthew is now one of my favorite male characters ever. He showed humility, leadership, love, and most of all a deep trust in turning to God with any problem that came his way. Dr. Josephine was also a most likable character, I loved her “10-dollar words”, and the verbal sparring she sis with Matthew and others from The Horsemen gang. She was also a strong independent woman, but she was humble and showed wisdom when she knew others had better knowledge of the situation than she did. I will say it again, I LOVED this combination of characters.

The storyline pulled me in right from the very beginning, as I said, I was smiling from some of the interactions within the first few pages. It was so believable, combined with the bits of history thrown in, interwoven with some good action, and the theme of turning to God in every situation made this book so enjoyable for me. I will definitely be reading the rest of the books in this series. <br/>I give this book 5 out of 5 stars for the great characters, the intriguing storyline (that I am so looking forward to reading more of), and for the characters continually pointing back to God as their source of strength and wisdom. I HIGHLY recommend this book.

*I volunteered to read this book in return for my honest feedback. The thoughts and opinions expressed within are my own.

https://travelingwife4life.wordpress.com/2020/06/26/at-loves-command-bethany-house
  
Operation: Hail Storm
Operation: Hail Storm
Brett Arquette | 2016 | Science Fiction/Fantasy
6
4.7 (3 Ratings)
Book Rating
Killing the Terrorists
I received this eBook for free from the author in exchange for an honest review.

In the near distant future, terrorism is still a major problem throughout the world. Other things may have changed, such as a female president of the United States and cheaper method of producing energy, however, the world is still under threat, particularly from North Korea. After losing his wife and twin daughters in the biggest terrorist attack the world has seen, Physics Nobel Prize winner, Marshall Hail, an industrial billionaire, decides to take matters into his own hands.

Operation: Hail Storm is a work of science fiction, although, as the main character points out, he and his team only work with science and not fiction. With a selection of friends from his MIT days, and a pick of young gamers whose families had been killed in the terrorist attacks, aim to remove everyone listed on the FBI’s top ten terrorist list. After his drones successfully take out the leader of North Korea, Hail finds himself of interest to the CIA and US president.

Hail hopes the CIA would be pleased with him and supply a list and location of the remaining terrorists. Although they are impressed, the CIA is baffled over how Hail managed to assassinate someone in an extremely guarded country. To prove himself, Hail is given the task of blowing up a missile that is heading to North Korea with the potential to destroy half the world. He may do this however he wishes, however, he must have one member of the CIA with him. Enter Kara.

Kara, who is effectively the CIA’s courtesan, tries to use her skills to find out Hail’s secrets and report back to her boss. Naturally, Hail and his team are one step ahead and are monitoring all her phone calls. With a complicated relationship where both parties are pretending to trust each other, they must come together to successfully complete the mission before the CIA put their disastrous backup plan into place.

Although there are a handful of women in high positions, Operation: Hail Storm is more appropriate for the male population. With complicated mathematics and science, the story becomes similar to spy action novels, complete with an attractive woman: Kara. Physical description is reserved for Kara’s character, whose beauty is used to distract men, particularly villains.

Description is something the author, Brett Arquette, struggles with throughout the book. His choice of similes are questionable and may even upset some readers, for example, “It was like a blob of clay the size of a softball that had been worked by an angry mental patient wearing oven gloves.”

As well as scientific jargon, a number of foreign languages enter the narrative. Unfortunately, although it is possible to get the gist of what is being said, the actual phrases are never translated.

Operation: Hail Storm is a cleverly thought out novel with an impressive knowledge of science, drones and explosive devices. Whether these are wholly accurate is undetermined, however, there do not appear to be any discrepancies during throughout the narrative. As for the storyline, it is nothing spectacular or refreshing, instead, it is a typical male-oriented piece of sci-fi with a lot of blowing things up.
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Operation: Hail Storm
Operation: Hail Storm
Brett Arquette | 2016 | Science Fiction/Fantasy
6
4.7 (3 Ratings)
Book Rating
<i>I received this eBook for free from the author in exchange for an honest review.</i>

In the near distant future, terrorism is still a major problem throughout the world. Other things may have changed, such as a female president of the United States and cheaper method of producing energy, however, the world is still under threat, particularly from North Korea. After losing his wife and twin daughters in the biggest terrorist attack the world has seen, Physics Nobel Prize winner, Marshall Hail, an industrial billionaire, decides to take matters into his own hands.

<i>Operation: Hail Storm </i>is a work of science fiction, although, as the main character points out, he and his team only work with science and not fiction. With a selection of friends from his MIT days, and a pick of young gamers whose families had been killed in the terrorist attacks, aim to remove everyone listed on the FBI’s top ten terrorist list. After his drones successfully take out the leader of North Korea, Hail finds himself of interest to the CIA and US president.

Hail hopes the CIA would be pleased with him and supply a list and location of the remaining terrorists. Although they are impressed, the CIA is baffled over how Hail managed to assassinate someone in an extremely guarded country. To prove himself, Hail is given the task of blowing up a missile that is heading to North Korea with the potential to destroy half the world. He may do this however he wishes, however, he must have one member of the CIA with him. Enter Kara.
Kara, who is effectively the CIA’s courtesan, tries to use her skills to find out Hail’s secrets and report back to her boss. Naturally, Hail and his team are one step ahead and are monitoring all her phone calls. With a complicated relationship where both parties are pretending to trust each other, they must come together to successfully complete the mission before the CIA put their disastrous backup plan into place.

Although there are a handful of women in high positions, Operation: Hail Storm is more appropriate for the male population. With complicated mathematics and science, the story becomes similar to spy action novels, complete with an attractive woman: Kara. Physical description is reserved for Kara’s character, whose beauty is used to distract men, particularly villains.

Description is something the author, Brett Arquette, struggles with throughout the book. His choice of similes are questionable and may even upset some readers, for example, “It was like a blob of clay the size of a softball that had been worked by an angry mental patient wearing oven gloves.”

As well as scientific jargon, a number of foreign languages enter the narrative. Unfortunately, although it is possible to get the gist of what is being said, the actual phrases are never translated.

<i>Operation: Hail Storm</i> is a cleverly thought out novel with an impressive knowledge of science, drones and explosive devices. Whether these are wholly accurate is undetermined, however, there do not appear to be any discrepancies during throughout the narrative. As for the storyline, it is nothing spectacular or refreshing, instead, it is a typical male-oriented piece of sci-fi with a lot of blowing things up.
  
Oblivion (2013)
Oblivion (2013)
2013 | Action, Sci-Fi
60 years removed from a devastating alien attack, upon the earth a technician named Jack (Tom Cruise), tools away protecting machinery that is essential to the survival of the human race. With only his companion Victoria (Andrea Riseborough), for company the duo form an effective team according to the company.
In the new film “Oblivion”, it is learned that while humanity won the war, the aftermath was left the earth largely uninhabitable. As a result, the survivors have fled to the moon of Titan or are awaiting transit aboard gigantic space station Earth orbit.
Jack and Victoria watch over gigantic extractors that process seawater for much-needed resources for the fusion reactors of humanity. Their only link to the outside world is through communication with the orbiting space station and they efficiently set about their task of repairing guard drones and monitoring water processors from any threats.
With only two weeks to go before they can join the others on Titan Jack is troubled by images of a woman and another life. He dismisses this at first due to the fact that both he and Victoria had memory wipes in order to provide security for their assignment.
After following Jack through his various patrols he discovers the remaining pocket of alien resistance has managed to bring down and orbiting spacecraft filled with passengers in cryogenic suspension. Despite company orders Jack decides to intervene and manages to save one of the passengers from destruction by security drone. He is shocked to discover that the woman is the same one that he’s been dreaming about and is even further confused by the fact that she seems to know him.
This discovery does not sit well with Victoria and is not going to sit well with the company but despite this, Jack agrees to go with the survivor in order to retrieve a flight recorder from her downed ship.
This is where things really get twisted as Jack becomes a captive of the alien menace and learns that they are not what he had been led to believe. Their mysterious leader (Morgan Freeman), proceeds to tell Jack that the life he has known it is a lie and proceeds to tell Jack of his plan to bring down the orbiting space station.
What follows is a very twisting and at times action-packed story that is awash in visual splendor. Not only is “Oblivion” filled with incredible imagery but it is also a intriguing and at times thought-provoking story that proves you can do action driven science fiction and still have interesting characters with complexity and a branching story.
Cruise is very good in the role of Jack and he deftly combines the humanity and sense of wonder of this character very well with the action scenes. Jack is not just a man of action he is a deeper and more complicated individual that appreciates the way the world used to be and things such as music and nature as well as possessing a fierce sense of duty.
While the ending may have been a bit too Hollywood for my liking and I was able to figure out the plot twists ahead of time, the journey was still a very enjoyable one at one that I would suggest taking for yourself.

http://sknr.net/2013/04/19/oblivion/