Because of a past bad relationship, Sarah is wary of all men with Indian ancestry. But when she meets Daniel Broadfoot she is unaccountably drawn to him. His gentle yet powerful presence gives her a sense of peace, though he stirs her like no other has ever done. However, the secret he is keeping from her may just drive them apart.
Daniel Broadfoot is undercover in order to protect Sarah from the person that murdered her parents and his sister. He never expected to get emotionally involved. And he never thought keeping the truth from her would be so hard.
Will Sarah learn to trust Daniel enough to place her life in his hands? But, more importantly, will she learn to trust God in all things, no matter how difficult they seem?
Will Daniel learn to let go of the past and reach toward the future? And will the secrets he’s kept from Sarah destroy their blossoming love entirely?
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My Review:
Starflower was not what I expected it would be. Many authors have contacted me asking me to review their book for them. Most of those books were worth only three stars. I equate three stars with average—a nice book, but not to be read again. Starflower is worth more than that because of the sheer intelligence and depth it possesses.
The author chose a unique way of writing the story. She used omniscient point of view, switching between the thoughts of one character to another often within the same paragraph or scene. Though this way of writing could be confusing, the author handled it adeptly and I never found myself confused. Also, by doing this, it gave her more of a handle on developing the characters. By the first third of the novel I knew that Sarah was compassionate, godly, and yet still vulnerable from painful past circumstances both of her doing and out of her control. Also, I immensely enjoyed getting to know Daniel Broadfoot. He was introduced in such a way that made me begging to know more. He was strong, courageous, and revealed himself to be a man of God especially when the circumstances put him to the test. I was also pleasantly surprised about how well the minor characters were developed because of the way the book was written. I got to know Sarah’s grandfather and Daniel’s mother very well.
More than anything, I enjoyed the scripture that saturated this book. In almost every circumstance, the characters turned to God and His Word for help. Starflower was written with great sensitivity toward the Holy Spirit and things of God. I felt myself inwardly praising the author because rarely do I find a book that speaks of what I read in this novel—even in Christian novels. Also, God was mentioned so often I felt as though He had as much say in the book as Sarah or Daniel. Almost never have I found that in the Christian romance novels of today. Spiritually, Starflower had a lot of depth.
I mentioned earlier the intelligence with which Starflower was written. It is a murder mystery/Christian romance. Both the romance and the mystery balanced each other fully, neither one drowning the other out. It takes skill to do that. Also, it made me think, trying to guess who the villain could be.
I found the Indian culture and heritage very interesting. Some of the bizarre customs and stories were new to me, but gave me understanding of why some of the characters in the book acted as they acted.
The only thing wrong I found with this book was the editing. I did not find much wrong having to do with punctuation. But I felt as though some sentences could be more clearly or succinctly stated. There was a time or two I could not quite figure out what a character was saying because the words seemed a bit jumbled together. I thought perhaps it could have been polished a bit more. But other than that, Starflower is one of the best books I’ve read in a long while. I definitely will want to read more by June Caedmon!
I give Starflower 4 out of 5 stars.
*I received a complimentary copy of this book from the author.