Friday, July 2, 2010

Refuge on Crescent Hill by Melanie Dobson - REVIEWED

This week, the


Christian Fiction Blog Alliance


is introducing


Refuge on Crescent Hill


Kregel Publications (March 11, 2010)


by


Melanie Dobson






ABOUT THE AUTHOR:





Melanie Dobson is the award-winning author of The Black Cloister; Love Finds You in Liberty, Indiana; and Together for Good.



Prior to launching Dobson Media Group in 1999, Melanie was the corporate publicity manager at Focus on the Family where she was responsible for the publicity of events, products, films, and TV specials. Melanie received her undergraduate degree in journalism from Liberty University and her master's degree in communication from Regent University. She has worked in the fields of publicity and journalism for fifteen years including two years as a publicist for The Family Channel.



Melanie and her husband, Jon, met in Colorado Springs in 1997 at Vanguard Church. Jon works in the field of computer animation. Since they've been married, the Dobsons have relocated numerous times including stints in Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina, Colorado, Berlin, and Southern California. These days they are enjoying their new home in the Pacific Northwest.



Jon and Melanie have adopted their two daughters —Karly (6) and Kinzel (5). When Melanie isn't writing or entertaining their girls, she enjoys exploring ghost towns and dusty back roads, traveling, hiking, line dancing, and reading inspirational fiction.



MY THOUGHTS:

I have finally had a chance to read Refuge on Crescent Hill, and ….wow! What a multi-layered story! Initially, I thought the “mystery” would be kind of obvious, and as far as the physical aspect of it, I was right. However, Melanie Dobson weaves a much more complex story in and around the search for physical wealth, and thus she gives the story a much deeper meaning and adds a greater urgency and element of suspense to the ongoing search for treasure.


Camden Bristow comes to Crescent Hill with little more than a few childhood memories to call her own. The people she encounters once she arrives range from quirky to downright creepy, interesting to intriguing. It seems everyone within the town of Etherton, South Carolina has some kind of expectation or something at stake regarding the old mansion that over-shadows the town. As the story unfolds, the reader begins to understand that the lives of the people inhabiting Etherton have a LOT going on beneath the surface. There are family ties buried beneath all of the conflict that some are anxious to reveal while others will do anything to keep the information hid. Others still, don’t even know about nor can they understand the urgency and greed that is driving people to extreme measures to gain control over Crescent Hill!


Bottom line, this story has a sort of down-home Southern feel to it with an element of suspense thrown in that keeps you moving forward – never certain what will turn up next! Refuge on Crescent Hill will make an excellent Summer read!




ABOUT THE BOOK



THE HOMECOMING WASN’T WHAT SHE EXPECTED…


Jobless, homeless, and broke, Camden Bristow decides to visit the grandmother she hasn’t seen in years. But when Camden arrives in Etherton, Ohio, she discovers that her grandmother has passed away, leaving her the 150-year-old mansion on Crescent Hill. The site of her happiest summers as a child, the run-down mansion is now her only refuge.



When Camden finds evidence that she may not be the mansion’s only occupant, memories of Grandma Rosalie’s bedtime stories about secret passageways and runaway slaves fuel her imagination. What really happened at Crescent Hill? Who can she turn to for answers in this town full of strangers? And what motivates the handsome local Alex Yates to offer his help? As she works to uncover the past and present mysteries harbored in her home, Camdem uncovers deep family secrets within the mansion’s walls that could change her life─and the entire town─forever.



If you would like to read the first chapter of Refuge on Crescent Hill, go HERE.

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