The Grace Painter by Mark Romang

Thanks very much to Tribute Books for allowing me to do this review.


My review:

The Grace Painter is about people who change from what the world thought they were to who God intended they become. Matthew London went from a NYPD hostage negotiator to a painter of Renaissance style art.  Annie left behind her childhood's painful memories to stop the same thing from happening to another. Even the bad guys- those nasty Boudreaux brothers- found out that you can run but you cannot hide from God.

This book has mystery, suspense, romance, and faith-based concepts all rolled into one. Each chapter is almost like a vignette of a person and their world and how it intersects with London's, aka, Jon Rafter- and the author creatively brings all that intrigue into the story and makes it fit somehow. If the plot suspense isn't high enough for you, there are bullets flying everywhere, and a monster hurricane stirring up the tension in this story as well. Mr. Romang didn't disappoint in the end, either, tying all these threads up with a big blue bow for the reader.

The Grace Painter was my first Christian mystery, and the first book I have read by Mr. Romang. Not for the last time, I will warrant. His ability to inject human nature and how it reacts to life into his work was true art. Art, like a painting. Pun totally intended.

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Mark Romang's Web Site:
http://www.markromangbooks.com/

Mark Romang's Facebook:
http://facebook.com/mark.romang.18

Mark Romang's Goodreads:
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6606226.Mark_Romang

The Grace Painter's Goodreads:
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16210809-the-grace-painter

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The Grace Painter's blog tour site:
http://thegracepainter.blogspot.com/

The Grace Painter Book Summary:



Sometimes the hardest person to forgive is the one reflecting back at you from inside a mirror. Matthew London can attest to this difficult truth. Ever since the former NYPD hostage negotiator changed his identity and fled New York City for the backwaters of Louisiana, regret has ruled his life.

For eight years London has lived like a hermit in a declining plantation house. Only his talent for painting Renaissance-style murals and paintings keeps the inner-demons from totally destroying him. Each day the disgraced hostage negotiator longs for a chance at redemption, never expecting it to actually happen. But then a down-on-her-luck FBI agent shows up on his doorstep one evening. It turns out Jean-Paul and Sebastian Boudreaux, two local brothers famous for lawlessness have inadvertently kidnapped a little girl.

London is quickly thrust into the starring role of a daring rescue attempt. But before he can rescue the child from the dangerous Boudreaux brothers, he first must find a way to forgive himself for a past misstep, a blunder that forever altered his once promising life. But in the Atchafalaya Basin swampland, nothing is promised. Grace cannot be purchased or earned. It can only be given.

Mark Romang's Bio:

I was born in 1967. Avid reader, suspense novelist, faithful husband, baffled father, factory worker, reformed head-banger, failed musician, contact sports lover, MMA enthusiast, distressed KC sports fan, Lord of the Rings geek, workout fiend, dog owner, nature lover, proud American, disgruntled voter, pistachio addict, caffeine-riddled, screw-up saved by grace, sojourner. This is me in a nutshell.

Price/Format: $0.99 ebook
Pages: 303
Publisher: self-published
Release: November 26, 2012

Kindle buy link ($0.99):
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ADWZ4M4?tag=tributebooks-20

Nook buy link ($0.99):
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-grace-painter-mark-romang/1113848026?ean=2940015785463

Smashwords ($0.99):
http://www.smashwords.com/b/259249