A Harmony for Steve: Song of Suspense Book 4
By Hallee Bridgeman
Genre: Christian Romance/suspense
Synopsis
Christian contemporary singing sensation, daughter of Christian radio and media family counselor icons, HARMONY HARPER, has spent her entire life serving God. From teen sensation to celebrated adult Christian contemporary music artist, she regularly plays sold-out concerts everywhere she goes. Nearing thirty, and nearing burnout, Harmony heads to her mountain cabin hideaway to commune with Christ and compose some new music.
Hard rocker STEVE SLAYER faces an ultimatum: keep rocking life the hard way and watch his organs fail due to addictions, or, sober up – for real this time – and live. Hiding out in the mountains of Oregon, he spends weeks detoxing. Finally strong enough to venture into town, he comes face to face with Harmony. Over the next several weeks, the two become unlikely friends as Steve learns to love and trust God, and mutual attraction surprises them both.
Once news of their budding romance reaches the world, no one is happy. Not her people – not his people. Then letters written in blood start arriving. An attack on a concert threatens more than just their lives. Harmony and Steve realize the threats might just be real.
Can Harmony and Steve discover who wants to destroy them, or will the enemy bring their house down in a dissonance that strikes at their very souls?
My thoughts
This story was interesting to read to say the least. Not entirely what I expected. As a close-out to the Song of Suspense Series, it was great to see all of the previous characters come together, their story lines crossing over and interweaving. It took me a while to finally buy and read through the whole series last fall, so I’ve tried to post all reviews in order. I appreciated that each story in the series was unique in it’s own way.
The characters
I loved Harmony. I thought she was a great character, well-crafted, well developed, and she stayed true to herself throughout, reacting and interacting exactly as her character traits and deeply-rooted beliefs allowed. I enjoyed her growth, and I enjoyed who she was overall; a very talented singer with a heart overflowing with compassion and love, desiring nothing more than to show the love of Christ to everyone she meets.
I also liked Steve. I enjoyed the process of seeing him clean up his act. Every step of his journey of recovery and spiritual rebirth was believable and every building block of his and Harmony’s relationship, first in friendship and then romantic, was completely believable. I loved how Hallee didn’t create a rushed relationship with this couple and stayed true to each of their character goals. Their goals were not to be with one another, but each character had their own internal goals, which eventually interwove together to create a beautiful relationship.
The story
I enjoyed the story, and have grown used to Hallee’s distinct style of writing romantic stories that span multiple years. Whereas many current contemporary romance authors write stories that span a couple weeks, or maybe several months, and often focus on the beginning of the relationship, Hallee has written multiple stories in which the reader can experience the relationship of the couple from beginning, through marriage and beyond. It’s a unique storytelling choice and I like it.
I didn’t however like the POV hopping from main characters to random characters. I wouldn’t have minded so much, if one of the antagonist characters, Charles, just a teen boy who was caught up in a satanic cult, had had more of an impact in the story overall. There was only 2 POVs in the book overall with him, and honestly, his character did not come full circle. I think if she’d stuck to using the POV of Railroad only, (another main antagonist who is leading the satanic cult seeking to destroy Harmony and Steve) Or if she’d chosen to only use Charles’ POV instead of both Charles and Railroad, the story would have been much more fluid. Instead, we have bits of episodic and unnecessary POV changes.
Recommended?
Absolutely, if you like Christian romance, I highly recommend this book. It’s well-written, with great characters, romantic tension and suspense. I don’t particularly think you’d have to have read the previous books in the series. I think it’s a benefit, but not a requirement, and the story can stand on it’s own well enough to be enjoyed by any reader.
Check out the rest of the book reviews I’ve written for The Song of Suspense Series
