Deep Blue Sea

New England Inspirations, Book 1

By: Valerie Howard

Narrated by: Nikki Zakocs

Length: 4 hrs and 48 mins

Publisher's summary

Who's to blame when tragedy strikes?

Jamie blames herself.

And her secret is killing her.

When someone starts digging into the past, her already-tattered life begins to fall apart at the seams. With her marriage, her job, and her sanity in jeopardy, Jamie is desperate to escape everything that reminds her of that fateful night.

If only the nightmares would stop.

Pastor Byron lost both his wife and teenage son in the same weekend.

One in an accident, the other in an argument.

Determined to win his son back, no matter the cost, Byron strikes out at every turn until he gets injured at work. Forced to visit him in the hospital, his son makes it clear he doesn't appreciate Byron's intrusion into his life.

When Jamie meets Byron, the peace in the old pastor's eyes tells her he might be able to help with her problems. In return, she's determined to help him reconcile with his son.

As the pastor teaches Jamie about God's forgiveness, she must make a choice between seeking forgiveness from her family or keeping her mouth shut forever.

Either way, her life will never be the same.

Fans of Karen Kingsbury will enjoy the realistic characters and faith-driven novels by Valerie Howard.

©2011 Valerie Howard (P)2022 Valerie Howard

Well written, just not my favorite

Howard's skill with a pen is again on display. She always has vivid characters and realistic situations. Perhaps it was my mood, but I found the whole tone of this book to be sad and depressing. It did keep my interest, I wanted to know how things would work out for the characters. I also found the ending redeeming and good. The narrator was skillful and did a good job.

Overall, I would say if you're in the mood for a more serious, realistic story with a good ending, this would be a great choice.

Excellent story!!

It takes a bit to get into these books I'm finding, but we'll worth it! I love that faith is found and that a pastor can admit and see his wrong as well. So many times we hold pastors higher than we should. They're human too!! The narrator is awesome here as well! Full disclosure is I was given a code for these books, but honestly I'm thoroughly enjoying them and can't wait for the rest of the series!

Good Story

Having read other books by the author, and found them to have a good meaning and help to the person she is writing about. Past mistakes, loneliness and a husband doesn’t realize the depth of despair she has fallen into. The narration was good of her emotions. Enjoyed and was given audio for my voluntary review and my voluntary review review

Good Story

I enjoyed listening to this contemporary story. While there was a bit of mystery, most of the focus was on the healing of relationships. This audiobook was easy to listen to and Nikki Zakocs did a good job narrating. I was given a copy of this audiobook by the author. All opinions are my own.

Once again an awesome book

I really enjoyed Deep Blue Sea. The story draws you in from the very beginning. The story line was easy to follow.

Story of forgiveness and reconciliation

DEEP BLUE SEA by Valerie Howard

This book was very well written and the narration was very well done. 4.5*

I have enjoyed all of the books that I have read by Valerie Howard, and this is no exception. This book is about mistakes that were made many years ago, but never revealed. These mistakes effect her in ways that could have grave consequences and affect her in many ways.

I loved the way that the main character was pulled into the gospel, and learned how the Lamb of God was her substitute sacrifice.

I received this audiobook free with no requirement of review. I am reviewing this book of my own accord and am giving my honest opinion.

Good story!

This book was good! The main character’s tension and stress could be felt, and though I wanted to yell at her, I could also sympathize with her and wanted her to succeed. And I couldn’t help wondering if the author was related to a pastor, because she nailed some of the biggest struggles pastors face! (I may have also wanted to yell at the pastor a bit when I saw what he was doing to his family and to himself!)
The narrator also did a good job of telling the story! The only downside was that most of the male characters tended to sound alike, with a sort of scruffy, scratchy voice. (of course, a woman doing a man’s voice is challenging!) The narrator did a great job of bringing the characters to life and letting their emotions coming through the voices.

Sweet

Sweet story of redemption. The reader made the story sound like a book that is read during library time in grade school, and the wrap up have the impression that becoming a believer would make your troubles go away and there would be no consequence paid for one's wrong doings. But the story was sweet and the point to accept Christ was the point.

Enjoyed listening to eh narrator

This book took me a little bit to get into. It did catch my attention after a bit. I will probably listen to another book by this author in the future.

good story

this was a great story with a mystery involved. Jamie had been running from her past until she couldn't anymore. will God forgive her?

The Narrator was very engaging