Review, Guest Post, and Giveaway: No Greater Love by Gina Holder

About the Book

Book: No Greater Love  
Author: Gina Holder  
Genre: Christian Romantic Suspense  
Release date: April 30, 2019  

He said he’d never risk leaving a widow. She said she’d never love a man in uniform.

Paige McDonald collects antique literature and works at the largest bookstore in Portland, Oregon. When her grandfather, a firefighter, was killed, she vowed never to fall in love with a first responder. An old Bible leads to an unexpected discovery and disrupts everything she knows about herself, her family, and God. Her desire to know the truth sends her to the town of Whitman directly into the radar of Patrol Officer Hamilton Bryant. 

After the loss of his best friend and fellow officer, Hamilton vowed never to marry. He won’t risk leaving a widow. Instead, he reserves his passion for serving his family and the town he’s sworn to protect. When a series of robberies and threats against the mayor correspond with Paige’s sudden appearance in Whitman, their paths intersect.

Click here to purchase your copy.

My Thoughts:

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel by a new to me author. I was not sure what I would be getting myself into, the back cover gives a very brief synopsis, and the story is so much more than that. There is plenty of secrets in this novel and the little town of Whitman is the centerpiece.

Without giving too much away, Paige McDonald finds an old Bible that changes her life forever, here on earth and in eternity, and she decides to uncover these secrets while trying to find her place in a world where everything she believed ends up not being true. I liked Paige. She has spunk and try's very hard to help people and her love of old books and wanting to open her own bookstore was very relatable and admirable. However, she gets stuck in some very bad situations that are no fault of her own and her past seems to want to keep coming back and haunt her. She also does not want to get involved with the very handsome and available police officer Hamilton Bryant.

Hamilton was a good guy and really loved his family and town. He is not too sure about newcomer Paige especially when a lot of crime starts happening the day she arrives into town. Coincidence? What is she hiding and not willing to share? And why is he attracted to this stranger?

This was a very well done small town sweet romance and mystery and it is the first in a series that I plan to continue.

I was provided a copy of this novel by the author. I was not required to post a positive review and all views and opinions are my own.

About the Author

Gina Holder completed the Long Ridge Writer’s Group “Breaking into Print” course and graduated from Faith Bible Institute. In August 2017, she published her first novel, Whither Shall I Go. She is active on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Goodreads. Her Website and Blog is found at http://storiesbygina.wordpress.com. She lives in Colorado with her husband and daughter. When she’s not working on her next novel, she enjoys reading, watching movies, singing, and playing the piano and organ. 

More from Gina

Fun Facts about No Greater Love (Don’t worry, spoilers weren’t invited to this party.)

1. I love the smell of coffee, but I don’t like the taste. I asked my coffee-loving friends on social media for their favorite coffee drinks to use in the story.
2. Tyler, Tony, and Timothy Thorne were modeled after three brothers I saw playing on a beach in Hurgadah, Egypt.
3. R. Electronics was based on an actual store my husband and I saw in a mall.
4. When Paige and Hamilton meet, he is looking for a runaway goat. This happened to my husband and me. We were out admiring large mansions, when a police officer pulled up behind us. We thought we were in trouble for loitering. Instead, he asked if we’d seen a goat running around the neighborhood.
5. Hamilton’s deceased best friend is named after my childhood friend, William Donnelly. Will was a U.S. Marine killed in battle in Afghanistan. Like the character in the story, he got married only two months before his death and was killed on Thanksgiving Day. No Greater Love is dedicated in his memory.
6. The character Jessie Faye is named after an elderly woman my husband knew while living in Fossil, Oregon.
7. The diners in the food court scene were written from personal observations at a food court in Colorado Springs.
8. While Whitman is a fictional town, it is modeled after the real town of Enterprise, Oregon, at the foot of the Wallowa Mountains.
9. Several locations in the book are real establishments in Enterprise, including Heavenly’s Restaurant, the Espresso and Car Wash, El Bajios, and the Bowlby stone courthouse.
10. There are several beloved pets in No Greater Love, including a parrot named Gerald, a Persian cat named Delilah, and a labradoodle named Bruce. All the pets have names except for Aunt Hattie’s Dalmatians.
11. Paige McDonald works at Powell’s City of Books in Portland, Oregon when the story opens. Powell’s lays claim to the status of the “largest independent used and new bookstore in the world.”
12. Portland is the fifth city in America with the most coffee shops per capita.
13. The statistics for the Whitman school—100% graduation rate and a 1:13 student-teacher ratio is not fictional. They are the actual statistics of the Enterprise High School.
14. Behind the cash registers at Powell’s, there is a fake dictionary definition—“Smell bound: held as if under the spell by the scent of books.” This is the inspiration behind the opening scene of No Greater Love. The word, Bibliosmia, means the smell of old books.

Blog Stops

Book Reviews From an Avid Reader, July 16

The Becca Files, July 17

Just Your Average reviews, July 18

For Him and My Family, July 19

A Good Book and Cup of Tea, July 19

The Christian Fiction Girl, July 20

Godly Book Reviews, July 20

Library Lady Kid’s Lit, July 21

Moments, July 22

Books, Life, and Christ, July 22

Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, July 23

Retrospective Spines, July 23

Vicky Sluiter, July 24

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, July 25

Pause for Tales, July 25

Texas Book-aholic, July 26

janicesbookreviews, July 27

Inklings and notions, July 28

Mary Hake, July 28

A Reader’s Brain, July 29

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Gina is giving away a grand prize of a signed paperback copy of No Greater Love and Whither Shall I Go plus a $50 Amazon gift card!!

Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter. https://promosimple.com/ps/e54f/no-greater-love-celebration-tour-giveaway