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‘AVENGED,’ by Janice Cantore


‘AVENGED,’ by Janice Cantore. Reviewing the 2013 romantic suspense novel from Tyndale. All text © Rissi JC / RissiWrites.com

STORY: Carly Edwards believes that, by God’s grace, she has come through her most challenging season and is better off for them. After a year of separation, she and husband Nick finally reconcile and renew their commitment to one another, this time as Christians. Nick also lands a great promotion within the Las Playas PD, heading up the gang taskforce. Carly herself struggles over what comes next in her ten-year career; she always thought she’d be happy to stay on patrol forever. Her partner considers going for a detective’s position and Carly receives an offer for an FBI taskforce. Before she can make a decisions, Carly must deal with dangerous new threats.


Avenged, by Janice Cantore | Book Review


REVIEW: In reading this series, I continue to find myself more disappointed than pleased by Cantore’s writing. The stories isn’t bad in its authenticity, particularly so given that the author is a veteran police officer, it’s the characters that I’ve find most fault with. Given that I’m a character reader (I like to like the characters), it’s not an easy thing to push through a book when they’re less than morally inspiring. Most of the supporting characters are likable, but it’s the busyness of the story, how the characters fold in, that is often confusing.

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‘AVENGED,’ by Janice Cantore. #FWarchives #BookReview #RomanticSuspense Share on X

Each book expands and builds off one another, meaning that each one carries over from the prior cases which makes it easier to see the “bigger picture” if we read them in order. What the writing does is overlap villain characters and too many characters that I regretfully have to say, clutter up what could have otherwise been a decent mystery. With barely fifty pages left, Cantore also switches from referring to a character by his first name to his last. The fact that Carly is again at risk of losing her job is a bit annoying, too. Another minor complaint I have is Nick’s reaction to Carly supposedly holding something back from Nick. It seems like overkill considering that Carly didn’t hold anything back from him; she merely used discretion in waiting to tell him until they were face-to-face.

Minor as these complaints may be, they do keep me from enjoying this book like I otherwise might have. If you’ve been a fan of Cantore’s prior novels or this genre, you’ll likely find Avenged an entertaining way to spend a few nights. 

About the Book:

Author: Janice Cantore
Publisher: Tyndale
Publication Date: 2013
Genre: Christian Fiction, Suspense
Shop the Book: Bookshop.org | Goodreads
Rating: 3 out of 5

With thanks to the publisher, Tyndale for providing a complimentary copy of this book for reviewing purposes

About Rissi JC

amateur graphic designer. confirmed bookaholic. bubbl’r enthusiast. critical thinker. miswesterner. social media coordinator. writer.

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6 Comments

  1. Wow! You read that fast! My copy came in last night. I'm still working on getting a copy of the first two books so that I can read them in order, haha!

    1. I wish I read this that fast, Kellie! Seriously, I am reading at the pace of a turtle nowadays. It's so frustrating! :D Actually, I got this one earlier last week and have been reading it ever since. It's a fairly quick read though.

      Cannot wait to get your take on this book – and hope you'll be able to find the first two books. (You'd be welcome to borrow mine if you are having trouble finding them.)

  2. I haven't been tempted to start this series yet. For whatever reason. I do enjoy some suspense, so it's not that. Too bad it wasn't up to snuff for you Rissi! It's always disappointing when a book turns out that way. :/

    1. I cannot quite put my finger on why this isn't a favorite series… it just isn't. After you've read Irene Hannon, Dee Henderson, Lynette Eason and Dani Pettrey, I may be a bit biased. :)

      Hope you enjoy if/when you read them, Kara. :)

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