TAKEN By Dee Henderson

An investigator who knows tragic loss firsthand, and his new client, missing far too long...

Abducted at the age of sixteen and coerced into assisting the Jacoby crime family, Shannon Bliss has finally found a way out. She desperately wants to resume some semblance of normal life, but she also knows she has some unfinished business to attend to. She might have enough evidence to put her captors behind bars for a very long time. 

When Shannon contacts private investigator Matthew Dane, a former cop, to help her navigate her reentry into society, he quickly discovers that gaining her freedom doesn't mean her troubles are over. If the Jacoby family learns she is still alive, they'll stop at nothing to silence her. 

If justice is to be done, and if Shannon's life is ever to get on track again, Matthew will need to discover exactly what happened to her--even if it means stirring up a hornet's nest of secrets. 

My Take: 

If your looking for a different spin on a usual Romantic Suspense book look no further than Taken. Taken is a different book because it reveals what happens when someone who's been missing reappears after 11 years, and the process of what they have to go through to get their life back. 

There were several things I liked about this book.

I like that Shannon's faith remain strong despite her ordeal and I really enjoyed the conversations she had with Matthew about faith.

I enjoyed the developing friendship/romance between Matthew and Shannon.
The plotline dealing with bringing Shannon's abductors to justice was interesting.

I like that Shannon was portrayed as a survivor. Impacted by her kidnapping but not crippled by it.

I like that characters from Dee's other books were in this one.

I liked Matthews prayer before one of the meals towards the end of the book it has to be one of my favorite book prayers ever! Lol!

It's a good book but there were a few things that kept me from loving it.

The story is mostly from Matthew's point of view, and we never see/hear the story from Shannon's point of view. When I'm reading a book, especially a romance. I like hearing the female characters thoughts/voice because it helps me to better connect with both characters and the story.

The plotline is more about uncovering past secrets than solving a present problem. I didn't mind too much because the story was interesting anyway but the back of the book portrays that there is action involved.

I wish there would've been a bit more of what was in the diary.

All in all I like this book, it's a little more on the relaxing side but that's nice every once and a while.  If you haven't read any of Dee Hendersons recent books you might be slightly confused at certain parts in this story. 

Favorite Quotes:

"God decided to create a world where free will was more important than no one ever getting hurt. There must be something stunningly beautiful and remarkable about free will that only God can truly grasp, because God hates, literally abhors, evil, yet he created a world where evil could happen if people chose it. God sees something in free will and choice that's worth tolerating the horrifying blackness that would appear if evil was chosen rather than good. I find that utterly remarkable."

Jeremiah 5:22 

Do you not fear me? Says the Lord. Do you not tremble before me? I placed the sand as the boundary for the sea, a perpetual barrier that it cannot pass; though the waves toss, they cannot prevail; though they roar, they cannot pass over it. 

"The ocean is vast. Big. Powerful. It's free. I love that. And it's contained where it belongs by God. I love the ocean for what it is, and for what it tells me about my God." 

* I received this book for free from Bethany House publishers in exchange for my honest review. 

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