Customer Reviews

Stealing Jake

5 star:		(40)
4 star:		(20)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Livy O'Brien used to be known as LightFingered Livy, but that was back in the days when pickpocketing was a way of life for her--a survival mechanism. Now she is a Christian and living in a small, but burgeoning town outside of Chicago. She lives with Mrs. Brooks at the local orphanage. Her experiences from the harsh childhood of living on the streets and stealing to survive have become a catalyst to her heart for saving children stuck in similar circumstances. All she wants to do is save the children and show them God's love.

Livy is not looking for love or marriage. Although, life has a way of sneaking up on us and she finds that out first hand. She never expected she'd literally run into the man of her dreams. Jake Russell is the Sheriff's Deputy and he has his own problems to deal with--an outstanding loan on his family's farm, investigating the culprits behind a surge of robberies in town and dealing with grief over the loss of close family and friends, in a mining accident. He wasn't looking for love either. God has different plans for their lives and He shows up in the little town of Chestnut, Illinois...in a big way.

I'm more of a contemporary romance kind of girl, so when I agreed to review this book, I wasn't sure how I would like it. Stealing Jake stole my own reader's heart from the get-go. Ms. Hillman's writing style easily swept me into the story and I wanted to devour each chapter and actually went to bed late several nights all because I wanted to read just one more chapter.

One of the most appealing factors was the character development. I really got to know Livy and Jake and all of the other fascinating people of Chestnut. Ms. Hillman's attention to detail was just the right amount to give me enough information about the historical setting and to see the scene without boring me to tears with endless, useless minutiae.

After I finished reading Stealing Jake and I visited Ms. Hillman's website, I was surprised to learn that this was her debut novel. It read nothing like a debut. I thought I was reading the work of a seasoned multi-published author. I will definitely be keeping an eye out for more of Ms. Hillman's future novels. Stealing Jake is one book that I highly recommend.

Being a bit of an American history buff, I can see this author has kept her fiction in line with the non fiction of this era. I enjoy reading REAL material in fiction, that is my overall appraisal here along with a very entertaining story. If you like westerns, this is worthy.

The story develops at a rather rigerous rate right off, tapers but keeps the interest with some very good imaginitive writing.

The Characters as intro'd, so well described and lively. Nothing boring in this edition.

I am not one to describe the story itself, just review if it is a quality book and read, it is worth every free cent and a few dollars!. I am happy I spent the time on it as it also left me a bit more learned on this real era in our history. I am very pleased. Marco Cota, Predator Down

Okay, I am NOT a historical romance reader, but STEALING JAKE isn't just a historical romance. It's got suspense, twists and turns, and enough drama to pull on the heartstrings and keep you buried into the story until you stay up way later than intended. I highly recommend STEALING JAKE. I can't wait to read more books by Hillman.

I started to read this after looking at the 20+ glowing reviews for this Kindle ebook - I will now be more skeptical! I must admit that this book is not bad. I am tempted to say "not bad for a free book" but I do not believe that one gives up the right to be critical just because a book is free. The storyline is reasonably interesting for the first third of the book. Then there are several big flaws that caused me to give up reading entirely after I was halfway through.

Briefly, these are:

(i) the story gets extremely repetitive probably because the author had a page count to meet and not enough story to keep going. How many times do you expect me to read the same old paragraphs about how Livy's past is keeping her from getting closer to Jake, and how the street kid just doesn't trust an adult. A couple of times is OK, but all the time?! There are also all those examples of stilted writing trying to be romantic. I just couldn't bear one more reference to green eyes and crooked smiles. Enough is enough.

(ii) While the book doesn't start with an obvious Christian feel, it becomes very very dominant about 40% of the way in. What starts off as an average, moderately interesting story turns into a book that soon talks all the time about the role of Christ in life, and how the sheriff wished he had taken the old guy to Church and saved his soul, and how the orphanage lady was acting the way Jesus would have, and so on. Half way into the book, the evangelism gets so blatant that the story line comes secondary and completely stagnates. Nothing wrong with talking about God but at least give people an advance warning - preferably in the title of the book!

In summary, this is not a bad way to spend a day or two, and if you can plow through the stagnant story line and heavy Christian references that peak about half way through, you may actually make it to the end. I didn't, but that's just me :)

Livy O'Brien and her mentor, Mrs. Brooks, run an orphanage in a small town outside Chicago. When sheriff's deputy Jake Russell begins to suspect street children from Chicago are responsible for the rash of burglaries in town, he finds himself at odds with Livy, who would do anything to protect the children. Luke, one of the street children, came to Chestnut to search for his brother, who was sold to a sweatshop owner. In order for Livy to prove the children innocent, Jake to catch the thief, and Luke to find his brother, the three will have to learn to trust each other.

I very much enjoyed Stealing Jake, Pam Hillman's debut novel. The character development is fantastic, and by the end of the book, I felt like I actually knew the characters. I especially enjoyed Luke's character. He began only caring about finding his brother, but as the story progressed, he evolved into a protector/father figure for many of the street children, and his story quickly became my favorite of all the plot lines.

Stealing Jake is one of Tyndale's new e-book only titles, making it affordable (especially if you snag it right now, when it's free!) and convenient. I highly recommend it!

***I received a free copy of this book for review from Tyndale House Publishers. I was not required to write a positive review, and the opinions expressed are my own.***

This was an excellent read! I have spent years working with street kids on the dirt alleys of developing world nations, some scrabbling for survival on their own since age two. The author of Stealing Jake captures so clearly the world they know of desperation, hunger, struggle for survive, the abuse they take from the adult world that should be there to protect them, the exploitation. This story is a reminder that the world in which hundreds of millions of children worldwide live today was commonplace not so long ago in our own nation. Stealing Jake could have been depressing, focusing on the undeniably injustices and tragedy. Instead it was exciting, moving, with enough elements of suspense and romance to satisfy the most particular reader and a message of both divine and human love that will always be victorious over cruelty, greed, and hate. A wonderful debut for a talented new author.

Very engaging story with a great ensemble of characters. The story was perfectfully paced with everything you can ask for (romance, history, suspense, and mystery). The book does stress Christianity and being non-religious, I usually roll my eyes at the forced attempts to add religion into the plot, but the author did a wonderful job weaving the spiritual aspect into the story.

I have to admit that I almost put this book down about a quarter of the way through it, but it was interesting enough albeit predictable, that I stuck with it until the end.

What I didn't like about the book was mainly the writing style. The book is filled with cliches - and the same ones over and over! I also realize that the author was trying to portray dialect, but "feller" really started getting on my nerves. The romance began at first sight, and both characters fell too hard and too fast for my taste. There was really very little conflict in their love story.

On the flip side, I was looking at a light-hearted romance after having finished a pretty heady novel, and this was just that. It was sweet (okay maybe a little on the cheesy side)and clean. I also found the street kids element interesting, though a bit far-fetched.

All in all, I would recommend this book for a pool-side read. It's not going to make you think too hard, and sometimes that is okay.

Rating: 4.25 out of 5

Pam Hillman's novel "Stealing Jake" is a story about love, faith, new beginnings, and tolerance that blends an interesting suspense novel about orphans in peril with historical romance. When I acquired this book, I was unaware that it had a Christian theme. Given that I rarely read inspirational romance (because I'm not of a religious bent myself), I probably would not have read it had I been aware of this. And that would have been a shame, because this is an agreeable story, both entertaining and attention-grabbing.

Stealing Jake has a storyline that feels true to the time period of the while still remaining suspenseful enough to maintain my interest throughout the novel. While there is a certain amount of romantic tension in this story, the romantic sub-plot was not quite as interesting to me as the main plot was. I found myself caught up in the complex plot involving coal mines, sweatshops, and orphans in peril, and while I did occasionally become impatient with the religious bent of the characters, I don't believe that this impacted my enjoyment of the story overmuch.

Ms. Hillman's writing style makes for a smooth reading experience. Her characters in this story feel slightly stylized but are well-developed enough to be believable, and she does a great job keeping the identity of the antagonist a secret throughout most of the novel while still making him a character that we love to hate.

On the whole, I enjoyed this novel. "Stealing Jake" has enough suspense to thrill, a believable historical aspect, and a sweet romance as well. And while it can be considered inspirational or Christian in nature, this doesn't overwhelm the story. For a limited time, this novel is available free in electronic form from Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble. For that price, it is definitely worth checking into.

Stealing Jake by Pam Hillman tells the story of a small town just outside of Chicago that is beginning to see a rise in crime as the coal mine industry swells with new employees and orphaned kids begin to rule the streets.

Livy is a young and beautiful girl, helping out at the local orphanage on a mission to find and bring the street kids in to safety. She has a real soft spot for the street kids, being that she used to be one herself. She knew how to pick pocket like a pro, could open any locked door and had a reputation... until Mrs. Brooks took her in and introduced her to Jesus. Her life had been changed and she became devoted to helping other street kids, like herself, find hope and a future.

Jake is the new deputy in town. He didn't always have a desire to go into law enforcement, but after he lost his father in a mining accident, he just couldn't go back underground. Jake is determined to see the streets of Chestnut cleaned up and orderly. He wants the riff raff street kids out of the way and back in Chicago, where they belong. It wasn't until he met and fell in love with Livy that his heart became turned towards the true realities of the lives of the children. Then he would do anything and risk everything to save them.

Gibbons just wants to be respected by his father. His family had a reputation to uphold as some of the best crooks in all of Chicago. But Chestnut was the perfect place for Gibbons to venture on his own and show them once and for all that he was capable of being just as ruthless as the rest of them. And since no one cared for the street kids anyway, why not use them to their fullest potential?

Luke, a street kid from Chicago, is trying his best just to survive. When a ring of roberies occurs in town, everyone suspects him... but all he wants to do is eat, stay warm, and find his kid brother who's been taken and is being held captive.

Ok, I know that was long... sorry. I can not contain myself. I LOVED this book. It was such a good, fast, inspiring, romantic, sentimental, adventurous read. This is a book you DO NOT want to judge by it's cover or title (both are kinda ehhh). The book is written from the perspective of those 4 above characters, which really gives you the chance to know every angle of the story.

Yes, it's a Christian book... but I did not find it to be pushy or preachy at all. I thought that it portrayed the message well without over doing it. And, being that it's the mid-west in the late 1800's, it's appropriate. I feel like sometimes Christian books feel the need to rosy up the message or add 100 "God's" into it just because it's "Christian". And I AM a Christian... I still don't like it. Not the case with this book... it was perfect.

Seriously, go get it... now. Unfortunately, it's currently only available in e-book format, BUT for now it's FREE on Amazon. Woohoo!

5 stars

This book was given to me free of charge for the purpose of this review. This is my honest and unbiased opinion.