Book Details

Penniless Souls by Eve Gaal
Series: Lost Compass Love #2
Published by Blurb on 04/28/2021
Genres: Fiction, Christian Romance, Contempoary Romance, Crime
Format: Audiobook, eBook, Hardcover, Paperback
Pages: 268

Twenty years after Penny's Hawaiian adventure, she and her husband are moving to Las Vegas, Nevada. But when they run out of gas in the Mojave Desert, the couple is rescued by a famous painter. The eccentric artist hires Penny to redecorate his property, while her husband finds work on a skyscraper on the Strip.

Things are looking up until Penny hears rumors about human trafficking. When her daughter goes missing, Penny's mothering instinct goes into high gear. But will a mother's love make a difference, or does God hold all the cards?

Forty-eight hours is all Penny's got to rescue Lani, and the clock is ticking.

Source: Amazon Purchase

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Purchase Links for Penniless Souls

Amazon – OneLink for all countries.

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My thoughts on Penniless Souls

Penniless Souls by Eve Gaal is book two of the Lost Compass Love series. Each book could easily be read as a standalone story. The author provides enough backstory to fill in any gaps in necessary information needed for Penniless Souls to make sense. With that said, I think the reader will gain a much deeper insight into the characters by reading book one, Penniless Hearts, first.

The blurb is explanation enough for the plot so let’s move on to my thoughts.

Eve Gaal has a way of tying faith, religion, and life together without overwhelming the reader in writing her stories. Her descriptive writing style makes the settings and plotlines come alive.

Human trafficking is difficult to portray without totally focusing the story on the bad in the world. Many times, I had to stop and ponder the situations presented in the tale to judge the right and wrong of the character’s decisions and how I might react in similar circumstances. Eve walks a fine line in keeping the entertainment and mystery level high while providing details of the sordid side of life.

The dynamics between husband, wife, adult daughter, and the various people they meet play an essential part in the story. There are lessons about faith, trust, and honesty throughout the book. I felt the biggest problem with the main characters is that they spent more time talking in their heads and not communicating their true feelings.

While the cast is entertaining, I found their lack of respect for each other hard to understand in light of all the professions of love. Secrets and half-truths always lead to trouble, and sometimes the way they speak to each other is very disrespectful. However, the conversations ring true and don’t seem contrived.

The one sticking point for me in assigning a star rating for the review is that the characters often lean toward unlikeable. The author deftly writes about conflicted feelings, redemption, just rewards, and problem-solving.

Overall, I recommend this book to readers who love a heartfelt story with relevant themes. I believe everyone will take away positives from Penniless Souls.

This is my honest, unbiased opinion of a book I purchased.

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About Eve Gaal

Eve Gaal’s writing began with a toy typewriter she received at age four. Much later, she wrote poems for school publications and work related newsletters until landing a job writing ad copy and selling advertising space for major metropolitan and community newspapers.

Her first novel Penniless Hearts, is part adventure, part romance, and a gentle reminder to communicate. Eve has published poems, fiction stories and non-fiction, in various anthologies, some of which are: Anything Prose and Poetry Too, Open Doors-Fractured Fairy Tales, and Not Your Mother’s Book on Dogs and Travel. She followed up Penniless Hearts with Penniless Souls, also a travel adventure but set in the Nevada desert. A short faith-based novella titled, The Fifth Commandment came later and most recently, The Happy War, which is also a romantic travel adventure.

When not writing she likes swimming, reading and walking her Chihuahua.