Wasted by Jerusha Agen Review

 

Wasted, the second book in the Windy City Westons series by Jerusha Agen is an awesome romantic suspense story. I was thrilled to get to see the Weston siblings again. This time the story focuses on Victoria, the oldest sibling, and the one who has been like a mother to the rest of her siblings, ever since the death of their mother when she was just a teenager. All these years she has been living with guilt, but also living under the thumb of her authoritative father who she refuses to disappoint. She does her best to try to live the way she thinks her mother would want her to live in order to keep her family together.

We also get to see the story through the point of view of Cillian, her ex from when they were teenagers. He recently moved back into the area and is now working at the same place of employment. She tries to resist his charms while trying to figure out what he's doing back in town. And as much as she'd like to avoid him, he becomes her protector after the death of one of her patients has her falsely accused of murder, and in the crosshairs of who they assume is the real murderer.

While there are multiple people who may have had a motive to kill her patient, it isn't the villains who got under my skin. It was the detective who wouldn't listen and insisted on Victoria's guilt in the murder. How were they going to prove her innocence when those who were supposed to be the good guys weren't listening? It is this plot point that had me riveted to the story. Yes, I wanted to know who the actual killer was. But I wanted Victoria and Cillian and the Weston siblings to make things right. 

At the same time Cillian is dealing with trying to get back with Victoria in a way that made him not my favorite person for quite a bit of the book. Yes, he wanted to protect her, but the way he went about things was just not right. Additionally Victoria tried to deal with arguments and controversy in the way she though was right, but I started to want to shake some sense into her as well. Let's just say they both had things they needed to work through, and faith played an important role. 

The only concern I had was that there were a couple of things that didn't quite get wrapped up as neatly I as I hoped for. 

Awesome suspense. Awesome second chance romance. Awesome faith. A wonderful group of siblings. And an adorable dog. All working together to make another un-put-downable book by this author. 

I received an e-copy of this book as a member of the launch team and was not required to write a favorable review. These are my own honest thoughts.

Friday Fun - October 10, 2025

Welcome to my Friday Fun post. This is where I share with three different book parties that post on Fridays: Book Beginnings on Fridays, the Friday 56, and First Line Friday.

This week I have two books to share with you.

I'm reading an eARC of Wasted by Jerusha Agen. This is the second book in her Windy City Westons series, each one featuring one of the Weston siblings. This book releases on October 23rd. 

I'm also the newest book in A.M. Heath's Christmas in Garland series, Journey to Christmas. This book releases October 20th.

        Book Beginnings on Friday     

(Please join Gilion Dumas for Book Beginnings every Friday to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires. Please remember to include the title of the book and the author's name.)

and

First Line Friday

(Please join Carrie for First Line Friday.)

Here are my Book Beginnings/First Line Friday selections:

Wasted by Jerusha Agen:

"'What do you want?'"

I needed to know who was talking to who and what exactly was going on, especially without knowing the tone and situation.

Journey to Christmas by A.M. Heath:

"'You're kidding, right?' I stared at my older brother, but he didn't crack a smile."

Hmm, seems like something serious could be going on. But what?

Now for:

The Friday 56 

The Friday 56 is normally hosted over at Freda's Voice. But Anne from My Head is Full of Books is taking over for a while. 

Rules:

*Grab a book, any book.
*Turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader
(If you have to improvise, that's ok.)
 *Find any sentence, (or few, just don't spoil it) that grab you.
*Post it.
*Add your (url) post below in Linky. Add the post url, not your blog url. It's that simple.

Here are my Friday 56 selections:

Wasted by Jerusha Agen:

 

"'So you didn't have to follow me home.' She gave him a teasing smile.

'I don't know.' He met her gaze with a daring twinkle in his eyes. 'My bark might be as impressive as his. I know my bite is.'

'Well, he's never bitten anyone, and he rarely barks, so you might have something there.'

'He doesn't bark?'

She shook her head. 'Hardly ever. I'd only heard him bark once in his life until three nights ago.'

Cillian's brows dipped low over his eyes.

Oh, goodness. What had she stepped into now?"

Journey to Christmas by A.M. Heath:

"The woman somehow still had tears to spare and spent several more minutes crying them out all over my soaked shirt. The fact that she was walking around with that much dispensable fluid is actually kinda remarkable."

Reviews:

Last week I shared two books in my Friday Fun post. Here are the links to those reviews:

Every Life Treasured by Jennifer Q. Hunt, Hannah Hood Lucero, and Aubrey Reiss Taylor

Across the Ages by Gabrielle Meyer

Last week I mentioned I had to set a couple of books aside, but I have since finished one of them. Here is my review of  For a Lifetime by Gabrielle Meyer.

Every Life Treasured by Jennifer Q. Hunt, Hannah Hood Lucero, and Aubrey Reiss Review

 

Every Life Treasured is a wonderful collection of novellas about the value of life. Stories that take place in three seperate eras. They were each very powerful, and yes, emotional. And the reader can see the redemption found in Christ. 

A Mother's Tender Touch by Jennifer Q. Hunt:

This story dealt with unwed mothers during the Depresssion Era, along with a child who had Downs Syndrome. 

Alice was a social worker who worked for a charity that helped people in need. At the beginning of the book she comes to the Tanner's home to see how she can help them. The family was struggling because the father had been injured and was unable to work. The oldest son, Seth, had taken jobs to help bring in some income, but they were still struggling. At first I wasn't a huge fan of Alice because even though she was helping, she was quite judgmental of the family's circumstances. However, as she got to know them her eyes were opened to the love and faith they had, even in their troubles. And as a reader we learn more of her background and understand the struggles she herself is going through. 

The Missionary and the Marine by Hannah Hood Lucero:

This story dealt with a baby conceived by rape and learning to love that baby and see the worth in her. 

Unlike the other two books which are historical, this one takes place in current times. Walt and Dee were planning to get married after she returned from a mission trip to the Middle East. However, she was abducted and spent months imprisoned by Muslims who abused her. When reunited with Walt they need to work through the new reality of her being a mother of a child conceived by rape. Even through such adversity, the value of all life is seen. 

Born for Adversity by Aubrey Reiss Taylor:

This story dealt with an unwed mother in the years after WWI and choosing adoption over abortion.

This story took place in Germany in the years after WWI. Lani finds herself with child after spending time with a man she cared for; however she is engaged to another guy she met in France during the war. The father abandons her and the other guy wants her to get an abortion. She has to choose whether she wants to keep the baby or give it up for adoption. This was actually my least favorite in the collection. I'm not sure if it was because there are three separate men she finds herself having feelings for. Or it could be because of how it comes from a Catholic point of view in the story, with Lani having to continually go to confession and do her penance. Also the ending was quite different than what I was expecting. 

I do highly recommend these stories and definitely want to look into other stories by these authors. From my understanding each of these stories does connect to other books by the authors. 

I received an e-copy of this book as a member of the launch team and was not required to write a favorable review. These are my own honest thoughts.

Friday Fun - October 3, 2025

Welcome to my Friday Fun post. This is where I share with three different book parties that post on Fridays: Book Beginnings on Fridays, the Friday 56, and First Line Friday.

This week I have two books to share with you.

I finished the novella collection titled, Every Life Treasured featuring three novellas about the value of life by Jennifer Q. Hunt, Hannah Hood Lucero, and Aubrey Reiss Taylor. Last week I had read the first two stories. This week I finished the last story, Born for Adversity by Aubrey Reiss Taylor. This novella collection just released this week.

I'm also starting Across the Ages by Gabrielle Meyer.

        Book Beginnings on Friday     

(Please join Gilion Dumas for Book Beginnings every Friday to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires. Please remember to include the title of the book and the author's name.)

and

First Line Friday

(Please join Carrie for First Line Friday.)

Here are my Book Beginnings/First Line Friday selections:

Born for Adversity by Aubrey Reiss Taylor, the final story in Every Life Treasured:

"My sister grasps my hair as I heave forward into the basin."

Well, she was either sick, or knowing the kind of story this is, pregnant.

Across the Ages by Gabrielle Meyer:

"My bare toes dug into the hardpacked earth as I beat the rug on the back line, watching the dust melt away into the setting sunlight."

The main thing I noticed was that this book started out different than the first three books of the series.

Now for:

The Friday 56 

The Friday 56 is normally hosted over at Freda's Voice. But Anne from My Head is Full of Books is taking over for a while. 

Rules:

*Grab a book, any book.
*Turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader
(If you have to improvise, that's ok.)
 *Find any sentence, (or few, just don't spoil it) that grab you.
*Post it.
*Add your (url) post below in Linky. Add the post url, not your blog url. It's that simple.

Here are my Friday 56 selections:

Born for Adversity by Aubrey Reiss Taylor, the final story in Every Life Treasured:

 

"'. . . I admit I find him desirable. I'm alone so much, yet I'm afraid that being around him might lead me back to the things that got me here in the first place.' I hesitate, asking myself if there is anything else I need to tell him before closing my confession."

Across the Ages by Gabrielle Meyer:

"'I'm looking for crew members,' Captain Zale said as he walked down from the quarterdeck, scanning Captain Frisk's sailors. 'If you'd like to join my crew, step forward. I run my ship as a democracy, where every man has a vote and a share of the prizes we earn. You will eat like kings and not have to toil for another man's profit.'"

Reviews:

Last week I shared a few books in my Friday Fun post. I shared the link to the one review last week, and I am still working on the review of the other. But here is the review for Danger in the Wilderness by Darlene Turner