Someone To Blame by CS Lakin

I don't normally read Christian fiction but I received this novel as part of an early reviewer program, so I'm reviewing it here.  When you hear about Christian fiction, or at least when I do, I think about people that are self righteous and preach-y and I assumed that this book would be the same thing.  But I was completely wrong. This is a novel that combines Christian themes with mystery, somewhat successfully; however in general, it wasn't that great a first attempt.

Irene and Matt Moore are married and opt to escape their previous lives by moving themselves and their fourteen year old daughter Casey to the small town of Breakers. Breakers is literally on the edge of the country on the Pacific Northwest and is cold and unforgiving. The family moves there in the hopes of escaping family tragedy. While there, the family meets Billy Thurber, a young man that is battling his own demons, including an alcoholic father and being judged by the local town folk. Irene, Matt and Casey are walking on eggshells around each other and the introduction of Billy to the family seems to make things worse.

I didn't particularly enjoy this novel because the writing style was just so blech. It was overly simple and I didn't enjoy reading it - it was choppy - and it pained me to read it at times. I also didn't like the characters - they were too shallow and predictable. They weren't complex at all.  The whole plotline was actually pretty predictable and this was frustrating too. I mean, if I am going to read any book, i want it to be good and this just wasn't it.  I did appreciate how the author attempted to take on complex topics - death of family members among other topics. However, in general, this wasn't a particularly enjoyable novel.