Pocketful of Pearls (Elect Trilogy, #2)

This book was an absolute treat!! I got so wrapped up in the story that I didn't even stop to eat!! The author makes the world of The Elect so real and you empathize with the main character so strongly. Didn't realize this was part of a series and so am looking foward to reading the other books!!

Shelley Bates has a fantastic way of getting deep into the sludge of apostate and deceptive Christianity (Cults) and addressing the hard-core issues in a non-offensive way that can also be extremely uplifting. Without going into the details of the story, from the very first page, I found myself connected in a deep way to the heroine, Dinah, as she battles a life-long indoctrination in a toxic church and begins to see sparks... Read Full Review

I don't like to tip off the reader by telling the entire story in advance, or there is no point in reading the book. But I will say this... Be prepared for a page turner when you pick up this novel. It isn't a warm-and-fuzzy feel-good read, but it is powerful and will make your heart swell to unbelievable proportions as you rejoice and cry with the heroine. (Can you tell I write fiction, LOL!) Also, the author's ability to... Read Full Review

Very few Christian authors would take on the subject of a "toxic church" and its affects. In her first novel, Grounds to Believe, Shelley Bates lays the groundwork for this, letting the reader interface as outsiders into this strange world of the Elect. In her second novel, A Pocketful of Pearls, the reader feels each sharp pain of the heroine, Dinah, as if they themselves were enmeshed in the tight web of the Elect. This... Read Full Review

In the opening pages of POCKETFUL OF PEARLS, Dinah Traynell and over 100 mourners are dressed in black for the funeral of Dinah's father. These people don't wear black just for funerals; they wear black as a part of their religious group, The Elect. The reader enters Dinah's controlled world and the high expectations for behavior of every aspect of her life. Yet something isn't right from the beginning chapter when Dinah slips... Read Full Review