BOOK REVIEW- Love and Other Acts of Courage

BOOK REVIEW- Love and Other Acts of Courage-A freighter collides with a yacht and abandons the survivors. A couple is left behind by a dive boat. 
These are the dramatic events that force changes in maritime attorney Max Gildea’s carefully organized life where win, lose, or settle out of court he gets paid and paid handsomely. As he represents the only survivor of the yacht sinking and gets involved in the search for the couple missing from a dive trip, his reawakening emotions catapult him into the chaos of joy and sorrow that are the necessary ingredients of a fully lived life. AMAZON  I'm giving it 5 Stars on Amazon

When I chose this book to read, I did so with mixed feelings and high hopes.   I knew the potential to be a good book was there but also wondered when it came to the law and freighting information.  I was concerned that it might get too heavy with that last part.  All, I know is that within just a few pages, I found I really liked the main characters.  Max,  his assistant Cassie, and the survivor Sophie Suriano.  Each of their POV's were well done and strengthened the story, when I know sometimes they can do the opposite.  I liked reading Jake's as ths person was added to the story as well.  I ended up loving this story because I fell in love with the people.  Even some of the ones that would be considered secondary characters. There were plenty of twists and turns to keep me interested as well.  There were several other stories of people included but the author also did a good job of weaving much of it together, where you could see the links when exposed.  

I also liked some of the phrases that the author used.  One of my favorites was when Sophie was introduced to Jake, a reporter and although she was being asked some easy questions to start she thought this,  "I could see those other questions though, perched like vultures on her shoulders.  Waiting."   I also liked some of the nicknames in the story and how they came about.  Especially Max's.  I really don't want to say to much more because I want the surprise value to still be there for people who haven't read it yet.   
Just a few side notes-
"Parsimonious", now that is  word in the story that I have to admit I had to look up.  I had a vague idea of what it meant but had to use the dictionary for it but there weren't a lot of words like that so it didn't interrupt the flow of the story. 
I was also angry and saddened by the fact that there just wasn't any justice when it came to people being killed and finding no justice just because it happened on the water.  It does sound like some laws need to be changed to go with the current times, something the author also addressed at the end of the book.  She also left information to follow up on.  
There is also an Excerpt from "Dreams for Stones" at the back of the book.

I received a free copy of this novel in return for an honest review.