A decades-long quest for a stash of gold buried in the Sierra Nevada sets the stage for this heart-pounding historical from Connealy (Into the Sunset). It’s 1874 when handsome Brody MacKenzie shows up at the Two Harts ranch looking for his younger brothers, Lock and Thayne. The pair has run away from New York to the California ranch, from which they plan to venture into the Sierra Nevada on a fabled treasure hunt first undertaken by their grandfather. Though the search has already caused their family considerable heartache (their father’s “gold fever” compelled him to abandon the family for long stretches and ultimately descend into alcoholism), Brody grudgingly agrees to help—as does Ellie Hunt, who runs the Two Harts ranch with her siblings, and who becomes increasingly close to Brody as the two bond over their faith. The closer they get to the treasure, however, the greater the obstacles that stand in their way—not least of which is the growing number of rival treasure hunters, including Ellie’s shifty ex-fiancé. Connealy heightens the stakes as the trek grows more treacherous, culminating in a tense climax in which the group must determine where their loyalties lie and what they’re willing to sacrifice for the gold. Atmospheric and action-packed, this will keep readers on tenterhooks. (Feb.)

Reviewed on 11/15/2024 | Details & Permalink

This riveting historical reaches into the pages of the New Testament to reimagine the life of Mary Magdalene. Smith (The Ark and the Dove) paints Mary as a fragile young woman whose mother died young and who is raised mostly by servants while her father tends to his business. When he fails to return from a trip, Mary’s best friend Susanna—who’s possessed by demons—urges her to summon spirits that might help find him. A desperate Mary agrees but regrets it when the spirits of multiple dead family members refuse to leave her. Wracked by anxiety, she hides evidence of her possession long enough to go through with an arranged marriage but her husband discovers the truth and banishes her. When he dies a few years later, a friend invites Mary and Susanna to come on a trip to see a new preacher named Jesus in hopes they might be healed by him. From there, the narrative chronicles Jesus’s public ministry, death, and resurrection through Mary’s eyes. Smith gets especially inventive in crafting Mary’s childhood and young adulthood, about which little is known—her demonic possession is powerfully rendered. The result is a sharp and nuanced take on the murky life of a biblical figure and the volatile period in which she lived. Readers will be spellbound. (Feb.)

Reviewed on 11/08/2024 | Details & Permalink

Deibel revisits the lush Irish countryside of The Irish Matchmaker in this heartwarming if somewhat uneventful historical. Saoirse Fagan has worried she brings bad luck ever since a house fire killed the rest of her family. Seeking a fresh start, she travels from Westmeath to county Donegal to find work as a maid. When her plans fall through and she winds up on a sheep farm belonging to Owen McCready and his sister, Aileen, master weaver Owen—who’s recently injured his arm—reluctantly conscripts her to fill an order of tweed fabric. As he teaches Saoirse to weave, sparks begin to fly, but when the town suffers a series of misfortunes—including a deadly landslide—Saoirse is sure her “ill fate” is to blame. She tries to run away to protect those she loves, and it’s up to Owen, Aileen, and other newfound friends to bring her back and help her start anew through her faith. This crisis point feels somewhat anticlimactic, and there’s little standing in the way of Owen and Saoirse’s relationship minus some miscommunications and Saoirse’s insecurities. Still, the rich, atmospheric background and winning chemistry between the leads mostly make up for it. The result is a cheery and charming tale of second chances. (Jan.)

Reviewed on 11/01/2024 | Details & Permalink

A gutsy woman is thrust into an unexpected marriage amid rising hostilities between Great Britain and the American colonies, in this sweeping historical from Frantz (A Matter of Honor). Juliet Catesby lives with her father on a Virginia plantation, where she helps him grow tobacco and indigo. She harbors a grudge against Leith Buchanan, a widowed Scottish tobacco farmer whose shady business practices have left the plantation deeply in debt. When Leith travels to the colonies to visit his trading partners and find a new bride, Juliet’s surprised to find she enjoys his company—though she has no interest in marriage and tries to set him up with her younger sister, Loveday. When Juliet’s matchmaking efforts fail and her father orders her to marry Leith in exchange for his forgiveness of the plantation’s debt, she’s humiliated and tries to resist, but desperate circumstances eventually force her to agree and begin a new life in Scotland. As Juliet and Leith navigate their tenuous union, their faith lends them the strength to endure unexpected challenges, including business intrigue, family jealousies, and a ghost from Leith’s past that threatens to destroy his reputation. Frantz’s characters leap off the page, propelling an ambitious, twisty plot that draws energy from the tensions of the Revolutionary era. The results are captivating. (Jan.)

Reviewed on 10/25/2024 | Details & Permalink

Ogle (Of Love and Treason) sets this captivating historical in an ancient Turkey roiling with religious tension. It’s been three years since 20-year-old Demi’s parents, sister, and fiancée were killed by Diocletian’s anti-Christian regime, and she’s still wrestling with guilt for renouncing her faith in order to survive. She and her brother Theseus work as coral divers, using their meager wages to buy food for the secluded, resource-starved Christian city of Myra on the Mediterranean coast. When Theseus is bitten by a moray eel, Demi gets him medical aid with the help of a passing stranger who turns out to be the city’s new pastor, Nikolas. As the two grow closer, Demi discovers that Nikolas has traumas of his own, stemming from an accident that killed his older brother and left him to inherit his father’s shipping company. But there’s not much time to work through their feelings before they must flee Roman soldiers intent on forcing them to swear allegiance to the emperor. Ogle keeps the suspense sky-high as sparks fly between Demi and Nikolas and both question how far they’re willing to go to uphold their faith. It’s a winning mix of thrills and heart. (Feb.)

Reviewed on 10/25/2024 | Details & Permalink

A kindhearted social worker stars in this sweet yet simplistic contemporary from Walker (Emma’s Hero). Between trying to find a new foster home for a troubled 17-year-old and caring for her willful grandmother, 23-year-old Clare Martin has a lot on her plate—and that’s not to mention her hotshot lawyer boyfriend, Aiden, whose career aspirations threaten to derail hers plans for a simple family life. When Clare’s grandmother goes missing during a snowstorm, Aiden is predictably nowhere to be found. Thankfully, her devout ex-boyfriend, Mason, comes to the rescue to help her search (and assure her that God is watching over her grandmother). Later, Mason reveals information about Aiden that makes Clare seriously doubt her relationship—but just as sparks start to fly between the former high school sweethearts, Mason’s accepted to an out-of-state medical school, threatening to end their romance before it can start. While Clare’s bond with her grandmother adds heart, the Hallmark movie–esque contrast between career-obsessed Aiden and hometown hero Mason robs the romance plot of suspense. The feel-good moments don’t do enough to separate this from the pack. (Feb.)

Reviewed on 10/25/2024 | Details & Permalink

Amateur sleuth Fannie Miller’s biscuits aren’t the only thing falling flat in this disappointing outing from Brunstetter (The Protector) and Bolton (Josiah for President). The residents of Sugarcreek, Ohio, are gearing up for an annual baking contest that boasts a $25,000 grand prize. Forty-three-year-old Fannie, who works at a quilt shop, is sure this year’s recipe—her aunt’s buttermilk biscuits—will beat out the gossipy Beiler sisters’ devil’s food cake and Michael and Melissa Taylor’s Italian cookies. But more pressing matters arise when other contestants receive threatening notes and then disappear. Fannie enlists the help of local detective Foster Bates to get to the bottom of the mystery but soon becomes a target herself and must decide whether a baking contest is worth risking her life. As she turns to her Bible for guidance, she also entertains the possibility of a romance with Foster, a widower who’s still recovering from the death of his wife and son in a car accident 15 years ago. While the cast of endearing characters, quaint small-town backdrop, and delightful premise provide all the ingredients for a charming page-turner, the plot falls apart as the investigations progress, coincidences pile up, and the chemistry between Foster and Fannie flounders. Amish cozy fans have plenty of better options to choose from. (Jan.)

Reviewed on 10/18/2024 | Details & Permalink

A woman’s wartime vow reverberates across generations in the gripping third installment of Tolsma’s Echoes of the Past series (after What I Promise You). In 1940s Poland, university lecturer Helena promises a Jewish colleague, who is dying in the Krakow ghetto, that she’ll find and care for the woman’s infant daughter, Teena. Helena and her husband, Jerzy, rescue Teena from an orphanage and grow to love the baby, but when the couple is caught aiding partisan efforts against the Nazis, Jerzy’s shot and Helena’s sent to a forced labor factory in Germany, never to see Teena again. In a parallel narrative set in present-day Pittsburgh, social worker McKenna Muir—Helena’s great-granddaughter—is reeling from a failed engagement and decides to take a sabbatical to research her ancestry in Poland. When McKenna’s grandmother—the daughter Helena had after the war—asks her to locate Teena, the adopted sister she never knew, McKenna embarks on a globe-spanning search that leads to the discovery of more than one buried family secret. Tolsma vividly brings her protagonists to life as Helena and McKenna draw on their faith to find hope amid suffering (“What good the prayers did, I had no idea,” Helena muses at one point. “But even if God refused to listen, refused to answer, they gave me some peace”). Readers won’t be able to turn the pages fast enough. (Dec.)

Reviewed on 09/27/2024 | Details & Permalink

Shepard Gray’s riveting follow-up to Unforgiven centers on a deadly game of cat-and-mouse in Crittenden County, Ky. Bethanne Hoestetler, 23 and Amish, is still recovering emotionally from being attacked by a love interest seven years earlier, so when handsome Jay Byler starts courting her she rebuffs his advances. She has other things to focus on, like the fact that her Englisch cousin Candace Evans has a stalker who’s anonymously messaging her on social media and showing up at the beauty pageants she competes in. When Candace wins Miss Crittenden County and the stalker doubles down on his efforts, police officer Ryan Mulaney is assigned to protect her, and what begins as a professional relationship quickly becomes something more. Meanwhile, Bethanne warms to Jay, drawn in by his kindness and faith. Just as it seems the four might find their happily ever afters, a chilling plan hatched by Candace’s stalker puts their lives in danger. While the contrast between beauty queen Candace and her sweet, simple Amish cousin is drawn a bit crudely, readers won’t be able to resist the propulsive plotting. This begs to be read in one sitting. (Nov.)

Reviewed on 09/20/2024 | Details & Permalink

Witemeyer (If the Boot Fits) continues her Texas Ever After series with an exciting if occasionally clumsy retelling of Little Red Riding Hood. After the death of her wealthy father, Scarlett Radcliffe stands to inherit a majority stake in his shipping company when she turns 21—if her greedy uncle, who wants the shares for himself, doesn’t kill her first. Sent away by her mother, Scarlett has taken refuge with her grandmother in a forest, where she goes by the name Letty Hood, wears a red riding cloak, and travels with a pet wolf for protection. Five weeks before Scarlett turns 21, her mother gets wind that the threat to Scarlett’s life has intensified and hires investigator Philip Carmichael to find her. Philip tracks Scarlett down and the two begin the trek home. Along the way, shadowy hit men stalk them and Philip starts to fall for his charge. Meanwhile, Scarlett, who has grown accustomed to her independent and simple life in the forest, grapples with doubts about returning to a life constrained by social expectations and power, and prays for the strength to start anew. Despite some wooden exposition shoehorned into the dialogue, the narrative charms with its twists, turns, and wry fairy tale allusions. This has plenty of heart. (Dec.)

Reviewed on 09/13/2024 | Details & Permalink