Bostrom (Sugar Birds) transports readers to rural Washington State in this evocative if unsteady tale of truth, memory, and moving forward. Biologist Hildy Nybo hides beneath her polished exterior a lifelong struggle with amnesia, which she manages by collecting daily mementos and avoiding the childhood home where her struggles began. When a new job on Washington’s Elwha River forces Hildy to return to the fishing resort where she was raised, she’s more determined than ever to hold tightly to her fragile memory—and keep her imperfections hidden from everyone around her. Things get complicated when she meets Luke Rimmer, a good-hearted carpenter whose faith makes Hildy tempted to discard her mementos and open up to the world. But as Hildy spearheads an ambitious project to return the Elwha River to its former glory, the insights her work reveals about her childhood risk closing her off to Luke—and her faith—altogether. Though the novel is brightened by lush, atmospheric landscape descriptions, Bostrom’s reliance on plot contrivances and rigid exposition may leave readers feeling disconnected from the story and its otherwise appealing characters. It’s a mixed bag. (Aug.)

Reviewed on 06/20/2025 | Details & Permalink

A bride-to-be plans her Christmas wedding while hot on the trail of the arsonist who could’ve ruined it in this cheerful cozy from Thompson (Gone Fishing). When a fire sweeps across Texas, it threatens to destroy 27-year-old RaeLyn Hadley’s family farm, where her nuptials are set to take place. Luckily, the property is spared. Then rumors circulate that the blaze was deliberately set, and enterprising RaeLyn—who’s also a part-time reporter for the local paper—begins zeroing in on potential suspects. Among them is landowner Buck Adler, who has said he would rather burn his property to the ground than have it seized by the powerful oil company that’s after him, and twins Karter and Keener Oberdeen, who miraculously escaped the blaze by taking refuge in a pond, and whose stories don’t quite add up. As the wedding draws closer and RaeLyn is seemingly no closer to identifying the culprit, she grapples with what it means to trust her neighbors and follow God’s will through life’s ups and downs. Readers will have no problem cheering for the upbeat and relatable RaeLyn, and the mystery is nicely balanced with gentle humor and poignant moments between RaeLyn and her family. It makes for a sweet and festive treat. (Sept.)

Reviewed on 06/20/2025 | Details & Permalink

Klassen (The Seaside Homecoming) concludes the On Devonshire Shores series with a delightfully festive Regency romance. Sarah Summers has been pining over handsome Scottish widower Callum Henshall since he first stayed at her family’s Sidmouth guesthouse a year ago. So when he shows up with his teenage daughter around Christmastime, it feels like fate has answered her prayers. Still, the reignited romance isn’t without its challenges; Sarah, who would have to move to Scotland to be with Callum, feels duty-bound to keep running the family guesthouse, especially now that her tenderhearted mother, whose own health soon takes a turn for the worse, has welcomed a needy orphan into their home. As Sarah vacillates between starting anew and staying put, she turns to God to understand how to balance love and duty. Meanwhile, Callum struggles to reclaim a faith that’s been nearly destroyed by his wife’s death. Series fans will appreciate the reappearance of the lovable cast of characters, and it’s gratifying to watch the two wounded souls at the book’s center haltingly work their way toward love. This ties up the series with a sweet and satisfying bow. (Sept.)

Reviewed on 06/20/2025 | Details & Permalink

An ex-pageant queen discovers beauty is more than skin-deep in the sweet if unsubtle latest from Smith (Songs for a Sunday). Thirty-seven-year-old former beauty queen Della Rose Miller flees an unhappy marriage for her ho-hum North Carolina hometown of Flatsboro. There, she runs into Andy Clark, a former friend whom Della Rose was forced to reject in elementary school because her superficial father thought associating with him would ruin her pageant dreams. Andy, a lifelong Flatsboro resident, now spends his days stocking the town’s food pantry and quietly ticking off items on his “do-good” list—until he saves a child from an accident and earns recognition from the entire community. As Della Rose begins to see Andy in a new light, she’s inspired by his faith to grapple with her own challenges, including her stalker ex (“If Andy Clark could forgive her for what she’d done to him and be such a good and giving person... maybe there was something to the God he claimed”). While Smith’s beauty-is-on-the-inside message can be too on-the-nose, readers seeking a touching story of faith and redemption won’t be able to resist the heartwarming friendship at the novel’s center. It’s a tender ode to small-town morals and second chances. (Sept.)

Reviewed on 06/20/2025 | Details & Permalink

A middle-aged woman finds a new appreciation for the holiday season in the charming latest from Carlson (Welcome to the Honey B&B). Despite being born on Christmas Day, 40-year-old Carol Langstrom has dreaded the holiday ever since she was a girl and her family’s yuletide gatherings were marred by her parents’ blowouts. Eager for a fresh start, she decides to spend Christmas in the Bahamas, but when a blizzard scrambles those plans and strands her in snowy Michigan, she’s forced to take refuge at her estranged aunt’s farm. Carol’s frustration at missing her vacation quickly evaporates as she bonds with her sweet aunt Maria, who’s recently broken her arm and needs help decorating her house and planning the local Christmas Cotillion. It doesn’t hurt that Maria’s attractive, charming neighbor Victor is on hand to help set up their Christmas tree and cook. As Carol grows closer to her aunt and uncovers more about how her mother’s relationship with Maria fractured, she struggles to forgive her mom and embrace the Christmas season. Carlson’s gentle humor and quirky, lovable characters have more than enough charm to propel the plot to its feel-good conclusion. Readers won’t be able to resist this. (Sept.)

Reviewed on 06/06/2025 | Details & Permalink

Barnett follows up Beyond the Ashes with a gripping tale of twisted family bonds set in Utah’s Zion National Park. In 1948, park ranger Henry Eriksson is reeling from the death of his infant son when he discovers a baby boy on the banks of the Virgin River, which runs through the park. Initially determined not to get attached to the “Zion foundling,” Henry embarks on a fruitless search for the baby’s mother. Eventually, he allows himself to hope the child might be his and his wife’s second chance at parenthood. Three years later, the Erikssons are settling in as “Billy’s” parents when a reporter draws a link between the child’s appearance in the park and a newborn’s kidnapping from a Salt Lake City hospital. As the missing child’s parents take an interest in Billy and Henry’s wife Alma uncovers a damning piece of evidence, the Erikssons must contemplate what it would mean to lose a second child—and what they’re willing to do to keep him. A second story line unfolds in the present as the Erikssons’ great-granddaughter Talia takes a DNA test on a lark and ends up unseating everything the family knows about their heritage. The historical narrative unspools slowly on the way to a rewarding climax that touches on faith, the ties that bind families, and the profound, far-reaching effects of the secrets they keep. Readers will be swept up. (Sept.)

Reviewed on 06/06/2025 | Details & Permalink

Shocklee (All We Thought We Knew) unspools a gripping dual-timeline historical centered on the Manhattan Project. In 1944, Mae Willet lands a job as a maintenance clerk at the Clinton Engineer Works in Oak Ridge, Tenn., a secret arm of the Manhattan Project that enriches uranium. Mae and other administrative workers are kept in the dark about the plant’s purpose and barred from disclosing anything about their work to others. After her roommate and coworker, Sissy, starts dating a suspicious man, Mae and Sissy get embroiled in a plot that involves split allegiances, government secrets, arson, and possibly worse. In 1979, PhD student Laurel Willet travels to Tennessee to interview her aunt Mae as part of her doctoral thesis on the Manhattan Project. Aunt Mae is unwilling to talk, but Laurel is determined to uncover her role at Oak Ridge—especially after finding the ID badge of another Oak Ridge employee in Mae’s old things—and help Mae find healing through God. Shocklee’s sympathetic characters add plenty of depth to the action-packed plot, and the atmospheric renderings of an anxious wartime America are especially vivid. Fans of Christian historicals will be captivated from first page to last. (Sept.)

Reviewed on 05/30/2025 | Details & Permalink

Pastor Jeremiah (The Coming Golden Age) makes his fiction debut with a gripping ride through endtimes-inspired chaos. U.S. Army major general John Haggerty heads a task force charged with containing the spread of deadly global viruses. As deaths linked to a new coronavirus spike, he heads to Crete and then Italy, where he focuses on implementing a quarantine—and reconnecting with his adult daughter, Sonya, with whom he’s had a strained relationship since splitting from her mother 16 years ago. After an earthquake hits and traps the two in a cave, Haggerty opens up about the real reason the marriage fell apart, revealing in the process devastating truths about Sonya’s dead brother. Just as their relationship starts to heal, they make it out of the cave and learn the virus has spread beyond the containment zone, multiple international conflicts have broken out, and fears of World War III are on the rise. As Haggerty works with international governments to contain the spread, he grapples with his damaged faith and weighs his responsibilities to his wife, his daughter, and his mission. Jeremiah makes good use of today’s social and political turmoil to fuel a propulsive plot amplified by plenty of emotional conflict, and leaves a few threads dangling for future installments. Readers will want to dive right in. (July)

Reviewed on 05/30/2025 | Details & Permalink

In this energetic historical, Cambron (The Italian Ballerina) whisks readers along on a woman’s harrowing quest to track down her soldier brother in WWII France. It’s 1943, and Kat Harris is content repairing cars in her late father’s auto shop when her brother Gavin enlists in the army. After months go by with no word from Gavin, Kat receives a mysterious letter inviting her to join the same “subversive operation,” headed by the U.S. Office of Strategic Services, that he was supposedly a part of. Kat joins the mission, which brings her to France, where she poses as a chef at a chateau frequented by powerful Nazis. By war’s end, she still hasn’t reconnected with her brother, but she retains an uncanny faith that he’s still alive—and when she meets Julia Child in a French cooking class after the war, new clues emerge that might help her unravel the mystery. Kat’s multiple code names can be difficult to keep straight, but Cambron paints a textured portrait of wartime France, balancing action-packed scenes with entertaining appearances from Julia Child and mouthwatering descriptions of French cuisine. The author’s fans are sure to savor this. (Aug.)

Reviewed on 05/23/2025 | Details & Permalink

Powner (Where the Blue Sky Begins) unfolds a complex and resonant tale of redemption and forgiveness. Twenty-four-year-old Tad Bungley has blown every job he’s had in the past five years, but he’s committed to making a go of his new gig on Anita and Dan Wilson’s ranch. When an ex-girlfriend drops off a three-month-old daughter he didn’t know about, Tad’s more determined than ever to keep the job, but he still manages to attract trouble—especially since dangerous incidents keep befalling Sam, the Wilsons’ intellectually disabled adult son whom Tad is meant to be caring for. Scarred by his acrimonious relationship with his alcoholic father, Tad is grateful for the Wilsons’ forgiveness, especially after accidentally letting Sam get drunk on his watch. But as tensions rise on the ranch, thanks in part to a secret scheme taking shape in one of the Wilsons’ sheds, the characters must lean on their faith in God to survive and see the good in one another. Powner vividly conveys her characters’ moral complexities—even Tad’s father has his moments—though a few threads are left dangling at the novel’s end. The result is a stirring testament to the power of hope in dark times. (Aug.)

Reviewed on 05/23/2025 | Details & Permalink