Finkbeiner (The Nature of Small Birds) tracks the quotidian lives of two sisters living in early 1950s suburban Detroit in this earnest but flawed outing. Bertha and Flossie Harding come from a seemingly quintessential American family: their older brother, Chip, lives nearby with his young wife; their English-born mother, Louisa, is now a proud, churchgoing American citizen; and their father, William, is a novelist. The girls also lead relatively humdrum lives: 16-year-old Bertha loves baseball and dreams of joining the local girls’ team, while bookworm Flossie’s being bullied at school. But when a neighbor accuses William of being a Communist, the girls’ social lives fall apart. The ostracization and nastiness from neighbors and former friends grow so extreme that the Hardings flee to the small town of Bear Run, Mich., to live with William’s brother. While there, the family attempts to shake off the accusations as Bertha pursues her baseball dreams and Flossie tries to make friends—but as things begin to look up, an accident unseats the girls’ lives and leaves the family unsure if they’ll recover. Finkbeiner probes some fascinating themes of the era, from McCarthyism to regressive gender roles, but a somewhat meandering plot progression and subpar character development can make things feel underbaked. This promising entry never quite hits its stride. (July)

Reviewed on 03/24/2023 | Details & Permalink

The feel-good latest from Hauck (You’ll Be Mine) follows four former best friends who find their way back to one another. Snow, Summer, Spring, and Autumn have been friends since kindergarten, when they met and dubbed their clique “the Seasons.” The summer before college, the four fill the nearby university swimming pool with car wash soap as a prank and are sent to Camp Tumbleweed to serve as counselors to complete a community service sentence. Meanwhile, each girl is caught at a tenuous personal crossroads: Summer struggles to find her place in a family that’s falling apart, Spring’s hiding a pregnancy, Autumn contends with debilitating anxiety, and Snow navigates the emotional aftermath of her older brother’s death. At the end of the summer, the four have a friendship-ending fight that lays bare the secrets they’ve been keeping. When Summer ends up back in Tumbleweed 20 years later, a friend calls the other three to return and mend things, though forgiving one another proves harder than anticipated—and will require some faith. While the four protagonists don’t always feel equally developed (Summer comes across most vividly), Hauck’s exploration of friendship, second chances, and faith is tender and often emotionally nuanced. It’s an undeniable heartwarmer. (June)

Reviewed on 03/24/2023 | Details & Permalink

Gabhart (When the Meadow Blooms) delivers an atmospheric romance set on an 1890s showboat with plenty of secrets below deck. When Jacci Reed was five years old, an unknown assailant tried to kidnap her in a violent altercation that left her mother gravely injured. Before dying, Jacci’s mother turned her over to her grandfather, larger-than-life showboat actor Tyrone Chesser. Fifteen years later, Jacci loves her life on the showboat, where she acts alongside her grandfather and flirts with Gabe, the captain’s son. But Jacci has some unresolved questions about her past, and oddities keep cropping up—her grandfather cautions her not to use her last name on the boat’s playbill; a woman who uncannily resembles Jacci attends a performance. Jacci’s grandfather fills in some blanks about her childhood, leaving her more confused than ever and concerned her very presence could endanger others on the boat. (Her shifting feelings for Gabe throw another wrench into the works.) Jacci must draw on her faith in God to peel back the layers of the mystery of her past and find happiness. Supported by a cast of winning characters, this well-wrought mystery skillfully builds intrigue and doesn’t let up steam till the satisfying conclusion. Readers will be hooked. (May)

Reviewed on 03/24/2023 | Details & Permalink

In this lackluster mystery from Whitlow (Relative Justice), a pastor gets drawn into the orbit of a fractious, resentful couple with some troubling secrets. Matt and Elena Thompson’s luxury lifestyle might look enviable—big house, designer clothes—but marital troubles lurk beneath the surface, as do money problems and suspicions of infidelity. As the couple turns to pastor Connor Grantham for marriage counseling, Elena privately seeks legal advice in case things unravel—and her meeting with an attorney turns up some questionable details. A few weeks later, Matt is killed in what’s ostensibly a hunting accident. Connor becomes a person of interest because of his presence nearby at the time of Matt’s death, stirring up problems for him at the church where he pastors, and leaving him and Elena to clear his name. While fans of Christian inspirational thrillers will find plenty to enjoy (including a few biblical parables), the uneven pacing and lack of tension make this tough to stick with. Readers won’t miss much by taking a pass. (June)

Correction: An earlier version of this review contained an incorrect plot point.

Reviewed on 03/10/2023 | Details & Permalink

Impoverished siblings struggle to overcome a troubled past in this suspenseful entry from Linder (Beneath His Silence). Heath and Nan Duncan have been abandoned by their father, abused by the caretaker he entrusted them to, and forced to survive on the grimy streets of early-1800s London off bits of bread. The siblings are separated after Nan is hit by a carriage driven by well-to-do Frederick Stanhope and is taken in by his family, while Heath finds refuge living with a rector. Nan and Frederick search for Heath, but he’s resolved to never contact his sister out of fear that he’d interfere with her new life. Several years later, Heath and Nan’s father resurfaces and reunites with his children, only to push Nan to marry the moneyed Lord Humphries, whom she doesn’t love, and pressure Heath into learning a trade rather than working at the rectory. As the two try to follow their father’s wishes, a slew of troubling incidents—a slaughtered cat, a fire, eventually more dire crimes—pile up, and the two work to surmount the hurdles and find their own happiness. The plot is full of intrigue, and it’s anchored by complicated characters whose secrets are slowly, carefully revealed. Readers will be hooked. (Apr.)

Reviewed on 03/10/2023 | Details & Permalink

In her nail-biting latest, Reay (The London House) toggles between the lives of mother and daughter spies. In 1944, Ingrid Bauer is living in Nazi-occupied Vienna when her parents are killed by the SS for working for the British Foreign Service. Heartbroken, Ingrid remains in Vienna and in 1954 marries a Soviet embassy worker. The two soon relocate to Moscow, where Ingrid begins to worry her husband is a KGB officer as she takes stock of his suspicious behavior many friends who are affiliated with the agency. After she becomes a mother, though, she sets out to create a freer world for her daughter and contacts her parents’ MI6 connections with an offer to spy. In 1980, Anya Kadinova is attending Georgetown University as part of the Foreign Studies Initiative. Upon returning to Moscow, she pines for her American boyfriend and, disillusioned by being surveilled by the KGB, becomes a CIA operative. After securing a job as an engineer reporting to the Soviet Minister of Defense, she funnels weapons intel to the U.S. As the two pursue their missions (Ingrid’s continues into the 1980s) they must draw on faith and bravery to evade Soviet clutches, and Anya dreams of reuniting with her love. Reay builds a immersive world behind the Iron Curtain, full of competing loyalties and a constant, chilling sense of paranoia. Readers will be enthralled. (June)

Reviewed on 02/24/2023 | Details & Permalink

In this tour de force from Brotherton (A Bright and Blinding Sun) and Lee (A Single Light), four friends’ lives change irrevocably when America becomes embroiled in WWII. In 1930s Mobile, Ala., preacher’s son Jimmy Propfield shares an idyllic upbringing with childhood sweetheart Claire Crockett and her younger brother Billy. Hank Wright soon enters their circle, and the four become inseparable as they grow up. But as high school graduation approaches, Jimmy wrestles with uncertainty about his future, and though he’s expected by his father to attend seminary, he’s driven by faith—and a telegram with shocking news——to enlist with Billy and Hank. (He’s also eager to create distance from Claire, with whom his relationship has fractured.) The three are assigned to the Thirty-First Infantry in Manila, which at first seems like a paradise. But things become dire after the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor and the boys are taken prisoners of war, beginning a 60-mile march up the Bataan Peninsula to camps where unbelievable horrors await. They struggle to survive and return home, where Jimmy hopes to reunite with Claire. Brotherton and Lee masterfully capture what it was like for soldiers to face war’s atrocities, as well as the heartbreak of those waiting for them back home. This is a winner. (May)

Reviewed on 02/24/2023 | Details & Permalink

In this charming Regency romance from LeCheminant (Love in Disguise), a woman assumes a false identity to flee an unwanted suitor. It’s 1815, and Lucy is en route to a new governess job with her friend Rebecca when a storm forces them to stop overnight at an inn. Inside they’re horrified to discover Jonathan Granger, the brother of Lucy’s former employer, who’s relentlessly pursued her hand in marriage for the past five years. William Calloway, a kind stranger, lets the women stay in his room by pretending Lucy is his wife, and after he’s stricken with a fever, Lucy and Rebecca accompany him to his family’s estate. The Calloways, meanwhile, have gotten word that William is returning with his “betrothed.” After Lucy learns Granger has hatched a plan to “carry her away,” the women decide to keep up the ruse for their safety. Things get complicated when William’s older brother Simon returns home. He and Lucy are drawn to each other but try to resist the attraction as Lucy maintains her cover and works to maintain faith to survive. Though the plot can feel rushed, LeCheminant excels at writing snappy dialogue, and the budding romance between Lucy and Simon is a delight to read. LeCheminant’s fans will enjoy this fun romp. (May)

Reviewed on 02/24/2023 | Details & Permalink

Hannon (Sea Glass Cottage) returns to Oregon in this upbeat installment to the Hope Harbor series involving a haunted house and a redemptive romance. Reeling from a recent breakup and the loss of her job as an events planner, Ashley Scott needs a new project, so she takes a cross-country trip from Tennessee to scout out a 1910 Queen Anne Victorian whose eccentric owner, Rose Fitzgerald Warner, has decided to use it as an event space to earn extra money. Despite rumors of ghost sightings, Ashley joins forces with Rose to become the house’s co-owner, and the two move forward with a renovation plan. Ashley also meets Jon Gray, a local landscaper and wounded veteran. Jon’s lonely, fears women can’t get past his severely scarred appearance, and has lost faith in God. Ashley hires him to work on the property’s grounds, and as they restore the property, an attraction builds. Meanwhile, Jon struggles to regain his faith, and the two get closer to uncovering the house’s secrets. Hannon’s nuanced character development and snappy pacing make this tale of second chances a pure delight. Readers will eagerly turn pages until the satisfying close. (Apr.)

Reviewed on 02/24/2023 | Details & Permalink

In this zippy outing from McKnight (All She Dreamed), a humiliated social media influencer rediscovers her roots. Minutes before a planned vow renewal ceremony, beauty influencer Casey’s husband informs her he’s divorcing her. She takes to Instagram to vent via live video and lashes out at her followers. After the clip goes viral, she takes a cousin’s advice and travels to South Carolina, where she hopes to connect with her extended family. In Georgetown, S.C., Casey meets her 99-year-old grandmother Ma Black, along with the handsome Nigel, who manages the family’s farm. Ma Black shares the family history, from Casey’s great-grandfather’s enslavement to his emancipation and eventual purchase of the land that became the Black farm. While Casey grieves the end of her marriage, her family history puts her problems in perspective. (She also grows close with Nigel.) But when a career opportunity brings her back to New York City, Casey must reevaluate her priorities, relying on her grandmother’s faith as a guide. McKnight lays out some vivid low country history, and her fully realized characters—especially Casey and her sometimes superficial, sometimes serious trials—ring true. This is perfect for fans of Natasha D. Frazier and Pat Simmons. (May)

Reviewed on 02/10/2023 | Details & Permalink