Basham’s latest thrilling historical mystery (after The Juliet Code) gets off to a crackling start when honeymooners stumble onto a crime scene that appears to implicate the bride’s sister. After British couple Frederick and Grace Astley visit Grace’s sister, Lillias, in America and find her standing over her husband’s dead body, Grace insists on her sister’s innocence. The investigation, though, turns up some suspicious information—including that her sister’s expensive tastes have left the family in debt, that her husband had a gambling habit, and that they’d been fighting. Meanwhile, other oddities crop up, including a mysterious figure spotted skulking around Lillias’s home, and an attack on Frederick and the cook that throws the house into disarray. Just as Lillias’s name is cleared, the sisters discover they’ve inherited a Scottish castle from a relative. Lillias heads abroad, praying for a fresh start. But when trouble follows her, it becomes increasingly clear she’s being targeted by bad actors who’ll stop at nothing to get her out of the picture—and that Grace and Lillias must work out why to keep her alive. Despite some confusing twists, readers will be drawn in by the propulsive plot and vivid backdrop enriched by bits of Scottish folklore. Spirited if slightly overcrowded, this is an adventure Basham’s fans will be glad to take. (July)

Reviewed on 04/11/2025 | Details & Permalink

Peterson revisits lawless late 19th-century Cheyenne, Wyo., in her propulsive follow-up to A Constant Love. Tragedy strikes for free spirit Emma Johnson, 27, when her Dallas wedding to affluent Tommy Benton is interrupted by a shooting that leaves her wounded and her husband-to-be dead. She journeys home to Cheyenne with her stepsister and stepmother, who try to help her heal and recapture her trust in God; meanwhile, an unexpected romance blooms with Tommy’s brother Colton, who accompanies her. But Colton doesn’t share Emma’s faith, and she’s suspicious that he might simply be after the stocks and other assets she inherited from Tommy. When Colton’s other brothers scheme to get the money back themselves, it looks increasingly unlikely that Colton and Emma’s relationship can get off the ground before it’s wrecked by greed and jealousy. Peterson effectively hooks the reader with the blunt force of the initial tragedy, before unspooling a thrilling and textured tale full of twists, lively romantic subplots, and colorful character work. Series fans will be delighted. (July)

Reviewed on 04/11/2025 | Details & Permalink

The stakes are high for a sheltered Amish woman who witnesses a murder in Shepard Gray’s thrilling follow-up to Unforgotten. When 23-year-old Stephanie Miller sees a teenage boy shoot an older man at her local Ohio dollar store, her life is upended. First, she’s grazed by the shooter’s second bullet, then whisked away by social worker Bev, who believes Stephanie’s at risk of gang retaliation and arranges for her to take refuge on Bev’s brother Hardy’s Kentucky ranch. Stephanie is terrified and feels abandoned by God, but gruff military veteran Hardy works hard to earn her trust. As each opens up about their own tragic backstory, their chemistry builds, and Stephanie starts to envision a life outside the Amish community. But the gang from Ohio hasn’t forgotten about her, and when threatening messages show up at the ranch, Hardy fears that even he might not be able to keep her safe. Readers will be drawn in by the propulsive action and stay for awkward yet lovable Stephanie’s character arc as she grapples with mounting threats while coming into her own and deciding what she wants for her future. This captivates from first page to last. (June)

Reviewed on 04/04/2025 | Details & Permalink

Bewitched treasure and buried secrets are unearthed in Griep’s exhilarating follow-up to Of Gold and Shadows. In late 19th century Britain, Eva Inman, 27, has had a lot weighing on her mind lately: after the recent death of her father, she’s been raising her blind sister, Penny, while trying to pay off the tax bill on their family estate. So when her farmhand Sinclair brings her an old, valuable-looking silver ring, she hopes it might be the answer to her money problems, though the part of the estate where it was found is rumored to be cursed. After traveling to a local university to price the ring, Eva teams up with childhood crush Bram Webb—now an archaeologist—to dig the supposedly cursed acres for more of what Bram believes might be valuable Roman relics. But when a series of bizarre accidents occur, Eva starts to question whether the curse is to blame or sinister forces closer to home are at play—and if so, who might be so set on sabotaging the dig. Snappy prose propels the twisty mystery at the story’s center, as sympathetic Eva struggles to make sense of her life and find strength from God to move beyond her past. The result is an adventure with gratifying depth. (June)

Reviewed on 03/28/2025 | Details & Permalink

Clipston (With This Ring) sets this charming romance against the idyllic backdrop of Coral Cove, N.C. After neonatal nurse Everleigh Harnett discovers she’s inherited half of her godmother’s North Carolina bed-and-breakfast, she’s surprised on returning to the coastal town to learn that brooding Cade Witherspoon—a mysterious man who used to work for her godmother—has inherited the other half. Everleigh wants to sell the property to fund a nonprofit, but Cade’s set on keeping the business running. Determined Everleigh moves into the inn in hopes of swaying Cade, but instead becomes enamored with him as he opens up about his troubled past in a fractured family. As Everleigh grapples with her own grief—and struggles to understand why her godmother wanted her to split the property with a stranger—she slowly chips away at guarded Cade’s emotional defenses, but when her efforts to help him mend fences with his family go too far and he withdraws, it looks like the budding romance and the inn’s future may be headed for ruin. Clipston builds the chemistry between gruff Cade and chipper, can-do Everleigh through a satisfying mix of flirty exchanges and revealing conversations as the two work to untangle their problems and, with the aid of their faith, find their way to one another. Readers won’t be able to resist this. (July)

Reviewed on 03/28/2025 | Details & Permalink

A cross-country road trip serves as the backdrop for a family’s reckoning in this tender contemporary from Brunsvold (The Divine Proverb of Streusel). When free-spirited Chloe Vance decides to leave her barista job to teach art at an elementary school in Prague, she knows she’s found her calling—just as she knows that her rigidly traditional mother, Edie, won’t see it that way. To warm Edie up to the idea, Chloe invites her on a cross-country road trip exploring sites from American literary history. Edie accepts on the condition that Chloe’s pragmatic older sister, Lauren, come along. Unbeknownst to Chloe, Lauren and Edie are both harboring secrets of their own: Lauren has been consumed by anxiety after a thoughtless mistake got her fired from her job, while Edie’s haunted by the recent death of her own emotionally distant mother. As their road trip reveals different sides to stories they thought they knew, it also allows the Vance women to imagine different sides to themselves—and, with the help of their faith, to repair their increasingly frayed relationships to one another. While the characters follow similar arcs, Brunsvold mostly overcomes that issue with expressive prose and a quietly stirring climax. Readers will be moved. (June)

Reviewed on 03/21/2025 | Details & Permalink

Connealy follows up Whispers of Fortune with a thrilling if overcrowded second Golden State Treasure romance. The story opens in the late 19th century as Tilda Muirhead arrives in California in search of brothers Thayne and Lochlan Mackenzie, two teenage orphans who’ve escaped her care in New York on a quest for a fabled family treasure. Tilda plans to stay at Two Harts Ranch as she searches for the boys in the forbidding Sierra Nevadas with help from handsome Josh Hart, one of the ranch’s proprietors. Those plans are upended, however, when a man shows up at the ranch claiming to be the brother that Tilda, who grew up in an orphanage, never knew she had but has been praying for as long as she can remember. After relating a shocking family history, he’s determined to bring Tilda back home to meet her father, but Josh isn’t so sure his motives are pure. The slow unfolding of Tilda’s backstory is captivating and effectively anchors the propulsive narrative, even if series newcomers risk getting lost in the rapid jumps between subplots. This will be best enjoyed by fans of book one. (June)

Reviewed on 03/21/2025 | Details & Permalink

A travel influencer discovers she can’t outrun her past in this cheery contemporary from Johnson (Meddling with Mistletoe). When Lucretia “Cretia” Martin visits picturesque Prince Edward Island, Canada, her plans to capture its stunning panoramasare dashed after she falls into the harbor she’s trying to photograph. Thankfully, she’s saved by local dog breeder Finn Chaffey and his huge, furry Newfoundland. All of her electronics have been destroyed, though, and as she waits for replacements to arrive, she comes to appreciate the island’s natural beauty thanks to gruff, kindhearted Finn, who shows her around. But the budding relationship isn’t without its problems—Lucretia is skittish about settling down, having been raised by a hoarder mother, while Finn’s torn about whether to continue running his family business. Cretia eventually leaves the island, and while the pair can’t stay away from each other for long, they’ll need to trust in God and one another if they’re ever to build a future together. While some of the exposition lacks subtlety, it’s a treat to watch the relationship between hyperconnected Cretia and old-school, flip phone–using Finn grow as the two sift through their pasts to discover they’re more similar than they’d originally believed. It’s a sweet story of opposites attracting. (May)

Reviewed on 03/14/2025 | Details & Permalink

An enterprising young socialite copes with the loss of her family’s fortune in the spirited kickoff to the Merriweather Academy for Young Ladies series from Turano (Meeting Her Match). Fresh off being publicly dumped by her fiancé, Drusilla Merriweather decides to open a finishing school in the Chicago castle she and her sister inherited from a wealthy aunt. The sisters almost immediately discover the castle comes riddled with problems—not only is it haunted by walking suits of armor, but shady developers from Chicago’s underworld who want to acquire the property. To put a stop to the threats, the gun-toting Merriweather women team up with handsome architect Rhennick Whittenbecker and Drusilla’s childhood friend Seraphina. Then Drusilla’s mother, Irma, reveals a shocking secret about the thief who stole the family’s money, which throws the Merriweather clan into danger and the sisters’ plans into disarray. To save the day, the sisters must rely on their wits and their faith. The spunky Merriweather women form the book’s irresistible heart as they defy 19th-century society’s expectations for unmarried women, all while keeping readers entertained with plenty of laugh-out-loud antics (some involving their army of pet ferrets). It’s a blast. (May)

Reviewed on 03/14/2025 | Details & Permalink

An aspiring wildlife photographer gets tangled up in an unexpected romance in the exciting National Parks Summers series opener from Fisher (A Healing Touch). Eager to move on from her ho-hum job as a zoo photographer, 20-year-old Kate Cunningham is thrilled to get a shot at photographing an endangered grizzly for National Geographic. But life in Grand Teton National Park isn’t all she’d hoped it would be—photographers jostle for shots, and tracking wild animals presents unexpected challenges, not least that the bear in question appears to be hibernating. Thankfully, gruff park ranger Coop is willing to help her out, and as they trek through the park together, a mutual attraction slowly builds—despite the fact that Kate’s no-good boyfriend Oliver is still in the picture. As Kate and Coop bond over their faith, Coop contends with scars wrought by an ex, and a nefarious plot involving a web of poachers unfolds in the shadows. The suspenseful plot is enriched by Kate’s satisfying personal evolution as she leaves behind her safe, predictable life to follow her passion. The result is a spirited outdoor adventure readers will be glad to take. (May)

Reviewed on 03/07/2025 | Details & Permalink