Angelo (Hunting the Witness) kicks off the King Legacy series with a propulsive if crowded thriller about a former CIA agent grappling with her past. Luna Rosati has just returned to her hardscrabble hometown of Millie Beach, S.C., in search of the daughter she gave up as a troubled 18-year-old. She’s hoping to ask her former mentor, a detective named Stryker, for help, but before she can, he’s abducted from a local diner in broad daylight. Luna reluctantly teams up with her ex, police officer Corbin King, to search for Stryker and the police commissioner’s daughter, who disappeared six weeks earlier. Soon, Luna learns that a local girl from a rehabilitation program for troubled teens has also gone missing. Believing that this girl might be her long-lost daughter, Luna begins to suspect that all three disappearances are linked. As Luna and Corbin’s investigation brings them to the center of an organ trafficking ring, they struggle to summon the faith it will take to get to the bottom of the case and decide whether they can start over again as a couple. While the many plot threads sometimes become tangled, Angelo’s tenacious leads and zippy prose keep the pages turning. Fans of Lynette Eason and Melissa Koslin should take note. (Sept.)

Reviewed on 11/14/2025 | Details & Permalink

Connealy (Riches Beyond Measure) kicks off the Rocky Mountain Marshal series with a captivating historical set in the unforgiving landscape of the late-19th-century West. The action opens with a group of U.S. marshals transporting Clive Duncan, an escaped prisoner, to Cheyenne, Wyo., along with 20-something siblings Delaney and Boone Bridger, who joined the party after their train headed west failed to arrive. Clive’s outlaw family ambushes the party, killing the youngest marshal and wounding Boone and Clive, who escapes. Several marshals set out to recapture Clive and apprehend his family, but when disaster strikes, Marshal Tex Mitchel and Clive’s sister, Stella Duncan, wind up lost in the wilderness together. Meanwhile, Marshal Owen Riley works to lead Delaney and her brother to their destination. As the three fight their way through treacherous conditions, Owen can’t help but admire Delaney’s shooting skills and independent spirit, and wonders if God might be telling him it’s time to settle down. Connealy starts things out with a bang and keeps her foot on the gas all the way through. The large cast can be hard to keep track of, but their dilemmas leave plenty of loose threads for the sequel. Fast-paced and textured, this will please Connealy’s fans and newcomers alike. (Feb.)

Reviewed on 11/21/2025 | Details & Permalink

Deceit, blackmail, and fraud stir up trouble for a portfolio manager in Delano’s suspenseful debut. Meredith Hansel has just launched two funds that have brought in record-breaking windfalls for her clients. But no sooner has she reached the apex of her career than all the plates she’s been spinning start to fall and shatter. Her trusted sales manager, Betsey, slips Meredith a thumb drive with what appears to be proprietary data, gets fired, and then repeatedly trespasses her home and office. Meanwhile, Meredith’s marriage is crumbling and her withdrawn, mercurial teen daughter appears to be living a hidden life. When her family’s garage and car are defaced, Meredith must trust in God and herself to uncover who’s hell-bent on destroying her and why. While financial jargon saps some of the suspense, Delano vividly depicts a cutthroat financial industry where greed and out-of-check egos fuel mistrust and misdeeds, and she slowly raises the stakes as danger closes in on Meredith from all sides. It adds up to a tense, gripping thrill ride from a promising new author. (Jan.)

Reviewed on 11/21/2025 | Details & Permalink

Hedlund (A Wager with the Matchmaker) concludes the Shanahan Match series with a fun mid-19th-century romance between a handsome matchmaker and a fiery author. Zaira Shanahan, the middle daughter of a wealthy St. Louis family, secretly writes romances under the pseudonym K.S. Flanders. When her editor challenges her to add more emotional depth to her novels, she turns to local matchmaker Bellamy McKenna for some hands-on kissing experience. In return, she promises to help Bellamy find a match for the daughter of a demanding senator. Zaira holds up her part of the deal, but Bellamy backs out for fear of stoking the attraction he already feels. When Zaira rashly kisses Bellamy in public, they decide to fake a courtship to quiet the rumors. Real feelings ignite, but Bellamy’s all too aware that the matchmakers in his family are doomed to end up in dead-end marriages, and Zaira doubts that a relationship begun in deceit can turn into true love. Both must look to their faith for the strength to be honest with their loved ones and themselves. The flirty banter between the leads enhances the romantic tension, and the vivid backdrop of 19th-century St. Louis in the midst of a cholera epidemic adds texture. It makes for a sweet and satisfying historical spin on the fake-dating trope. (Feb.)

Reviewed on 11/21/2025 | Details & Permalink

A wallflower and a former hockey star are thrown together for this charming second-chance romance from Shiloh (In Search of a Prince). Val Elliot, the obedient middle daughter of a family that owns a sports agency, has spent her life making everyone happy but herself. When a client encourages her to go on a Valentine’s Day blind date, Val’s surprised to find herself out with Jabari Hall, a handsome pro hockey player who also happens to be her older sister’s ex. Thirty-three and facing the end of his career after a brain injury left him with macular degeneration, Jabari finds comfort in Val’s faith. Meanwhile, Val wrestles with guilt over betraying her sister even as Jabari teaches her to seek her own happiness over her family’s approval. As their connection deepens, both question their feelings; Val fears she’s a stand-in for the career Jabari has lost and Jabari worries he’s Val’s latest charity case. When the attraction becomes harder to ignore, the pair must navigate family tensions, insecurities, and a few other curveballs before starting a future together. The sweet central love story gains welcome depth from the sensitive portrayal of Jabari’s disability and Shiloh’s nuanced exploration of faith as both a comfort and a challenge. Fans of Emma St. Clair should snap this up. (Feb.)

Reviewed on 11/21/2025 | Details & Permalink

A mystery centering a shady stalker unfolds against a Regency England backdrop in the captivating latest from Griep (Of Silver and Secrets). Juliet Finch has been in dire financial straits since her father died a few years ago, and she now relies on poaching game to feed herself along with her aunt and uncle. When Henry Russell, who’s caring for the local Bedford Manor in his father’s absence, catches Juliet shooting birds on estate property, he decides to use her skills to hunt down his sister Charity’s stalker. The attraction between Juliet and Henry is instantaneous as they team up to search for the offender, but Juliet’s been burned by men before and is slow to trust. When Juliet is framed for a crime and Henry fails to defend her, she’s left on her own to find the target before it’s too late—and must decide whether she can start anew with Henry and restore the faith that’s been eroded by years of poverty. Griep masterfully conjures a dark, uneasy atmosphere as the threats against Charity and Juliet grow increasingly dire, while the chemistry between rule-following Henry and feisty Juliet adds energy. Fans of clean historical fiction will be swept up. (Feb.)

Reviewed on 11/14/2025 | Details & Permalink

Witemeyer (To Love a Beast) kicks off The Secret Society of Spinsters series with a lively late-19th-century romance between a woman spearheading a local temperance movement and an ambitious policeman. Noreen O’Sullivan, 27, grew up with a troubled alcoholic father and is determined to marshal the Secret Society of Spinsters, a group dedicated to protecting single women in their small Texas town, to shut down the local saloon. When a fight breaks out between Noreen and the saloon owner, deputy James Paxton intervenes. He’s struck by his attraction to the feisty woman, but he’s running for sheriff and he worries a relationship with her might cost him the town’s male vote. As Noreen picks James’s brain about persuading people to join her cause, both open up about their pasts, and James can’t help but admire Noreen’s fierce faith. When a fit of rage overtakes her during a temperance march and her actions turn criminal, however, he worries she’s becoming too much of a liability to take a risk with—and that her volatility might also hamper the success of her cause. Witemeyer’s prose is propulsive and the chemistry between her leads is palpable as they struggle to balance their deepest values with the possibility of a relationship. Fans of clean historical romance should snap this up. (Feb.)

Reviewed on 11/07/2025 | Details & Permalink

Kaufman crafts a rich backstory for the biblical Salome, mother of the apostles John and James, with the thrilling latest in the Women of the Way Series (after Before the King). Set along the banks of the Gennesaret River in first-century Israel, the novel follows Salome from her childhood as the only daughter of a widowed stonemason. With her sharp tongue and wild spirit, she’s dismissed by her fellow villagers as unmarriageable, but her father sees in her the potential to become the mother of “mighty men.” After falling in love with a fisherman, she raises John and James amid the social unrest stirred up by Roman control of Judaea. Rumors start to spread of a carpenter’s son from Nazareth baptizing followers in the name of God, and then her sons commit to following the new prophet. Salome is caught at the center of a divided community and must decide whether to also devote herself to the charismatic preacher. Kaufman vividly evokes the chaos of an ancient Israel torn apart by religious and political strife and draws out the emotional stakes of discipleship as Jesus challenges everything Salome once thought to be true. The result is a unique and captivating resurrection of a little-known woman of scripture. (Jan.)

Reviewed on 11/07/2025 | Details & Permalink

Long-lost childhood sweethearts reunite amid the chaos of WWI in this heartrending historical romance from Camden (Women of Midtown). Delia Byrne and Finn Delaney grew up together in a Manhattan orphanage, flying kites and dreaming of escape—until a betrayal from Finn tears them apart. Ten years later, in 1917, their paths cross at the Commission for Relief of Belgium, where principled pacifist Delia and dashing war hero Finn raise money for the citizens of occupied Belgium. Bumpy history aside, they can’t help but feel a spark reignite as they work together and bond over the faith that’s helped them navigate the war. The action picks up when Finn’s drawn back to Belgium to free the captured woman who’d once saved him from imprisonment. After the mission goes awry, Delia might be the only person who knows enough to rescue him from German hands—but will lingering distrust dash their chances of a future together? Rich historical detail enlivens the plot, but it’s the opposites-attract love story between risk-taker Finn and cautious Delia that will keep readers turning pages. Camden’s fans will be swept up. (Jan.)

Reviewed on 11/07/2025 | Details & Permalink

Sundin follows up Midnight on the Scottish Shore with another riveting WWII romance. With her father serving as a medic on the Allied front lines, Ivy Picot manages the family’s medical practice on the German-occupied Channel Islands off the coast of Normandy alongside her older sister Fern and younger brother Charlie. When Ivy first lays eyes on Gerrit van der Zee at church, she’s convinced she’s meant to spend her life with him—until she notices his German uniform. What she doesn’t know is that Gerrit’s an undercover member of the Dutch resistance who smuggles Nazi maps to Allied forces. Gradually, Ivy comes to recognize Gerrit’s goodness, especially after he procures much-needed insulin for her patients. Still, tensions run high between the pair and at the medical practice as Ivy covertly treats patients who’ve escaped from German prisons on the islands. Things reach a boiling point when Fern starts dating a German soldier—a betrayal that threatens the success of the medical practice and may cost Ivy, Charlie, and Gerrit their lives. Sundin’s fast-moving plot is enriched by Ivy and Gerrit’s poignant struggles to reconcile their faith with the chaos unfolding around them. Fans of clean historical fiction won’t want to put this down. (Feb.)

Reviewed on 10/31/2025 | Details & Permalink