⭐⭐⭐⭐ I’ll be honest—His Delightful Lady Delia (American Royalty #3) by Grace Hitchcock isn’t typically the kind of book I grab off the stack. Gilded Age romance with plenty of emotion? Not my usual lane. And yet… I ended up enjoying it more than I expected. After years as her temperamental mother’s understudy, Delia Vittoria finally steps into the spotlight when her diva mother loses her voice for good. Delia now stands center stage at the Academy of Music, which is locked in a fierce opera war with the flashy new Metropolitan Opera House. To save the Academy—and prove herself—she agrees to a risky scheme. Enter Kit Quincy, who is trying […]
Read more...Tag Archives: christian fiction
Family Secrets and Fresh Danger in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula
⭐⭐⭐⭐ This is classic Colleen Coble—fast-paced, layered with secrets, and set against a moody coastal backdrop that almost feels like another character. In Dark of Night, the second installment in the Annie Pederson series, Coble blends suspense, family drama, and a thread of faith into a story that kept me eagerly flipping pages. Annie’s life is already unraveling when a woman appears claiming to be Sarah—the sister abducted at age five twenty-four years ago. The emotional fallout is immediate. Can Annie risk believing her? And what will it mean for her eight-year-old daughter, Kylie, who senses more than Annie wants to admit? Add to that the unexpected return of Jon, Annie’s […]
Read more...
A Tender Story About Finding the Truth—and Where You Truly Belong
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ The Edge of Belonging by Amanda Cox completely won me over. This is a dual-timeline novel that centers on Ivy Rose, who returns to her hometown to handle her grandmother Pearl’s estate. What begins as a simple estate sale slowly opens the door to long-buried truths about Ivy’s adoption and the circumstances surrounding her birth. Some answers heal. Others hurt. All of them matter. Running alongside Ivy’s story is one set twenty-four years earlier, when Harvey James—a homeless man living on the margins—finds an abandoned newborn in the woods. That baby gives Harvey purpose and connection for the first time in his life. His love for her is fierce and pure, but […]
Read more...
Wingbeats, Secrets, and Second Chances on the Hudson
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Jocelyn Green’s The Hudson Collection scratched my bird-nerd itch in the best way. Set in 1926 New York, Elsa Reisner works in the ornithology department at the American Museum of Natural History and heads upstate to catalog explorer Linus Van Tessel’s vast bird collection. What sounds like a quiet assignment turns into a fight over a priceless aviary that Van Tessel’s wife willed to Danielle, the gardener’s young daughter—much to the dismay of Mr. Spalding, the heir who doesn’t think a child should inherit anything so valuable. The plot moves with a steady hum: hidden journals, a looming demolition deadline, and the search for the aviary keep the pages turning. As […]
Read more...
A Stellar Fifth Entry in Meyer’s Timeless World
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Gabrielle Meyer does it again. In Every Hour Until Then, the setup crackles, the stakes sting, and the clock never stops. In Every Hour Until Then, Kathryn Voland lives two lives—Victorian London in 1888 and pre–World War II Washington, D.C. in 1938. Gifted with the ability to time-cross, she’s torn between eras and destinies. In 1938, Kathryn is invited to London to curate a groundbreaking museum exhibit on Jack the Ripper. But as she digs into the Ripper’s reign of terror, she makes a chilling discovery—her own sister is destined to become his final victim decades earlier. Determined to rewrite fate, Kathryn crosses back to 1888 and joins forces […]
Read more...
A Spirited Girl with True Grit of Her Own
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Sandra Dallas once again brings the Old West to life in Tough Luck, a rollicking adventure filled with humor, grit, and heart. The story follows fourteen-year-old Haidie Richards, who escapes a dreary Illinois orphanage with her little brother, Boots, to search for their gold-mining father in Colorado. Disguised as a boy, Haidie joins a wagon train and sets off across dangerous territory, armed with more nerve than experience. Along the trail, she meets a colorful cast of characters—a kind freighter, a gambler with a soft spot, two feisty spinster sisters, and one loyal dog who might just steal the show. As Haidie learns to handle mules, men, and misfortune, […]
Read more...
Joseph’s Story, Told with Heart and Faith
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 Jill Eileen Smith’s The Prince and the Prodigal is a faithful retelling of one of the most beloved Old Testament stories. Joseph’s journey—from his brothers’ betrayal to his rise in Egypt—is familiar to many of us, but Smith keeps it fresh by adding depth and humanity without straying from Scripture. I especially appreciated how she balanced Joseph’s story with Judah’s, showing both men’s struggles and growth. The family dynamics feel real: the jealousy, guilt, and eventual forgiveness strike an emotional chord. Smith doesn’t reinvent the story (thankfully), but she does make these biblical figures relatable. Joseph’s resilience and trust in God are woven through every chapter, reminding readers that divine providence […]
Read more...
Murder, Secrets, and Baby Turtles on Jekyll Island
When your best friend who can’t swim suddenly drowns, you know something isn’t right. That’s exactly what sends hotel heiress Torie Bergstrom back to Georgia’s Jekyll Island in Colleen Coble’s A Stranger’s Game. Torie hasn’t been home since she was ten, but she’s the one who arranged her best friend Lisbeth’s job at one of the family’s properties. Now Lisbeth is dead, and Torie is convinced it wasn’t an accident. To get answers, she checks into the hotel under an alias, only to discover that danger is lurking much closer than she imagined. Her quest for the truth leads her straight into the path of Joe Abbott and his young […]
Read more...
Faith, Justice, and Second Chances in Guilty Until Innocent
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Second chances don’t usually come twenty-five years late, but that’s exactly what happens in Robert Whitlow’s Guilty Until Innocent. Ryan Clark, a young lawyer on shaky professional ground, takes a job with his cousin Tom in small-town North Carolina. Almost immediately, he’s pulled into revisiting one of Tom’s most painful cases: Joe Moore, convicted of murder decades earlier. Joe was high the night of the crime and doesn’t remember what happened, but he’s since become a man of faith with a ministry behind prison walls. His family has never stopped believing in his innocence, and now they want Ryan and Tom to prove it. The deeper they dig, the more […]
Read more...
Grief, Glitches, and a Message from the Beyond
⭐⭐⭐⭐ I Think I Was Murdered blends grief, tech, and suspense into a twisty, emotionally charged mystery. After her husband Brian dies, Katrina finds herself relying on a cutting-edge AI chatbot that mimics his personality and speech patterns. Built using Brian’s digital footprint—emails, texts, videos—it becomes her lifeline. She chats with “him” daily, unable to let go. But when the bot suddenly types the chilling sentence “I think I was murdered,” Katrina’s world is turned upside down. The concept is both eerie and fascinating. The bot isn’t just a gimmick—it’s Katrina’s crutch, a digital ghost she confides in, argues with, and leans on to cope with overwhelming loss. Her emotional dependency adds depth […]
Read more...