Category: Book Review

19 September 2022

Book Review | Flight (Collective Underground #3) by Kristen Young

I read an early draft of Flight several years ago. I very much enjoyed the story, but found parts of it confusing, as it felt like I’d been dropped in the middle of something bigger with no idea what the character’s history was. Kristen Young took that feedback on board, and wrote Apprentice and Elite. The characters now feel much more rounded, and the story is stronger for it.

If you haven’t read Apprentice and Elite, I recommend you do.

Otherwise, you’ll probably find Flight as confusing as I did the first time around.

This time, the whole story made a lot more sense because I had the background. Apprentice Kerr Flick (aka Cadence) is only weeks away from graduation when what seemed like a random assignment reveals information that could get her killed. Cadence escapes, but will the Muse protect her and help her find refuge, or will her enemies betray her and get her killed?

Flight picks up where Elite left off, but picks up both the pace and the tension. the story moves quickly (which is why it’s advisable to read the earlier stories first). Cadence is thrown into new situations where she comes face to face with an old enemy and has to figure out who to trust. Her life depends on making the right decision. And I don’t want to say any more because of potential spoilers.

The Collective Underground trilogy has strong underlying Christian themes.

The Muse is clearly the Holy Spirit, and the songs Cadence is tasked with remembering are the scriptures. At least, that’s obvious to me, reading as a Christian. Science fiction and fantasy novels often build their own religion, so a nonChristian reader might think the Muse and the songs are simply the religion created for the story. But I hope they’ll be able to see the underlying allegory.

Kristen Young has created a fascinating and scarily believable dystopian society in which children are raised in government-run dormitories which make the average prison look welcoming and flexible. The children then graduate to participate in a society where citizens are encouraged by their leaders (called “Lovers”) to turn in anyone they suspect of being a “Hater”. It’s a twisted system of doublethink that’s rather Orwellian.

The trilogy is unique in Christian fiction, and recommended for fans of Divergent, The Hunger Games, or similar Young Adult titles with dystopian themes.

Thanks to Enclave Publishing for providing a free ebook for review.

About Kristen Young

Kristen Young was born (and spent a memorable first few months of her life) in the UK, grew up in Sydney, but now lives in the Central West of NSW with her husband, three children, and slightly neurotic dog. She has been involved in church-based ministry for over 20 years, and loves helping people of any age to see how awesome Jesus is.

Kristen has had a number of books published, beginning with The Survival Guide series of devotions for teens. What if? Dealing with Doubt is a book for anyone from high school age onward, and aims to help anyone struggling with doubts about God, Jesus, or faith. In more recent years she has been writing fiction. Apprentice is her first published novel.

Find Kristen Young online at:

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About Flight

The fight for what is right is also a fight to survive

On the cusp of graduation, Cadence is finally feeling in control. She’s about to become one of the prestigious Elites working in the Hall of Love. Plus she can take her place as a full member of the underground Sirens who meet secretly in Love City. She’ll finally be able to use her memory skills for good, instead of reporting people as a Watcher.

But a dangerous trap is set, throwing Cadence into unwelcome and unfamiliar territory. Someone in the Collective remembers things that could very well get her killed. The Muse is by her side, after all, but will she be protected when someone powerful wants her dead?

Cadence just wants to be normal, free from politics or squad intimidation. Will she be able to achieve her Elite dreams, or will sinister forces leave her running for her life?

Find Flight online at:

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12 September 2022

Book Review | To Win a Prince by Toni Shiloh

To Win a Prince is the sequel to In Search of a Prince, and is Toni Shiloh’s second romance set in the fictional island nation of Ọlọrọ Ilé, off the coast of Africa. To Win a Prince is a standalone romance, and you don’t have to have read In Search of A Prince to read this, although it will introduce the main characters and some of the background.

We met both the main characters in In Search for a Prince.

Fashion designer Iris Blakely is the best friend of Bri, the new Queen of Ọlọrọ Ilé, and is starting her own fashion label to employ local women and help lift them out of poverty.

Prince Ekon Diallo was found guilty of conspiring to undermine the line of succession to the throne. His punishment is to be stripped of his title and to undertake community service.

It’s always a challenge for a writer to take the antagonist from one novel and turn that character into a sympathetic hero in the next in the series, and to make that believable for the reader. Toni Shiloh has done an excellent job of that with Ekon, and it’s a definite strength of the novel.

What I liked most was the fact Iris and Ekon had a relationship of equals.

Iris is an intelligent and independent woman, but one who recognises her limitations. Ekon, despite his arrogance and life of privilege, does have valuable information to contribute to Iris’s business. Equally, Ekon also has limitations, and learns to ask for help. That’s a solid foundation for a lasting relationship, and it’s good to see.

Another strength was the natural way faith and prayer flowed seamlessly from the narrative.

It never felt forced, not even when Iris and Ekon went to church. I liked the way their relationship developed. Iris had found Ekon attractive, which made their developing relationship feel real and not forced. I also liked the fact that she deliberately tried to distance herself from Ekon emotionally once she found out he wasn’t a Christian.

Ekon was a well-written character. He was suitably arrogant and unpleasant at the beginning of the novel but softened as the story progressed. This gave their relationship an additional sense of realism.

To Win a Prince is an excellent contemporary Christian romance which will appeal to fans of royalty romance, or people looking for romances set outside the USA.

Thanks to Bethany House and NetGalley for providing a fee ebook for review.

About Toni Shiloh

Toni Shiloh is a wife, mom, and Christian fiction writer. Once she understood the powerful saving grace of the love of Christ, she was moved to honor her Savior.

She writes soulfully romantic novels to bring Him glory and to learn more about His goodness.

Before pursuing her dream as a writer, Toni served in the United States Air Force. It was there she met her husband. After countless moves, they ended up in Virginia, where they are raising their two boys.

When she’s not typing in imagination land, Toni enjoys reading, playing video games, making jewelry, and spending time with her family.

About To Win a Prince

Can she stop herself from falling before she’s too far gone?

As a fashion aficionado and best friend of the queen of the African island country Ọlọrọ Ilé, Iris Blakely dreams of using her talent to start a sustainable clothing line to help citizens in impoverished areas and honor the country’s resources. But when she discovers that Ekon Diallo–the man who betrayed her best friend–will be her business consultant, the battle between her desires and reality begins.

Ekon Diallo has lost everything: his princely title, his material possessions, his friends, and the respect of his fellow Ọlọrans. To pay for his actions against Ọlọrọ Ilé, he’s forced to assist the charismatic Iris Blakely–but he can’t allow his heart to distract him from regaining his status.

Though they come from vastly different worlds, Iris and Ekon are both determined to reach their goals, and the only way to do that is to work together–if they can just keep their hearts from getting in the way . . .

You can find Told You So online at

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5 September 2022

Book Review | Midnight’s Budding Morrow by Carolyn Miller

I almost didn’t request this book to review because the cover didn’t appeal to me. It felt too dark, although I could see it reflected the title (actually, I wasn’t too keen on the title, either). But it’s by Carolyn Miller, and I’ve enjoyed every one of her novels so far … so I decided to give it a go.

Sarah Drayton is single and of “advanced age” (about twenty-eight) in a time when ladies are supposed to be married much younger. She goes to stay with Beatrice Langley, an old school friend, but is tricked into a marriage of convenience with Beatrice’s badly behaved brother, Captain James Langley.

We see James from Sarah’s point of view at first, and he doesn’t come across as a likeable person. But we get to know him better as the story progresses, and have more sympathy for him as we understand him better.

For his part, James has no desire to marry Sarah—but has even less desire to see his estate go to a distant cousin. But if he wants an heir, he’s going to have to spend time with his bride and court her properly.

Midnight’s Budding Morrow is darker than many of Carolyn Miller’s previous books.

The combination of the decaying old house, unhelpful servants, and overbearing patriarch give the story a gothic feel, like old Victoria Holt or Mary Stewart stories. The age-old rumours of a hidden treasure in the house only reinforce that feeling.

While the start is somewhat dark and a little contrived (aren’t all marriage of convenience stories? Isn’t that why we love them?), the novel progresses well. It is yet another strong novel from Carolyn Miller, with excellent characters, a unique setting, and a strong Christian faith arc.

Thanks to Kregel Books and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review.

About Carolyn Miller

Carolyn Miller lives in the beautiful Southern Highlands of New South Wales, Australia. She is married, with four gorgeous children, who all love to read (and write!).

A longtime lover of Regency romance, Carolyn’s novels have won a number of Romance Writers of America (RWA) and American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) contests. She is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers and Australasian Christian Writers. Her favourite authors are classics like Jane Austen (of course!), Georgette Heyer, and Agatha Christie, but she also enjoys contemporary authors like Susan May Warren and Becky Wade.

Her stories are fun and witty, yet also deal with real issues, such as dealing with forgiveness, the nature of really loving versus ‘true love’, and other challenges we all face at different times.

Find Carolyn Miller online at:

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About Midnight’s Budding Morrow

Can real love grow between a wallflower and an unrepentant rogue?

Sarah Drayton is eager to spend time with her best friend at her crumbling Northumberland castle estate. Matrimony is the last thing on her mind and the last thing she expects to be faced with on a holiday. Yet she finds herself being inveigled into a marriage of convenience with her friend’s rakish brother.

When James Langley returns to his family’s estate, he can’t be bothered to pay attention to his responsibilities as the heir. War is raging and he wants only distraction, not serious tethers. But his roguish ways have backed him into a corner, and he has little choice but to obey his father’s stunning decree: marry before returning to war, or else. Suddenly he finds himself wedded to a clever and capable woman he does not love.

Sarah craves love and a place to belong, neither of which James offered before returning to the battlefront. Now everyone around her thinks she married above her station, and they have no intention of rewarding her for such impertinence. It isn’t until her husband returns from war seemingly changed that she begins to hope they may find real happiness. But can she trust that this rake has truly reformed?

When tragedy strikes, this pair must learn to trust God and his plans. Will they be destroyed . . . or will they discover that even in the darkest depths of night, the morning still holds hope?

Find Midnight’s Budding Morrow online:

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Read the introduction to Midnight’s Budding Morrow:

22 August 2022

Book Review | Critical Alliance by Elizabeth Goddard

Mackenzie Hanson is on a date when she sees a face from her secret past—Julian Abel.

Julian is then hit by a car and she finds a business card in her pocket … a message from Julian which sends her home to Montana in time to find her brother dead in his home. There she meets her sister, now the CEO of the family IT business, and Alex Knight, who she met three years ago when she was approached then rejected for a role in a secret three-letter agency.

Yes, it’s a fast-paced start with a lot of characters introduced and a lot of complex information shared very quickly. This did make it difficult to follow the plot at first … although perhaps that’s to be expected with a romantic suspense story about cybercrime.

Critical Alliance was an odd mix of too much information and not enough.

There were scenes that seemed to speed past and I was left feeling as though valuable information was missing. There were other scenes where things were spelled out that didn’t need to be (e.g. I think most suspense readers know what Interpol is).

Once I got into the cybercrime element of the plot (and had worked out who all the characters were), the plot did start to make sense. The suspense element was fast-paced and compelling, with enough real-world relevance to make it just a little scary.

The faith element was good—not so much as to be preachy, but written so it felt integrated into the characters (sometimes the Christian elements can feel tacked on, and sometimes they’re so subtle as to feel almost invisible). Critical Alliance struck this balance well.

The romance aspect was also well done. The novel takes place over a very short timeframe (days), and I’ve never been a fan of instalust in Christian fiction, so I appreciated the fact Mackenzie and Alex had previously met, even it they hadn’t spent much time together. It made their attraction feel a little more reasonable.

Critical Alliance is the third and final book in the Rocky Mountain Courage series.

That explains why I thought it introduced too many characters too quickly – they were probably characters from the previous books in the series, which I would have known if I’d read one or both of Present Danger or Deadly Target.

Critical Alliance by @BethGoddard is a solid Christian romantic suspense, but I do recommend reading the rest of the series first. #BookReview Share on X

Overall, Critical Alliance is a solid Christian romantic suspense, but is probably best read as part of the series.

Thanks to Revell and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review.

About Elizabeth Goddard

With over a million books sold, Elizabeth Goddard is the USA Today bestselling, award-winning author of over fifty novels and counting, including the romantic mystery, THE CAMERA NEVER LIES–a 2011 Carol Award winner. Four of her six Mountain Cove books have been contest finalists. Buried, Backfire and Deception are finalists in the Daphne Du Maurier Award for Excellence in Mystery and Suspense, and Submerged is a Carol Award finalist. A 7th generation Texan, Elizabeth graduated from North Texas State University with a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and worked in high-level software sales for several years before retiring to fulfill her dreams of writing full-time.

Find Elizabeth Goddard online at:

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About Critical Alliance

Mackenzie Hanson’s special set of skills opened the door to a successful career as a professor of cybersecurity at a Michigan university, allowing her to put her criminal past behind her. But when a long-ago partner in crime delivers a cryptic message about her father’s tech company being under cyberattack, she heads for Montana to secure exposed assets, close security breaches, and hopefully save lives.

Diplomatic Security Services special agent Alex Knight is back home in Montana to decompress from a mission gone wrong. But even as he’s trying to relax, he’s drawn into another mystery, complete with suspicious deaths, lethal threats, and whispers of espionage that all have one thing in common–a beautiful cybersecurity expert with a dark past.

When the situation turns deadly, Alex and Mackenzie will have to work together to find the answers they need–before someone silences Mackenzie for good.

You can find Told You So online at:

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Read the introduction to Critical Alliance below:

15 August 2022

Book Review | The Last Way Home by Liz Johnson

Not long ago, Eli Ross was a famous ice hockey player living the high life. Now he’s back in his hometown on Prince Edward Island, hoping his mother will give him a free place to stay after he walked out a decade ago. He also has to deal with his brothers who are not as forgiving as his mother.

Violet Donaghy ran away from home as a teenager and found her second home with the Ross family, working with Eli’s mother at Mama Potts’s Red Clay Shoppe. Mama Potts took her in when she had nothing, so now she’s fiercely protective of her new family and doesn’t want Eli’s return to mess that up.

I have to admit that I struggled through the first quarter of this novel.

The problem wasn’t the heroine hiding a secret (secrets usually entice me to keep reading ) or the bad-boy ice hockey player (even if I think Carolyn Miller did the bad boy plot better in her Original Six series). It was that they both seemed to have done stupid things and kept doing less-than-sensible things.

I also didn’t see where the romance was going to come from. It was obvious the couple was Violet and Eli, but I didn’t like Eli, and nor did Violet.

But the novel started to really grab me at around the one-quarter mark.

I got hooked when Eli agrees to coach the local high school ice hockey team because he needs the money (and boy, I was surprised at how much the parents were prepared to pay!). The coaching doesn’t go well at first, but as Eli settles into his new role, I found myself liking him more and more.

It wasn’t long before I realised that at least one of my earlier assumptions wasn’t accurate (but I’m not going to say which one because #spoilers). Let’s say that while there were still some stupid actions, there was an honourable motive.

There were also some great lines, and I’m always a sucker for great writing.

Best of all, there was a a strong message of family, faith, and forgiveness. Yes, it took me a while to get into The Last Way Home, but it was worth it.

The Last Way Home is the second book in Liz Johnson’s Prince Edward Island Shores series. I haven’t read the first, but that didn’t affect my enjoyment or my understanding.

Recommended for fans of contemporary Christian romance, especially those with a soft spot for bad boys, ice hockey players, and Prince Edward Island.

Thanks to Baker Publishing and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review.

About Liz Johnson

By day Liz Johnson works in marketing. She finds time to write late at night and is a Christy Award finalist and a two-time ACFW Carol Award finalist. Liz makes her home in Phoenix, Arizona where she enjoys theater, exploring local history, and doting on her nieces and nephews. She loves stories of true love with happy endings.

Find Liz Johnson online at:

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About The Last Way Home

When Eli Ross left Prince Edward Island to join the NHL, he left a broken family behind. More than a decade later, he’s broke and headed home to an uncertain welcome. He wants to make things right with the family he wronged, but his mom’s business partner isn’t making it easy. To top it off, the coaching job he’s accepted turns out to be far more difficult than he anticipated.

For years, Violet Donaghy has put everything she had into making Eli’s mom’s ceramics shop a success, and she’s not eager to forgive the man who hurt the family that’s taken her in as one of their own. But when the kiln at the shop starts a fire that nearly destroys the studio, she’ll need all the help she can get to save the business and their summer income.

Can these two strong-willed people come together to mend the broken pieces of the Ross family? Or will the ghosts of the past continue to haunt them?

Find The Last Way Home online at:

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Read the introduction to The Last Way Home below:

11 August 2022

Book Review | When Stone Wings Fly by Karen Barnett

When Stone Wings Fly is a dual-timeline novel set in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park in the present, and in the 1930s when the park is still being established. One of the first Christian novels I read was Christy by Catherine Marshall, which was set in the Great Smokies before it became a National Park (and I also enjoyed watching the TV series in the 1990s).

So I was keen to read another Christian romance in the same setting.

The historic story is about Rosie McCauley who doesn’t want to sell her family land, the land where she and her sister were born, and where her parents and grandparents are buried. She meets Benton Fuller, who is studying birdlife in the mountains. They form a friendship.

In the present, Kieran Lucas is trying to make ends meet while working two jobs and taking care of her grandmother in her spare time. After growing up in care, she wants to learn more about her family while there is still time. After Granny Mac tells Kieran about her early years in the Smokies, Kieran tries to find her grandmother’s childhood home with the aid of National Park Service guide Zach Jensen.

I’ve read a few of Karen Barnett’s earlier historical novels, although I haven’t read any of her previous books about America’s National Parks. I enjoyed the historic aspect of When Stone Wings Fly, particularly setting up the National Park. I was interested in how the park was set up—by buying the land from the legal residents, using money donated from everyone from schoolchildren to the Rockefeller family.

I liked the romances—both of them—and I thought the novel dealt with the problems of age and dementia in a sensitive and appropriate manner.

There were a couple of plot points that I didn’t think were necessary. Sure, they needed to happen to set up the novel’s climax, but I didn’t think events had to happen the way they happened. I don’t want to say so much because that would be a #spoiler but it’s like baking. It’s not great if you take the cake out of the over before it’s cooked, but you can always put it back in the oven to finish cooking. Don’t leave it sitting on the the table then complain it’s not cooked.

But that’s a small issue overall. I liked all the characters – they were intelligent, hardworking, and willing to fight for what they wanted. The writing was excellent, and I was left feeling as though I knew the characters and had visited the Smokies, and seen the good and the bad.

Thanks to Kregel Publications and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review.

About Karen Barnett

Fueled by a passion for research and learning, and a secret desire to travel in time, author Karen Barnett creates historical romances that draw readers deep into a story. She’s fascinated that even though human history is constantly changing, Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8). The point where those two facts collide forms the basis for her writing–finding those moments when an ordinary person brushes up against the eternal.

A graduate of Valparaiso University and Oregon State University, Barnett’s debut novel, Mistaken, was released in 2013 and earned her the Oregon Christian Writers “Writer of Promise” award and a Cascade Award for best historical fiction. She also won the coveted “Writer of the Year” title from the prestigious Mount Hermon Christian Writers Conference in 2016. The Road to Paradise was a finalist for the American Christian Fiction Writer’s Carol Awards in 2018.

Karen spent several years working in outdoor education as a park ranger and naturalist for Mount Rainier National Park and Oregon’s Silver Falls State Park before becoming a stay-at-home mom and professional writer. She spends her free time hiking, taking photographs, and decorating crazy birthday cakes.

Karen and her husband live in western Oregon and are trying to adjust to the empty nest life now that both kids are in college. Well, their home isn’t entirely empty––they still have three mischievous dachshunds underfoot.

Find Karen Barnett online:

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About When Stone Wings Fly

Kieran Lucas’s grandmother is slipping into dementia, and when her memory is gone, Kieran’s last tie to the family she barely knows will be lost forever. Worse, flashbacks of her mother’s death torment Granny Mac and there’s precious little Kieran can do to help.

In 1931, the creation of the new Great Smoky Mountains National Park threatens Rosie McCauley’s home. Rosie vows the only way the commission will get her land is if they haul her off in a pine box. When a compromise offers her and her disabled sister the opportunity to stay for Rosie’s lifetime, her acceptance sets her apart from the other mountain folk. And the bond she’s forming with ornithologist and outsider Benton Fuller only broadens the rift.

Eighty-five years later, Kieran heads back to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park to find answers to her great-grandmother’s mysterious death and bring peace to Granny Mac before it’s too late. Park Historian Zach Jensen may be the key to locating both the answers. But what Kieran needs clashes with the government regulations Zach is sworn to uphold. Can she trust God for a solution to heal this generations-old wound?

Find When Stone Wings Fly online at:

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Read the introduction to When Stone Wings Fly below:

1 August 2022

Book Review | The Extraordinary Deaths of Mrs Kip by Sara Brunsvold

Aidyn Kelley is an ambitious junior journalist in Kansas, but when her ambition gets her in trouble, she finds herself relegated to writing obituaries. Her editor sends her to a local hospice to interview the somewhat eccentric Mrs Kip.

Clara Kip is seventy-nine years old, and an unexpected cancer diagnosis has left her not in hospital but in a hospice. Still, she is determined to die as she has lived – with Jesus.

Clara is immediately likeable as a character. She’s bubbly, bright, and determined to see the best in everything and everyone. Aidyn? Not so much. She’s self-absorbed and thinks she’s above the rules. That’s probably not too different to many other bright young graduates in their mid-twenties, but it didn’t help me like her.

Not liking Aidyn meant I found the first quarter of the book a bit of a struggle. I actually set the book aside for a couple of weeks. What got me reading it again were a few of the comments I saw online, readers praising the book as brilliant and heartrending.

So I picked the book up again, determined to give it another chance. But it wasn’t until Aidyn and Clara met for the second time that I found myself really being drawn into the story. And once I was drawn in, it was impossible to put it down.

I don’t want to say too much about the plot in case I give spoilers. But I can explain why I changed my mind.

The story flips between the present (well, the book is set in 2016) and Clara’s past. At first, the past stories seemed like random anecdotes, with no particular purpose. But as I kept reading, it became apparent that the past stories were tied up with the present, in that they were the stories Mrs Kip was telling Aidyn, the stories that show how ordinary can become extraordinary when walking with God.

The Extraordinary Deaths of Mrs Kip is Christian fiction of the best kind.

Mrs Kip has been a Christian for decades, and she’s the kind of Christian we should all aspire to being: one who loves God and loves those people He puts in her path and loves them well.

The whole story took place over less than ten days in book time, but the changes Mrs Kip inspires in Aidyn made it feel like a much longer timeframe. I guess that’s because of the lesson of Mrs Kip’s extraordinary death—and life—which is one we can hear and adopt ourselves.

I always let the Lord guide me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. (Psalm 16:8)

Recommended for fans of authors such as Cynthia Ruchti, Sharon Garlough Brown, Elizabeth Musser, and Christine Dillon.

About Sara Brunsvold

Sara Brunsvold creates stories that speak hope, truth, and life. Influenced by humble women of God who find His fingerprints in the everyday, she does the same in her life and her storytelling. Sara’s recognitions include the 2020 ACFW Genesis Award for Contemporary Fiction. She lives with her family in Kansas City, where she can often be spotted writing at a park or library.

Find Sara Brunsvold online at

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About The Extraordinary Deaths of Mrs Kip

Aidyn Kelley is talented, ambitious, and ready for a more serious assignment than the fluff pieces she’s been getting as a cub reporter for the Kansas City Star. In her eagerness, she pushes too hard, earning herself the menial task of writing an obituary for an unremarkable woman who’s just entered hospice care.

But there’s more to Clara Kip than meets the eye. The spirited septuagenarian may be dying, but she’s not quite ready to cash it in yet. Never one to shy away from an assignment herself, she can see that God brought the young reporter into her life for a reason. And if it’s a story Aidyn Kelley wants, that’s just what Mrs. Kip will give her–but she’s going to have to work for it.

Debut author Sara Brunsvold delights with this emotional multigenerational story that shows that the very best life is made up of thousands of little deaths to self. You’ll want to be just like Mrs. Kip when you grow up!

You can find The Extraordinary Lives of Mrs Kip online at:

Amazon | BookBub | ChristianBook | Goodreads | Koorong

25 July 2022

Book Review | Love and the Dream Come True by Tammy L Gray

Cameron Lee isn’t living the music star dream.

Sure, he has two albums and an award-winning single, but now he’s contractually obliged to provide the label with a third album, but he’s lost his desire to write or even sing. First, he has to go home and attend his baby sister’s wedding … and hopefully not face up to the mistakes of his past.

Lexie Walters is the twenty-nine-year-old guardian/mother to Morgan, who is thirteen-going-on-forty. Despite being orphaned and having to drop out of college to raise her niece before the age of twenty, Lexi is the eternal optimist who doesn’t let things list clocks and lists get int he way of enjoying life. (To be honest, that annoyed me at first but she did grow on me). She’s an interior designer who has just bought a house with her contractor cousin that they plan to renovate and flip. And she’s had a crush on her best friend’s older brother since she was thirteen.

He’s a singer … Cameron Lee.

So yes, we know where this story is going.

I will say I found the beginning a little confusing. I’ve been watching old episodes of House, and so it took me a few pages to work out that Cameron was the hero, not the heroine. However, it was immediately obvious that Morgan was female, not male 🙂

It also took me a couple of chapters to realise the book is written in first person from both points of view—Cameron’s and Lexie’s—so it was important for me to read the chapter titles so I knew which character I was reading. Yes, I usually ignore chapter titles (because I find too many give spoilers).

The story picked up in pace and interest once Cameron and Lexie meet at the wedding.

They then discover Cameron is staying in town, renting a house two doors down from the house Lexie is renovating. That gives lots of opportunities to bring the two together and allow their relationship to develop.

It’s obvious from early on that Lexie has a strong Christian faith.

Cameron is a believer, but has struggling with faith for several years, since he left home to chase his music dream. His journey back to faith isn’t explicit, but it’s also obvious that it’s tied up with his journey back to music, and that is clearly shown. So while the novel isn’t all rah-rah-Jesus, it is definitely a Christian story … but one that a non Christian might also be interested in reading.

Love and the Dream Come True is the third book in Tammy L Gray’s State of Grace series, following Love and a Little White Lie and Love and the Silver Lining. I’ve read the whole series but have to admit that I can’t remember anything about the previous books except that I really enjoyed them (which is why I requested a review copy of this one).

Love and the Dream Come True by Tammy L Gray is a fun contemporary Christian romance featuring a music star and an interior designer. #ChristianRomance Share on X

However, I never felt as though I’d missed anything in not remembering. To me, that’s the market of a well-written novel, when I don’t feel like I’m missing anything from not having read (or remembered) the earlier books in the series. I have since re-read my reviews and can now remember how much I did enjoy the stories. What is most interesting is how much time has passed in novel-world since the first story was released—five or six years. I’m glad I didn’t have to wait that long.

Recommended for contemporary romance fans, especially those who enjoy rock star romance or similar.

Thanks to Bethany House and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review.

About the Author

Tammy L. Gray lives in the Dallas area with her family, and they love all things Texas, even the erratic weather patterns. She writes modern Christian romance with true-to-life characters and culturally-relevant plot lines. She believes hope and healing can be found through high quality fiction that inspires and provokes change.

Tammy is often lauded for her unique writing style within the inspirational genre, preferring to use analogies verses heavy-handed spiritual content. Her characters are real, relatable and deep, earning her a 2017 RITA award nomination in the Romance with Religious and Spiritual Elements category.

When not chasing after her three amazing kids, Tammy can be spotted with her head in a book. Writing has given her a platform to combine her passion with her ministry.

Tammy L. Gray has lots of projects going on.

You can find Tammy Gray online at:

About Love and the Dream Come True

Their faith will face its toughest test yet.

Four years after getting the biggest break of his life, Cameron Lee’s music career has taken a nosedive, leaving him two options: become a sellout or give up on his lifelong dream. He reluctantly returns home for his sister’s wedding, hoping to avoid his past and find his love for music again.

Single mom Lexie Walters has suffered her fair share of tragedies and setbacks, but she has finally scraped together the money to achieve her dream of going into business with her cousin as an interior designer. When Lexie’s life is at an all-time high, she runs into her teenage crush, Cameron Lee.

Lost in the emotional turmoil of failure, Cameron is immediately drawn to Lexie and her infectious smile and optimistic spirit. Moreover, he adores her mouthy, no-holds-barred daughter. But fantasies only last so long, and soon Lexie and Cameron must face the real world, the one fraught with heartbreak, disappointment, and questions that sometimes can only be answered by a leap of faith.

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18 July 2022

Book Review | Into the Flood (Seasons of Faith #1) by Milla Holt

Sonia Krogstad’s perfect life collapses when the investment she has been recommending to all her friends and clients turns out to be an elaborate fraud. When she loses her job, her reputation, and her life savings, she accepts a job in her old hometown as a stopgap until she can get her career going again.

Alex Vikhammer has been thrust into the role of solo father after his ex-wife dies and reveals he is the father of her child. When he discovers the Arts Centre – the only activity Karla enjoys – is closing, he buys it. But the charity leaks cash. He needs a fundraiser, and fast, so hires Sonia.

Alex and Karla were very relatable characters.

Karla is the thirteen-year-old girl who has lost her mother, home, and friends and who now lives in a small town with the geeky father she barely knows. Alex is a good father despite his own doubts. He wants the best for his daughter and keeps reaching out to her, even when she’s the stubborn, silent type. All things considered, her reactions were entirely normal.

Sonia was perhaps harder to like.

She only returned to Berghaven because she had to, and while she does her best for the Arts Centre, she does make a couple of decisions I thought were questionable in that they were consistent with her character, but I didn’t think they were the right decisions. It was a strange relief to find they were bad decisions, and they did come back to bite her … and she did eventually realise her errors. While Sonia’s actions were sometimes frustrating, they were also a strength of the novel because they felt realistic in the context.

It’s also refreshing to read a romance featuring older characters.

Both Sonia and Alex are in their mid-forties or thereabouts. Their relationship therefore has a different vibe than it might have had if they were younger. They are both competent professionals, established in their careers (even if Sonia’s has just fallen apart), which is a nice change from romances with younger characters who are still discovering who they are.

The other thing I liked was the setting: Norway.

Reading stories set in other countries and cultures reminds us that people are the same all over the world. We all have similar stresses and worries, and we all like a good Chinese takeaway.

Into the Flood is Christian romance, although the faith elements are relatively low-key. Still, there is an important message about faith – the importance of coming to faith and staying in the faith when times are bad … or good.

Overall, Into the Flood is a strong Christian romance, recommended for those who like older couples or foreign settings (or both), and those wanting to read more fiction with BIPOC characters.

About Milla Holt

I write inspirational romance with an international twist, with stories that uplift and encourage. Heroes with honor and integrity and strong, can-do heroines are my thing. And the good guys always get their happy ending. My fiction reflects my Christian faith.

I’m not a fan of writing about myself, but here goes. I used to be a lot of things: a journalist, a communications manager for a health activist group, and a freelance copywriter.

Before all that, I was a diplomatic brat, trailing along as my mother’s job took us to various diverse locations around the world.

Now, I’m homeschooling my children in the east of England and devoting every spare moment to writing.

Find Milla Holt online at:

Website | Facebook | Instagram

About Into the Flood

She took this small-town job as a temporary last resort. Falling for her reserved boss was not part of the plan.

One mistake imploded Sonia Krogstad’s PR career, leaving her with a stack of debt and no job prospects. Out of options, she returns to her tiny hometown in the northern wilds of Norway, planning only to stay long enough to get back on her feet and prepare for her big-city comeback.

Reclusive tech genius Axel Vikhammer bought a non-profit community arts center that’s fast becoming a money pit. Closing it down is not an option, especially since it’s a refuge for the teenage daughter he only recently learned he has. With her PR background, Sonia seems the perfect hire for the job as his center’s fundraising manager.

Yet as feelings develop between the two, Axel wonders how he can trust Sonia with his business—or his heart—when her dreams don’t include his small town or him.

With her head and her heart pulling her in different directions, Sonia needs to take a leap of faith. But every time she’s done that in the past, she’s fallen flat on her face. Why should it be different now?

Into the Flood is Book 1 in Milla Holt’s Seasons of Faith Christian romance series. Five friends were in the same wedding in a small Norwegian town over twenty years ago. Four bridesmaids, one bride. Now, two decades on, each woman learns that God’s timing is perfect as they find forever love later in life.

You can find Into the Flood online at:

Amazon | BookBub | Goodreads

27 June 2022

Book Review | The Crimson Thread by Kate Forsyth

I requested a copy of The Crimson Thread for review as soon as I realised it was about the Battle of Crete. My grandfather was in the British Army in World War II, and was on Crete when the German paratroopers arrive. He never talked about his war experiences – I only discovered he was on Crete because I found a map he’d drawn of the British defences.

I was therefore keen to read a fictional account of the battle and the aftermath. As it happened, the Allies famed retreat was over by about a quarter of the way through the book. By then I was so captivated by the characters that I couldn’t stop reading.

Alenka is a translator and guide at the archaeological dig at Knossos (the palace where the legendary minotaur lived), but war has changed that. Her younger half-brother looks like his German father, something he has been bullied for his entire life. So it’s no surprise when he tries to ingratiate himself with the invaders.

Teddy Lloyd and Jack Hawke are officers in the Australian Army. Teddy is the outgoing, popular one, and Jack is loyal sidekick who suffers from a stutter. Both, unsurprisingly, fall for Alenka, although she’s not interested in either of them.

The story takes us all the way through the long German occupation of Crete, and the dangers faced by the locals, and the soldiers who were left behind which the Cretans hid and protected. The story covers years, so it isn’t exactly fast-paced, but it does have plenty of tension. The worst of the tension is relieved by the fact we do know who won the war … but that doesn’t tell us if the characters will survive.

Overall, The Crimson Thread is an excellent World War II novel with a thread of romance. There was one part at the end that I didn’t enjoy because it felt out of character. In hindsight, the scene may have been a nod to the story of Theseus and the Minotaur, so might not surprise or bother those who are more familiar with the story than I am.

Regular readers: please note that The Crimson Thread is not Christian fiction and is not published by a CBA publisher. Having said that, the only scene that didn’t meet the normal standards of Christian fiction was the one at the end that I didn’t think was necessary. #TriggerWarning

Thanks to Blackstone Publishing and Net Galley for providing a free ebook for review.

About Kate Forsyth

Dr Kate Forsyth wrote her first novel aged seven & has now sold more than a million books worldwide. Recently voted one of Australia’s Favourite Novelists, Kate Forsyth has been called ‘one of the finest writers of this generation’. She has written more than 40 books, for all age groups and across many genres, published in 20 countries.

Kate’s doctoral exegesis ‘The Rebirth of Rapunzel: A Mythic History of the Maiden in the Tower’ won the Aurealis Convenors’ Award for Excellence in 2016 and the William Atheling Jr Award for Criticism in 2017. She was recently awarded the prestigious Nancy Keesing Fellowship by the State Library of NSW.

Named one of Australia’s Favourite 15 Novelists, Kate has a BA in literature, a MA in creative writing and a Doctorate of Creative Arts in fairy tale studies, and is also an accredited master storyteller with the Australian Guild of Storytellers.

She also runs a literary & writing retreat in the Cotswolds every year, as well as retreats on writing True Life Stories and a Mythic Creativity retreat.

Find Kate Forsyth online at:

Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter

About The Crimson Thread

In Crete during World War II, Alenka, a young woman who fights with the resistance against the brutal Nazi occupation, finds herself caught between her traitor of a brother and the man she loves, an undercover agent working for the Allies.

May 1941. German paratroopers launch a blitzkrieg from the air against Crete. They are met with fierce defiance, the Greeks fighting back with daggers, pitchforks, and kitchen knives. During the bloody eleven-day battle, Alenka, a young Greek woman, saves the lives of two Australian soldiers.

Jack and Teddy are childhood friends who joined up together to see the world. Both men fall in love with Alenka. They are forced to retreat with the tattered remains of the Allied forces over the towering White Mountains. Both are among the seven thousand Allied soldiers left behind in the desperate evacuation from Crete’s storm-lashed southern coast. Alenka hides Jack and Teddy at great risk to herself. Her brother Axel is a Nazi sympathiser and collaborator and spies on her movements.

As Crete suffers under the Nazi jackboot, Alenka is drawn into an intense triangle of conflicting emotions with Jack and Teddy. Their friendship suffers under the strain of months of hiding and their rivalry for her love. Together, they join the resistance and fight to free the island, but all three will find themselves tested to their limits. Alenka must choose whom to trust and whom to love and, in the end, whom to save.

I should add that there are two covers for this book, and I probably would have ignored the book if I’d seen the pink cover rather than the one above.

Find The Crimson Thread online at:

Amazon | BookBub | Goodreads