Tag: Belinda Blake

23 August 2022

Bookish Question #240 | What Christian fiction has another pet as a character?

We’ve previously looked at:

This week it’s time to look at other pets. What Christian fiction has another pet as a character?

I read this question, and thought I’d already answered it. But I was thinking of another post: What is your favourite fictional pet and why?

Anyway, my answer to this week’s question is closely related to my answer to the favourite fictional pet question. Here the main series I can think of with non-traditional pets is Heather Day Gilbert’s Exotic Pet Sitter series:

Belinda Blake and the Snake in the Grass (click here to read my review)
Belinda Blake and the Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing (click here to read my review)
Belinda Blake and the Birds of a Feather (click here to read my review)

I have also read a lot of Christian fiction that features horses, although they are generally treated as work animals rather than pets. In case you’re wondering, pets are allowed in the house. Work animals are not.

My list is pretty short.

What Christian fiction has another pet as a character?

17 February 2020

Book Review | Belinda Blake and the Birds of a Feather by Heather Day Gilbert

We’ll start with the one thing I’m not happy about with Belinda Blake and the Birds of a Feather:

This is the last book in the Belinda Blake series 🙁

Yes, it’s another great instalment in Belinda’s life as an exotic petsitter, and it wraps up well, but I’d like more.

For those who have been following the series, we do get an answer to Belinda’s little romance problem. For those who haven’t been following the series … this is the third in the series, and while it’s an excellent standalone novel, there is a little backstory that you might appreciate more if you read Snake in the Grass and Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing first

Belinda returns to her hometown after her best friend’s mother dies. While she’s there, she gets pulled into caring for the lady’s homing pigeons … and investigating a suspicious death in the neighbourhood. As you do.

Belinda is a great character—fun, intelligent, and slightly weird.

She has two jobs: she’s a video game reviewer who probably understands more of what my teenage son says than I do, and she babysits exotic pets: snakes, wolves, and pigeons, among others. The novel is written in first person, and her quirky voice works well as a narrator.

Belinda Blake and the Birds of a Feather by Heather Day Gilbert @HeatherDGilbert is a fun mystery with plenty of humour, witty dialogue, and great characters. #CozyMystery #BookReview Share on X

As with the other books in the series, this is a fun mystery with no on-the-page violence but plenty of humour, witty dialogue, and great characters. I’ve enjoyed this series, and I’m sorry to see it end (although I am hoping that hint towards the end was prepping us for more Belinda Blake books—hint, hint).

Recommended for cozy mystery fans.

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

About Heather Day Gilbert

Heather Day Gilbert, an ECPA Christy award finalist and Grace award winner, writes contemporary mysteries and Viking historicals. Her novels feature small towns, family relationships, and women who aren’t afraid to protect those they love.

Publisher’s Weekly gave Heather’s Viking historical Forest Child a starred review, saying it is “an engaging story depicting timeless human struggles with faith, love, loyalty, and leadership.”

Find Heather Day Gilbert online at:

About Belinda Blake and the Birds of a Feather

When exotic pet–sitter Belinda Blake starts pecking at the details of a suspicious accident in her sleepy hometown, she inadvertently digs up a murder case that won’t be solved without ruffling a few feathers . . .

The moment Belinda arrives in Larches Corner, her Upstate New York hometown, she’s immediately recruited to care for a deceased friend’s flock of homing pigeons. But Belinda’s plans for a swift visit scatter after a local college student is mowed down in a malicious hit-and-run that has the whole town reeling.

At first, the gruesome demise of Jackson Hait appears to be a random tragedy. But Belinda quickly uncovers connections to a tight-knit group of friends and a similar death three years earlier . . . one that wasn’t as accidental as it seemed. Now, Belinda must pluck the truth from a tangled nest of lies before a cruel killer takes wing.

Find Belinda Blake and the Birds of a Feather online at:

Amazon | Goodreads

And don’t forget to click here to check out my Amazon shop for my top picks in Christian fiction!

1 July 2019

Book Review | Belinda Blake and the Snake in the Grass

I don’t like snakes—something my Australian friends mock me for. Naming no names, but one of my editing clients wrote a snake into her book especially because she knew I didn’t like snakes. That’s what friends are for, right?

Anyway, about Belinda Blake and the Snake in the Grass.

I hoped the title was a metaphor, but that hope was dashed with the very first line …

Yes, the snake is a major feature. But he (I assume it was a he) is also a great character who sets the tone of the novel and provides some much-needed comic relief.

Belinda Blake is an exotic pet sitter and videogame reviewer who’s just moved into the carriage house on the Carrington estate. She’s settling in well … until she finds a dead woman in the garden. As she says:

Well, who does?

Belinda starts investigating but soon finds that someone or someones don’t want her sticking her nose in. That—and encouragement from Stone Carrington the fifth—only strengthens her desire to find out what happened and why. And before something happens to her …

This is Heather Day Gilbert’s first Belinda Blake novel, and her first novel for the general market.

I’ve previously read her historical fiction and contemporary Christian mysteries, but I think this is her best yet. The plot is tight, the characters are well portrayed, and the writing is top notch. Most of all, Belinda Blake is a clever and witty heroine (albeit one with strange taste in pets). She’s everything I look for in a contemporary mystery heroine.

Recommended for fans of mystery and romantic comedy who like strong heroines and novels written in first person point of view.

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

About Heather Day Gilbert

Find Heather Day Gilbert online at:

About Belinda Blake and the Snake in the Grass:

When exotic pet-sitter Belinda Blake moves into a carriage house in tony Greenwich, Connecticut, she’s hoping to find some new clients. Instead she discovers a corpse in the garden—and a knack for solving murders . . .

Pet-sitter Belinda Blake doesn’t rattle easily, but move-in day has been eventful, to say the least. The python in her care tried to slither to freedom—just as she met Stone Carrington V, her landlords’ disarmingly handsome son. With the constrictor back in its cage, she heads out to the garden, only to discover a designer shoe poking out of the boxwood hedge—attached to a woman’s dead body.

The victim, Margo Fenton, was a Carrington family friend, and no one in their circle seems above suspicion. Between client trips to Manhattan and visits to her family in upstate New York, Belinda begins to put the pieces together. But though she’s falling for Stone’s numerous charms, Belinda wonders if she’s cozying up to a killer. And soon, daily contact with a deadly reptile might be the least dangerous part of her life . . .

You can find Belinda Blake and the Snake in the Grass online at:

Amazon US | Amazon AU | Goodreads