Tag: NetGalley

1 June 2020

Book Review | Closer Than She Knows by Kelly Irvin

Kelly Irvin made her name in Amish romance before publishing Tell Her No Lies, her first romantic suspense novel, in 2018. I was impressed by that novel, but was less impressed by Over the Line (I’m from New Zealand, and the story was too pro-gun for my tastes, especially in the aftermath of the Christchurch shooting).

Closer Than She Knows takes all the strengths of Tell Her No Lies and builds on them to deliver a powerful novel.

Teagan O’Rourke is a court reporter. She’s not a journalist, but the person who sits in the courtroom and transcribes every word spoken during a trial. That’s new—I’ve never read a novel featuring a court reporter before. It was interesting to find the court reporter is also responsible for the physical evidence in the trial, and that’s where Closer Than She Knows starts …

Teagan is transporting trial evidence under police escort when her escort is shot in the head. That’s shocking enough, but when Teagan’s next-door neighbour is stabbed to death and another friend attacked in Teagan’s house, then the police suspect Teagan is also a target. Notes found by the bodies leave Teagan’s father, a retired policeman, suspecting the murders might be related to one of his cases—a convicted murderer and suspected serial killer.

What follows could be a typical chase-type romantic suspense novel, but it’s more than that.

There’s also Teagan’s relationship with Max, the youth leader at her church. He thinks she’s not interested in anything more than friendship because he’s a recovering alcoholic. She’s not interested … but for a completely different reason. Max challenges her on her reasoning, partly out of selfish reasons (he disagrees with her), but more because he says her belief is limiting God. That was an interesting and welcome twist.

Yes, Closer Than She Knows is definitely Christian fiction, and it isn’t afraid to address some of the hard questions in life and faith: why do bad things happen to good people? Can we go against something we believe in when the people we love are in danger? Can we trust God with the hard things? And more …

There was plenty of tension which kept me turning the pages until the satisfying end. But there were also touches of humour and some tender moments amid the suspense and the introspection. Overall, Closer Than She Knows is an excellent example of Christian romantic suspense, with a great balance between faith, romance, and suspense, and a cast of believable and interesting characters.

Recommended for fans of Christian romantic suspense.

Thanks to Thomas Nelson and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review.

About Kelly Irvin

Kelly Irvin is the bestselling author of the Every Amish Season and Amish of Bee County series. The Beekeeper’s Son received a starred review from Publisher’s Weekly, who called it a “beautifully woven masterpiece.” The two-time Carol Award finalist is a former newspaper reporter and retired public relations professional. Kelly lives in Texas with her husband, photographer Tim Irvin. They have two children, two grandchildren, and two cats. In her spare time, she likes to read books by her favorite authors.

Find Kelly Irvin online at:

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About Closer Than She Knows

Teagan O’Rourke has always loved murder mysteries. In her job as a court reporter, she has written official records for dozens of real-life murders. She’s slapped evidence stickers on crime scene photos. She’s listened to hours of chilling testimony. But she’s never known the smell of death. And she never thought she might be a victim.

Until now.

A young police officer is murdered just inches away from her, and then a man calling himself a serial killer starts leaving Teagan notes, signing each with the name of a different murderer from her favorite mystery novels.

Panicked, Teagan turns to her friend Max Kennedy. Max longs for more than friendship with Teagan, but he fears she’ll never trust someone with a past like his. He wonders how much of God’s “tough love” he can take before he gives up on love completely. And he wonders if he’ll be able to keep Teagan alive long enough to find out.

As Teagan, Max, and Teagan’s police officer father race to track down the elusive killer, they each know they could be the next victim. Desperate to save those she loves, Teagan battles fears that once haunted her in childhood. Nothing seems to stop this obsessed murderer. No matter what she does, he seems to be getting closer . . .

Find Closer Than She Knows online at:

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17 June 2019

Book Review | No Ocean Too Wide by Carrie Turansky

No Ocean Too Wide is about the British Home Children, and the issues surrounding sending British children to Canada. It is similar to the Tennessee Children’s Home Society scandal depicted in Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate and The Pink Bonnet by Liz Tolsma.

The underlying idea behind the stories is the assumption that the children are better off being adopted out to more affluent families. However, the issue with the British Home Children is that many of them weren’t adopted into loving homes, affluent or otherwise. Many of them were little more than slaves, bought for a few dollars.

As such, parts of the first quarter felt a little contrived.

Would Laura really do this? Would Katie do that? I wasn’t sure. But I knew those things had to happen for the story to get going, so I was prepared to look past a few things that didn’t necessarily make sense.

Katie, Grace, and Garth McAlister are placed into an orphanage after their mother falls ill and is admitted to hospital. Their older sister, Laura, is a lady’s maid for the Frasier family, so doesn’t hear about her family’s troubles in time. Andrew Frasier offers to help Laura, but experience has taught her not to trust rich men.

Andrew is asked to look into possible issues with the British Home Children scheme.

He is surprised to find his mother’s maid involved. He’s even more surprised by her claim that her siblings have been sent to Canada, and vows to help reunite her family. But the law is not on their side …

No Ocean Too Wide is the first novel in a trilogy about the McAlistair family and their fictional experiences as British Home Children. Yes, it’s fictional, but the scheme itself—and many of the events portrayed in the novel—are based on fact. As such, it’s an excellent piece of historical fiction, as well as being a strong Christian historical romance. Recommended.

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

About Carrie Turansky

Bestselling Inspirational Romance Author Carrie Turansky writes historical and contemporary novels and novellas set in England and the US. She has won the ACFW Carol Award, the Holt Medallion, and the International Digital Award. Readers say her stories are: “Heartwarming and inspiring! I couldn’t put it down!” . . . “Touching love story. It captured me from the first page! Rich characters, beautifully written” . . . “My new favorite author!”

Find Carrie Turansky online at:

About No Ocean Too Wide

Between the years of 1869 to 1939 more than 100,000 poor British children were sent across the ocean to Canada with the promise of a better life. Those who took them in to work as farm laborers or household servants were told they were orphans–but was that the truth?

After the tragic loss of their father, the McAlister family is living at the edge of the poorhouse in London in 1908, leaving their mother to scrape by for her three younger children, while oldest daughter, Laura, works on a large estate more than an hour away. When Edna McAlister falls gravely ill and is hospitalized, twins Katie and Garth and eight-year-old Grace are forced into an orphans’ home before Laura is notified about her family’s unfortunate turn of events in London. With hundreds of British children sent on ships to Canada, whether truly orphans or not, Laura knows she must act quickly. But finding her siblings and taking care of her family may cost her everything.

Andrew Fraser, a wealthy young British lawyer and heir to the estate where Laura is in service, discovers that this common practice of finding new homes for penniless children might not be all that it seems. Together Laura and Andrew form an unlikely partnership. Will they arrive in time? Will their friendship blossom into something more?

Inspired by true events, this moving novel follows Laura as she seeks to reunite her family and her siblings who, in their darkest hours, must cling to the words from Isaiah: “Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God”.

Find No Ocean Too Wide online at:

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27 May 2019

Book Review | The Number of Love by Roseanna M White

Margot De Wilde escaped the German occupation in Belgium, and now she and her mother are living in London where Margot works in Room 40 of the Old Admiralty Building. She’s a codebreaker—one of the stars of the department, despite being the youngest cryptographer and the only female.

She has a unique brain, in that numbers seem to rearrange themselves into words and messages.

Drake Elton is a British spy disguised as a Lieutenant in the Royal Navy. He is half-Spanish so is the obvious choice to work as an undercover agent in neutral Spain. He finds himself back in London after a mission goes wrong. But the mission follows him to London and is now targeting him and those around him …

Including Margot

The whole concept of coding has always fascinated me, as I suspect it has fascinated Roseanna M White. I understand the basic principles of cyphers and codes, but I am clueless when it comes to the maths behind creating and (especially) cracking codes. That’s why I find a heroine like Margot De Wilde fascinating. She might be only a teenager, but she’s cleverer than most of the men working in her department and has gained their respect because of her skill.

While the research was generally excellent and well-integrated into the plot, there were a couple of anachronisms that threw me out of the story. Yes, rulers have used humans to provide intelligence on the opposing forces ever since Moses sent the twelve spies into Israel after the Hebrews escaped from Egypt. But that’s only been called HUMINT recently—it may have been human intelligence in 1917, but it certainly wasn’t HUMINT. SIGINT is equally problematic, as is hun (which should be capitalised, in the same way as american or canadian should be capitalised).

If you read Roseanna M White’s excellent Shadows Over England series, then you’ll recognise Margot De Wilde and her family from A Song Unheard. And if you’ve read The Cypher Ring series, then you’ll know Roseanna M White has a longstanding fascination with codes and codebreakers.

But don’t worry if you haven’t read them: The Number of Love is an excellent standalone novel that combines White’s love of codes with an excellent romantic suspense story set against the backdrop of World War I London.

The characters are fascinating, the writing is excellent, and the result is a unique page-turner.

Recommended for fans of historical fiction, and for those intrigued by movies such as Enigma or Hidden Figures. I’m looking forward to reading the next in the series.

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

The Numbers of Love by @RoseannaMWhite is excellent. The characters are fascinating, the writing is excellent, and the result is a unique page-turner. #BookReview #ChristianFiction Share on X

About Roseanna M White

Roseanna M. White pens her novels beneath her Betsy Ross flag, with her Jane Austen action figure watching over her. When not writing fiction, she’s homeschooling her two children, editing and designing, and pretending her house will clean itself. Roseanna has a slew of historical novels available, ranging from biblical fiction to American-set romances to her new British series. She lives with her family in West Virginia.

Find Roseanna M White online at:

About The Number of Love

Three years into the Great War, England’s greatest asset is their intelligence network–field agents risking their lives to gather information, and codebreakers able to crack every German telegram. Margot De Wilde thrives in the environment of the secretive Room 40, where she spends her days deciphering intercepted messages. But when her world is turned upside down by an unexpected loss, for the first time in her life numbers aren’t enough.

Drake Elton returns wounded from the field, followed by an enemy who just won’t give up. He’s smitten quickly by the intelligent Margot, but how can he convince a girl who lives entirely in her mind that sometimes life’s answers lie in the heart?

Amid biological warfare, encrypted letters, and a German spy who wants to destroy not just them but others they love, Margot and Drake will have to work together to save themselves from the very secrets that brought them together.

You can find The Number of Love online at:

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25 April 2019

Book Review | Fawkes by Nadine Brandes

It’s Throwback Thursday! Today I’m resharing my review of Fawkes by Nadine Brandes (which previously appeared at International Christian Fiction Writers). Fawkes is an intriguing mix of fantasy and historical fiction, and so is her new novel, Romanov, which releases next month. But now, let’s check out Fawkes!

About Fawkes

Thomas Fawkes is turning to stone, and the only cure to the Stone Plague is to join his father’s plot to assassinate the king of England.

Silent wars leave the most carnage. The wars that are never declared but are carried out in dark alleys with masks and hidden knives. Wars where color power alters the natural rhythm of 17th-century London. And when the king calls for peace, no one listens until he finally calls for death.

But what if death finds him first?

Keepers think the Igniters caused the plague. Igniters think the Keepers did it. But all Thomas knows is that the Stone Plague infecting his eye is spreading. And if he doesn’t do something soon, he’ll be a lifeless statue. So when his Keeper father, Guy Fawkes, invites him to join the Gunpowder Plot—claiming it will put an end to the plague—Thomas is in.

The plan: use 36 barrels of gunpowder to blow up the Igniter King.

The problem: Doing so will destroy the family of the girl Thomas loves. But backing out of the plot will send his father and the other plotters to the gallows. To save one, Thomas will lose the other.

No matter Thomas’s choice, one thing is clear: once the decision is made and the color masks have been put on, there’s no turning back.

You can find Fawkes online at:

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My Review

Remember, remember, the fifth of November …

Fawkes begins in 1604, not long after King James I has ascended the throne of England and joined the thrones of England and Scotland. The country is filled with tension as two factions fight to rule.

The history books has this fight as being Roman Catholic vs. Protestant, with King James (and Queen Elizabeth before him) being firmly of the reformed Protestant faith. But Fawkes twists this into a fight between Keepers and Igniters, both blaming the other for the plague of stone that is at risk of taking over the land.

Fawkes begins with Thomas Fawkes, the narrator, at boarding school on the eve of his Color Test.

Yes, there are echoes of Harry Potter and Divergent here, in that every adult has a Color which they can control to a greater or lesser extent. Keepers believe each person can and should only control one Color. Igniters believe the Keepers have been hiding the White Light from the public for centuries. Both sides believe the other caused the plague which kills by turning its victims to stone.

Thomas Fawkes is the son of Guy Fawkes, the most famous of the thirteen men who plotted to blow up the Houses of Parliament to kill King James I and restore a Catholic king to the throne (I live in New Zealand. We still “celebrate” Guy Fawkes with fireworks on 5 November every year). Those who know history (and know history is written by the victors) know the plot was foiled and Guy Fawkes has gone down in history as the bad guy.

Fawkes places us in the mind of Thomas.

While he and his father have been estranged for years, both are Keepers. At least, Thomas thinks he’s a Keeper … except he keeps hearing the voice of the White Light. He has been raised to believe Keepers are right, and he has no reason to doubt that.

But he’s never actually stopped to consider what is true.

And that’s an unexpectedly modern theme—that what we believe to be right and true isn’t necessarily so. Instead, we need to search for truth. Find truth. And fight for truth.

All of which are difficult in this modern era of #FakeNews.

Anyway, students of history will understand that while Fawkes is trying to persuade us that Thomas Fawkes (and the thirteen conspirators) are the “good guys”, history tells us they are not. That makes the early chapters an uncomfortable read. But students of history will be pleased to know the story does run true to history. Well. Kind of. History doesn’t have Keepers and Igniters and the Stone Plague. Fawkes does not have Roman Catholics and Protestants at loggerheads. But the parallels are there for those who know or care to look.

I’m not a big fantasy reader. But Fawkes worked for me, perhaps because it was a Harry Potter-esque twist on truth that allowed the reader to consider Truth.

It got me thinking without taking me out of the story, and that’s high praise.

Thanks to Thomas Nelson and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review.

You can read the introduction to Fawkes below:

15 April 2019

Book Review | A Hero for Miss Hatherleigh by Carolyn Miller

Daughters of Aynslley,A Hero for Miss Hatherleigh is my favourite Carolyn Miller book so far.

As usual, the writing is excellent, the sense of period is perfect, and the characters. I liked the way Miss Caroline Hatherleigh went through a complete yet convincing change in her character. I also liked the way what could have been a lighthearted romance showed unexpected depths.

Caroline Hatherleigh has been raised to believe that feelings of love in marriage are for the lower orders, and to consider attending church as a social obligation, not something one does for any deeper meaning. But she wants more from a marriage than mere affection. And her beliefs on faith are challenged when she is shunted off to south Devonshire to visit her grandmother, where she meets Gideon Kirby and his sister.

As she spends time with the pair, they challenge her to consider the reality of God and faith. She is attracted to Gideon, but knows that as the daughter of a Viscount, she’s expected to marry someone of equal rank in society. Anyway, Gideon would have to show an interest in her first.

Gideon is a strong Christian, and a scientist (in a time when the two weren’t considered to be mutually exclusive). He is hunting for fossils on England’s south coast. He describes himself as an undergroundologist, which I guess is the predecessor to our modern palentologist. He is in Devon for two reasons: to hunt for fossils in the same area as the famous Mary Anning, and to protect his sister from the monster she married.

It is these two subplots that raise A Hero for Miss Hatherleigh head and shoulders above most Christian romance.

Emma is hiding from an abusive husband, something which is rarely discussed in historical fiction, and which adds a layer of suspense to the plot. Science and faith rarely mix in our modern world, and Gideon faces some of those challenges in 1818. It’s a fascinating combination of backdrops.

Those who have read and enjoyed Miller’s earlier Regency romances will enjoy glimpses of characters from previous stories, but it doesn’t matter if you haven’t read any. A Hero for Miss Hatherleigh is the first of the Daughters of Aynsley trilogy—which means we have another two Carolyn Miller novels to look forward to. Excellent!

Recommended for all fans of Christian Regency romance, or for those looking for Christian romance that’s beyond the ordinary.

Thanks to Carolyn Miller for providing a free book 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 American (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 A Hero for Miss Hatherleigh

Can a very proper noble lady find a future with a fossil-hunting man of faith?

As the daughter of Viscount Aynsley, Caroline Hatherleigh knows every rule of society—and she’s always followed them precisely. It’s simply the way things are done in her world. When she visits south Devonshire and encounters a fossil-hunting scientist and his sister, her assumptions about what is right are shaken. She is suddenly confronted by questions she has never considered about the importance of friendship and faith—and her comfortable understanding about how the world works is thrown off balance.

Gideon Kirby loves science, and hunting down proof of past lives is a joy he won’t willingly give up. But his scientific leanings are being challenged by both his personal beliefs and by local smugglers in the Devonshire countryside. And every day his sister’s illness is becoming more desperate and her care grows more demanding. Adding a proper Viscount’s daughter to the mix is a complication Gideon never expected—especially since he has a secret that demands he stays far away from this young woman he’s falling for in order to protect his beloved sister.

When a mysterious stranger visits the village, that secret is set to be exposed, no matter how Gideon fights. Then tragedy strikes in a smugglers cave. And the threat of scandal may lead to broken hearts and passionless propriety. Will the shaky bond these two have managed to build be strong enough to overcome their differences—or will the trust they’ve withheld from each other end up tearing three lives apart?

You can find A Hero for Miss Hatherleigh online at:

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25 March 2019

Book Review | A Desperate Hope by Elizabeth Camden

Alex Duval has the dubious honour of being mayor of a town that’s about to disappear.

New York needs water, which means New York needs a reservoir. That new reservoir will flood Alex’s town in the near future. Sure, the State Water Board is offering compensation, but that doesn’t change the fact that two hundred years of family and town history will soon be buried at the bottom of a lake.

So Alex is less than impressed when a team arrives to survey the land and assess the buildings for compensation. He’s even less impressed when he realises the accountant who will determine how much the government will pay for each house is his first love, Eloise, who he hasn’t heard from in ten years despite his efforts.

Eloise isn’t exactly happy to be in town either, especially when she realises Alex is still there. She has no desire to be party to the destruction of this town, but it’s her job. Yet as she gets to know the town—and the townspeople—she wants things to be different.

Elizabeth Camden’s novels never fail to impress me, and A Desperate Hope is no exception.

As with her earlier novels, it combines complex characters with an intricate plot that incorporates an intriguing aspect of history, and a suspense element. This series has focussed on one of the major challenges of industrialisation: water.

The first book looked at some of the innovations in indoor plumbing. You might not think of plumbing as fascinating, but Elizabeth Camden turned it into a riveting read. Another looked at the importance of clean water, and the scientific battle between filtration and chemical treatment. Both were a combination of good fiction with intriguing historical detail, and a woman in a non-traditional occupation.

A Desperate Hope is the same. There is a problem, but solving that problem is going to take some innovative engineering thinking … and I don’t want to say more, because that would be a spoiler.

I recommend A Desperate Hope to all historical fiction fans, whether they’ve read the earlier books in the series (A Dangerous Legacy and A Daring Venture) or not.

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

About Elizabeth Camden

Elizabeth Camden is a research librarian at a small college in central Florida. Her novels have won the coveted RITA and Christy Awards. She has published several articles for academic publications and is the author of four nonfiction history books. Her ongoing fascination with history and love of literature have led her to write inspirational fiction. Elizabeth lives with her husband near Orlando, Florida.

Find Elizabeth Camden online at:

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About A Desperate Hope

Eloise Drake’s prim demeanor hides the turbulent past she’s finally put behind her–or so she thinks. A mathematical genius, she’s now a successful accountant for the largest engineering project in 1908 New York. But to her dismay, her new position puts her back in the path of the man responsible for her deepest heartbreak.

Alex Duval is the mayor of a town about to be wiped off the map. The state plans to flood the entire valley where his town sits in order to build a new reservoir, and Alex is stunned to discover the woman he once loved on the team charged with the demolition. With his world crumbling around him, Alex devises a risky plan to save his town–but he needs Eloise’s help to succeed.

Alex is determined to win back the woman he thought he’d lost forever, but even their combined ingenuity may not be enough to overcome the odds against them before it’s too late.

You can find A Desperate Hope online at:

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You can read the introduction to A Desperate Hope at:

31 October 2018

Book Review | The Christmas Heirloom: Four Holiday Novellas of Love through Generations

This is a fun novella collection from four popular authors, each writing in the genre they are known for. The stories are linked several ways—they are linked to each other as the heroines are gifted and then pass down a family heirloom, and each has a Christmas scene (enough to make it marketable as a Christmas collection, but not so Christmassy that it felt odd to read in October). Some of the stories are also linked to other stories from that individual author. Clever, and fun!

As is typical for novellas, the stories are quick and relatively fast-paced, but each is a complete and satisfying story.

Legacy of Love by Kristi Ann Hunter is loosely linked to her current Haven Manor series.

The heroine, Sarah Gooding, was raised at Haven Manor and has no idea who her parents are. She’s working as the companion to the Dowager Countess of Densbury and is secretly in love with Lady Densbury’s grandson, Mr Everard. Or perhaps that’s not-so-secretly …

The story is written in Hunter’s trademark fun style, with subtle humour that builds character and reduces tension rather than crossing over to the ridiculous. Despite the short length, Legacy of Love manages to pack quite the emotional punch—I can’t remember the last time I cried over a novel, let alone a novella.

Gift of the Heart by Karen Witemeyer introduces widow Ruth Fullbright and her daughter, Naomi.

Ruth has come to the resort town of Hope Springs to take a job as cook at the Homespun Cafe. But Ruth has no money to pay the deposit or advance rent on the only place in town she can afford, so she asks the owner if he’ll accept a broach, a family heirloom, as security. He does … especially because he’s curioius about and attracted to the small town’s new resident.

This is a feel-good romance, exactly what I expect from Karen Witemeyer. There are great characters, Christian themes, and plenty of subtle humour.

(As an aside, Hope Springs seems to be a popular name for fictional towns—I’ve just started Who I Am With You by Robin Jones Gunn, which also features a heroine living in Hope Springs. I guess Christian authors like the symbolism.)

A Shot at Love by Sarah Loudin Thomas features an unusual heroine.

She’s a crack shot who carves rifle butts and wants to own her own gunsmithing store one day. When Hank visits town for work, Fleeta soon finds he’s the only person she’s met—male or female—who can give her some competition for her shooting. But will he be content to settle a shooting, or will he want more?

This was the story I didn’t enjoy as much as the others. I haven’t read anything by Sarah Loudin Thomas before, so that could be because I was still trying to get used to her style. It could also be because I’m not a gun person, so the idea of anyone wanting to be a gunsmith is outside my experience.

However, that’s a statement of preference. There was nothing wrong with the story, the characters, or the writing. I just found it harder to related to Fleeta, which made it difficult to engage with the story.

The final story, Because of You by Becky Wade, is set in the present day.

It’s part of the Bradford Sisters Romance series, but it’s not about one of the Bradford sisters. Instead, it’s about Maddie Winslow, who works for one of the sisters.

Because of You is a classic friends-to-something-else plot, as Maddie is in love with her (dead) best friend’s husband. When they are assigned to be partners in the church Christmas project, they are forced to spend time alone together, and that changes things …

All in all, this was a fun novella collection centered around a family heirloom—a valuable brooch. If (like me) you already know and enjoy one or more of these authors, then the collection is a great way to be introduced to the others.

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

About the Authors

Kristi Ann Hunter

Kristi is the RITA® award winning author of Regency romance novels from a Christian worldview. Her titles include A Noble Masquerade, An Elegant Façade, and An Uncommon Courtship. Beyond writing, she is also speaker, teaching classes in writing as well as Biblical and spiritual topics. She has spoken to writers’ groups, schools, and young women’s groups at churches.

When she is not writing or interacting with her readers, Kristi spends time with her family and her church. A graduate of Georgia Tech with a computer science degree, she can also be found fiddling with her computer in her free time. A born lover of stories she is also an avid reader. From very young she dreamed of sharing her own stories with others and praises God daily that she gets to live that dream today.

You can find Kristi Ann Hunter online at:

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About Karen Witemeyer

For those who love to smile as they read, bestselling author Karen Witemeyer offers warm-hearted historical romances with a flair of humor, feisty heroines, and swoon-worthy Texas heroes. A transplant from California, Karen came to Texas for college, met a cowboy disguised as a computer nerd, married him, and never left the state that had become home.

Winner of the HOLT Medallion, ACFW Carol Award, Inspirational Reader’s Choice Award, National Reader’s Choice Award, and a finalist for both the RITA and Christy Awards, Karen is a firm believer in the power of happy endings. . . and ice cream. She also loves to reward her readers. Every month she gives away two inspirational historical novels to someone from her newsletter list and offers substantial bonus content on her website.

Find Karen Witemeyer online at:

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About Sarah Loudin Thomas

Sarah Loudin Thomas grew up on a 100-acre farm in French Creek, WV, the seventh generation to live there. Her Christian fiction is set in West Virginia and celebrates the people, the land, and the heritage of Appalachia. Sarah is represented by Wendy Lawton of Books & Such Literary Agency.

Sarah and her husband Jim live in the mountains of Western North Carolina with Thistle–the canine equivalent to a personal trainer pushing them to hike, run, and throw sticks. Sarah is active in her local church and enjoys cooking and–you guessed it–reading.

Find Sarah Loudin Thomas online at:

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About Becky Wade

Becky is the Carol and Christy award winning author of heartwarming, humorous, and swoon-worthy contemporary inspirational romances.

During her childhood in California, Becky frequently produced homemade plays starring her sisters, friends, and cousins. These plays almost always featured a heroine, a prince, and a love story with a happy ending. She’s been a fan of all things romantic ever since.

These days, you’ll find Becky in Dallas, Texas failing to keep up with her housework, trying her best in yoga class, carting her three kids around town, watching TV with her Cavalier spaniel on her lap, hunched over her computer writing, or eating chocolate.

You can find Becky Wade online at:

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About The Christmas Heirloom

In Kristi Ann Hunter’s “Legacy of Love,” Sarah Gooding never suspected returning a brooch to an elderly woman would lead to a job . . . and introduce her to the woman’s grandson, a man far above her station.

In Karen Witemeyer’s “Gift of the Heart,” widow Ruth Albright uses the family brooch as collateral for a loan from the local banker. But the more she comes to know the man behind the stern businessman, the more she hopes for a second chance at love.

In Sarah Loudin Thomas’s “A Shot at Love,” Fleeta Brady’s rough-and-tumble childhood means she prefers hunting to more feminine activities. She never expected her family’s brooch might be how a fellow hunter turns her attention from competition to romance.

In Becky Wade’s “Because of You,” Maddie Winslow has spent years in love with a man whose heart was already spoken for. When a church Christmas project brings them together and she stumbles upon an old family brooch, might it finally be her turn for love?

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Closer Than She Knows takes all the strengths of Tell Her No Lies and builds on them to deliver a powerful novel.

What follows could be a typical chase-type romantic suspense novel, but it’s more than that.

Recommended for fans of Christian romantic suspense.

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As such, parts of the first quarter felt a little contrived.

Andrew is asked to look into possible issues with the British Home Children scheme.

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About No Ocean Too Wide

Between the years of 1869 to 1939 more than 100,000 poor British children were sent across the ocean to Canada with the promise of a better life. Those who took them in to work as farm laborers or household servants were told they were orphans–but was that the truth?

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She has a unique brain, in that numbers seem to rearrange themselves into words and messages.

Including Margot

The characters are fascinating, the writing is excellent, and the result is a unique page-turner.

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About Fawkes

Thomas Fawkes is turning to stone, and the only cure to the Stone Plague is to join his father’s plot to assassinate the king of England.

The plan: use 36 barrels of gunpowder to blow up the Igniter King.

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My Review

Fawkes begins with Thomas Fawkes, the narrator, at boarding school on the eve of his Color Test.

Fawkes places us in the mind of Thomas.

But he’s never actually stopped to consider what is true.

All of which are difficult in this modern era of #FakeNews.

It got me thinking without taking me out of the story, and that’s high praise.

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Daughters of Aynslley,A Hero for Miss Hatherleigh is my favourite Carolyn Miller book so far.

It is these two subplots that raise A Hero for Miss Hatherleigh head and shoulders above most Christian romance.

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About A Hero for Miss Hatherleigh

Can a very proper noble lady find a future with a fossil-hunting man of faith?

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Alex Duval has the dubious honour of being mayor of a town that’s about to disappear.

Elizabeth Camden’s novels never fail to impress me, and A Desperate Hope is no exception.

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Legacy of Love by Kristi Ann Hunter is loosely linked to her current Haven Manor series.

Gift of the Heart by Karen Witemeyer introduces widow Ruth Fullbright and her daughter, Naomi.

A Shot at Love by Sarah Loudin Thomas features an unusual heroine.

The final story, Because of You by Becky Wade, is set in the present day.

About the Authors

Kristi Ann Hunter

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About The Christmas Heirloom

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