A grieving widow opens up her heart and home in this cozy contemporary from Carlson (Welcome to the Honey B&B). Riva Owens, 61, has been struggling to pay off medical bills and keep up on her mortgage payments since her husband Paul died of cancer more than a year ago. Over the protestations of her daughter Kenzie, who wants her to move to a senior center across town, Riva decides to stay put in her Victorian home and rent out several rooms. As a result, she ushers plenty of drama into her quiet life. Her new boarders Laurel, Windy, Fiona, and Kitty—all independent, opinionated seniors—clash over the space, their secrets, and eventually their romantic interests. As Riva grapples with the challenges of sharing her home—including an incriminating secret one of the women is hiding, and the possibility of a new romance—she turns to God to help her make the most of her new beginning. Carlson’s cute, cheery premise gains depth from resonant descriptions of how grief strikes at unexpected moments and the conflicting excitement and guilt that can accompany a fresh start. This is sure to tug on readers’ heartstrings. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 01/02/2026 | Details & Permalink

Hannon (Over the Edge) wraps up the Undaunted Courage series with this pulse-pounding contemporary. Anthropologist Cara Tucker is taking a sabbatical in rural Missouri, where she’s helping Natalie Boyer, a local woman, translate family journals written in Paw Paw French, a nearly extinct dialect once spoken by French settlers in the region. Natalie hopes the journals will shed light on her thorny family history, including the suspicious circumstances surrounding a relative’s death in the 1930s. But a series of too-coincidental disasters—a fire set on Natalie’s property, her handyman’s mysterious death—soon has both women wondering if someone might be determined to keep the journals’ secrets buried. After local sheriff Brad Adams gets involved in the case and seeks Cara’s help extracting clues from the diaries, he begins to suspect the real culprit might be closer to home, even if he can’t yet discern their motive. Hannon keeps the tension high as Brad and Cara harness their faith to unravel a mystery that’s rooted in an intricate web of long-ago affairs, contested inheritances, and buried jealousies. Readers will be on the edge of their seats until the very end. (Oct.)

Reviewed on 01/02/2026 | Details & Permalink

Dickerson follows up Lady of Disguise with a charming rags-to-riches Regency romance. Charlotte Robbins, 25, lives in a small English village but dreams of traveling the world and writing novels. When a governess position at Lowndesbury House becomes available, she’s excited to take it; she’s even more thrilled to discover that the mansion’s owner, the handsome but purportedly cold Earl of Brookhaven, is actually a sensitive, faithful man disillusioned by the superficiality of his social circle. As their friendship deepens, Charlotte is thrust into high society when she inherits a fortune from a mysterious uncle and must contend with hordes of eager suitors who seem more enchanted with her money than her heart. She pines for Lord Brookhaven but worries she’s mistaken his kindness for something more, while Brookhaven, haunted by a former fiancée’s betrayal, hesitates to open his heart again. Dickerson injects fresh life into this riff on the “Cinderella” story by setting it against a richly detailed 19th-century British backdrop rife with class tensions. Fans of Julie Klassen will want to dive in. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 01/02/2026 | Details & Permalink

An avalanche in the Colorado mountains propels this uneven pair of mystery novellas from Pettrey (Blind Spot) and Eason (Target Acquired). In Pettrey’s “Buried in Shadows,” autopsy assistant Cassie Parker returns to the same ski resort where, one year ago, she was blackmailed by a stalker into leaving her best friend Izzy’s brother, Joel, at the altar. Now reunited at Izzy’s wedding, Cassie and Joel have time to talk things out, especially after an avalanche forces them to shelter at the ski lodge. Just as they start confronting their unresolved feelings, Cassie’s stalker resurfaces, determined to keep the pair apart at any cost. In Eason’s “Snowbound Secrets,” trauma surgeon Maya Sullivan is on a much deserved getaway when the same avalanche strands her at a ski resort without cell service. Things start looking up when she runs into her teenage crush, Gideon Price, but then a series of mysterious “accidents” befall her, and it becomes evident Maya is the target of a sinister plot. As their chemistry builds, Maya and Gideon harness their faith to uncover who has it in for Maya—and why—before it’s too late. Unfortunately, the latter third of Pettrey’s novella feels rushed, while Eason undercuts her narrative tension with long blocks of exposition-heavy dialogue. These wintry thrillers fail to deliver the chills. (Feb.)

Reviewed on 12/05/2025 | Details & Permalink

The latest from Strong (Fiancé Finale) is a frothy romance starring a former ballet dancer who’s seeking a fresh start. After an injury ends her professional dancing career, Claire Holloway lands a flight attendant job based in Seattle and leaves her longtime boyfriend, Wyatt, behind in California. Immediately after arriving she bumps into handsome pilot Nathan Stuart, who helps her get acclimated to the job. The chemistry between the two builds on flight assignments, but both carry emotional baggage: Claire’s mourning her failed ballet career and trying to decide whether to stay with her supportive boyfriend, while Nathan’s reeling from a recent breakup with an unfaithful ex. When a new flight attendant position opens up in California, Claire must decide whether to play it safe and marry Wyatt or embark on an exciting but uncertain new life in Seattle. The dual-perspective narration steadily ratchets up the romantic tension as the leads work to trust God to lead them in the right direction, even if it’s far from the path they’d planned. This sweet contemporary satisfies. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 12/05/2025 | Details & Permalink

Lee (Beneath a Peaceful Moon) concludes her Enduring Hope series with the potent story of a Lakota woman finding her way in late 19th-century America. After her parents died when she was 12, Rose Rushing Water was removed from her community by government officials, sent to a boarding school, and then educated as a nurse in Boston. As an adult, she returns to Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota to provide medical care to the Lakota people. She’s also eager to relearn her native language and customs and enlists the help of her brother’s friend, Nathaniel Gray Cloud, though they meet in secret to avoid the scrutiny of U.S. government officials on the reservation. As tensions spike between the settlers and the Lakota people, Rose struggles to care for her patients with meager resources and to retain her belief in a Christian God who would let her people suffer. When tragedy strikes, Rose must decide whether to continue to risk her life by staying on the reservation or renounce her past and start over elsewhere. Lee’s portrait of Rose is vivid and poignant, bringing to life what it means to straddle two worlds without fully inhabiting either. This immersive historical will stick with readers long after the final page. (Feb.)

Reviewed on 12/05/2025 | Details & Permalink

A Samaritan woman struggles against the constraints of womanhood in ancient Israel in the affecting latest from Smith (Sarai). Nessa is the most beautiful girl in her Samaritan community of Sychar and draws the attention of almost every man she meets, whether she likes it or not. When she reaches marrying age, her money-hungry father promises her to wealthy widower Amichai, despite her lingering feelings for her cousin Lavi, who disappeared from Sychar shortly before her wedding. Just as Nessa adjusts to life with Amichai, he dies, forcing her to return to her childhood home. Though she’s reluctant to get married again, Nessa’s father quickly arranges her betrothal to Harel, an angry farmer with a hostile mother. When circumstances outside of Nessa’s control unravel the marriage, it isn’t long before she’s trapped in a seemingly endless cycle of doomed unions that leave her grappling with her relationship with God, particularly when a former husband forces her to make an impossible decision. Though the series of bad marriages grows repetitive, readers will have no trouble relating to Nessa and her desire for love and companionship. Fans of biblical fiction will be swept up. (Feb.)

Reviewed on 11/14/2025 | Details & Permalink

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

Reviewed on 11/14/2025 | Details & Permalink

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

Reviewed on 11/21/2025 | Details & Permalink

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

Reviewed on 11/21/2025 | Details & Permalink