"The Do-Over" by Bethany Turner

When McKenna Keaton walks into the boardroom of Wallis, Monroe, and Burkhead, she expects to be named senior partner. Instead, she learns she’s being investigated for embezzlement. To wait out her unpaid leave, McKenna sublets her apartment and goes home to North Carolina to save money. Saving face is going to be another thing entirely, but she assumes her problems will blow over soon. While living in her childhood hometown, McKenna learns about a family curse that—if real rather than imagined—could suggest she has less than a year to live. This information is troubling (of course!), but it’s the reunion with former classmate Henry—Durham’s favorite son—that flips her world upside down. Henry is now a celebrated documentarian, back in town to premiere his latest masterpiece. As she waits out the results of the investigation and wonders if her literal life is hanging in the balance, McKenna debates her future and questions her past. She might survive it all in one piece—but a new love and a newly-examined life might be the only things that can save her. 

It's an entertaining romantic comedy that would fit in well with classic 90's rom-coms, like You've Got Mail, Runaway Bride, and While You Were Sleeping. Lots of funny moments, some tender moments, and some wonderfully cathartic ones when McKenna finally does the right thing. McKenna is definitely flawed--particularly when it comes to her relationships with her family. I vastly disagree with some of her choices--burying the truth about something as significant as an embezzlement investigation is not . . . ideal, and every little lie one tells to hide it just digs the hole deeper. However, I do like how she grows closer to her tag-along little sister (as well as her close relationship with her older sister), and how she reprioritizes her family. I wouldn't have minded a bit more about the embezzlement scandal, but to be fair, it was a rom com, not a legal thriller.

Thank you Thomas Nelson and NetGalley for the complimentary e-book. I was not required to write a positive review, and all opinions are my own.

"To Treasure an Heiress" by Roseanna M White - Secrets of the Isles, book 2

Beth Tremayne has always been drawn to adventure. During her childhood, she fed that desire by exploring every inch of the Isles of Scilly. Now, stumbling across an old map on her family's property, she's found more adventure than she ever craved in the hunt for pirate treasure. Unfortunately, Beth can't escape the attentions of her family's guest, Lord Sheridan. Sheridan has spent years pursuing whatever archaeological interests caught his imagination. And when he discovers that Beth's search connects with one of his favorite pirates of history, he can't help getting involved. Plus, he finds her irresistible, even though she insists he stole a prized possession of hers. As they work together following different clues and drawing closer to danger, they start to piece together a story of tragic love and piratical adventure. But the true surprise is the treasure they discover in each other.

 This book picks up immediately where The Nature of a Lady leaves off, so it would probably be helpful to read book one first (which, incidentally, is the start of the treasure hunt continued in this book). 

Sheridan definitely makes the book. He's extremely amusing, even if most of his thoughts never leave his head. Except for when they accidentally do, of course (with highly amusing results). He and Beth make an excellent pair, with their mutual love of adventure. I was glad that this book shows Telford in a better light than he came off in in the previous book--I'm looking forward to the next book featuring him and Lady Emily.

Secrets of the Isles
1. The Nature of a Lady
2. To Treasure an Heiress
3. Worthy of Legend

"Until Leaves Fall in Paris" by Sarah Sundin

As the Nazis march toward Paris in 1940, American ballerina Lucie Girard buys her favorite English-language bookstore to allow the Jewish owners to escape. Lucie struggles to run Green Leaf Books due to oppressive German laws and harsh conditions, but she finds a way to aid the resistance by passing secret messages between the pages of her books. Widower Paul Aubrey wants nothing more than to return to the States with his little girl, but the US Army convinces him to keep his factory running and obtain military information from his German customers. As the war rages on, Paul offers his own resistance by sabotaging his product and hiding British airmen in his factory. After they meet in the bookstore, Paul and Lucie are drawn to each other, but she rejects him when she discovers he sells to the Germans. And for Paul to win her trust would mean betraying his mission.

I enjoyed learning more about Paris in early WWII; I hadn't realized what a large community of Americans there were in the city at the time, or what freedoms they retained, at least for a short while. The story gives a hint at how much messier reality was than we like to think; Paul and his German overseer are fellow graduates of Harvard, with much in common, except that they choose opposite sides. Lucie's roommates are sliding the slippery moral slope of trying to survive while making compromise after compromise in the process. Some Americans heartily buy into Nazi rhetoric, while others immediately begin secretly aiding the Allies.

I struggled to like Lucie at first, mostly because of her bohemian attitude (you can't operate a business if you're going to ignore distasteful things like finances. It just doesn't work. And being smart with finances doesn't make one a capitalistic jerk.) But I appreciated that she comes to like Paul even when she believes he is a collaborator, before learning of his true leanings, and that she never imputes her initial disgust with Paul on his daughter. Paul was wonderful. Not perfect, as he had to work to understand his grieving daughter, but a good man, doing his best to be faithful to his country, family, and employees, even at the sacrifice of his reputation.

Christy Award winner for best historical romance in 2022!

Thank you Revell and NetGalley for the complimentary e-book. I was not required to write a positive review, and all opinions are my own.

"To Disguise the Truth" by Jen Turano - Bleeker Street Inquiry Agency, book 3

When Arthur Livingston arrives out of the blue at the Bleecker Street Inquiry Agency, anxious to hire the agency to seek out a missing heiress, Eunice Holbrooke realizes her past has finally caught up with her. Having fled from the scene of her grandfather's murder seven years before, Eunice is a lady with secrets--the most important that she is the missing heiress Arthur is seeking. She has no intention of allowing him to learn she's been disguising herself, especially when she has reason to believe Arthur could hold her responsible for her grandfather's death. In order to avoid Arthur and conceal her real identity, Eunice takes on another case that requires her to go deep undercover. With secrets from the past--and Arthur--appearing wherever she looks, she wonders how she will ever uncover the truth behind her grandfather's murder. Will what she discovers set Eunice free or place her in peril's way?

Jen Turano's books are always fun, but the Bleeker Street Inquiry Agency has made room for all sorts of zany adventures. Eunice has always been a fascinating character (one we knew had secrets--why else would she hide behind layers of mourning veils?), so it was delightful to discover her story. From the very first page, where it introduces our hero as the man Eunice shot the last time she saw him, it was a fun romp as Eunice reconciles with her past and paves the way for her future.

Thank you Bethany House and NetGalley for the complimentary e-book. I was not required to write a positive review, and all opinions are my own.

Bleeker Street Inquiry Agency
1. To Steal a Heart
2. To Write a Wrong
3. To Disguise the Truth

"A Heart Adrift" by Laura Frantz

It is 1755, and the threat of war with France looms over colonial York, Virginia. Chocolatier Esme Shaw is reconciled to life alone after a decade-old failed love affair from which she's never quite recovered. But she longs to find something worthwhile to do with her life. Captain Henri Lennox has returned to port after a lengthy absence, intent on completing the lighthouse in the dangerous Chesapeake Bay, a dream he once shared with Esme. But when the colonial government asks him to lead a secret naval expedition against the French, his future is plunged into uncertainty. Will a war and a cache of regrets keep them apart, or can their shared vision and dedication to the colonial cause heal the wounds of the past? 

And the sailor said, "Esmee, you're a fine girl. What a good wife you would be . . . But but my life, my lover, my lady is the sea." (To slightly misquote a song that was running through my head at the beginning of the book). 

Frantz does an excellent job setting the scene and exploring new aspects of colonial life. The chocolatiering was completely new for me, as with life in Virginia at the start of the French and Indian War--all I'd known before of the war took place farther north, primarily in New York. I really enjoyed the privateering aspect of the book; it's not a subject one sees often, especially as authorized by the colonial government (and technically king of England). I hadn't realized it played a significant role in the French and Indian War. Aspects of the story reminded me of the swashbuckling classic Captain Blood, which I have long enjoyed.

This was a solid, faith-filled story, besides being a lovely example of a second chance at love. I would have preferred more tension , particularly nearing the end. It could have used a little more lead-up to the final conflict; not that it came completely out of the blue, but there hadn't been any major tension leading up to it, so it didn't feel particularly necessary to the plot. I did like the scene, however, especially for Eliza's character arc, but some foreboding and tension in advance would have made it a really solid ending rather than a tacked-on, last-minute conflict. 

Thank you Revell and NetGalley for the complimentary e-book. I was not required to write a positive review, and all opinions are my own.

"Her Darling Mr. Day" by Grace Hitchcock - American Royalty, book 2

Jilted in front of all New York, Theodore Day decides to lose himself in his family's luxury riverboat business in New Orleans and compete against his brother to become the next company head. The brother with the most sales by summer's end will win the position. It took Flora Wingfield's best work to convince her family to summer in New Orleans, but with Teddy Day a bachelor once again, she's leaving nothing to chance. Desperate to stand out from all the clamoring belles, Flora attempts a bold move that goes completely awry, only to find it's her interior design skills that finally catch his notice. But when Flora learns her father has matchmaking schemes of his own, Teddy will have to decide where his happiness truly lies and what he is willing to sacrifice for it.

As the second book of the series, this one is easier to follow if one has read book one (the contest Teddy participated in is referenced quite a bit), but even so, it stands on its own decently. I think it has more humor than book one, which I enjoyed. There are hints of a mystery indicated by uncharacteristic actions by Flora's father, though Flora (and consequently, the reader) is kept in the dark. I assumed the Wingfield family was actually bankrupt, but I was wrong! Aspects of Flora's relationships with her sisters reminded me strongly of the Bennet sisters in Pride and Prejudice (as, for that matter, did some of the socialites of New Orleans). 

Over all, it's an entertaining story; sometimes over-the-top, but if you're in the mood for a light-hearted romance, this fits the bill.

Thank you Bethany House and NetGalley for the complimentary e-book. I was not required to write a positive review, and all opinions are my own.

American Royalty
1. My Dear Miss Dupree
2. Her Darling Mr. Day
3. His Delightful Lady Delia

Most Anticipated Christian Fiction 2022!

 Here are my most anticipated Christian fiction reads for 2022! (To be updated as fall books are announced)

  

January: A Heart Adrift by Laura Frantz (Revell)

January: To Disguise the Truth by Jen Turano (Bethany House); Bleeker Street Inquiry Agency, book 3

January: To Treasure an Heiress by Roseanna M White (Bethany House); Secrets of the Isles, book 2

  

March: Enchanting the Heiress by Kristi Ann Hunter (Bethany House); Hearts on the Heath, book 3

April: The Souls of Lost Lake by Jaime Jo Wright (Bethany House)

May: Turn to Me by Becky Wade (Bethany House); Misty River Romance, book 3

 

May: Shadowed Loyalty by Roseanna M. White (Chrism Press)

May: Written on the Wind by Elizabeth Camden (Bethany House); Blackstone Legacy, book 2

October: A Seaside Wonder by Melissa Tagg (Indie); Muir Harbor, book 2

  

September: Worthy of Legend by Roseanna M. White (Bethany House); Secrets of the Isles, book 3

October: The Premonition at Wither's Farm by Jaime Jo Wright (Bethany House)

December: Engaging Deception (Bethany House); Joplin Chronicles, book 3