ARC, BLOG, Favorite, Just Read Tours, Kindle, Launch Team, NetGalley, PB, Purchase, Revell

Fire Mountain by Dana Mentink Spotlight and Excerpt plus Review& Giveaway

July 9, 2025July 8, 2025 Babbling Becky L

Welcome to the Takeover Blitz for Fire Mountain by Dana Mentink hosted by JustRead Publicity Tours!

About the Book

Title: Fire Mountain
Series: Elements of Danger #1
Author: Dana Mentink
Publisher: Revell
Release Date: July 1, 2025
Genre: Mystery & Romantic Suspense

Fire rains from above as they fight to discover the truth and stay alive.

In the shadow of a threatening volcano, long-haul trucker Kit Garrido wakes up in her crashed big rig, unable to recall what happened or why she’s suddenly in possession of someone’s baby. Fiercely independent, she has to admit that perhaps this time she could use a little help.

As the threat of eruption grows, former cop Cullen Landry refuses to leave his cabin in the evacuation area, which is why he’s the only one left who can help Kit escape the crumpled cab of her truck. He doesn’t want to get tangled up in the mystery of the beautiful woman with an abandoned infant, but when he sees the bullet hole in the windshield and the bloody handprint on the interior, he realizes that he’s in this thing, like it or not.

When two armed men with ill intent approach, the race is on to stay alive, discover the truth, and find the baby’s missing mother–all while a deadly mountain rains fire from above.

PURCHASE LINKS: Goodreads | Revell | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Bookshop

Dana Mentink is a USA Today and Publishers Weekly bestselling author. She’s written more than 50 mystery and suspense novels for Love Inspired Suspense, Harvest House, and Poisoned Pen Press. Winner of two ACFW Carol Awards, a Holt Medallion Award, and a Romantic Times Reviewer’s Choice Award, Dana lives in Northern California with her husband.

Connect with Dana by visiting DanaMentink.com to follow her on social media or subscribe to email newsletter updates.

Excerpt

COLD AND ICE-PICK PAIN bored into Kit Garrido’s temples. Her limbs were leaden, her body a deadweight in the driver’s seat of her big rig. Grit coated her tongue and teeth. She tasted blood. Try as she might, she couldn’t reach out to unbuckle her seat belt. Panic bubbled up in-side her.

She felt movement. Someone yanked hard on the pas- senger door, unleashing pulses of pain.

“Ma’am?” A low baritone, rough.

A big hand skimmed her temple, calloused fingers hard like talons. Through her slitted eyelids, a male torso mate- rialized, a large man in a heavy jacket. Warm ash drifted from his baseball cap and settled on her cheek, featherlight.

“What . . . happened?” Her voice was a croak.

“You crashed.” His voice held the trace of a Southern accent. “Volcano’s unsettled everything. Not safe to stay here.”

Not safe? Crashed? Why wouldn’t her mouth work fast enough to spit out the questions? Fear lapped at her insides as he fumbled for her seat belt.

“You’ve got to wake up. Now.”

She forced her eyes farther open, grabbed the wheel. Cold wind raked her cheek. Wind? She lurched into full consciousness so fast her brain rocked in her skull. Green. Everywhere green mixed with brown, the trees of north- ern Washington all around, the rattling pine needles oddly muted by their coating of volcanic ash. A pine cone dropped on her lap through the gaping hole in the windshield. It left a sooty stain on her knee before it bounced off. She stared at it.

How . . .

He was talking, but she couldn’t follow.

She touched her brown ski cap, then the flannel of her favorite long-haul driving jacket, the feel of the fabrics proving to herself she was alive. Somehow. A hiss of es- caping steam commanded her to acknowledge what she desperately didn’t want to see.

Her beautiful Freightliner truck was wedged cab first, jammed in a crevice between two crooked trees. In the side- view mirror she observed an enormous trench of gouged earth that marked her journey from the road above to the place of impact. The shiny yellow cab with its cozy sleep- ing unit, her home for three-hundred-plus days a year, was squashed like the face of a Pekinese. The pristine white trailer she’d washed that morning was no doubt damaged as well. She closed her eyes and pictured the bold font she’d painstakingly chosen for the Garrido Trucking logo. How absurdly proud she’d felt the day the lettering was applied. Her truck. Her business. Her life. Finally.

Muscles in her throat tightened, and tears started down her face.

Crashed. She’d crashed. Everything she’d worked for, gone. The pain in her head intensified. She stared around wildly. “But what happened? How did I wreck?”

The man shrugged. “Dunno. I’m not sure why you’d even be on Pine Hollow Road in the first place. Pretty ridiculous, considering.”

Ridiculous? She bridled as the location sank in. Pine Hollow? Why there? Deep breaths. One, two, three, then she unbuckled and levered herself from the driver’s seat. Pain lanced her left wrist. Broken or sprained? Her shirt was splattered with blood, though she couldn’t feel any cuts.

“Easy,” the man said, arms outstretched as if to catch her.

Why couldn’t she remember what happened? She must have rolled out of her small office solo that morning, like she always did before picking up her load, the last load she dared haul out of a region under an evacuation advisory. She wouldn’t have chosen Pine Hollow, a twisty route that would take her nearer the volatile Mount Ember. Every- thing she’d learned, the geologic facts she’d devoured, left her itching to escape. Had she lost control? Maybe she’d been knocked out by a falling boulder. Had the noxious gasses venting from the volcano’s bulging side overwhelmed her? But why here?

The cold infiltrated her torn jacket, numbing her arms. Faraway, she heard the distant rumble of thunder or maybe another earthquake from the mountain preparing to blow. No sounds of vehicles, sirens, people. Eerie. Terrifying.

Her thoughts were muddy, slow. Get help. She patted her pockets in a futile search for her cell. Gone somewhere.

The satellite radio was her next choice until she realized it had been pierced by the branch that neatly skewered the windshield. Her throat went dry. A few inches to the left and it would have impaled her too. Ruined also was the precious old-school CB she’d rebuilt, which would have instantly connected her with a fellow trucker.

The man was still staring at her. He straightened and leaned closer. “Are you hurt badly? I can carry you.”

She couldn’t make herself answer, so he went on. “Your radio’s crushed, I see. My cell phone has no bars down here. Where’s your phone?”

She jammed her knit cap on tighter. Hurt or not, she wouldn’t let any stranger control the conversation, espe- cially not in her rig. “I’ll find it.”

He shook his head. “You rest a minute. I’m gonna hop out and make sure your truck’s not on fire or anything.” He muscled his way back out the passenger door, the metal protesting with a bloodcurdling shriek.

She didn’t see any sign of his vehicle through the filthy glass. Where had he come from? There were no helpful locals out and about under the present circumstances. Nerves tightened in her stomach. A trucker alone with cargo was vulnerable, a female trucker even more so.

Protect yourself. She fumbled for the crowbar, but the seat was collapsed on top of it. Instead she yanked the fire extinguisher loose, which made her head feel like it was going to detonate. Best she could do. She eased closer to the fractured passenger window.

The ground was a moonscape of ash and debris. The man eased along, a palm on the cab for support, and she got another chance to examine him. Long legs, cowboy boots, flannel shirt, Yankees baseball cap, and a scar—she hadn’t noticed that before. It bisected his left eyebrow. He disappeared around the other side of the rig before return- ing a few moments later. The closer he got, the taller he was, probably six four and muscled. More than a match for her five-foot-five, hundred-ten-pound frame. The fear resurged. Protect yourself.

The extinguisher cut into her clenched palm. He drew close enough to the open passenger door for her to catch the light brown of his eyes, almost translucent like smoke. When he tried to climb aboard, she raised the extinguisher. “Where did you come from?”

His lips quirked. “Originally? South Carolina.” That explained the drawl. “I meant . . .”

“I know what you meant.” He shot a look at the ravaged landscape before he turned back. “Top of the ridge. My cabin’s up there. I was on my roof and I saw you go over the shoulder. I was surprised six ways to Sunday. Didn’t even hear you coming because the wind was howl- ing, and I sure didn’t expect any rigs to be in this area. Anyway, I hightailed it here in my truck. It’s parked up a ways.”

“I don’t know you.” A silly remark.

“Don’t know you either. You from around here?” She wouldn’t tell him where she lived.

“Close.”

He pointed to the fire extinguisher and heaved out a breath. “Are you going to clobber me with that or not? I promise it’s not necessary.” He held up his palms. How does anyone have fingers that long? “You need first aid before we get out of here, and I’m the only one here to give it to you whether you like it or not.” He plucked the kit from the pocket in the door and wiggled it at her. “You’re bleeding.”

“I don’t need first aid.”

He said something in reply, but his words seemed to come from far away, a rushing sound drowning them out as dizziness overcame her.

The extinguisher dropped to the floor, and she sank onto the driver’s seat while he climbed in and slammed the pas- senger door. A wave of nausea enveloped her. Hastily he dumped out the first aid kit and shoved the container under her chin as she wretched. He handed her a clean handker- chief from his pocket with a neat C embroidered on it.

She stared at the precisely folded, pristine cloth.

His cheeks pinked. “I know. No one carries these things anymore. Mama insists, and she sends me a box of ’em every Christmas.” He looked intently at her. “I’m fairly certain you have yourself a concussion.”

Dana Mentink, Fire Mountain

My Impressions

“Not a family, not them. Just . . . united strangers. ‘I know you aren’t a blood family, but people can be put together in unexpected ways.’”Archie

I wanted to check my blood pressure. It had to be high. After finishing Dana Mentink’s Fire Mountain romantic suspense novel, I felt so in tune with the characters, I thought I had run from men who built their money on exploitation. I was nearly sure I was trying desperately to escape a rumbling volcano. I lost myself in the drama, intrigue, baby care, and natural disaster unfolding in the book. So artfully told, I’ll never forget.

An everyman and everywoman hero. That’s what Cullen and Kit are. An ex-policeman, who can’t recover from his last call, and is now a horse rancher. A proud, independent, truck driver whose immediate memory is gone. Why is there a 9-month-old baby in her care? Kit knows nothing about babies. Worse, why is she headed back into the evacuation zone of Mt. Ember, threatening to blow her top? ( Do you either remember Mt. St. Helens or remember learning about her in school?) Since we were nearly across the nation, yet our summer weather was affected for months, I could only imagine how horrifying it would be to be in the danger zone! Plus, while injured, with baby in tow, Kit and Cullen discover someone is after them with deadly weapons!

Fortunately for the reader, Mentink has a great sense of humor. When I thought I would explode myself because of the building suspense, Mentink would insert levity. It might be trading witty lines between Cullen and Kit, or it might involve Archie, a crusty former Marine who had refused to leave his home on the mountain.

I loved Archie’s character! He is an enigma to be sure! Rough and gruff, yet “grandpa” with the baby.

In some ways, this book reads like a nightmare. Just when you think Kit and Cullen might be safe, either the mountain creates terror or Nico and Simon are hot on their trail again. However, Fire Mountain has embers of hope, where romance, character strength, and faith shine through.

One faith message is that of forgiveness. Kit has struggled with the absence of forgiveness in her past. Plus, she has a past she’s not proud of. “God forgives you for all that, Kit,”says Cullen.

“You’re not credible to say that though, are you?”…”Because you don’t believe what you say, deep down. You don’t live like it anyway,” Kit retorts. Ouch!

I find it interesting that Kit compares two sides of unforgiveness to equating oneself to God. “If a person can’t accept forgiveness themselves, or refuses to give it to someone else, it puts them in the place of God, doesn’t it?” Just in case it sounds like there is a lot of headtime in this book, let me say there are snatches. They are sandwiched between the desperate and the good times, perfectly placed to stimulate thinking, without losing the quick pace of this breathtaking story.

I received a copy of the book from the author and publisher through Just Reads and Netgalley. I also bought my own copy. No positive review was required, and all opinions are my own.

Notable Quotables:

“There’s your plan, and God’s plan, and yours doesn’t count.”– Kit’s father

“Rose- colored glasses aren’t going to keep us from dying.” “I prefer to attribute it to experience. I’ve seen God do plenty of miracles, so why not another one here and now?”– Kit, Cullen

“loving someone was one thing. Living it out was altogether different…”

“This moment, these days, his life, would be over when God said so. Not a moment before.”

My Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Superior! I am having a bit of trouble remembering that I was NOT a part of this spectacular drama! I won’t soon forget it!

Tour Giveaway

(1) winner will receive a copy of Fire Mountain and a $20 Amazon gift card!

Be sure to check out each stop on the tour for more chances to win. Full tour schedule linked below. Giveaway began at midnight July 9, 2025 and lasts through 11:59 PM EST on July 16, 2025. Winner will be notified within 2 weeks of close of the giveaway and given 48 hours to respond or risk forfeiture of prize. US only. Void where prohibited by law or logistics.

Giveaway is subject to the policies found here.

Enter Giveaway

Follow along at JustRead Tours for a full list of stops!

Bethany House, BLOG, Favorite, Kindle, Launch Team, NetGalley, PB, Purchase

Of Silver and Secrets by Michelle Griep

June 3, 2025 Babbling Becky L

About the Book:

Title: Of Silver and Secrets

Series: Time’s Lost Treasures #2

Author: Michelle Griep

Publisher: Bethany House Fiction

Released: June 3, 2025

Genre: Historical Romantic Suspense

Buried underneath are truths bent on keeping them apart. . . .

In 1889 Victorian England, Eva Inman is haunted by guilt over her parents’ deaths while struggling to care for her blind sister and manage her family’s crumbling estate. With the tax deadline looming, Eva’s situation looks dire until an ancient silver ring is unearthed on the property. Despite superstitions warning against disturbing the supposedly cursed acres, Eva’s need for funds ignites her curiosity about the potential of finding more buried relics.

Cambridge professor Bram Webb must prove a legendary Christian Roman settlement exists, or he’ll risk exposing his uncle’s deteriorating memory and they’ll both lose their positions. Then Eva steps into his office with the prospect of an archaeological dig that might lead to the very evidence Bram requires–provided he and Eva can set aside painful memories of a time they would rather forget. As the dig forces the two to confront their pasts, the work becomes fraught with challenges that threaten Eva’s and Bram’s hopes, as well as the growing attraction between them.

“Sure to delight fans of archaeological adventure and historical romance.”–JULIE KLASSEN, bestselling author

Dive into the past in this clean historical romance as Michelle Griep transports you to Victorian England with an appealing mix of mystery, Roman archaeology, and charming banter. This enthralling tale will appeal to fans of Mimi Matthews, Andrea Penrose, Anna Lee Huber, and Miss Scarlet and the Duke.

Get your copy below!!

https://www.amazon.com/Silver-Secrets-Victorian-Archeological-Treasures/dp/0764242571

My Impressions

“The end of Eva’s world started with a window she never should have left open.”

Whew! What a gripping, suck-you-in-like-a-whirlpool opening sentence!Michelle Griep pens this Victorian romance with such beautiful, flowing artistry that I often had to stop and reread a sentence or a whole paragraph. Just for the beauty of the construction. So I’m in love with the writing style.

And the characters. A young lady, Eva Inman, who is convinced her mistake twelve years earlier caused her mother’s death, her sister’s blindness, and their now-fatherless estate to be in extreme need of funds. The corresponding male main character, Professor Bram Webb, who knew Eva in childhood,now returns to create an archaeological dig on her estate lands. ( Webb must prove an ancient Christian civilization, hiding from Roman tyranny, existed on Inman land.) Eva doesn’t know if she’s attracted to the man from her past or if she despises Bram, the man she considers “the first in a string of people to leave her.”

In some ways, there are elements that give the novel the feel of a certain well-known fictional archaeological character. Fun. Yet, Bram’s reason for joining his uncle Pendleton on the dig are very self-sacrificing. I cannot imagine the fortitude Bram shows as he supports his history prof. uncle. I would have been explaining myself by this point. Eva doesn’t trust Bram becsuse of their childhood connection, but she fails to understand that Bram has undergone a transformation. Indeed, Bram has many enemies and people he would seem justified to hold a grudge against, but, instead of taking vengeance, he explains to Eva. “Perhaps his conscience is buried beneath layers of deceit and bitterness, yet it is not beyond redemption. Harsh words and flying fists will not change his heart. Only God can do that.” How he moves from ready-to-fight anger to a willingness to hand his enemy over to God speaks so much for his character!

A great supporting character is Penny, Eva’s outgoing, curious, and unafraid blind sister. Penny is 13 going on 30. How will Eva ever keep her charge safe?

Twists! This novel has some truly great ones. My eyes widened as I read many times, surprised at how each successive obstacle worked out!

Stars and thunder!! I was unhappy when I finished the book! I loved Of Silver and Shadows so much, with its many themes, truth nuggets, amazing romance and twists. I just didn’t want it to end!! My definition of a perfect book!

I received a copy of the book from the author and publisher and NetGalley. I also bought my own copy. No positive review was required, and all opinions are my own.

Notable Quotables:

“…though truth might be absolute, discerning the right course of action when living that truth was often anything but obvious.”

“It is easy to judge from the outside, but we can never truly understand the burdens others carry or the choices they feel forced to make. We are all fallen creatures.”

“Love is a gift, worth risking everything for… let nothing stand in your way.”

“The very first time you asked to be pardoned, you were. That is what grace is all about. “

“We are all tethered to something…When that tether snaps, as it is wont to do, this is when we realize the true extent of our faith.”

ARC, BLOG, Celebrate Lit Tour, Favorite, Kindle, NetGalley, PB, Purchase, Revell

Capture the Moment by Suzanne Woods Fisher Review and Giveaway

May 22, 2025 Babbling Becky L

About the Book

Book: Capture the Moment

Author: Suzanne Woods Fisher

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Release date: May 6, 2025

Kate Cunningham is facing the opportunity of a lifetime. As a zoo photographer, she’s spent years photographing animals in carefully controlled environments, but now National Geographic has dangled an irresistible prize: If Kate can snag a unique photo of a legendary bear in Grand Teton National Park, they just might publish it. It’s the kind of challenge Kate has been waiting for, and she’s eager to prove herself in the wild.

With more enthusiasm than experience, Kate soon realizes that capturing an image of this bear isn’t as simple as she hoped. Fortunately, she crosses paths with Grant Cooper, a seasonal park ranger who knows the terrain–and the bears–better than anyone. His tracking skills could be exactly what Kate needs to succeed, and it doesn’t hurt that he’s easy on the eyes. But they’re not the only ones with an interest in the park’s most famous bear. And his motives are far from innocent.

Click here to get your copy!

About the Author

Suzanne Woods Fisher is a Christy finalist, a Carol and Selah winner, a two-time ECPA Book of the Year finalist, and Publishers Weekly and ECPA bestselling author of more than forty books. Her genres include contemporary and historical romances, Amish romance, and women’s fiction. She and her husband live in a small town in California. Most friends act a little nervous around Suzanne because they usually wind up in one of her novels. She has four grown children and enough grandchildren to keep her young.

More from Suzanne

A Spark that Lit a Story

By Suzanne Woods Fisher

Capture the Moment (Revell—May 6, 2025)

Inspiration can strike in the most unexpected places—like a gift shop in Grand Teton National Park. While browsing, I struck up a conversation with a college student who had never set foot outside Alabama until her mom dropped her off for a summer job in the park. One minute, she was home in the Deep South; the next, she was surrounded by towering peaks and moose crossings. Talk about a culture shock.

That conversation lit a spark that eventually became my National Parks Summers series. I couldn’t stop thinking about the fascinating mix of people who work seasonally in national parks. You’ve got fresh-faced college kids on their first big adventure, retirees finally living their bucket-list dreams, and everyone in between. These parks aren’t just natural wonders—they’re crossroads for people from all walks of life, all chasing something unique.

In Capture the Moment, I wanted to explore what happens when people and landscapes collide. Kate Cunningham, a determined zoo photographer, swaps enclosures for the wilds of Grand Teton, chasing an elusive bear and her own sense of purpose. Along the way, Kate meets Grant Cooper, a rugged park ranger with a knack for tracking and a talent for keeping her on her toes.

National parks are more than just beautiful backdrops—they’re places where people find themselves, lose themselves, and sometimes stumble into something extraordinary.

Maybe even love.

My Impressions

“399…Queen of the Tetons…”

“‘A living, breathing legend.’ ‘Exactly. She’s a symbol of the wild, a reminder that even in the heart of nature, there are stories, personalities, and connections waiting to be discovered.’”

And…we’re off on a journey to visit some of our nation’s great national parks with Suzanne Woods Fisher, told in her gentle, heart-warming style. First stop in this new series, National Parks Summers, is Grand Tetons National Park, in Capture the Moment.

If you are a fan of nature, underdogs, Suzanne Woods Fisher, plot twists, and gentle reminders to listen to the still, small voice of God, this is a must-read.

I adored the novice photographer, Kate, who thought she would get the original photo that no one else had. What a shock she gets when she arrives at the best viewing spots for the old grizzly, 399, only to discover a great crowd of disdainful professional photographers ahead of her. Fortunately, Kate is willing to learn from her mistakes and not wallow in her failures. ( And being a city-slicker, there are plenty!) “She reminded herself that mistakes were a natural part of the learning process. “Each one has a lesson to teach,” she said to herself.” Another verse that helps her when she is amazed at her own obtuseness( and don’t most of us have blinders on in some area of life?) is “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Do you not perceive it?” What I love about this moment is that Woods points out this is a verse God brings to Kate’s mind because she had hidden it in her heart long ago. Do we have verses like that? Second, are we, as we age, still working on memorizing, so God can bring those verses to mind?

Woods populates her novel with so many other wonderful characters! Of course, everyone will love Coop! How can you not! Handsome, knowledgeable, expert on bears, and compassionate. He champions Kate, the underdog, plus he understands and mentors the impossibly belligerent Frankie. This is no small feat, because it is obvious he would rather not have this sidekick 24-7! And, he is unafraid to tell the truth as it is… to those that need to hear it… which his acting director, Sally, tries to silence.

Sally. She is acting director of the park, and a piece of work! I was surprised to find that I didn’t like her any more after a night of “sleeping on it” than I did when I finished the story.

And Tim and his granddaughter, Maisie! To meet Tim is to love him, unless you are Frankie. Such a wise, thoughtful, man rooted in faith. His granddaughter, Maisie, who frequently gets dumped on him? She’s 13, loquacious, loud, and goes non-stop 24-7. Everyone seems to have a love-avoid her relationship with her. Maisie wants so hard to be accepted, loved, and seen as special. Pops finally tells her on one occasion when she takes imitation overboard, “a tulip doesn’t struggle to be different from a rose.”

Bonus note: With a great detailed map of the park at the beginning and a list of the most important characters also at the beginning, I felt well-armed to tackle the book.

I received a copy of the book from Celebrate Lit via NetGalley. I bought my own pb copy for my keeper shelf. No positive review was required, and all opinions are my own.

Notable Quotables:

“she realized that seeing things differently was a gift, not a burden.”

“But holding on to anger isn’t doing you any favors.”…“It’s like a poison.”…“Forgiveness is the antidote.”

“what you’re looking for can’t be found within. Only outside ourselves. Only in God.”

“…he didn’t have to hang on to that hurt anymore.”

My Rating

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Superior! National parks story told in Fisher’s heart-warming, feels-like-a-hug-style, complete with a grizzly, romance, humor, faith, and a bit of mystery.

Blog Stops

Babbling Becky L’s Book Impressions, May 22

Book Reviews From an Avid Reader, May 22

Library Lady’s Kid Lit, May 22

By the Book, May 23

Carla’s Book Crush, May 23

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, May 24

Devoted To Hope, May 24

Book Looks by Lisa, May 25

Texas Book-aholic, May 25

Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, May 26

Happily Managing a Household of Boys, May 26

lakesidelivingsite, May 27

Locks, Hooks and Books, May 27

The Avid Reader, May 28

Blossoms and Blessings, May 28

Southern Gal Loves to Read, May 28

Stories By Gina, May 29 (Author Interview)

Mary Hake, May 29

Blogging With Carol, May 30

For Him and My Family, May 30

Cover Lover Book Review, May 31

Karen Baney Reviews, May 31

Abba’s Prayer Warrior Princess, June 1

Holly’s Book Corner, June 1

Jeanette’s Thoughts, June 2

Books Less Travelled, June 2

She Lives To Read, June 3

Pause for Tales, June 3

A Modern Day Fairy Tale, June 3

Lily’s Corner, June 4

Little Homeschool on the Prairie, June 4

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Suzanne is giving away the grand prize of a $25 Amazon gift card and an eBook copy of the book!!

Be sure to comment on the blog stops for extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/00adcf54226

ARC, BLOG, Favorite, Kindle, Kregel, Launch Team, NetGalley, PB, Purchase

The Accused by Cara Putman Review

April 18, 2025 Babbling Becky L

About the Book

Title: The Accused

Series: Secrets to Keep, #2

Author: Cara Putman

Publisher: Kregel

Released: April 15, 2025

Genre: Legal Thriller

A brilliant novel that fans of the genre won’t want to miss!”
—Tosca Lee, New York Times best-selling author of The Line Between

When a popular college student is murdered, her international roommate, Anneliese, becomes a prime suspect. But law professor Margeaux Robbins doesn’t believe that the quiet, lonely German girl in her class is the killer.

Chase Crandall is a burned-out defense attorney ready to extricate himself from the grind of criminal law. After he loses a client to tragedy, he’s ready for an in-house corporate position.

When Chase is assigned to Anneliese’s case, Margeaux is horrified. She doesn’t want him to provide legal counsel—not after what happened to his past client. And not with the evidence incriminating Anneliese.

Despite their mutual misgivings, the lawyer and professor pair up to find the killer and prove Anneliese’s innocence. Will they be able to untangle the mystery—and navigate their growing interest in one another—before the wrong person is charged with murder?”Gripping and brimming with chemistry, this novel will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very last page.”
—Lynette Eason, best-selling and award-winning author of the Lake City Heroes series

Purchase here:

https://mybook.to/IadZm

About the Author

Since the time I could read Nancy Drew, I have wanted to write mysteries. In 2005 I attended a book signing at my local Christian bookstore. The rest, as they say, is history. There I met Colleen Coble. With prompting from my husband, I shared my dream with Colleen. Since those infamous words, I’ve been writing award-winning books with the count currently climbing to 40 published and more in the works.

In addition to writing, I am a mom of four, attorney, Clinical Associate Professor at a Big Ten university who also runs a center, and all around crazy woman. Crazy about God, my husband, and my kids. I graduated with honors from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (Go Huskers!), George Mason Law School, and Purdue University’s MBA program. You can learn more about my books on my website, which is easy to find because it’s simply my name dot com. And if you’d like to read my legal suspense novella, Dying for Love, simply connect with me on my website, and I’ll send you the link.

My Impressions

“Sometimes you have to do what’s right even when it could cost you everything.”

Stunned! That was my reaction on finishing The Accused, a legal thriller by Cara Putman. A spin on the Amanda Knox case of a few years ago, my heart was in my throat nearly all the way through the book.

Putman starts out by introducing us to the two main characters, Margeaux Robbins and Chase Crandall. Margeaux teaches law at a small college, cares deeply for her students, but has no courtroom experience. Chase, conversely, is a burnt-out court-appointed criminal defense lawyer who doesn’t appear to care much about his clients.

When German exchange student Annaliese is arrested for murder of her roommate, she contacts Margeaux, who cannot help…not only is she not qualified for the courtroom, as Chase so quickly points out, but Annaliese won’t confide in Margeaux or anyone.

Each doubting the other’s legal abilities, Chase and Margeaux team up to defend Annaliese in court. Strange, given their mistrust of each other. “I wonder which is more important to the attorney. Justice? Or the truth? Because sometimes they get in the way of each other when we’re trying to live by ‘innocent until proven guilty.’” However, both lawyers begin to see Annaliese as worth defending, although the doubts of her innocence start to creep in. The evidence is invariably confusing and Annaliese won’t talk.

I wasn’t sure I would survive the stress until it was all sorted out. Or if I would like the outcome. I was certainly left slack-jawed at Putman’s ability to create a legal thriller with so many twists and turns.

I like how faith was an integral part of the novel . Margeaux’s past has made her slow to believe God is always with her. Chase has turned away. With the stakes so high, will the two do things their own way or look to God for help?

I received a copy of the book from the author and publisher. I also bought my own copy. No positive review was required, and all opinions are my own.

Notable Quotables:

“God should never be her last resort, yet he often was.”

“Slowly she sensed his peace flowing into her, reminding her that even when she forgot to turn to him first, he was still working and waiting for her to remember. She was never built to be an island. And even if she was alone, she wasn’t ever alone.”

“Emotion is dangerous in my line of work…I have to keep a tight grip on logic to defend my clients.”

“A simple twist here and another twist there and suddenly constitutional protections disappeared, lost in meaningless legal wrangling.”

My Rating

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Superb! Nail-biting suspense! I never saw the end coming!!

ARC, Bethany House, BLOG, Celebrate Lit Tour, Favorite, Kindle, NetGalley, PB, Purchase

The Daughter of Rome by Angela Hunt Review and Giveaway

April 3, 2025 Babbling Becky L

About the Book

Book: The Daughter of Rome (The Emissaries Book 3)

Author: Angela Hunt

Genre: FICTION / Christian / Biblical

Release date: March 4, 2025

In Nero’s Rome, Calandra helps her father, a renowned sculptor, complete the most significant commission of his illustrious career. But then a catastrophic fire nearly destroys the imperial city, leaving Calandra reliant on a group of Christians–unusual individuals unlike any she has encountered before. Intrigued by their worship of the Son of an invisible God, Calandra grapples with her mistrust, only to find herself indebted to these believers as they help her rebuild her shattered world.

When Emperor Nero begins constructing his opulent Golden House, the people of Rome grow resentful, suspecting him of starting the fire in order to clear the land for his immense palace. Needing a scapegoat, Nero points at those who follow the Jewish Messiah, forcing Calandra to make an impossible choice between right and wrong, friends and family, love and death.

Click here to get your copy!

About the Author

Angela Hunt is a New York Times bestselling author of more than 160 books, with nearly 6 million copies sold worldwide. Angela’s novels have won or been nominated for the RWA RITA Award, the Christy Award, the ECPA Christian Book Award, and the HOLT Medallion. Four of her novels have received ForeWord Magazine‘s Book of the Year Award, and Angela is the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award from both the Romantic Times Book Club and ACFW. Angela holds doctorates in biblical studies and theology. She and her husband make their home in Florida with mastiffs and chickens.

More from Angela

Dear Reader:

Thank you for joining me on this blog tour for THE DAUGHTER OF ROME, book three in the Emissaries series. The book stands alone, but it includes characters from books one and two, so people who have read those books will have a fuller understanding of who those people are. But no worries! If you haven’t read the first two books, you’ll still have no problem reading THE DAUGHTER OF ROME.

When I shaped the idea for this series, I had just finished The Jerusalem Road books, which centered on Jews who lived during Jesus’ life and ministry. I wanted to keep writing in this time period, so I shifted my focus from the Jews to the Gentiles—specifically, the people who came to faith through Paul’s ministry.

The first book in the series, THE WOMAN FROM LYDIA, is concerned with the seller of purple who hosted the Philippian church in her home. The second book, THE SISTERS OF CORINTH, features two competing sisters who lived, naturally, in Corinth. And the third book, THE DAUGHTER OF ROME, is about a young sculptress who lives in Rome during the time of Nero.

I have been fascinated by this time period ever since reading THE SILVER CHALICE and THE ROBE in my childhood. What would it have been like, I wondered, to live in a time when you could be executed simply for saying you believed in Jesus? Americans don’t really know what that’s like, but people in other parts of the world still deal with that danger today. The Bible tells us that this kind of danger is not going away—it will be prevalent during the end times as well. So I wanted to explore the world of the ancient Romans, and hoped to pull some lessons from it that will apply to us today.

I’ve also been amazed at what we can still see of ancient Greek and Roman art—how did they sculpt those massive statues? One such work, the Colossus, was so large it stood in the harbor and ships reportedly entered beneath it!

THE DAUGHTER OF ROME features one other fascinating element—a question that garners as much debate as “who killed JFK?” The story takes place during the time that the Great Fire of Rome nearly leveled the entire city, and to this day, no one is certain how it began. The people blamed Nero, Nero blamed the Christians, and it may have been a kid illegally cooking his dinner at the racetrack.

I hope you’ll enjoy reading the story as much as I did writing it. Thanks for coming along on the tour!

Angela Hunt

My Impressions

“I am a daughter of Rome,” I said, “so I will trust the gods of Rome for my future.”

I’ve been waiting 9 months ( half of forever!) for this book!! Third in The Emissaries series by Angela Hunt, The Daughter of Rome does answer the questions from the second book, The Sisters of Corinth. However, the main characters are not the same, and there is enough back story provided to let a first-time reader enjoy the book, too. Still, the completed storyline is richer if the secondary characters are already your friends.

Callandra is a young woman , yet unmarried, who lives with her widowed and accomplished sculptor father. Callandra assists her father in his work and also paints the sculptures.

Having read book two, I was certain that, as this novel occurs in the time of Nero and great persecution, it could be a hard book to read. It is, but it is also so compelling, romantic, and chock-ful of history and Bible passages, too! And, so worth it!!

(A side note, there seem to be some parallels to the time of Elijah and the persecution of followers of God under Ahab and Jezebel. )

Callandra and her father are hired to sculpt a bust of a leading Roman senator. When he is pleased with the result, he hires Callandra and her father to produce an auspicious work. In their dealings, Callandra meets the senator’s compassionate and kind son, Hadrian. While a mutual attraction develops, any romance between the two is impossible because one is a patrician and one, a plebeian.

And then, the great fire of Rome occurs and changes all of their lives. The fire sends Callandra and her father fleeing across the river for their lives. One group of people is welcoming. The same group that Hadrian, by his father’s command, keeps under house arrest unless they will change their beliefs.

It is so beautiful to see the way both the Jewish and Greek Christians freely love, share, and witness. Their generosity in all areas attracts and effects change in many. Many try to reason with Callandra, who is embittered by the losses caused by the fire. “When I had sight, I was blind to the Creator of the world, but as a blind man I began to glimpse His hand. Now I see Him working every day.” But Callandra hangs on to her Roman gods.

As Nero looks for scapegoats for the fire, the Christians make a convenient target. This was especially hard to read, as many of these are now people I think of as friends. The Christians could hold strong, because they believed, “Death is not our enemy; it is a journey to Adonai.” The question becomes, though, as these Christians remain faithful, does God see? Was He watching over these? What response will Callandra, Hadrian, and others who moved and interacted among these people have? Which gods or God will prove to love the people and care for them?

My fave secondary characters were many. Priscilla, Petros, and Mariana and Marcus from the previous book.

I received a copy of the book from the publisher through Celebrate Lit via NetGalley. I also bought my own copy. No positive review was required, and all opinions are my own.

Notable Quotables:

“I am not the man I used to be, and my life is no longer my own.”

“Don’t ask for Adonai’s will, I wanted to shout, and promise you’ll do something for him if he does something for you. But Adonai did not operate like the Roman gods. Adonai demanded that his followers surrender everything to his control.”

“Adonai does not live to serve us. We live to serve Him.”

“Adonai always preserves a remnant. Always.”

“I prayed for Adonai to change my poor eyes, and He changed me instead.”

“Art was about more than size. Art was about beauty and design and its ability to provoke thought .”

“And I am content to remain in whatever state Nero confines me, for Adonai rules over kings and emperors.”

My Rating

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Superior!! Grab the tissues as you learn more about Nero’s Rome and evaluate your own faith!!

Blog Stops

Babbling Becky L’s Book Impressions, April 4

Batya’s Bits , April 4

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, April 5

Mary Hake, April 5

Texas Book-aholic, April 6

Inspired by Fiction, April 7

She Lives To Read, April 7

Locks, Hooks and Books, April 8

Lily’s Corner, April 9

Lots of Helpers, April 9

Abba’s Prayer Warrior Princess, April 10

Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, April 11

EmpowerMoms, April 11

Devoted To Hope, April 12

Happily Managing a Household of Boys, April 13

Books Less Travelled, April 13

Devoted Steps, April 14

Sylvan Musings, April 15

Holly’s Book Corner, April 15

Cover Lover Book Review, April 16

For Him and My Family, April 17

Pause for Tales, April 17

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Angela is giving away the grand prize of a $25 gift card to Baker Book House’s website and a paperback copy of the book!!

Be sure to comment on the blog stops for extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/00adcf54192

ARC, BLOG, Favorite, Just Read Tours, Kindle, Kregel, PB, Purchase

Written in Secret by Crystal Caudill Review and Giveaway

March 12, 2025March 12, 2025 Babbling Becky L

Welcome to the Takeover + Review Blitz for Written in Secret by Crystal Caudill hosted by JustRead Publicity Tours!

About the Book

Title: Written in Secret
Series: The Art of Love and Danger #1
Author: Crystal Caudill
Publisher: Kregel Publications
Release Date: March 11, 2025
Genre: Christian Mystery & Suspense Romance

What happens when fiction becomes reality? In the corruption-infested Queen City, danger lurks in every shadow, but Lydia Pelton refuses to stay silent. She writes under a pseudonym, E. A. Dupin, crafting crime novels to exact justice and right the wrongs she sees in society. When a serial killer decides to be the sword to her pen, Lydia is confronted with the consequences of her words. Four men are dead, and the city blames her.

With murders on the rise, Officer Abraham Hall’s only lead is Lydia’s fiction, and he is thrust into an investigation with the “Killer Queen of Romance.” Despite his misgivings about the woman, he realizes that even with his reputation for catching elusive criminals, he needs her help. But his unexpected attraction to Lydia proves as difficult to manage as the woman herself.

As the mystery unfolds, Abraham and Lydia race to rewrite the ending, not only for Cincinnati’s citizens, but for their own hearts too.

Also Available

About the Author

Crystal Caudill is the Christy Award–winning author of “dangerously good romance,” including the Hidden Hearts of the Gilded Age series. She is a stay-at-home mom and caregiver, and when she isn’t writing, Caudill can be found playing board games with her family, drinking hot tea, or reading other great books at her home outside Cincinnati, Ohio.

Connect with Crystal by visiting crystalcaudill.com to follow her on social media or subscribe to email newsletter updates.

My Impressions

“Mercy, Abraham. It’s the gift of not giving someone what they deserve. It is what Miss Pelton needs and what God requires of you.”

Wow! Crystal Caudill pens a thrilling historical romantic suspense novel with truths that are needed today! Written in Secret starts out with plenty of laughs, but ends up deadly serious. Literally. In 1880 Cincinnati, Lydia Pelton, daughter of Cincinnati coroner, and her friend Theresa Plane decide to rescue an abused circus animal. When their plans are thwarted by both animals and humans, they first meet policeman Abraham Hall. Hall quickly surmises Lydia’s character as untrustworthy, after all, “He should have known a woman who’d steal a goat wasn’t to be trusted.”

Corruption of the Cincinnati police force and its government in general is a huge factor in this story. Because of her father’s connections, Lydia‘s crime is glossed over. She is even less happy when earlier in her life, different known violent criminals receive acquittal. Feeling that she must take justice into her own hands, she writes Billy Poe crime novels under a pseudonym. When real life begins to mirror the justice meted out in her books, both Lydia’s safety and her spirit are in danger. Her life, because all of Cincinnati is blaming the Billy Poe author as a dangerous criminal, and her spirit, as she defends her profession. “A man’s heart is corrupted by sin, not by literature.”

I loved the great tension and suspense married with the spiritual truths. Will Lydia and her family survive to see another day? What will become of her and Abraham’s hearts, as they begin to get entangled, yet appear to be on opposite sides of the law? How many people will die before the *real* Billy Poe is found? Intermingled with these plot threads are themes of justice, mercy, and grace. “Justice was meant to bring restoration, but this? This was judgment without mercy. Condemnation that darkened the soul and made one incapable of seeing the light, hope, and forgiveness of Christ.”

One of the subplots of this book is Lydia’s idolization of and close relationship with her father. How will her actions change his perception and actions towards her? I wanted to bawl after one fatherly rebuke her father delivered!!

Much, much food for thought and personal change for those who claim to follow God. Be sure not to miss the author notes! And anticipate the coming stories of the other *Guardians!*

I received a copy of the book from JustReadTours. I also bought my own copy. No positive review was required, and all opinions are my own.

Notable Quotables:

“But lies worked like a deck of cards. You might be able to build a house out of them for a little while, but at some point, the whole construction would collapse.”

“Our job is to shine the light. People must choose for themselves whether to walk toward or away from it. We can’t force them, but we can offer truth.”

“With Christ, there is always hope. After all, He’s the Author of life.”

“Acknowledging that we have done wrong is the first step toward forgiveness and restoration. Confess it to Christ and then allow Him to begin the work of changing you. It won’t be easy and it will hurt, but discipline is meant to restore us to each other and to Him.”

My Rating

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Magnificent!!

Times change, but remain the same!Judgment, Mercy, and Grace are just as needed now as in 1880 Cincinnati!

Tour Giveaway

(1) winner will receive a signed copy of Written in Secrets and a $25 Amazon gift card!

Be sure to check out each stop on the tour for more chances to win. Full tour schedule linked below. Giveaway began at midnight March 12, 2025 and lasts through 11:59 PM EST on March 19, 2025. Winner will be notified within 2 weeks of close of the giveaway and given 48 hours to respond or risk forfeiture of prize. US only. Void where prohibited by law or logistics.

Giveaway is subject to the policies found here.

Enter Giveaway

Follow along at JustRead Tours for a full list of stops!

ARC, Bethany House, BLOG, Favorite, Kindle, Launch Team, NetGalley, PB, Purchase

Before the King by Heather Kaufman Review

January 23, 2025 Babbling Becky L

About the Book

Title: Before the King

Series: Women of the Way, Bk 2

Author: Heather Kaufman

Publisher: Bethany House

Genre: Biblical Fiction

Released: January 21, 2025

Joanna’s wealthy family aspires to Herod’s inner circle, but when her father’s esteemed position in the Sepphoris Sanhedrin is threatened, her family harbors a dark secret. Entangled in the complexities of aristocratic life and an impending arranged marriage, Joanna is caught between her own desires and maintaining appearances. When tragedy strikes, Joanna grapples with a new future that challenges her sense of duty and hope for love.

Years later, Joanna is forever changed when a rabbi comes preaching a new kingdom and healing the sick. As she contributes to his ministry, Joanna treads a perilous path between a court that mocks Jesus of Nazareth, disciples who view her with suspicion, and a husband who guards his own secrets. With pressure increasing on all sides, Joanna must decide where her allegiances lie and protect her relationship to the Christ, whose message is as compelling as it is dangerous.

About the Author

Heather Kaufman lives in the Midwest with her husband and three children. She holds a BA from McKendree University and an MA from the University of Missouri—St. Louis. When not reading or writing, she can be found drinking copious amounts of coffee and exploring new parks with her family.

My Impressions

“I have to believe,” came her simple reply. “In order to live, I have to believe that He is present and that He cares.”– Dalia

What a Biblical fiction adventure this book is! Before the King: Joanna’s Story by Heather Kaufman brings us into an influential Jewish family’s life during the time of Herod Antipas and Jesus. ( Having read Kaufman’s debut Biblical novel, Up from Dust: Martha’s story, I knew I wanted to read Kaufman’s second novel, too!)

“I am an ordinary woman whom God chose to put in extraordinary places. Any strength to be found in my story is His alone. I only did what I could with what I had, and this, I now know, is how His Kingdom advances. Each of us doing what we can with what we have by His power. So no, I am not brave. I am needy—desperate for Adonai to meet me with His strength. My story is how He did just that.”– Prologues can be wealths of information, tone, and general direction setting of the novel. Kaufman’s prologues are not to be missed!

Though the story is told in first-person by Joanna, I find Joanna’s sister Dalia very central to the novel. Dalia has a serious illness, and the family decides to hide that fact in order to prosper in Herod’s court. Joanna rises to prominence and hopes for an advantageous love-match, yet her sister is never far from her mind. How can one sister have nothing and yet be happy, while the other has the world at her fingertips, and is still searching for that elusive feeling?

I love this novel because it shows how Jesus can reach down and touch any life, transforming even one that seems hopeless. It also shows, as does Kaufman’s debut novel, how Jesus cares about women’s needs for love, significance, and security: needs that were totally ignored and trampled in that society.

I received a copy of the book from the author and publisher through Celebrate Lit via NetGalley. I also bought my own copy for the keeper shelf . No positive review was required, and all opinions are my own.

Notable Quotables:

“You are frightened to accept God’s abundance, as was I once. You say His mercy is what drew you to Him, and yet you push that mercy back in His face.”

“Then we would be in God’s hands—…“An infinite God who promises His presence is worth trusting.”

“You must release them from whatever untruths they knowingly or unknowingly harbored. You must do this for yourself.”

“What do we do when God doesn’t give us what we want?”“Well . . .” Dalia had scrunched up her nose in thought. “I suppose we trust Him to give us what we need instead.” “But what if He doesn’t answer us at all?” “Oh, He does, Jojo. You just may not hear it because it’s not what you expected.”

“I am learning that sometimes God gives us things we cannot understand in order to shake us apart. To undo things we believe that we shouldn’t. To make room for the things we must believe.”– Joanna’s father

“God is as near as our own breath.”

“What others think of me has no bearing on who I am…What people think changes all the time. What is true never changes.” -Dalia

My Rating

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Truly Magnificent!! We all have some of Joanna in us- searching for love, significance, and security that only Jesus can fulfill!

Bethany House, BLOG, Favorite, Kindle, NetGalley, PB, Purchase

Specters in the Glass House by Jaime Jo Wright Review

December 28, 2024December 28, 2024 Babbling Becky L

About the Book

Title: Specters in the Glass House

Author: Jaime Jo Wright

Publisher: Bethany House

Released: October, 2024

Genre: Christian Suspense, Gothic Romance

An ominous butterfly house. A sinister legacy. An untraceable killer.

In 1921, Marian Arnold, the heiress to a brewing baron’s empire, seeks solace in the glass butterfly house on her family’s Wisconsin estate as Prohibition and the deaths of her parents cast a long shadow over her shrinking world. When Marian’s sanctuary is invaded by nightmarish visions, she grapples with the line between hallucinations of things to come and malevolent forces at play in the present. With dead butterflies as the killer’s ominous signature, murders unfold at a steady pace. Marian, fearful she might be next, enlists the help of her childhood friend Felix, a war veteran with his own haunted past.

In the present day, researcher Remy Shaw becomes entangled in an elderly biographer’s quest to uncover the truth behind Marian Arnold’s mysterious life and the unsolved murders linked to an infamous serial killer. Joined by Marian’s great-great-grandson, can Remy expose the evil that lurks beneath broken wings? Or will the dark legacy surrounding the manor and its glass house destroy yet another generation?

“Wright is in a class by herself.”–Library Journal

About the Author

Jaime Jo Wright, multi award-winning author–including the Christy and Daphne du Maurier awards–is a coffee-fueled and cat-fancier extraordinaire. She has entwined her life with the legendary Captain Hook, residing serenely in Wisconsin’s rural woodlands. Her literary vocation involves penning chilling Gothic tales, a baffling change from that of Austenites, with a strong preference to the master of dark, Edgar Allan Poe. Two mischievous urchins adorn their family, who keep their mother on her toes – providing an exhilarating amount chaos.

Visit her at: http://www.jaimewrightbooks.com and listen to her podcast MadLit Musings on your favorite podcast player or at http://www.madlitmusings.com

My Impressions

“It is all right to be afraid…“It’s what we do with that fear that’s important. What we allow it to shape us into.”

Specters in the Glass House by Jaime Jo Wright carries some heavier themes than some of her other books. In this dual timeline, Marian Arnold, a brewery heiress whose family lost everything due to Prohibition,is determined to discover the secrets behind her mysterious mother’s death. In the present day, Remy Crenshaw is a research assistant to famous author Elton Floyd, and they are housed in the summer home that formerly belonged to Marion Arnold and her mother before her.

Ghosts, alcohol, hearing voices, murders and near murders, beautiful butterflies used for nefarious purposes, a resurgence of the Butterfly Butcher years after he went quiet, lends to a great spooky atmosphere. An undertone of need is created in some of the characters as we see abject fear, a need for acceptance unfulfilled, a foster child who is seen in only a stereo-typical, negative way.

Fortunately, Wright also includes Hope in her stories. When Remy asks if her faith is just blindly acceptance, Abigail replies, “Not blind. No. Just belief. Belief in the evidence God has given us of His existence. Belief in the personal experiences I’ve already had—the blessings. Belief that, in the end, He will make all things good.”

I found it quite interesting in reading the prologue and author’s notes that the author mentions the Frederick Meijer Gardens butterfly house in Grand Rapids. Having been there, the picture o the front of the book took me there immediately. It is interesting how Jamie Jo Wright can take something so beautiful ( a butterfly house) and use it as a thing of evil and fear. But isn’t that exactly what the enemy does so often in our lives? Things that should be beautiful turn into things that destroy us.

I don’t think I’ve ever been caught off guard by Wright’s sense of humor before. I just don’t remember it poking its head up at crazy, desperate times. Just a pinch, like salt in a cookie recipe. Enough to off-set the heavy Gothic vibes. With the amount of heebie- jeebies that Wright’s words can produce, the humor is a welcome mini-reprieve before the next big scare.

I am still mulling over the issues some of the characters present. These issues keep them from being accepted in society in the historical story, yet I have to wonder how much more acceptance and understanding is typically offered in today’s society.

I received a copy of the book from the author and publisher through NetGalley. I also bought my own copy for the keeper shelf. No positive review was required, and all opinions are my own.

Notable Quotables:

“Ambrose tapped Remy’s shoulder just over her heart. “And there’s a lot of good in there. I think it’s been protected. I think God has something bigger for you in mind.” Remy looked down at her hands in her lap. “I don’t know how to find it.” Ambrose was quiet for a moment, and then she answered, “He finds you, Remy. In the chaos, He finds you.””

“You’re richer for the pain, for the fear. In its twisted agony, God makes it so that life becomes deeper, more meaningful, and you can look into your future and hear the voices of the generations to come and ask yourself, What will I leave behind for them? Fear?… Or faith?” Felix took a sip of his water, then breathed deeply. “I chose faith—even though I’m still very much afraid most days.”

“Sometimes coffee really was all a person had to make the bad feel a little bit better.”

ARC, Bethany House, BLOG, Favorite, Kindle, NetGalley, PB, Purchase

Of Gold and Shadows by Michelle Griep Review

December 27, 2024December 27, 2024 Babbling Becky L

About the Book

Title: Of Gold and Shadows

Series: The Lost Treasures, Bk 1

Author: Michelle Griep

Publisher: Bethany House

Released: September 2024

Genre: Christian Historical Fiction (Victorian Gothic Romance)

The shadows hold secrets darker than they ever imagined. . . .

In 1888 Victorian England, Ami Dalton navigates a clandestine dual life. By day, she strives to establish herself as a respected Egyptologist, overcoming the gender biases that permeate academia. But with a heart for saving black-market artifacts from falling into the wrong hands, she is most often disguised as her alter ego, the Shadow Broker.

After eight years in India, Oxford’s most eligible bachelor, Edmund Price, has come out of the shadows to run for Parliament and is in search of an Egyptologist to value a newly acquired collection. Expecting a renowned Oxford professor, Edmund instead finds himself entangled with Ami, the professor’s determined daughter. As they delve into the treasures, their connection deepens, but trouble emerges when a golden griffin–rumored to bear the curse of Amentuk–surfaces, and they’re left to wonder if the curse really is at play, or if something more nefarious is hiding among the shadows. . . .

“Don’t miss all the romance, adventure, and danger in [this] new page-turner.”–JULIE KLASSEN, bestselling author of Shadows of Swanford Abbey

About the Author

I hear voices. Loud. Incessant. And very real. Which basically gives me two options: choke back massive amounts of Prozac or write fiction. I’ve been writing since I discovered blank wall space and Crayolas. I seek to glorify God in all that I write–except for that graffiti phase I went through as teenager.

My Impressions

“Perhaps-just maybe- all her striving to prove her intelligence and credibility didn’t matter a whit to God…perhaps her worth was in who she was, who God made her to be, instead of being measured by what she achieved. Dare she believe that?”

The name Michelle Griep is synonymous in my book with “must buy.” Her latest, Of Gold and Shadows, is a great representation of her finest work. Griep combines a female Egyptologist who wants for recognition in the field, a rich young man with a strong moral compass but a misguided way of helping the needy, and treasures, one cursed, that literally seem up for grabs.

Ami Dalton is the young Egyptologist who has two goals: gain recognition in her field and make her archaeologist father proud of her. Cataloguing and valuing handsome, young Edmund Price’s Egyptian relics is a great job that should lead her a step closer to her goals.

Edmund has recently returned from India and has a heart for the people there, wishing to help them by acquiring a Parliament seat so he can be influential in laws governing taxes on India. We quickly get the idea that Edmund is a fish swimming upstream, as we see others of influence in England only wanting to benefit from India and its people. But, as noble and faith-based as his caring ideas are, will the ends justify the means?

I loved the twist revealed at the end! I could not figure out why a certain character behaved as he did! I also loved how Edmund and Ami took turns building each other up, using their faith. But will they allow God to ultimately guide their future, or will they each continue down their pre-determined paths?

Michelle Griep always delivers a compelling story, a swoony romance, and truth nuggets carefully placed for maximum effect. Her ability to create the atmosphere by use of language ( expressions like “bosh,” “ codswallop,”and “stars and lightning”) and lyrical prose is so expressive. Sometimes I would have to stop reading, reread a sentence, and just savor the beauty of it!

I highly recommend this book for any historical romance fans!

I received a copy of the book from the author and publisher through NetGalley, but I also purchased my own copy for the keeper shelf. No positive review was required, and all opinions are my own.

Notable Quotables:

“God’s will shall not be thwarted. He always makes as way.”

“Bottling up bad memories is a recipe for broken glass.”

“…his vulnerabilities were not s sign of weakness but were in fact opportunities for God’s love to be made perfect.”

“A good journalist could make a pile of manure into a bag of diamonds. A bad one, turn a saint into a sinner.”

“That’s the thing about fathers. They tend to have a way to make us feel like needy, negligible, little children-save for our Heavenly Father, that is…We are never insignificant in His eyes.”– Ami

ARC, BLOG, Celebrate Lit Tour, Favorite, Kindle, PB, Purchase

Mabel and the Unholy Night by Susan Kimmel Wright

December 20, 2024 Babbling Becky L

About the Book

Book: Mabel and the Unholy Night (Mysteries of Medicine Spring Book Four)

Author: Susan Kimmel Wright

Genre: Cozy Mystery

Release date: November 5, 2024

Faithful dog Barnacle has run off into a snowstorm, disrupting Mabel’s fun outing at the Christmas tree farm. Things don’t improve much when he reappears…with a human skull.

Since Mabel moved into her late grandma’s house, the sleepy village of Medicine Spring has provided clean air, a close-knit community, and charming small-town shops. To her surprise, it’s also offered up several murders—and romance with a handsome private investigator. Now, Barnacle’s discovery plunges Mabel into the mystery surrounding a decades-old unsolved murder and the disappearance of her friend Nita’s great uncle.

Before Mabel, boyfriend John, and her friends can find answers and bring justice for Nita and her family, more complications develop. Incredibly, a sixty-year-old Christmas card arrives, bearing Mabel’s name and address and containing a plea for help. Are the mysteries related?

While Mabel tries to get to the bottom of these strange events, a second suspicious death casts suspicion on Nita. Can Mabel find the real killer in time? Or will her Christmas season end on an unholy night?

Click here to get your copy!

About the Author

Susan Kimmel Wright began her life of mystery in childhood, with reading. That led to writing kids’ mysteries and eventually to Medicine Spring with Mabel. A longtime member of Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime, Susan’s also a prolific writer of personal experience stories, many for Chicken Soup for the Soul. She shares an 1875 farmhouse in southwestern PA with her husband, several dogs and cats, and an allegedly excessive stockpile of coffee and tea mugs.

More from Susan

Does Christmas make you nostalgic? In Mabel & the Unholy Night, fifty-year-old Mabel is observing her first Christmas in her late grandma’s house. As she sets out each fragile, vintage ornament, she feels that same familiar lump in her throat.

What we treasure may have to do with when we grew up. I love mid-century glass tree ornaments from Woolworth’s, ceramic elves stamped “Made in Japan,” and Gurley candles shaped like carolers, some still bearing 29¢ stickers on the base.

Ever since childhood, I’ve loved the tiny cardboard village under our tree. Houses and churches sparkled with glitter in their landscape of cotton-batting snow and bushes of dried moss. A sheet of glass atop light-blue construction paper made a perfect pond for tiny skaters. As someone once pointed out, accuracy of scale is of no concern in the cardboard village. Reindeer may loom over the houses like the mutant product of scientific experimentation gone wrong in a “B” horror movie.

Cardboard villages, properly called “putz houses,” originated with Moravian immigrants. Once handmade, houses were later imported from Germany and Japan. While nowadays we’re more likely to buy a ceramic village we can light up, I’ll take the primitive charm of a putz village any day.

Maybe best of all, we can build our own putz villages to suit ourselves. A new tradition for child and parent or grandparent might be building a new house each year, to add to the tiny community. While kits are available, you can also find plans online, such as this free resource: https://www.thesprucecrafts.com/make-traditional-glitter-houses-2365171

Perhaps our yearning for the things of the past is rooted in a longing for a more carefree time, when beloved faces, now gone, were still around us as we enjoyed the season together. When our slower-paced celebration centered on Christ’s birth, and family closeness. Building a putz house or church with loved ones might let us recapture just a bit of that old-fashioned Christmas spirit.

My Impressions

“You think it’s a coincidence this mail turns up right now and so do these bones?” -Nita

I love Mabel! Susan Kimmel Wright manages to make me break out in raucous laughter, ponder the inequities of life, and try to piece together a jigsaw that doesn’t want to be solved, all at the same time. Mabel and the Unholy Night is book four in the Medicine Spring series. It is quite helpful, but not entirely necessary, to have the background of the other books in your memory. A decades-old Christmas card reopens an old wound, plus old unsolved murder mysteries in the quiet town, and throws Mabel and her cronies and a few other folks into high confusion.

I really tried to talk to Mabel this time! Mainly, it sounded like, “Just say, no!” No!to the request to be in the choir! No! to the request to become embroiled in the case of Nita’s great uncle Lester who disappeared on his paper route one day 60 years ago. And * definitely * no!!! to your friends’ ideas and schemes!!

My head was spinning with the amount of possible suspects. I realized I was no longer reading to investigate, but I was being carried along by the flow of the story’s uncertain current, being driven hither and yon by new evidence.

In the midst of all this uncertainty is the sure thing that is a part of any Medicine Spring book: coffee-snorting, spouse-waking, eruptive laughter. That is Mabel in a nutshell. Yet Kimmel-Wright also uses the Unholy Night to remind us how lopsided our country was in its treatment of people based upon their race sixty years ago. What better way to make a memorable point than with the emotions of humor and fear?

Mabel is actually progressing very slowly, but, still, progressing, in her positive growth forward as we move through these books. Maybe that’s part of the appeal of these books. A cozy character who is at once flawed, loveable,and dynamic.

I received a copy of the book from the author and Celebrate Lit. I also bought my own copy. No positive review was required, and all opinions are my own.

Notable Quotables:

“Are you always this calm?”…“No…I’m a work in progress, but I’d rather be progressing than a perpetual basket case, wouldn’t you?”

“Sometimes it’s hard to feel the way we think we should. Feelings don’t always behave.”

“You’re the only thing stopping you.”-Grandma

“They can catch you, but they can’t eat you.”-Grandma