Tag: Tyndale House

This isn't one of your romances where everything gets tied up in a neat bow by page three-twenty-two. This is life. This is love. The pages keep going.

Book Review | First Love, Second Draft by Becca Kinzer

Rom-com author Gracie Parker is stuck. Her latest manuscript is a mess, an accident has left her virtually immobile, and her sister has arranged household help in the form of Nate, Gracie’s ex-husband.

Pro baseball player Nate is stuck. His marriage has been over for years and his career looks like it’s coming to an end. His only chance at a future is the unexpected opportunity to reconnect with his ex-wife

Yes, as the title suggests, First Love, Second Draft is a second-chance romance that ticked all my boxes.

I loved the writing, which I found genuinely funny without feeling forced and without any cringy moments. Sometimes rom-coms can read as though the author is trying to hard to make something funny, and that can fall flat. First Love Second Draft felt effortlessly funny (which is probably a testament to the hours that went into writing and revising to give it that effortless feel).

I loved the dual romance plot.

I often find myself resenting a secondary romance, as it can take away from the main characters and their story. In First Love Second Draft, the secondary romance echoed and reinforced Grace and Noah’s story. That was a real strength.

I loved the fact Noah knew he’d messed up and admitted as such. Even though he didn’t know how to fix it, he was willing to try.

Recommended for fans of contemporary romance and rom-com with a subtle Christian message.

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

About First Love, Second Draft

She’s a romance writer burned out on love. He’s her famous baseball star ex-husband. The last man she wants to be forced to work with is the one who broke her heart.

Rom-com writer Gracie Parker hasn’t written a bestseller since she and her husband, a major league baseball star, divorced five years ago. On thin ice with her publisher—and with a looming deadline—Gracie couldn’t have picked a worse time for a painful injury that has her flat on her back. At this point, she’d accept help from anybody . . . except her first love and ex-husband, Noah Parker.

The baseball season has just ended in massive disappointment for Noah. He’s facing the stark reality that he gave up everything for a career that’s let him down and that it might be too late to get back the one person he should’ve held on to. So when Gracie’s nephew calls, saying Gracie’s looking for a tenant for her next-door rental, it feels like it’s meant to be.

All Gracie cares about is turning in her manuscript on time, which is directly at odds with Noah’s attempts to win her back, even if she is slightly charmed by his kindness. But can people ever really change? Then Noah throws a curveball that could give Gracie the extension she needs, but it will mean working directly with Noah, something she’s not sure she can face. With no other choice, and everything on the line, Gracie must decide if it is too late for a second draft of their own love story.

Find First Love, Second Draft online at:

Amazon | BookBub | Goodreads

About Becca Kinzer

Becca KinzerBecca Kinzer lives in Springfield, Illinois where she works as a critical care nurse. When she’s not taking care of sick patients or reminding her husband and two kids that frozen chicken nuggets is a gourmet meal, she enjoys making up lighthearted stories with serious laughs. She is a 2018 ACFW First Impressions Contest winner, a 2019 Genesis Contest winner, 2021 Cascade Award winner, and all-around champion coffee drinker.

Find Becca Kinzer online at:

Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter

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

Solving a murder is not about crime, It's about finding fear and greed and, well, about lust.

Book Review | All That Is Secret by Patricia Raybon

Annalee Spain is known as the Black Professor, in reference to her role at a small Bible College. That makes her an unusual heroine in any time, but especially in a novel that starts in 1923 in Chicago. She heads to Denver to try and solve the mystery of her father’s murder. Here she meets people of all ages and races, many of whom could have something to do with her father’s disappearance and death.

All that is Secret is a novel that’s full of characters with secrets.

It’s a fast-paced mystery that hits all the right notes with plenty of likeable characters, and plenty of characters vying for the role of evildoer and murderer. The writing is strong, although perhaps a little distant, but that fits with the 1930s setting.

Christian fiction tends to focus on white main characters, so it’s great to see a novel (a series?) focusing on a Black main character. I appreciated the insight into a different time, place, and culture, and I especially appreciated the way Annalee and her friends can cross the racial and cultural boundaries to deliver a strong mystery.

It appears this is the first in what is to become the Annalee Spain Mystery series, and I’m looking forward to the next instalment.

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

About Patricia Rayborn

Patricia Rayborn

Patricia Raybon is an award-winning Colorado author, essayist and novelist who writes top-rated books at the daring intersection of faith and race.

Her first fiction — an historical detective series, All That Is Secret, set in 1923 in Colorado’s Klan era — is a Parade Magazine Fall 2021 “Mysteries We Love” selection and a Masterpiece on PBS “Best Mystery Books of 2021” selection “As Recommended by Bestselling Authors.”

“Readers will be hooked from the first line…Captivating.” (Julie Cantrell) “Not only a good mystery, but a realistic insight into the African American experience in the 1920s in the West.” (Rhys Bowen) “Fast-paced and intriguing.” (Manuel Ramos) “Engrossing and thrilling….This intrepid sleuth would give Sherlock Holmes a run for his money.” (Sophfronia Scott).

Find Patricia Raybon online at:

Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter

About All That Is Secret

Can an amateur detective solve the cold case mystery of her lost father’s murder?

In the winter of 1923, Professor Annalee Spain—a daring but overworked theologian at a small Chicago Bible college—receives a cryptic telegram calling her home to Denver to solve the mystery of the murder of her beloved but estranged father.

For a young Black woman, searching for answers in a city ruled by the KKK could mean real danger. Still, with her literary hero Sherlock Holmes as inspiration, Annalee launches her hunt for clues, attracting two surprising allies: Eddie, a relentless young white boy searching for his missing father, and Jack, a handsome Black pastor who loves nightclub dancing and rides in his sporty car, awakening Annalee’s heart to the surprising highs and lows of romantic love.

With their help, Annalee follows clues that land her among Denver’s powerful elite. But when their sleuthing unravels sinister motives and deep secrets, Annalee confronts the dangerous truths and beliefs that could make her a victim too.

Find All That Is Secret online at:

Amazon | BookBub | ChristianBook | Goodreads | Koorong

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

Quote from Hidden Among the Stars: My story is the same as any other in that no one owns it except me. And it’s filled with threads of achievements and regrets.

#ThrowbackThursday | Hidden Among the Stars by Melanie Dobson

It’s Throwback Thursday! Today I’m resharing my review of Hidden Among the Stars by Melanie Dobson, a powerful dual timeline story—one of the best books I read in 2018.

The past story begins in Austria in 1938, just after Adolf Hitler has annexed the country.

Anyone who knows anything of twentieth century history suspects this isn’t going to end well. Max is the only son of a well-off Vienna banker. Luzi is the Jewish violinist he loves, and Annika is the daughter of a family servant … who loves Max.

The present story is that of Calisandra Anne Randall.

Callie is the half-owner of a children’s bookstore in small-town Ohio. The bookstore has been Callie’s refuge since she was a child. Now she’s making it a place where the next generation of children meet and come to love some of her favourite fictional characters.

Callie sells both new and secondhand books, and often finds things hidden in the books she sells. But Bambi is different. It’s not just the photograph hidden inside the book that captures her attention. It’s the German words written between the lines of the book. Callie’s attempts to find the story behind the book lead her to Austria and a mystery that’s almost eighty years old.

There were so many things that impressed me about Hidden in the Stars.

The way the two plot lines intertwined and intersected. The characters. The writing. The excellent historical research. The faith aspect. It all adds up to a lot more than the cover promised. And I was equally invested in the past and present stories, which is rare. (Yes, I’m one of those readers who usually wants to skip forward and read only half the story.)

 

The writing was excellent. My writer/editor self I was especially impressed by the way the author combined first person present tense for the contemporary story with third person past tense for the historical story. Mixing first and third person is not a technique for beginners. Mixing present and past tense is even more impressive. That Melanie Dobson managed to do both seamlessly is outstanding writing.

The historical research never overwhelmed the story. It was good to read a novel set in Austria rather than the more traditional Germany. And it was wonderful to read a story that didn’t have any obvious historical inaccuracies yet managed to share new information. (The author’s note at the end explained a couple of things I’d wondered about.)

I was also impressed by the way the Christian elements were woven into the plot.

The first half had very few religious references—Jewish or Christian. The second half brought out many truths about the nature of God, and the nature of good and evil. Unfortunately, World War II taught us a lot about evil … if we care to learn.

Recommended for fans of dual timeline stories with a hint of romance from authors like Kristy Cambron, Heidi Chiavaroli, and Cathy Gohlke.

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

About Melanie Dobson

Author photo - Melanie DobsonWriting fiction is Melanie Dobson’s excuse to explore abandoned houses, travel to unique places, and spend hours reading old books and journals. The award-winning author of twenty novels, Melanie enjoys stitching together both time-slip and historical stories including Catching the Wind, Enchanted Isle, Beneath a Golden Veil, and the Legacy of Love novels.

Chateau of Secrets received a Carol Award for historical fiction, Catching the Wind’s audiobook won the 2018 Audie for Inspirational Novel, and The Black Cloister was ForeWord’s Book of the Year for Religious Fiction. Her next time-slip novel, Hidden Among the Stars, comes out in September.

Melanie and her husband, Jon, have two daughters. After moving numerous times with Jon’s work, the Dobson family has finally settled near Portland, Oregon, and they love to travel and hike in both the mountains and the cliffs above the Pacific. When Melanie isn’t writing, she enjoys exploring ghost towns and dusty back roads, dancing, and reading stories with her girls.

Find Melanie Dobson online at:

Website | Facebook | Goodreads | Pinterest | Twitter

About Hidden Among the Stars

The year is 1938, and as Hitler’s troops sweep into Vienna, Austrian Max Dornbach promises to help his Jewish friends hide their most valuable possessions from the Nazis, smuggling them to his family’s summer estate near the picturesque village of Hallstatt. He enlists the help of Annika Knopf, his childhood friend and the caretaker’s daughter, who is eager to help the man she’s loved her entire life.

But when Max also brings Luzia Weiss, a young Jewish woman, to hide at the castle, it complicates Annika’s feelings and puts their entire plan—even their very lives—in jeopardy. Especially when the Nazis come to scour the estate and find both Luzia and the treasure gone.

Eighty years later, Callie Randall is mostly content with her quiet life, running a bookstore with her sister and reaching out into the world through her blog. Then she finds a cryptic list in an old edition of Bambithat connects her to Annika’s story . . . and maybe to the long-buried story of a dear friend. As she digs into the past, Callie must risk venturing outside the safe world she’s built for a chance at answers, adventure, and maybe even new love.

Find Hidden Among the Stars at:

Amazon | ChristianBook | Goodreads | Koorong

Read the introduction to Hidden Among the Stars below:

Click here to check out Hidden Among the Stars and other great Christian fiction at  my Amazon shop.

First Line Friday

First Line Friday | Week 71 | Hidden Among the Stars by Melanie Dobson

It’s First Line Friday! I’m currently putting together my Top Ten list for 2018. This means checking out the books I’ve read this year and trying to whittle them down to the ten best. It’s no easy task!

Anyway, Hidden Among the Stars by Melanie Dobson is one that might make the cut. Here’s the first line:

First line from Hidden Among the Stars: The blade of a shovel, cutting through frosted grass. That's what she remembered most from the spring of 1938.

This is one of those books where I read the first line, and couldn’t stop reading. Click here to read my review.

About Hidden Among the Stars

The year is 1938, and as Hitler’s troops sweep into Vienna, Austrian Max Dornbach promises to help his Jewish friends hide their most valuable possessions from the Nazis, smuggling them to his family’s summer estate near the picturesque village of Hallstatt. He enlists the help of Annika Knopf, his childhood friend and the caretaker’s daughter, who is eager to help the man she’s loved her entire life.

But when Max also brings Luzia Weiss, a young Jewish woman, to hide at the castle, it complicates Annika’s feelings and puts their entire plan—even their very lives—in jeopardy. Especially when the Nazis come to scour the estate and find both Luzia and the treasure gone.

Eighty years later, Callie Randall is mostly content with her quiet life, running a bookstore with her sister and reaching out into the world through her blog. Then she finds a cryptic list in an old edition of Bambi that connects her to Annika’s story . . . and maybe to the long-buried story of a dear friend. As she digs into the past, Callie must risk venturing outside the safe world she’s built for a chance at answers, adventure, and maybe even new love.

Find Hidden Among the Stars at:

Amazon | ChristianBook | Goodreads | Koorong

Read the introduction to Hidden Among the Stars below:

Click here to check out Hidden Among the Stars and other great Christian fiction at  my Amazon shop.

Click the button to check out what my fabulous fellow FirstLineFriday bloggers are sharing today:

First Line Fridays hosted by Hoarding Books

You can then click the link which will take you to the master page of all this week’s #FirstLineFriday posts.

And you can click here to check out my previous FirstLineFriday posts.

Share your first line in the comments, and happy reading!

Book Review | Hidden Among the Stars by Melanie Dobson

Wow.

Hidden Among the Stars is a powerful dual timeline story—definitely one of the best books I’ve read this year.

The past story begins in Austria in 1938, just after Adolf Hitler has annexed the country.

Anyone who knows anything of twentieth century history suspects this isn’t going to end well. Max is the only son of a well-off Vienna banker. Luzi is the Jewish violinist he loves, and Annika is the daughter of a family servant … who loves Max.

The present story is that of Calisandra Anne Randall.

Callie is the half-owner of a children’s bookstore in small-town Ohio. The bookstore has been Callie’s refuge since she was a child. Now she’s making it a place where the next generation of children meet and come to love some of her favourite fictional characters.

Callie sells both new and secondhand books, and often finds things hidden in the books she sells. But Bambi is different. It’s not just the photograph hidden inside the book that captures her attention. It’s the German words written between the lines of the book. Callie’s attempts to find the story behind the book lead her to Austria and a mystery that’s almost eighty years old.

There were so many things that impressed me about Hidden in the Stars.

The way the two plot lines intertwined and intersected. The characters. The writing. The excellent historical research. The faith aspect. It all adds up to a lot more than the cover promised. And I was equally invested in the past and present stories, which is rare. (Yes, I’m one of those readers who usually wants to skip forward and read only half the story.)

Quote from Hidden Among the Stars: My story is the same as any other in that no one owns it except me. And it’s filled with threads of achievements and regrets.

The writing was excellent. My writer/editor self I was especially impressed by the way the author combined first person present tense for the contemporary story with third person past tense for the historical story. Mixing first and third person is not a technique for beginners. Mixing present and past tense is even more impressive. That Melanie Dobson managed to do both seamlessly is outstanding writing.

The historical research never overwhelmed the story. It was good to read a novel set in Austria rather than the more traditional Germany. And it was wonderful to read a story that didn’t have any obvious historical inaccuracies yet managed to share new information. (The author’s note at the end explained a couple of things I’d wondered about.)

I was also impressed by the way the Christian elements were woven into the plot.

The first half had very few religious references—Jewish or Christian. The second half brought out many truths about the nature of God, and the nature of good and evil. Unfortunately, World War II taught us a lot about evil … if we care to learn.

Recommended for fans of dual timeline stories with a hint of romance from authors like Kristy Cambron, Heidi Chiavaroli, and Cathy Gohlke.

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

About Melanie Dobson

Author photo - Melanie DobsonWriting fiction is Melanie Dobson’s excuse to explore abandoned houses, travel to unique places, and spend hours reading old books and journals. The award-winning author of twenty novels, Melanie enjoys stitching together both time-slip and historical stories including Catching the Wind, Enchanted Isle, Beneath a Golden Veil, and the Legacy of Love novels.

Chateau of Secrets received a Carol Award for historical fiction, Catching the Wind’s audiobook won the 2018 Audie for Inspirational Novel, and The Black Cloister was ForeWord’s Book of the Year for Religious Fiction. Her next time-slip novel, Hidden Among the Stars, comes out in September.

Melanie and her husband, Jon, have two daughters. After moving numerous times with Jon’s work, the Dobson family has finally settled near Portland, Oregon, and they love to travel and hike in both the mountains and the cliffs above the Pacific. When Melanie isn’t writing, she enjoys exploring ghost towns and dusty back roads, dancing, and reading stories with her girls.

Find Melanie Dobson online at:

Website | Facebook | Goodreads | Pinterest | Twitter

About Hidden Among the Stars

The year is 1938, and as Hitler’s troops sweep into Vienna, Austrian Max Dornbach promises to help his Jewish friends hide their most valuable possessions from the Nazis, smuggling them to his family’s summer estate near the picturesque village of Hallstatt. He enlists the help of Annika Knopf, his childhood friend and the caretaker’s daughter, who is eager to help the man she’s loved her entire life.

But when Max also brings Luzia Weiss, a young Jewish woman, to hide at the castle, it complicates Annika’s feelings and puts their entire plan—even their very lives—in jeopardy. Especially when the Nazis come to scour the estate and find both Luzia and the treasure gone.

Eighty years later, Callie Randall is mostly content with her quiet life, running a bookstore with her sister and reaching out into the world through her blog. Then she finds a cryptic list in an old edition of Bambithat connects her to Annika’s story . . . and maybe to the long-buried story of a dear friend. As she digs into the past, Callie must risk venturing outside the safe world she’s built for a chance at answers, adventure, and maybe even new love.

Find Hidden Among the Stars at:

Amazon | ChristianBook | Goodreads | Koorong

Read the introduction to Hidden Among the Stars below:

Click here to check out Hidden Among the Stars and other great Christian fiction at  my Amazon shop.

Have you read any of Melanie Dobson’s novels? What did you think?

He was the kind of guy her father had always warned her about, and she knew it.

Book Review | Just Let Go (Harbor Pointe #2) by Courtney Walsh

Grady Benson is a big-name big-ego Olympic skier who has landed in the small tourist town of Harbor Pointe, Michigan … and finds himself staying longer than planned after an unfortunate run-in with the law. Now he’s stuck in town paying his debt to society with various do-good community service projects when he should be on the slopes, qualifying for the next Olympics.

Quinn Collins is the small-town girl who’s never gone anywhere, and tells herself she doesn’t want to. What she wants is to win Best Design at the upcoming Michigan Floral Expo, in the hope that a win will enable her to reconnect with her mother—the mother who deserted her family years ago.

I have to say that I didn’t like either character at the beginning of the book.

Grady was too full of himself, and I didn’t understand Quinn’s obsession with reconnecting with a mother who abandoned her husband and two small daughters. First, has she never heard of Facebook? Second, many parents have days when they want to abandon their families (or is that just me?). It’s a test of character that we don’t.

Both characters changes and grow as the novel progresses, but it was Grady’s change that most impressed me. By the end of the story I was half in love with him myself, and he’d almost converted me to skiing (I like the concept, but I can no longer deal with the cold). Anyway, Grady’s redemption was definitely the high point of the story.

The writing was excellent, with many quotable lines.

Just Let Go follows Just Look Up in the Harbor Pointe series, but can easily be read as a standalone.

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

About the Author

Courtney WalshCourtney Walsh is a novelist, artist, theater director, and playwright. Change of Heart is her fifth novel and is set in the same town as Paper Hearts. Her debut novel, A Sweethaven Summer, hit the New York Times and USA Today e-book bestseller lists and was a Carol Award finalist in the debut author category. She has written two additional books in the Sweethaven series, as well as two craft books and several full-length musicals. Courtney lives in Illinois where she and her husband own a performing and visual arts studio. They have three children.

Find Courtney Walsh online at …

Website | Facebook | Instagram | Pinterest | Twitter | Goodreads

About the Book

For Quinn Collins, buying the flower shop in downtown Harbor Pointe fulfills a childhood dream, but also gives her the chance to stick it to her mom, who owned the store before skipping town twenty years ago and never looking back. Completing much-needed renovations, however, while also competing for a prestigious flower competition with her mother as the head judge, soon has Quinn in over her head. Not that she’d ever ask for help.

Luckily, she may not need to. Quinn’s father and his meddling friends find the perfect solution in notorious Olympic skier Grady Benson, who had only planned on passing through the old-fashioned lakeside town. But when a heated confrontation leads to property damage, helping Quinn as a community-service sentence seems like the quickest way out—and the best way to avoid more negative press.

Quinn finds Grady reckless and entitled; he thinks she’s uptight and too regimented. Yet as the two begin to hammer and saw, Quinn sees glimpses of the vulnerability behind the bravado, and Grady learns from her passion and determination, qualities he seems to have lost along the way. But when a well-intentioned omission has devastating consequences, Grady finds himself cast out of town—and Quinn’s life—possibly forever. Forced to face the hurt holding her back, Quinn must finally let go or risk missing out on the adventure of a lifetime.

Find Just Let Go online at:

Amazon | ChristianBook | Goodreads | Koorong

You can read the introduction online below:

Quote from The Saturday Night Supper Club

Book Review | The Saturday Night Supper Club by Carla Laureano

Wonderful!

If you ask readers what plot points or ideas they don’t like in novels, there is always one that comes up: the impossibly good-looking hero or heroine. Others dislike too-rich heroes. Or writers. Or all of the above. I confess: I’m one of them. I especially don’t like the impossibly handsome rich writer (except for Richard Castle, but we all know he’s a joke).

The Saturday Night Supper Club has all these things (except for Richard Castle.) Despite that, it’s a great read—almost perfect contemporary Christian romance. It’s also a lesson in the power of the media—especially social media—to work for good and for evil.

And the food … I wanted it all. Well, except the chard. And the fennel. It was a weed where I grew up, and we were all told not to eat it.

Anyway, about the book …

Rachel Bishop is the darling of the Denver casual fine dining scene until a misplaced comment to the wrong person goes viral. Writer Alex Kanin unintentionally started the whole media firestorm, but doesn’t realise the full extent of the repercussions until he tries to apologise to Rachel, and finds his article has cost Rachel her job.

Yes, he’s the impossibly handsome writer whose debut memoir jumped to the top of all the right bestseller lists. He’s also rich, thanks to a couple of timely investments, and grew up in a well-off immigrant family. In contrast, Rachel left home without graduating high school, and has risen to the top of her profession through hard work and determination.

The Saturday Night Supper Club is the story of how Alex and Rachel work together to try and resurrect her career.

It’s a romance, so you know how that goes. It also has a solid Christian thread, in that both Rachel and Alex are Christians, and each has lessons to learn about the nature of God. But it’s not preachy, which is great.

Overall, The Saturday Night Supper Club is a great contemporary Christian romance, with wonderful characters, and wonderful food. I do hope there are a couple of sequels in the works!

Thanks to Tyndale Publishing and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review.

About Carla Laureano

Carla LaureanoCarla Laureano is the RITA® Award-winning author of contemporary inspirational romance and Celtic fantasy (as C.E. Laureano). A graduate of Pepperdine University, she worked as a sales and marketing executive for nearly a decade before leaving corporate life behind to write fiction full-time. She currently lives in Denver with her husband and two sons, where she writes during the day and cooks things at night.

You can find Carla Laureano online at:

Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter

About The Saturday Night Supper Club

Denver chef Rachel Bishop has accomplished everything she’s dreamed and some things she never dared hope, like winning a James Beard Award and heading up her own fine-dining restaurant. But when a targeted smear campaign causes her to be pushed out of the business by her partners, she vows to do whatever it takes to get her life back . . . even if that means joining forces with the man who inadvertently set the disaster in motion.

Essayist Alex Kanin never imagined his pointed editorial would go viral. Ironically, his attempt to highlight the pitfalls of online criticism has the opposite effect: it revives his own flagging career by destroying that of a perfect stranger. Plagued by guilt-fueled writer’s block, Alex vows to do whatever he can to repair the damage. He just doesn’t expect his interest in the beautiful chef to turn personal.

Alex agrees to help rebuild Rachel’s tarnished image by offering his connections and his home to host an exclusive pop-up dinner party targeted to Denver’s most influential citizens: the Saturday Night Supper Club. As they work together to make the project a success, Rachel begins to realize Alex is not the unfeeling opportunist she once thought he was, and that perhaps there’s life—and love—outside the pressure-cooker of her chosen career. But can she give up her lifelong goals without losing her identity as well?

You can find The Saturday Night Supper Club online at:

Amazon | ChristianBook | Goodreads | Koorong

First Line Friday

First Line Friday | Week 28 | The Saturday Night Supper Club by Carla Laureano

It’s Friday, which means it’s time to open the book nearest you and share the first line. Today I’m sharing from The Saturday Night Supper Club by Carla Laureano. It’s her first contemporary romance release in far too long, and I can’t wait to read it!

First line from The Saturday Night Supper Club

About The Saturday Night Supper Club

Denver chef Rachel Bishop has accomplished everything she’s dreamed and some things she never dared hope, like winning a James Beard Award and heading up her own fine-dining restaurant. But when a targeted smear campaign causes her to be pushed out of the business by her partners, she vows to do whatever it takes to get her life back . . . even if that means joining forces with the man who inadvertently set the disaster in motion.

Essayist Alex Kanin never imagined his pointed editorial would go viral. Ironically, his attempt to highlight the pitfalls of online criticism has the opposite effect: it revives his own flagging career by destroying that of a perfect stranger. Plagued by guilt-fueled writer’s block, Alex vows to do whatever he can to repair the damage. He just doesn’t expect his interest in the beautiful chef to turn personal.

Alex agrees to help rebuild Rachel’s tarnished image by offering his connections and his home to host an exclusive pop-up dinner party targeted to Denver’s most influential citizens: the Saturday Night Supper Club. As they work together to make the project a success, Rachel begins to realize Alex is not the unfeeling opportunist she once thought he was, and that perhaps there’s life—and love—outside the pressure-cooker of her chosen career. But can she give up her lifelong goals without losing her identity as well?

You can find The Saturday Night Supper Club online at:

Amazon | ChristianBook | Goodreads | Koorong

Click the button to check out what my fabulous fellow FirstLineFriday bloggers are sharing today:

First Line Fridays hosted by Hoarding Books

You can then click on the link which will take you to the master page, which holds all this week’s #FirstLineFriday posts.

And you can click here to check out my previous FirstLineFriday posts.

Share your first line in the comments, and happy reading!

Book Review | Secrets She Kept by Cathy Gohlke

It’s Throwback Thursday!

My Monday book reviews are of new releases. Throwback Thursday is my opportunity to reshare my older reviews of some of my favourite books, or to share a new review for an older book.

Today I’m resharing my review of Secrets She Kept by Cathy Gohlke, a dual timeline story originally published in August 2015. Cathy Gohlke is releasing her latest World War Two-era novel this month, Until We Find Home, and I’m looking forward to reading and reviewing that!

Here’s the book description for Until We Find Home:

For American Claire Stewart, joining the French Resistance sounded as romantic as the storylines she hopes will one day grace the novels she wants to write. But when she finds herself stranded on English shores, with five French Jewish children she smuggled across the channel before Nazis stormed Paris, reality feels more akin to fear.

With nowhere to go, Claire throws herself on the mercy of an estranged aunt, begging Lady Miranda Langford to take the children into her magnificent estate. Heavily weighted with grief of her own, Miranda reluctantly agrees . . . if Claire will stay to help. Though desperate to return to France and the man she loves, Claire has few options. But her tumultuous upbringing—spent in the refuge of novels with fictional friends—has ill-prepared her for the daily dramas of raising children, or for the way David Campbell, a fellow American boarder, challenges her notions of love. Nor could she foresee how the tentacles of war will invade their quiet haven, threatening all who have come to call Bluebell Wood home and risking the only family she’s ever known.

Set in England’s lush and storied Lake District in the early days of World War II, and featuring cameos from beloved literary icons Beatrix Potter and C. S. Lewis, Until We Find Home is an unforgettable portrait of life on the British home front, challenging us to remember that bravery and family come in many forms.

In the meantime, Cathy has some great books you can check out while you wait, including Secrets She Kept.

About Secrets She Kept

All her life, Hannah Sterling longed for a close relationship with her estranged mother. Following Lieselotte’s death, Hannah determines to unlock the secrets of her mother’s mysterious past and is shocked to discover a grandfather living in Germany.

Thirty years earlier, Lieselotte’s father is quickly ascending the ranks of the Nazi party, and a proper marriage for his daughter could help advance his career. Lieselotte is in love—but her beloved Lukas is far from an ideal match, as he secretly works against the Reich. Yet Lieselotte never imagined how far her father would go to ensure her cooperation.

Both Hannah’s and Lieselotte’s stories unfold as Hannah travels to Germany to meet her grandfather, who is hiding wartimes secrets of his own. Longing for connection, yet shaken by all she uncovers, Hannah must decide if she can atone for her family’s tragic past and how their legacy will shape her future.

My Review

I was a little apprehensive about reading Secrets She Kept, because I was one of the three judges who awarded Cathy Gohlke the 2015 Inspy Award for General Fiction, for her novel Saving Amelie. After reading a book as good as Saving Amelie, I’m always a little worried that the author’s next book won’t meet the high expectations set by the earlier title.

Well, Secrets She Kept blew Saving Amelie out of the water. Yes, it was that good. Goosebump good.

It’s a split timeline story—the modern story is set in 1972, where Hannah Sterling’s mother has just died, and Hannah finds her mother was never entirely honest with her. For starters, Lieselotte wasn’t Austrian . . . No. She was German, living in Germany during the rise of Hitler and during World War II. The past story is Lieselotte’s, during those life-changing war years. It’s not a happy story, but as we journey with both Hannah and Lieselotte, we discover what made Lieselotte the distant mother she was: the secrets she kept.

The writing, the research, the characters, the plot—all were outstanding, and it’s one of the few split timeline stories I’ve read where the past and the present stories were equally compelling. Recommended.

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

About Cathy Gohlke

Cathy GohlkeCathy Gohlke is the three-time Christy Award-winning author of the critically acclaimed novels Secrets She Kept (winner of the 2016 Carol and INSPY Awards), Saving Amelie (winner of the 2015 INSPY Award), Band of Sisters, Promise Me This (listed by Library Journal as one of the best books of 2012), William Henry Is a Fine Name, and I Have Seen Him in the Watchfires (listed by Library Journal as one of the best books of 2008), which also won the American Christian Fiction Writers’ Book of the Year Award.

Cathy has worked as a school librarian, drama director, and director of children’s and education ministries. When not traipsing the hills and dales of historic sites, she, her husband, and their dog, Reilly, divide their time between Northern Virginia and the Jersey Shore, enjoying time with their children and granddaughters.

You can find Cathy Gohlke online at:

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Read the introduction to Secrets She Kept below:

Quote from Freedom's Ring

Book Recommendation | Freedom’s Ring by Heidi Chiavaroli

For Liberty and Freedom

Freedom’s Ring is a dual-timeline romance set in Boston. The modern story follows Anaya, a victim of the Boston Marathon bombing, which left her afraid to run and suffering guilt over her niece’s injuries. The historical story follows Liberty, a single woman alone in 1770’s Boston, left to raise her son after being raped.

Both women have their traumas to overcome.

Anaya responds by withdrawing—from her family, and from running. Liberty also runs away, but that’s understandable in a time when society had definite opinions about unwed mothers, no matter the circumstances.

What connects the two women is a ring, which Liberty stole from her employer, and which Anaya is given by the stranger who rescues her after the bombing The present story shows Anaya and Brad meeting and seeking to find the story behind the ring—Liberty’s story.

It’s an engaging and intriguing timeslip story.

Freedom’s Ring the difficult task of making each timeline as compelling as the other. Recommended for fans of dual timeline novels, especially those with a patriotic American feel.

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

About Heidi Chiavaroli

Heidi ChiavaroliHeidi Chiavaroli is a writer, runner, and grace-clinger who could spend hours exploring Boston’s Freedom Trail. She writes Women’s Fiction and won the 2014 ACFW Genesis contest in the historical category. She makes her home in Massachusetts with her husband, two sons, and Howie, her standard poodle.

Find Heidi Chiavaroli online at:

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Click below to buy Freedom’s Ring:

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You can read the introduction to Freedom’s Ring below: