OF GOLD AND SHADOWS by MICHELLE GRIEP

OF GOLD AND SHADOWS is the first novel in the Time’s Lost Treasures series by MICHELLE GRIEP, and I cannot wait for the sequel! What a thrilling story, what delightful characters and what a great Christian message of redemption and forgiveness! The author has brought all this together around ancient Egyptian artifacts and the curses they may or may not carry……

The scene is set in 1888 with Edmund Price, the most eligible bachelor in Oxford, returning to Oxford after eight years away in India. He is swamped by the ladies who are enamoured by his wealth and good looks. When he finds feisty Ami Dalton, egyptologist, instead of her professor father to valuate the large collection of ancient Egyptian artifacts delivered to him at Price House, he wonders if he has done the right thing but is soon enamoured by the brilliant but rather eccentric young lady……

Ami’s alter ego is the Shadow Broker, as she deals with shady characters in order to obtain precious artifacts for the museum. Edmund also has a secret……..

The book is full of colourful characters, witty dialogue and suspense and I could not put it down!

I cannot recommend this novel highly enough.

I was given a free copy of the book by NetGalley from Bethany House Publishers. The opinions in this review are completely my own.

A TOKEN OF LOVE by CARRIE TURANSKY

A TOKEN OF LOVE by CARRIE TURANSKY is a bauutifully writtem dual timeline novel that tells us about brave people who fight against child trafficking. There is a strong Christian message which is based on Isaiah chapter fifty-eight verses six to eight. The characters are unforgettable and it is heartwarming to see how they risk everything to help the weak and helpless…….

In 2023, Janelle Spencer, acting director of the London Foundling Museum, is working with Jonas Conrad who is making a fundraising film for the museum, when they come across something very interesting in the history of the Foundling Hospital. In 1885, eight year old Alice Crosby, renamed Mary Graham, goes missing. It is with horror, when they read Mary Alice’s book, that they realise that she  is not the only young girl to be sold into a brothel in London’s  East End……..

When Alice is three months old, her unmarried mother, Serena, is too ashamed of her situation to ask her sister Lillian Freemont for help, and in desperation leaves her baby, with a token on which is written  “Remember My Love” tied with a ribbon around her neck, at the Foundling Hospital. So many of the mothers left their children with tokens of their love and they form part of the Museum’s display. 

In 1885, desperately  ill and living in abject poverty, Serena reaches out to Lillian who joins up with Matthew McGivern, a journalist who works for W T Stead at the Pall Mall Gazette, to look for Alice, who is now eight years old and has disappeared. There is so much corruption, even in the police, and their courage is incredible as they, armed with their faith,  go right into the enemy’s lairs……

The two time frames flow well into one another.

The novel gives us much food for thought as the author deals with such an emotional subject.

I cannot recommend the book strongly enough.

I was given a  free copy of the book by NetGalley from Bethany House Publishers. The opinions in this review are completely my own.

EVERY DEADLY SUSPICION by JANET CANTORE

Publication date 4/3/25

EVERY DEADLY SUSPICION by JANET CANTORE is an exciting thriller with a really good Christian message of forgiveness and redemption. The story is fast paced and will really keep you guessing, and the characters are well portrayed.

Hanna Keyes, chief of police in Dry Oaks, has spent her life under the cloud of her father Joe’s conviction of the murder of Blake and Sophia Carson, her best friend Mandy’s parents, at the Beecher’s Mine Cabin. Mandy and Jared Hodges stood up for her against the bullies at school, who called her the “spawn of Satan”, amongst other things. She has done well for herself and is now well loved and respected by most of the inhabitants of Dry Oak. She is broken-hearted when Jared leaves to see the world, but  when he comes back after ten years he is a changed man……

Blogger and wannabe author, Marcus Marshall, has written a book about Joe and the murders, which has been taken to be the truth by many people. Marcus, who some people call Muckraker, is just that, stirring up trouble, especially when Joe gets compassionate parole and comes to stay with his daughter, who has never met him and whose mother badmouthed him to her all her life. …….

There is a huge fire, the murder of Scott Buckley, and the murder of women by “The Lonely Heart Killer”, all of which keep Hanna, Jared and Nathan Sharp, her boyfriend, and their colleages very busy……

I am not going to tell you any more for fear of spoiling things for you.

I was given an ARC by NetGalley and Tyndale House Publishers. The opinions in this review are completely my own.

WHAT I LEFT FOR YOU by LIZ TOLSMA

Publication date 1/12/24

WHAT I LEFT FOR YOU by LIZ TOLSMA is a really interesting WW11 novel in which we see things, not only from the Polish angle, but we are introduced to the Lemko and their beautiful country of Lemkovyna in southern Poland. We see man’s inhumanity towards his fellow man, as, not only did the the Nazis treat them all as less than human, but after the war the Polish government treated the Lemko very badly, breaking up families and carting them off to Ukraine, destroying their houses and farms. 

The characters are unforgettable. We see the strength and courage of Helena and Jerzy, both former lecturers at the Jagiellonium University, as they save Teena, a little Jewish baby from the Jewish ghetto,  and take her to Dubne to bring up as their own child, and also as they join the Lemko partisans to get some of their people out of jail. We see Helena’s desperation as she is taken further and further away from her beloved mother and daughter……

It is heartbreaking to see the horrors of the German labour camps which are described in some detail.

In 2023, after a tragedy for which she feels largely to blame,  and a broken engagement, McKenna and her best friend Taylor take a sabbatical in order to go to Poland and find the sister McKenna’s grandmother has never known. As they work with Filip and his agency in Krakow, the story unfolds. We are reminded of the fact that God can bring good out of all things…….

I am not going to tell you any more for fear of spoiling yor read.

There is a strong Christian message running through the story, from the Greek Orthodox church of the Lemko and the Catholic church, to simple Bible believing faith. 

I highly recommend this inspirational and heartwarming novel.

I was given a free copy of the book by NetGalley from Barbour Publishing. The opinions in this review are completely my own.

AS SURE AS THE SEA by JAMIE OGLE

Publication date 11/2/25

AS SURE AS THE SEA by JAMIE OGLE is a beautifully written novel in which the author immerses us into the early church in Myra in 310AD, which had been started by the apostle Paul two decades earlier. Her characters are beautifully portrayed as they serve the Lord and one another, battling against an insufficiency of food and the fear of capture and execution. There is a sense of family amongst the believers as they meet together in secret, taking communion and remembering what the Lord did for them on the cross, and reading the scriptures together, agaiinst the background of pagan feasts and rituals and the fear of betrayal.

Demitria and her brother Theseus are divers working for Mersad, the “self proclaimed jeweller of the seas”, eking out a living as best they can along the Lycian coast. I love the descriptions of the sea and the surrounding beauty, and the very relevant scriptures on which the God fearing characters base their lives.

Nikolas arrives from Patara as a replacement pastor, and, as a cover, teaches latin at the boys’ school where Titus and his family live and lesd the church. Both Demi and Nikolas have feelings of guilt and struggle to forgive themselves and feel God’s forgiveness for things they have done in the past. Will they stand strong when their lives unravel and their faith is tested? 

I am not going to tell you any more for fear of spoiling things for you. 

I was so engrossed in the story that I could not put the book down. I cannot recommend this exciting and inspirational read strongly enough. It is the first of this author’s novels that I have read and it most certainly will not be the last!

I was given an ARC of the book by NetGalley from Tyndale House Publishers. The opinions in this review are completely my own.

AMBUSH by COLLEEN COBLE

AMBUSH by COLLEEN COBLE is an exciting thriller which takes place in Nova Cambridge, Alabama, at The Wildlife Sanctuary, where Paradise Alden joins the staff as a vet. She is determined to face up to her fears and find the person responsible for her parents’ murder. She also has to face her first boyfriend, Blake Lawson, whose betrayal ruined her life, and her fear of big cats after having been mauled by a jaguar.   
Blake has left his career in the Marines to help his mother Jenna run the Sanctuary as well as help her with his young brothers after the death of his stepfather., Hank.
The story is exciting as Blake and Paradise work together to find out who is responsible for the murder of animal activist, Danielle Mason, whose bloody body is delivered in a trailer to the property,  the burning down of Paradise’s cottage, and the opening up of gates turning dangerous animals loose, thus giving the place a bad name. It seems as though someone is trying to force Jenna to sell…..
The characters are great. I specially love Blake’s little brothers Levi and Isaac, and their interacton with him and Paradise.
There is a strong Christian message of redemption and forgiveness running through the book.
I cannot recommend this unputdownable romantic suspense novel highly enough.
I was given a free copy of the book by NetGalley from Thomas Nelson. The opinions in this review are completely my own.

GUILTY UNTIL INNOCENT by ROBERT WHITLOW

GUILTY UNTIL INNOCENT is a well written legal thriller by ROBERT WHITLOW with a strong Christian message and relevant scriptures throughout the story.

Joe Moore in prison is a very different person to the young man who was incarcerated twenty six years ago for double murder when strung out on drugs. In fact, “The leadership ability God placed in Joe didn’t emerge until he was incarcerated, but it had risen to the surface in prison,” where we find him teaching Bible studies, praying and even fasting for his friend Deshaun’s marriage……..

Ryan Clark, after losing his job with two consecutive legal firms, is finally employed by his distant cousin Tom. He is afraid of losing this job too, especially as his wife Paige is pregnant, but Tom gives him the job of trying to find out the truth of what happened outside that seedy nightclub twenty six years ago when Tom is asked by Joe’s niece to try and get a motion for appropriate relief passed so he can finally get out of prison.  When Ryan is nervous about taking on the responsibility, Tom says to him, “You’ll  rise to the occasion” and “What’s happened in the past isn’t going to define your future as a lawyer.”……

Joe is unsure about the case being reopened but he finally agrees and, after much prayer, says to his friend, “I have to consider what my family wants to do and God’s purposes for the young lawyer who came to see me.”…….

There are some wonderful characters and some who are not as they seem, but we see God’s redemptive power throughout the story. I particularly like the relationship between Joe, Ryan and Paige……

The novel is very exciting and will keep you guessing right to the end. 

I cannot recommend Guilty Until Innocent highly enough.

I was given a free copy of the book by NetGalley from Thomas Nelson. The opinions in this review are completely my own.