A Tree, A Book, and A Breeze

The Lady With the Dark Hair Erin Bartels Revell      Esther Markstrom and her artist mother have always been proud of their ancestor, painter Francisco Vella. They even run a small museum and gallery dedicated to raising awareness of his scandalously underappreciated work. But when Esther reconnects with her former art history professor, she finds her once-solid family history on shaky ground as questions arise about Vella's greatest work--a portrait entitled The Lady with the Dark Hair .      In 1879, Catalan orphan-turned-fugitive Viviana Torrens has found sanctuary serving in the home of an aging artist in Southern France. It is in his studio that she meets Francisco Vella, a Gibraltarian merchant who sells artists' pigments. When her past catches up to her, she is compelled to pose as Vella's sister and join him on his travels or be deported back to Spain to stand trial. Along the way she will discover that the many parts she has been playi...

The Words We Lost Nicole Deese Bethany House Publishers I truly had no idea how much I would enjoy this book when I picked it up. My relationship with contemporary fiction is rocky, but I'm so glad I took a chance on this one. Upon reflection, I think what really makes or breaks a contemporary book for me is the voice and writing style- and Nicole Deese passed that test with flying colors. Speaking of my past with contemporary fiction, grief seems a common denominator in the last several that I have read, and I think this one landed the best and most true for me, without being overwhelming in its depiction. After reading this, I'm not only looking forward to the next book in this series, but exploring this author's previous works as well. (and a heads up that though there is a lovely romance in this book, I wouldn't say that it is as heavily featured/relied on as the series title might suggest). I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for my hone...

What Happens Next Christina Suzanne Nelson Bethany House Publishers   Popular podcaster and ex-reporter Faith Byrne has made a name for herself telling stories of greatness after tragedy--but her real life does not mirror the stories she tells. When she's asked to spotlight her childhood best friend's missing-person case on her podcast, she uncovers desperate secrets and must face the truth before she can move forward. This marks my fourth consecutive read from a genre I don't typically explore, and honestly, I'm not quite sure it was actually the genre I was expecting. Told from three different viewpoints (one of them in the past), this book lacked the suspense or tense mystery I was anticipating, and instead focused more on dealing with grief.  As I surmised most of the mystery's resolution fairly quickly, I found the book difficult to enjoy due to its slow pace. Of course, I'm not sure this is a book that's really suppose to be "enjoyed?" ...

The Dress Shop on King Street Ashley Clark Bethany House Publishers So I may or may not have a bit of a compulsion to read books that are set in Charleston- even just South Carolina in general. There aren’t a lot of books set here (unless you’re counting Southern Fiction, which isn’t usually my preferred genre) so whenever I see one, I tend to pick it up. Ashley Clark is a new author to me, and novels with dual timelines can be tricky, so I came into this one curious but skeptical.  True to form, I definitely found one storyline much more compelling than the other- something I find that tends to be a hazard of the time slip genre. Really, I only found Harper’s story interesting in so much as it connected to Millie’s (which, now that I think about it, is a little ironic, since most of those scenes are the ones not set in Charleston!) Millie’s story was bittersweet and left me with a bit of an ache; I may have also been more drawn to that one because at heart I’ll always be a his...

The Haunting at Bonaventure Circus Jaime Jo Wright Bethany House Publishers 1928 The Bonaventure Circus is a refuge for many, but Pippa Ripley was rejected from its inner circle as a baby. When she receives mysterious messages from someone called the "Watchman," she is determined to find him and the connection to her birth. As Pippa's search leads her to a man seeking justice for his murdered sister and evidence that a serial killer has been haunting the circus train, she must decide if uncovering her roots is worth putting herself directly in the path of the killer. Present Day The old circus train depot will either be torn down or preserved for historical importance, and its future rests on real estate project manager Chandler Faulk's shoulders. As she dives deep into the depot's history, she's also balancing a newly diagnosed autoimmune disease and the pressures of single motherhood. When she discovers clues to the unsolved murders of the past, Chandler is ...

The Words Between Us Erin Bartels Revell A reclusive bookstore owner hoped she'd permanently buried her family's sensational past with a new name. But when the novels she once shared with an old crush begin appearing in the mail, it's clear her true identity is about to be revealed, threatening the new life she has painstakingly built.      This might be the most melancholy book I've read this year.      "Melancholy" as a descriptor isn't a bad or a good thing; more a matter of taste. The writing in this novel is lovely, and it's easy to get caught up in Robin's life in the novel's dual timeline plot. Literature, and people's perceptions and reactions to it, also play a large part in the story; Erin Bartels reads a bit like Katherine Reay's more wistful cousin.      For me, personally, I've never liked stories about couples (even teenage sweethearts) who only reunite after years of separation due to misunderstandi...

The Curse of Misty Wayfair Jaime Jo Wright Bethany House Publishers Left at an orphanage as a child, Thea Reed vowed to find her mother someday. Now grown, her search takes her to Pleasant Valley, Wisconsin, in 1908. When clues lead her to a mental asylum, Thea uses her experience as a post-mortem photographer to gain access and assist groundskeeper Simeon Coyle in photographing the patients and uncovering the secrets within. However, she never expected her personal quest would reawaken the legend of Misty Wayfair, a murdered woman who allegedly haunts the area and whose appearance portends death. A century later, Heidi Lane receives a troubling letter from her mother--who is battling dementia--compelling her to travel to Pleasant Valley for answers to her own questions of identity. When she catches sight of a ghostly woman who haunts the asylum ruins in the woods, the long-standing story of Misty Wayfair returns--and with it, Heidi's fear for her own life. As ...

Falling For You Becky Wade Bethany House Publishers Willow Bradford is content taking a break from modeling to run her family's inn until she comes face-to-face with NFL quarterback Corbin Stewart, the man who broke her heart--and wants to win her back. When a decades-old missing-persons case brings them together, they're forced to decide whether they can risk falling for one another all over again. I told myself I was giving up reviewing contemporary fiction because I never enjoy it and then I feel mean writing a review. But...then I saw the blurb for the first book in this series, True to You . Guys, it's about a genealogist . Who works/lives in a historical village . And loves period dramas . Obviously this girl was my book twin, right? So I immediately put in on my to-read list but never got around to it. Eventually, Falling For You became available for review, and I chose it, figuring it would give me the needed push to go out and actually buy the first ...

  The Saturday Night Supper Club Carla Laureano Tyndale   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 offer...

The Lost Castle Kristy Cambron Thomas Nelson Launching a brand-new series, Kristy Cambron explores the collision of past and present as she discovers the ruins of a French castle, long lost to history. A thirteenth century castle, Chateau de Doux Reves, has been forgotten for generations, left to ruin in a storybook forest nestled deep in France's picturesque Loire Valley. It survived a sacking in the French Revolution, was brought back to life and fashioned into a storybook chateau in the Gilded Age, and was eventually felled and deserted after a disastrous fire in the 1930s. As Ellie Carver sits by her grandmother's bedside, she hears stories of a castle . . . of lost love and a hidden chapel that played host to a secret fight in the World War II French resistance. But her grandmother is quickly slipping into the locked-down world of Alzheimer's, and Ellie must act fast if she wants to uncover the truth of her family's history. Sparked by the ...

The Austen Escape Katherine Reay Thomas Nelson After years of following her best friend’s lead, Mary Davies finds a whimsical trip back to Austen’s Regency England paves the way towards a new future. Mary Davies lives and works in Austin, Texas, as an industrial engineer. She has an orderly and productive life, a job and colleagues that she enjoys—particularly a certain adorable, intelligent, and hilarious consultant. But something is missing for Mary. When her estranged and emotionally fragile childhood friend Isabel Dwyer offers Mary a two-week stay in a gorgeous manor house in Bath, Mary reluctantly agrees to come along, in hopes that the holiday will shake up her quiet life in just the right ways. But Mary gets more than she bargained for when Isabel loses her memory and fully believes that she lives in Regency England. Mary becomes dependent on a household of strangers to take care of Isabel until she wakes up. With Mary in charge and surrounded by new friends...

The Space Between Words Michèle Phoenix  Thomas Nelson "There were seconds, when I woke, when the world felt unshrouded. Then memory returned." When Jessica regains consciousness in a French hospital on the day after the Paris attacks, all she can think of is fleeing the site of the horror she survived. But Patrick, the steadfast friend who hasn't left her side, urges her to reconsider her decision. Worn down by his insistence, she reluctantly agrees to follow through with the trip they'd planned before the tragedy. "The pages found you," Patrick whispered. "Now you need to figure out what they're trying to say." During a stop at a country flea market, Jessica finds a faded document concealed in an antique. As new friends help her to translate the archaic French, they uncover the story of Adeline Baillard, a young woman who lived centuries before--her faith condemned, her life endangered, her community decimated by ...

The Mountain Between Us Charles Martin Broadway Books      I feel like I should preface this review by admitting that this novel isn't in a genre I normally read or am drawn to; contemporary fiction has never held much appeal to me. However, I saw the trailer for the movie version that's coming out soon, and thought it looked interesting (I mean, it's a survival story, right?). When I realized that the film was based on a book, and that that book was available for review, I thought I should try it- especially when I recognized the author's name. (I hadn't read anything by him before, but I've seen his books in CBD's catalogs).      However, within the first few chapters I knew that this book wasn't going to win me over. The dialogue seemed sentimentally unrealistic to me, and to be brutally honest, I found it boring and a struggle to drag myself through. Technically, this book isn't exactly a DNF for me, since I read the last five or so...

Jane of Austin Hillary Manton Lodge Waterbrook Press Just a few years after their father’s business scandal shatters their lives, Jane and Celia Woodward find themselves forced out of their San Francisco tea shop. The last thing Jane wants is to leave their beloved shop on Valencia Street, but when Celia insists on a move to Austin, Texas, the sisters pack up their kid sister Margot and Jane’s tea plants, determined to start over yet again. But life in Austin isn’t all sweet tea and breakfast tacos. Their unusual living situation is challenging and unspoken words begin to fester between Jane and Celia. When Jane meets and falls for up-and-coming musician Sean Willis, the chasm grows deeper. While Sean seems to charm everyone in his path, one person is immune – retired Marine Captain Callum Beckett. Callum never meant to leave the military, but the twin losses of his father and his left leg have returned him to the place he least expected—Texas.  In this moder...

Conspiracy of Silence Ronie Kendig Bethany House Publishers Four years after a tragic mission decimated his career and his team, Cole “Tox” Russell is persona non grata to the United States. And that’s fine—he just wants to be left alone. But when a dormant, centuries-old disease is unleashed at an archaeological dig where three Bronze-era censers are found, Tox is lured back into action. Partnered with an archaeologist and an FBI agent who’s an expert in deception, Tox and his team are pitted against a secret society, a plague dubbed the New Black Death, and a revered codex—which may hold the key to stopping the deadly outbreak.      Though I've heard some really, really good things about Ronie Kendig from friends, I never tried any of her books simply because, judging from the covers, I didn't think they'd be my cup of tea. But then I read the synopsis for this one and was intrigued. Archaeology and ancient diseases? Two of my favorite things! (Okay, only ...

Another Day, Another Dali Sandra Orchard Revell A Fast-Paced, Keep-You-Guessing Whodunit with a Dash of Romance  When a valuable Salvador Dali painting belonging to her grandmother's friend is mysteriously replaced by a forgery, FBI Special Agent Serena Jones is called in to investigate. Serena hopes finding the thief will also mean finally measuring up to Nana's expectations. But when the evidence points to members of the owner's own household, it becomes increasingly clear that Serena won't be winning any popularity contests.  The Dali isn't the only painting that's fallen prey to the forgery-replacing thief, raising the specter of a sophisticated theft ring--one with links to dirty cops, an aspiring young artist, and the unsolved murder of Serena's grandfather.  With plenty of edge-of-your-seat moments, "Another Day, Another Dali" gives the plucky Serena Jones--and readers--a new high-stakes case to crack.      Having read the first b...

The Raven Mike Nappa Revell As part of his regular street performance, a deception specialist who goes by the name The Raven picks his audience's pockets while they watch. It's harmless fun--until he decides to keep the spare wallet a city councilman doesn't seem to miss, hoping for a few extra bucks. When he finds not money but compromising photos of the councilman and his "personal assistants," The Raven hatches a plan to blackmail the man. However, he quickly finds himself in over his head with the Ukrainian Mafia and mired in a life-threatening plot code-named, "Nevermore."  Private investigators Trudi Coffey and Samuel Hill must scramble to sort out the clues--and their complicated feelings for each other--to rescue The Raven and save hundreds of lives from a wildcard bent on revenge.   Mike Nappa snags readers from the first page of this fast-paced thriller--and he never lets go until the end.      When I heard about Mike Na...

The Promise of Jesse Woods Chris Fabry Tyndale The summer of 1972 was the most pivotal of Matt Plumley’s childhood. While his beloved Pirates battle for back-to-back World Series titles, Matt’s family moves from Pittsburgh to Dogwood, West Virginia, where his father steps into the pulpit of a church under the thumb of town leader Basil Blackwood. A fish out of water, Matt is relieved to forge a fast bond with two unlikely friends: Dickie Darrel Lee Hancock, a mixed-race boy, and Jesse Woods, a tough-as-nails girl with a sister on her hip and no dad in sight. As the trio traipses the hills and hollers, Matt begins to fall for Jesse, and their promises to each other draw him deeper into her terrifying reality. One night, the wrath of the Blackwoods and the secrets of Jesse’s family collide, and Matt joins Jesse in a rescue that saves one life and ends another . . . and severs the bond of their friendship. Years later, Matt is pulled back to Dogwood and to memories of...

Missing Lisa Harris Revell Nikki Boyd Enters the Deadly World of Counterfeit Drugs to Find a Missing Woman  Nikki Boyd isn't usually called in on homicides; her forte is missing persons. But when a case with two murdered and two missing pops up on a quiet suburban street, she's ready to start the investigation and find missing homeowners Mac and Lucy Hudson. When the first clues lead her to the boat of her friend Tyler Grant--and another dead body--Nikki must untangle what ties Tyler to the Hudsons. The clues pull her into a deadly maze of counterfeit drugs and a killer who will stop at nothing to silence anyone who threatens his business--including Nikki.  Christy Award-winning and bestselling author Lisa Harris puts readers right into the action in this fast-paced thriller that will have them turning pages long into the night.      Though I'm not the biggest fan of novels set during the present day, I do make exceptions for mysteries and...

Murder Comes by Mail A.H. Gabhart Revell A Cozy Mystery Complete with a Small Town Full of Charming, Quirky Characters  Deputy Sheriff Michael Keane doesn't particularly enjoy being touted as the hero of Hidden Springs after pulling a suicidal man back from the edge of the Eagle River bridge in front of dozens of witnesses--a few of whom caught the breathtaking moments with their cameras. But the media hype doesn't last long as a new story pushes its way into the public consciousness of Hidden Springs' concerned citizens.  Photos of a dead girl arrive in the mail, and Michael becomes convinced she was murdered by the man he saved. With a killer one step ahead, things in Hidden Springs begin to unravel. Now Michael must protect the people he loves--because the killer could be targeting one of them next.  Readers will love racing along with Deputy Sheriff Keane as the clock ticks in this page-turning mystery.        This book did...