The Hidden Prince (By: Tessa Afshar)

The Hidden Prince
By: Tessa Afshar

Story Line: 4 Stars
Depth: 4 Stars
Faith: 5 Stars
Love Story: 3 Stars
Overall: 4 Stars

Tessa is one of our favorite authors and we are always filled with excitement when we see she has written another novel. While this one in particular wasn't our favorite of hers, we still enjoyed it and would recommend it to others. It is a little slow in parts, but we are convinced you will fall in love with the main characters while also enjoying the part Daniel plays as well. We love learning more about characters from the Bible and being given a glimpse at what their lives might have been like. Tessa does just that like no other author! 

Keren struggles with her lot in life, but has found favor in many circumstances and is content living in Daniel's household. However, a disastrous accident sends her packing her bags and leaving everything and everyone she knows, including Jared whom she loves but doesn't believe will ever love her in return. Keren fears she will never be able to return home, but remains faithful and true to the Lord. Jared, unbeknownst to Keren, loves her but is angry and doesn't know if he can forgive her for what happened. Despite his feelings, he feels he must find her and bring her home. The plot thickens when they reunite, but instead of bringing her home, Jared feels he must join her in the journey the Lord has called her to be a part of. Will his heart soften enough to forgive her, and maybe even love her once again? We love how the Lord is woven into every part of the story; His grace and forgiveness are beautiful even in the midst of tragedy.

Note: We were given this book in exchange for our honest review.  

All That It Takes (By: Nicole Deese)

All That It Takes
By: Nicole Deese

Story Line: 4 Stars
Depth: 4 Stars
Faith: 5 Stars
Love Story: 4 Stars
Overall: 4.5 Stars

This book is a sequel, but in our opinion, even better than the first! After briefly meeting Miles McKenzie and Val Locklear in the first book, All That Really Matters, we now get to journey with them as main characters in this second book. And what a wonderful journey it is! 

Both Miles and Val could be characterized as steady people, but the phrase "still waters run deep" perfectly describes each of them. Miles is an outreach pastor whose plans are not going in the direction he wants, while Val has just taken a huge risk to move her and her son over a thousand miles away in an effort to branch out on her own and follow her dreams. Although they have met before in the first book, they reunite here in a charming, humorous way before forging a strong friendship. Piece by piece, Miles learns about Val's regretful past as they try to revive a dying ministry in town. 

As their relationship grows, this story explores depths we didn't expect it to. Val is given an opportunity to compete in a prestigious film contest and through this, she comes to discover just how much God will use her own story to impact the lives of many, many more people. As Miles seems unable to obtain his dream job and feels "stuck" in a corner, he has to come to grips with his own limited perspective on the impact he can have right in his own town. This read is a charming little escape, both lighthearted and deep all at the same time!

Note: We were given this book in exchange for our honest review.  

In Honor's Defense (By: Karen Witemeyer)

In Honor's Defense
By: Karen Witemeyer

Story Line: 4 Stars
Depth: 4 Stars
Faith: 5 Stars
Love Story: 4 Stars
Overall: 4 Stars

In Honor's Defense is the final book in the Hanger's Horseman trilogy and it was a satisfying ending to the series! Luke Davenport is the only horseman who hasn't settled down and he has no intentions to. Always needing to be on the go, Luke constantly battles his past riddled with abuse and neglect and longs to protect others. Itching for another opportunity to fight for justice, he takes a job tracking down rustlers. 

Damaris Baxter leads a quiet and lonely life. She has always felt invisible and has come to terms with her plain life. However, when her older brother passes away and she is appointed guardianship of her nephew, she quickly packs up and moves to Texas, determined to be the family Nathaniel needs. She quickly learns parenting a boy who is not only grieving losing his dad, but is convinced his dad was murdered, is no easy feat. 

When Nathaniel gets into trouble and has a run in with Luke, he quickly becomes the protector of this sweet family of two. Damaris and Luke are determined to seek justice and find the truth, but can they do so with their hearts staying intact? The realness of these characters is beautiful and we could not help but fall in love with them. Karen did a fabulous job keeping us guessing with the mystery that was laced throughout the book while drawing us so fully into the lives of Luke and Damaris. We highly recommend this series as we thoroughly enjoyed it!

Note: We were given this book in exchange for our honest review.  

The Deadly Shallows (By: Dani Pettrey)

The Deadly Shallows
By: Dani Pettry

Story Line: 4 Stars
Depth: 3 Stars
Faith: 3 Stars
Love Story: 4 Stars
Overall: 4 Stars

Another solid series by Dani Pettrey! The Deadly Shallows finishes up this suspenseful trilogy, and it was nice to see the conclusion to Noah and Brooke’s story, with a little nod to Caleb and Austin as well. 

This book begins with a bang, right as a mass shooting is about to take place at a military graduation. Author Dani does an excellent job bringing the reader right into the middle of the story and quickly letting us know her main characters. As per her usual pace, Dani keeps us turning the pages as the military mystery unfolds in the aftermath. The storyline was excellent, except for the sheer number of characters we sometimes had trouble keeping straight. 

Several of the characters we met in the first two books have long had romantic sparks flying and it’s about time we see these couples finally get somewhere. The two love stories definitely got our hearts fluttering a few times!

Overall, this was a good series if you are looking for a little mystery, suspense and satisfying romance. 

Note: We were given this book in exchange for our honest review.  

Turn to Me (By: Becky Wade)

Turn to Me
By: Becky Wade

Story Line: 5 Stars
Depth: 4 Stars
Faith: 4 Stars
Love Story: 4 Stars
Overall: 4.5 Stars

Turn to Me is the final book in the Misty River Romance series and it finished with a bang!
We were very eager to read Luke's story. If you have read the other books, you know about the Miracle Five, the five children who survived an earthquake disaster and are now all grown up. Four of them have remained close and have longed to have the fifth join them again in friendship and in life. However, Luke will never consider it a miracle that he survived the earthquake all those years ago - because that same earthquake took his brother's life. Luke has been ridden with guilt ever since and made some poor choices in life that landed in prison. Now a free man, he has one final job to do before he can get on with his life and leave Misty River for good. Luke made a promise to his friend and fellow inmate on his deathbed to help protect his daughter as she unravels a treasure hunt he has set up for her. How hard can it be? Well, Luke has yet to meet Finley! 

Finley Sutherland is a down to earth girl who loves animals. She owns an animal rescue center and is excited to go on one final treasure hunt her dad set up. Luke Dempsey, who insists he must help her as her father requested, intrigues Finley and she is destined to help him learn what forgiveness really means. Finley has overcome her fair share of pain and trials as well and longs to see Luke "restored," but little does she know just how much he will teach her! 

We fell in love with these characters. Honestly, it took a little bit to get used to Luke in his raw state, but we were incredibly impressed with how real he was. He quickly grew on us and kept us laughing! Luke and Finley grow together and it's a beautiful story. We were also thrilled to see Ben have his own sub story in this book as well. We are sad to see this series come to an end, but we sure did enjoy the friends we met along the way.

Note: We were given this book in exchange for our honest review.  

Mulberry Hollow (By: Denise Hunter)

Mulberry Hollow
By: Denise Hunter

Story Line: 5 Stars
Depth: 4 Stars
Faith: 3 Stars
Love Story: 4 Stars
Overall: 4 Stars

After being slightly disappointed with the first book in the series, we were a tad cautious in returning to Riverbend Gap. Boy, are we glad we decided to travel here again! Book two captured our attention, held our interest, and we already want to come back for another visit! We loved the two main characters in this story and felt the depth and realness in their journey both together and separately. 

The Robinson family has had their fair share of trials and Avery is not immune to her own - past, present and those to come. She has far surpassed all expectations by becoming a young doctor with her own practice at the age of 30. Little do others know this milestone birthday could be the age she starts to exhibit symptoms of the rare disease her mother passed away from. Living in fear is not how Avery wants to live so she has chosen to forgo testing to see if she has the gene for the disease. But is she truly living when she insists on being alone and not sharing her life with others because of the "possible" pain and heartache that might come? When a sick Appalachian trail hiker stumbles on her doorstep she is not prepared for the emotions he awakens in her. But is he simply passing through? Or will he be able to overcome his own trials and find a place to settle in Riverbend? Pick up a copy of this book, settle in, and enjoy this beautiful story. We sure did!

Note: We were given this book in exchange for our honest review.  

Autumn by the Sea (By: Melissa Tag)

Autumn by the Sea
By: Melissa Tagg

Story Line: 4 Stars
Depth: 4 Stars
Faith: 3 Stars
Love Story: 4 Stars
Overall: 4 Stars

Autumn by the Sea captured our attention before we even opened the book! The author, the title, and cover drew us in. 

We have become big fans of author Melissa Tagg, and her writing just keeps getting better with each book. We thoroughly enjoyed the setting, pace, and mystery in this new series. Her characters grow on the reader quickly, and give us much to look forward to as the rest of the series is released. Melissa weaves different layers into the plot so engaging the book kept us turning pages long into the night. 

What caught us off guard - different from Melissa's previous books - was the ongoing mystery will seemingly take more than one book to solve! Therefore we eagerly wait for the next in the series. While we may have preferred a stronger faith aspect to be woven in a little more, we would highly recommend this book to others.

Note: We were given this book in exchange for our honest review.