Secondary Target (The Secrets of Kincaid #1) by Angela Carlisle

Genre: Suspense, Romance
Publisher: Bethany House Publisher
Publication Date: May 2024

Years after the murder of her mother and brother, Corina Roberts has rebuilt her life in Kentucky. But the past is anything but buried when strange occurrences begin, and Corina finds her life in jeopardy. She has no one to turn to other than the man she once loved.

Back in town, army veteran Bryce Jessup vows to stay far away from Corina or as far as possible when trapped as next-door neighbors in a small town. But when a brutal killer tracks her down, Bryce knows that’s one promise he won’t keep because protecting Corina is more important than safeguarding his heart. As the pair uncovers long-hidden secrets, they will face a killer determined to eliminate Corina’s entire family and anyone who stands in the way.

Fast-paced suspense packs the pages of Angela Carlisle’s debut Secondary Target. With the perfect balance of romance and action, it offers all the characteristics a reader of the genre could hope for — engaging characters, a tangled mystery that keeps one guessing until the end, and settings that turn from peaceful and beautiful to terrifying and deadly in the span of a paragraph.

A few things at the end that I can’t mention due to spoilers felt a bit farfetched and unrealistic, but it didn’t stop me from thoroughly enjoying the story as attested by the fact I devoured it within 24 hours. I cannot wait for book two in the Secrets of Kincaid series. I recommend Secondary Target to fans of Dani Pettrey and romantic suspense novels.

Review copy provided by publisher via NetGalley. Thanks!

Night Falls on Predicament Avenue by Jaime Jo Wright

Genre: Mystery, Suspense, Romance, Split Time
Publisher: Bethany House Publishers
Publication Date: April 2024

1910

Effie James’ sister falls into a catatonic state after witnessing a horrific crime. Effie is determined to protect her from a killer’s reprisal. The problem is no body has been found and no one believes her. When a British gentleman arrives in town searching for his missing wife who was last seen at none other than 322 Predicament Avenue, the scene of the murder, he believes Effie. However, her relief is short lived when their search for the truth uncovers secrets some have already killed for.

Present Day

Drowning under the weight of social anxiety and grief, Norah Richman struggles to run her late great-aunt’s bed and breakfast at 322 Predicament Avenue. Norah longs to escape the haunted building and all its memories, but she is determined to keep her murdered sister’s dream alive. BnB guest and podcaster Sebastian Blaine’s investigation into the past pokes dormant ghosts back to life, threatening to bring death once more to the doorstep of 322 Predicament Avenue.

Jaime Jo Wright returns with another gothic tale that will keep you guessing until the end. As always, the author pens vivid settings that transport the reader deep into other worlds and time periods. It’s no secret that I love pretty much everything about her books—the unique characters, creepy mysteries, mind-twisting plots—but the settings are hands down my favorite. They stick with me long, and I mean LONG after finishing the last page. I have read all Wright’s stories and her early books stick with me as clearly as her latest ones.

Night Falls on Predicament Avenue delivers all Wright’s trademark elements—ghouls of the human kind, breath-snatching mysteries, and of course a message of hope. I strongly recommend Wright’s novels to readers who enjoy stories on the eerie side that don’t sacrifice morality and faith.

Review copy provided as part of the Austenprose Book Tour. Thank you!

The Garden Girls (FBI: Strange Crimes Unit #3) by Jessica R. Patch

Genre: Mystery, Romance, Psychological Thriller
Publisher: Love Inspired Trade
Publication Date: April 2024

In his youth, Tiberius Granger escaped a cult. The girl he loved wasn’t so fortunate. Now an FBI agent, he hunts monsters, unravels the macabre, and seeks justice for the victims. His latest case has him on the trail of The Artist, a deranged serial killer who kidnaps women, tattooing them with flowers that match their names and posing them in front of lighthouses. A shocking connection to his past brings him face to face with Bexley Hemmingway, the woman he had loved and believed dead, and a teenaged son he never knew existed. But to find Bex’s missing sister, Ty must push beyond the hurt, anger, and betrayal, and return to a place he’d hoped never to revisit.

Wow, wow, WOW! A psychological thriller through and through, reading The Garden Girls feels likes stepping into an episode of Criminal Minds. This adrenaline-pumping tale snatches the reader’s breath from the first page as a twisted villain, broken protagonists, and mind-bending plot comes to life, all filtered through a lens of hope.

A gifted wordsmith, Jessica R. Patch painted the setting with such vibrant strokes, it became its own entity. The images rose around me as vividly as any of the characters. And no, the lighthouse didn’t bias this beacon-loving reader, though I reveled in that addition. Patch penned the Outer Banks, the storm, everything so expertly that I was transported into their midst. Even now, long after finishing the book, I still feel the rain drenching my clothes and the wind whipping my face.

The ending wrecked me as it depicted a beautiful reflection of God’s love. Have a box of tissues and your heart ready to go through the wringer.

I only discovered Patch a year ago, but she immediately skyrocketed to one of my favorite psychological thriller authors. While this story could potentially stand alone, I recommend starting with Her Darkest Secret and A Cry in the Dark, not only to fully understand the characters but because this series is too good to miss any part of it.

Review copy provided by publisher via NetGalley. Thanks!

Fragile Designs by Colleen Coble

Genre: Mystery, Romance
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Publication Date: January 2024

Widow Carly Harris barely scrapes a living for herself and her infant son on her unpredictable career as an antique dealer. When her grandmother suggests that she and her sisters renovate the family’s large home and convert it into a bed and breakfast, she moves to Beaufort and begins the task of cleaning out the house. As she works, she finds a secret her late husband Eric hid — one that points toward her family’s unknown history and a possible connection to Eric’s enigmatic murder.

With the help of Lucas Bennet, her next door neighbor and a homicide detective, Carly embarks on the hunt for the provenance of a family heirloom she believes to be a lost Fabergé egg. However, the quest for the truth can come at a high price, including the cost of those she loves.

Fragile Designs delivers a tangled mystery that scales from small-town USA to Russian Mafia. Having heard great things about Colleen Coble’s books, I excitedly delved into this book. The plot, however, felt a bit too implausible. I enjoyed the antique heirloom angle, the few glimpses we got of the B and B remodeling, and the complicated family dynamics. But as the scope widened to incorporate mobsters and international crime, it became too farfetched.

Nonetheless, it provided an entertaining read that suspense and mystery fans can enjoy. I definitely want to give another one of her books a try, especially one that sticks with small-town issues and family/community relationships since I did enjoy those parts.

Review copy provided by publisher via NetGalley. Thanks!

Lily of Ludgate Hill (Belles of London #3) by Mimi Matthews

Genre: Historical Fiction, Romance
Publisher: Berkley Publishing Group
Publication Date: January 2024

Ever since her father’s death and her mother’s descent into mourning six years earlier, Lady Anne Deveril has withdrawn from society. Between her unconventional opinions and refusal to conform by not marrying, society is equally happy to leave her in the fringes. It doesn’t help that her mother seems more invested in the spirit world than in the land of the living. But all Anne’s barriers and decisions are challenged when Felix Hartford, the only man she ever loved, reenters her life.

Mimi Mathews’ Belles of London series continues with a story slightly reminiscent of Jane Austen’s Persuasion. The timeline in The Lily of Ludgate Hill overlaps with its predecessors as we learn what was going on in Anne’s life while her friends were falling in love and beginning new lives. Readers also learn what propels Anne’s trip to the Yorkshire Moors in pursuit of Julia (The Belle of Belgrave Square). Though reading all of them isn’t essential to following the story, I would recommend it since they provide a more complete picture.

I didn’t connect with Anne as much as some of the author’s other heroines, but that’s to be expected. They can’t all be a Helena Reynolds or Philly Satterthwaite type, nor would I want that. Matthews’ mastery of the time period and evocative settings were as present as ever.

The Lily of Ludgate Hill provided hints of the Stella and Teddy Hayes romance coming in the next book that have me more excited than ever for that installment. For those of you who have been Mimi Matthews’ fans for a while, you might recognize his name as the brother of the heroine in A Convenient Fiction. Matthews’ incredible story-weaving talent makes her one of the Regency and Victorian era authors I recommend the most.

Review copy provided by publisher via NetGalley. Thanks!