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 Lost Boys of Barlowe Theater by Jaime Jo Wright

Genre: Mystery, Suspense, Romance, Split Time
Publisher: Bethany House Publishers
Publication Date: October 2023

Barlowe Theater stole Greta Mercy’s eldest brother during its construction. So when her younger brother vanishes within its walls after the final hammer has been silenced, Greta vows not to let the place rip another loved one from her life. With the help of a local police officer and some friends, Greta will descend to the very depths of Barlowe Theater to unravel its ghostly secrets.

Decades have passed, but ghouls still haunt the theater’s darkened tunnels. Any doubts of this fact evaporate when Kit Boyd’s best friend goes missing while leading a tour for a ghost-hunting television show. Desperate that her friend’s disappearance not become another on a long list of unexplainable occurrences, Kit has no alternative but to join forces with the show’s co-host and skeptic Evan Fischer.

Ghostly appearances and mind-bending happenings weave an eerie tale within the pages of The Lost Boys of Barlowe Theater. Known for her Scooby-Doo-like resolutions, this is one story that will have readers questioning if Jaime Jo Wright has crafted a mystery even she can’t explain.

After ten books, several of which I’ve read numerous times, one would think I could figure out the villains by now. If nothing else, I should at least know how the author’s brain works, right? Wrong! Sure, I uncover a twist here and there, a potential motive, even a culprit or two but without fail, she shocks me. For that reason, when I read The Lost Boys of Barlowe Theater, I suspected EVERY. SINGLE. CHARACTER. Okay, every single character … except one. I’m sure you know where this is going. Despite knowing better, I never doubted him/her for a second. It didn’t even cross my mind to doubt him/her. You can imagine the very real, very loud gasp that erupted from my throat when his/her true nature came to light.

I recommend this novel to readers who enjoy rich storyworlds, deep characterization, and eerie mysteries. New and old fans alike won’t be disappointed.

Review copy provided by publisher via NetGalley. Thanks!

The Vanishing at Castle Moreau by Jaime Jo Wright

Genre: Mystery, Suspense, Historical Fiction,
Publisher: Bethany House Publishers
Publication Date: April 2023

1870 Wisconsin

Fleeing her past, Daisy François accepts a position as housemaid at an isolated castle. As she comes to know the eccentric owner and the haunting legend surrounding the place, Daisy finds she may have traded one set of horrors for another.

Present day

Hired by the grandson of a wealthy family, Cleo Clemmons arrives at Castle Moreau tasked with sorting through everything the aging matriarch has hoarded. Amongst the boxes and stacks of dusty knick-knacks and all-but-forgotten history, Cleo uncovers a terrifying mystery. For a century, women have vanished from the castle, and she might be next.

With haunted corridors, mysterious sounds, and ghostly figures, The Vanishing at Castle Moreau possesses everything one would hope for from a gothic tale. Jaime Jo Wright continues to show why she is the queen of this genre.

This book is different than Wright’s previous ones. I won’t say more than that due to spoilers, but I will say it ensured that I hunted for ghosts in all the wrong corners and was happily outsmarted.

Out of all Wright’s heroines, Daisy and Cleo are the most paralleled to date. I did mix them up and get confused a couple times in the beginning, but once I realized this fact and got to know their characters, I quickly sorted out their threads.

Although a gothic and atmospheric read through-and-through, The Vanishing at Castle Moreau isn’t quite as creepy as some of the author’s previous works. This would probably be a good place to start for readers who have wanted to try one of Wright’s titles but have been hesitant till now. But whether new or returning, mystery fans are in for a treat of castle proportions.

Review copy provided as part of a book tour. Thank you!

Top Tuesday: Most Anticipated Reads of 2023 (English Edition)

Return to Satterthwaite (Somerset Stories #3) by Mimi Matthews

The only son of a famous love match, ex-army lieutenant Charles Heywood is determined to make amends for his past mistakes by giving his mother the impossible—the deed to her long-lost childhood home, Satterthwaite Court. But arranging to purchase the remote west country estate is more difficult than Charles ever imagined. The property is mired in secrets, some of which may prove deadly. If he’s going to unravel them, he’ll need the assistance of someone as daring as he is.

At one and twenty, Lady Katherine Beresford has already earned a reputation to rival that of her infamous parents. As skilled with pistols as she is on horseback, she’s never met an obstacle she can’t surmount—or a man she can’t win. That is, until she encounters the infuriatingly somber Lieutenant Heywood. But Kate refuses to be deterred by the raven-haired soldier’s strong, silent facade. After all, faint heart never won a handsome gentleman.

From the wilds of rural Somersetshire to the glittering ballrooms of early-Victorian London, Charles and Kate embark on a cross-country quest to solve a decades’ old mystery. Will the greatest danger be to their hearts—or to their lives?

The Vanishing at Castle Moreau by Jaime Jo Wright

In 1870, orphaned Daisy François takes a position as housemaid at a Wisconsin castle to escape the horrors of her past life. There she finds a reclusive and eccentric Gothic authoress who hides tales more harrowing than the ones in her novels. As women disappear from the area and the eerie circumstances seem to parallel a local legend, Daisy is thrust into a web that could ultimately steal her sanity, if not her life.

In the present day, Cleo Clemmons is hired by the grandson of an American aristocratic family to help his grandmother face her hoarding in the dilapidated Castle Moreau. But when Cleo uncovers more than just the woman’s stash of collectibles, a century-old mystery and the dust of the old castle’s curse threaten to rise again . . . this time to leave no one alive to tell the sordid tale.

Man of Shadow and Mist (Of Monsters and Men #2) by Michelle Griep

England, 1890

Vampires are alive and well in North Yorkshire, leastwise in the minds of the uneducated. Librarian Rosa Edwards intends to drive a stake through the heart of such superstitions. But gossip flies when the mysterious Sir James Morgan returns to his shadowy manor. The townsfolk say he is cursed.

James hates everything about England. The weather. The rumours. The scorn. Yet he must stay. His mother is dying of a disease for which he’s desperately trying to find a cure—an illness that will eventually take his own life.

When Rosa sets out to prove the dark gossip about James is wrong, she discovers more questions than answers. How can she accept what she can’t explain—especially the strong allure of the enigmatic man? James must battle a town steeped in fear as well as the unsettling attraction he feels for the no-nonsense librarian.

Can love prevail in a town filled with fear and doubt?