Happy Friday! Today is First Line Friday, and I am excited to be linking up with Reading is My Superpower to share a fantastic book with you. The Sound of Light by Sarah Sundin is already on my top 10 list for 2023!

Copenhagen, Denmark

Tuesday, April 9, 1940

“The sun rose on the first day of another year in the wasted life of Baron Henrik Ahlefeldt.”

The Sound of Light by Sarah Sundin

The Basics

Title: The Sound of Light

Author: Sarah Sundin

Publication Date: February 7, 2023

Genre: Christian Historical Romance

My Rating: 5 Stars

From the Back Cover:

When the Germans march into Denmark, Baron Henrik Ahlefeldt exchanges his nobility for anonymity, assuming a new identity so he can secretly row messages for the Danish Resistance across the waters to Sweden. American physicist Dr. Else Jensen refuses to leave Copenhagen and abandon her research–her life’s dream–and makes the dangerous decision to print resistance newspapers.

As Else hears rumors of the movement’s legendary Havmand–the merman–she also becomes intrigued by the mysterious and silent shipyard worker living in the same boardinghouse. Henrik makes every effort to conceal his noble upbringing, but he is torn between the façade he must maintain and the woman he is beginning to fall in love with.

When the Occupation cracks down on the Danes, these two passionate people will discover if there is more power in speech . . . or in silence.

My Review

Sarah Sundin brings a little-known facet of WWII history to life in The Sound of Light. I had never read much about Denmark’s role in the war, but it is fascinating as told through the story of Else, the physicist, and Hemming, the baron-turned-resistance-fighter. In addition to the rich history, one of the things that sets Sundin’s books apart is the way she naturally weaves in spiritual themes. The attention to detail, rich character development, and moments of action and intensity all work together to create an unforgettable story.

This beautifully written story will inspire you to be the sound of light in your own life, just as Else and Hemming were in theirs. Readers will also enjoy cameos by characters from When Leaves Fall in Paris and When Twilight Breaks. Sundin’s masterful storytelling ability really shines telling stories of faith, courage, and conviction highlighted by this unique period in history. I highly recommend this profoundly moving story to fans of WWII history, and fans of authors like Roseanna M. White and Elizabeth Camden.

Now it’s your turn! Please share the first line of the book you’re reading in the comments below. Don’t forget to head to Reading is My Superpower to see what first lines other bloggers are sharing, or to share your own!

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. Thank you, Revell!

Happy Friday! I’m excited to share a new release with you for First Line Friday, hosted by Reading is My Superpower. Pretty Little Pieces by Carmen Schober releases on Tuesday – there’s still time to preorder it for 40% off from Baker Book House!

“”There. Done.’
Georgina smiles in the mirror as Margot finishes styling the last strand.”

Pretty Little Pieces by Carmen Schober

The Basics

Title: Pretty Little Pieces

Author: Carmen Schober

Publication Date: December 6, 2022

Genre: Christian Contemporary Romance

My Rating: 5 Stars

From the Back Cover:

Sometimes it takes everything falling apart . . .

Ambitious influencer Georgina Havoc and her designer boyfriend have been dubbed “the next Chip and Joanna Gaines”–a power couple that flip homes all over Nashville–and they plan to merge their unique styles into their new home renovation show. But their relationship falls apart when he blindsides her with a “pause.” Forced to convince the network to take a chance on her as a solo star, Georgina takes on the task of renovating a forgotten cottage in the tiny, tight-knit town of Tarragon, Tennessee.

Facing one heartache and setback after another, Georgina moves forward with her plan to rebuild her life and save her career, but a surprise drop-in from her troubled twin sister makes things extra messy. The unexpected presence of rugged ex-sniper Cassidy Stokes also threatens to bring all the walls that she’s built crashing down.

As she puts the pieces of her previously perfect life back together, will Georgina retreat to the familiar or boldly embrace a new design?

My Review

Fixer Upper meets American Sniper in Pretty Little Pieces! It’s hard not to love this delightful cast of characters – they will tug on your heartstrings and make you wish you could be friends in real life! Georgina is very different from the heroine in Carmen Schober’s debut novel, After She Falls, but Carmen’s willingness to tackle difficult issues remains the same. This is no fluffy romance novel; it’s full of grit, hard questions, and real faith.

Georgina faces the darkest days of her life right at the beginning of the story, leaving her to try to pick up the pieces. She grows in every area of life throughout the book, thanks in part to her sister Savannah and her friend Poppy. (I would love to see a sequel featuring Savannah!) While she deals with some hard questions, don’t think this isn’t a fun read! Witty banter, home renovation, and a handsome former Army sniper who is in the right place at the right time – what more could you ask for? I highly recommend this book, especially to fans of Susan May Warren and Becky Wade.

Now it’s your turn! Please share the first line of the book you’re reading in the comments below. Don’t forget to head to Reading is My Superpower to see what first lines other bloggers are sharing, or to share your own!

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Happy Friday! Hope you’ve had a good week and will have plenty of reading time this weekend 🙂 Today for First Line Friday, hosted by Reading is My Superpower, I am featuring Fields of Fire by debut author Ryan Steck.

“Matthew Redd wasn’t afraid to die, but first he had some killing to do.”

Fields of Fire by Ryan Steck

The Basics

Title: Fields of Fire

Author: Ryan Steck

Series: A Matthew Redd Thriller (Book 1)

Publication Date: September 6, 2022

Genre: Thriller/Suspense

My Rating: 5 Stars

From the Back Cover:

Waiting to be deployed on a critical mission, elite Marine Raider Matthew Redd stops to help a stranger and wakes up hours later to learn his team was wiped out in an ambush. Unable to remember anything, Redd can’t deny the possibility that he’s somehow responsible for the information leak that led to the massacre. He’s given a deal to avoid a charge of treason, but it means walking away from the Corps and the life he loved.

As he faces his loss, Redd gets a cryptic message from his adoptive father, J. B.: “Trouble’s come knocking. . . . Might need your help.” He points his truck home to rural Montana, only to discover that J. B. is dead and the explanation for his death is far from satisfying. Determined to dig up the truth, Redd uncovers a dark global conspiracy with his hometown at the center and no team at his back―except one he might find among past friends, old enemies, and new allies, if he can figure out who to trust.

My Review

This heart-stopping debut thriller kept me turning pages late into the night! Part military thriller and part Western, this story will transport you to rural Montana, drawing you in and never letting go. Matthew Redd is everything you want in a hero – smart, tough, and a little broken, with a dogged determination to discover the truth about what happened to his father. He thinks quick on his feet and acts even quicker as the hits keep on coming, both literally and figuratively. This book captured my attention more completely than any book I’ve read in a long time; it will definitely be on my top ten list for 2022! I will be eagerly awaiting the next installment in Redd’s story!

Now it’s your turn! Please share the first line of the book you’re reading in the comments below. Don’t forget to head to Reading is My Superpower to see what first lines other bloggers are sharing, or to share your own!

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Happy Friday! Today for First Line Friday, I am featuring a book by a new-to-me author. Heirlooms by Sandra Byrd is a book that you can judge by its cover – the story inside its pages is just as beautiful as the outside!

“Helen Devries carefully removed her nurse’s cap, fluffing her platinum back-combed bouffant, crackling the Aqua Net lacquering it in place.”

Heirlooms by Sandra Byrd

The Basics

Title: Heirlooms

Author: Sandra Byrd

Publication Date: July 5, 2022

Genre: Women’s Fiction

My Rating: 4 Stars

From the Back Cover:

Answering a woman’s desperate call for help, young Navy widow Helen Devries opens her Whidbey Island home as a refuge to Choi Eunhee. As they bond over common losses and a delicate, potentially devastating secret, their friendship spans the remainder of their lives.

After losing her mother, Cassidy Quinn spent her childhood summers with her gran, Helen, at her farmhouse. Nourished by her grandmother’s love and encouragement, Cassidy discovers a passion that she hopes will bloom into a career. But after Helen passes, Cassidy learns that her home and garden have fallen into serious disrepair. Worse, a looming tax debt threatens her inheritance. Facing the loss of her legacy and in need of allies and ideas, Cassidy reaches out to Nick, her former love, despite the complicated emotions brought by having him back in her life.

Cassidy inherits not only the family home but a task, spoken with her grandmother’s final breaths: ask Grace Kim―Eunhee’s granddaughter―to help sort through the contents of the locked hope chest in the attic. As she and Grace dig into the past, they unearth their grandmothers’ long-held secret and more. Each startling revelation reshapes their understanding of their grandmothers and ultimately inspires the courage to take risks and make changes to own their lives.

Set in both modern-day and midcentury Whidbey Island, Washington, this dual-narrative story of four women―grandmothers and granddaughters―intertwines across generations to explore the secrets we keep, the love we pass down, and the heirlooms we inherit from a well-lived life.

My Review

Heirlooms is a lovely, heartfelt story that spans generations. Told in dual timelines, we meet Helen and Choi Eunhee as well as their granddaughters, Cassidy and Grace. The Korean and Dutch cultural details in both timelines added a beautiful depth to both the historical and present day storylines. While Cassidy and Grace did receive physical heirlooms from their grandmothers, the richer inheritance was their legacy of overcoming challenges through faith, friendship, and perseverance. The way their stories were woven together was powerful and poignant. The life lessons in this touching novel will linger long after the final page!

Now it’s your turn! Please share the first line of the book you’re reading in the comments below. Don’t forget to head to Reading is My Superpower to see what first lines other bloggers are sharing, or to share your own!

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Happy Tuesday! Today is the release day for Denise Hunter’s newest book, Mulberry Hollow. This is the second book in her Riverbend Romance series, set in a North Carolina town off the Appalachian Trail. Fans of Hunter’s books are sure to enjoy this one!

The Basics

Title: Mulberry Hollow

Author: Denise Hunter

Series: Riverbend Romance (Book 2 of 3)

Publication Date: April 19, 2022

Genre: Contemporary Romance

My Rating: 4 Stars

From the Back Cover:

Avery Robinson decided to be a physician after helplessly watching her mother lose a battle with a terrible disease. Now at risk of developing the same illness, Avery guards her heart from love. She’s driven to protect her loved ones as a workaholic doctor in the tiny mountain town of Riverbend Gap, North Carolina.

Contractor Wes Garrett is hiking the Appalachian trail, in memory of the man who died saving his life, when an illness racks his body. After an agonizing fifteen-mile hike to Avery’s clinic, he collapses on her doorstep. He recovers to find himself in debt again, this time to a beautiful doctor.

When he decides to help her renovate a rundown carriage house, the obstacles to their attraction sprout like weeds—starting with the woman waiting for Wes at the end of the trail. Will he be able to relinquish the debt he owes his best friend? And will Avery find the courage to risk everything for love?

My Review

Mulberry Hollow brings us back to the mountain town of Riverbend Gap along the Appalachian Trail in North Carolina, and to the Robinson family. This book focuses on Avery, the town’s doctor, and Wes, a hiker who stumbles into her clinic one rainy night. They are both complicated characters, with tragedy in their pasts and regrets they are allowing to shape their futures. Although neither one was looking for a relationship, their pull towards each other and the fact they bring out the best in each other is undeniable. I enjoyed this book much more than the first one in the series! If you are looking for a sweet, clean, small-town romance, you will love Mulberry Hollow.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Happy Friday! If you’re looking for a fun story, the book I’m featuring for today’s First Line Friday linkup is a great option! Meet Me in the Margins is the newest rom-com by Melissa Ferguson and the perfect book for Valentine’s Day 🙂

“Pacing the back corner of the packed meeting room in outstandingly uncomfortable heels, I move as silently as possible along the three feet of available aisle space between my begrudgingly accommodating coworker, Clyve, and the horde of beady-eyed osprey staring down at me from the vintage wallpaper.”

Meet Me in the Margins by Melissa Ferguson

The Basics

Title: Meet Me in the Margins

Author: Melissa Ferguson

Publication Date: February 15, 2022

Genre: Contemporary Romance

My Rating: 5 Stars

From the Back Cover:

Savannah Cade’s dreams are coming true. The Claire Donovan, editor-in-chief of the most successful romance imprint in the country, has requested to see the manuscript Savannah’s been secretly writing while working as editor herself—except at her publishing house, the philosophy is only highbrow works are worth printing and commercial fiction, particularly romance, should be reserved for the lowest level of Dante’s inferno. But when Savannah drops her manuscript during a staff meeting and nearly exposes herself to the whole company—including William Pennington, new publisher and son of the romance-despising CEO herself—she races to hide her manuscript in the secret turret room of the old Victorian office.

When she returns, she’s dismayed to discover that someone has not only been in her hidden nook but has written notes in the margins—quite critical ones. But when Claire’s own reaction turns out to be nearly identical to the scribbled remarks, and worse, Claire announces that Savannah has six weeks to resubmit before she retires, Savannah finds herself forced to seek the help of the shadowy editor after all.

As their notes back and forth start to fill up the pages, however, Savannah finds him not just becoming pivotal to her work but her life. There’s no doubt about it. She’s falling for her mystery editor. If she only knew who he was.

My Review

Meet Me in the Margins is perfect delightful rom-com to get lost in for a few hours! And what could be better than a rom-com about books? I absolutely loved this story, from the title to the plot to the characters and all of their mishaps and miscommunications along the way. Will is the perfect book hero – no-nonsense and all business at work, yet unexpectedly witty, charming, and thoughtful. Savannah and her quirks kept me smiling throughout, from her interactions with her sister to friendship with Lyla.

This is one of those books where you know how it will turn out in the end, but that doesn’t keep the story from being utterly enchanting. Melissa Ferguson is one of my must-read authors, and this book might be my new favorite of hers! I highly recommend Meet Me in the Margins for fans of romantic comedies by authors like Betsy St. Amant and Bethany Turner.

Now it’s your turn! Please share the first line of the book you’re reading in the comments below. Don’t forget to head to Reading is My Superpower to see what first lines other bloggers are sharing, or to share your own!

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Happy Friday! Today, I’m excited to be linking up with First Line Friday to share the first line from Deadly Intentions by Lisa Harris, along with my review.

“Josh Solomon had barely slept in thirty-six hours.”

Deadly Intentions by Lisa Harris

The Basics

Title: Deadly Intentions by Lisa Harris

Genre: Christian Romantic Suspense

My Rating: 4/5 Stars

From the Back Cover: Research scientist Caitlyn Lindsey is convinced that someone is taking out her team one by one. First, a friend and research partner was killed in a home invasion. Three months ago, her boss died in a suspicious car accident. Four days ago, another partner supposedly committed suicide. And now Caitlyn herself has miraculously survived a hit-and-run. Afraid for her life with nowhere to turn, she reaches out to one of the victim’s husbands, Detective Josh Solomon.

Though initially skeptical about Caitlyn’s theory, Josh soon realizes that the attack that took his wife’s life was anything but random. Now the two of them must discover the truth about who is after Caitlyn’s team–and what their end game is–before it’s too late.

My Thoughts

Lisa Harris is becoming one of my favorite suspense authors! This story is unique and unpredictable, with the main characters running for their lives while investigating a bioterrorism plot. While Josh is in law enforcement, which is common in the suspense genre, the twist in this book is that he’s not investigating in an official capacity. Instead, he’s a fugitive, not sure who he can trust in his police department. Caitlyn is a strong character: smart, brave, and willing to risk her life to discover the truth and stop a terrorist attack. Although they might seem like an unlikely pair, their individual strengths and skills make them a great team.

This is an action-packed book that grabbed my attention from the first page! If you are a fan of Lynette Eason, Terri Blackstock, or Irene Hannon, I think you’ll enjoy Deadly Intentions.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. Thank you, Revell!

Happy Friday!! If you’re looking for an intense suspense novel to read this weekend, The String might be a good option for you!

Today I’m linking up with First Line Friday, hosted by Hoarding Books, to share the first line here. Keep reading for my review below!

“The branding iron pulsated reddish orange in the corner fireplace. It was time.“

The String by Caleb Breakey

The Basics

Title: The String by Caleb Breakey

Series: Deadly Games (Book 1)

Genre: Christian Suspense/Thriller

My Rating: 3.5/5 Stars

From the Back Cover: Welcome to the string, a game of impossible decisions and deadly consequences. Let’s go over the ground rules.

Rule #1: Participation is mandatory.
Rule #2: If anyone refuses to play, all threats will come to pass.
Game on.

Get ready for a deadly social experiment as a sociopath known as The Conductor delivers disturbing threats and twisted moral dilemmas to unsuspecting students and staff. 

As a powerful instinct for self-preservation sweeps through the campus, one man has a grave decision to make. Will university cop Markus Haas play the game to protect those he loves? Or will he break the string and incite massive chaos–and even death?

My Thoughts

This is not the type of book I’m typically drawn to; it’s suspense, but leans more toward horror or psychological thriller. I almost quit reading it about halfway through because it was a little creepy, but I’m glad I finished it. It’s well written, the plot is engaging and intricately designed, and there are multiple twists and turns you never see coming! The protagonist, Markus, is a compelling character – his courage and sense of justice in the face of extreme manipulation and blackmail stand out from the others who are part of the string. His friend and fellow law enforcement officer, Cody, is also a great character; he is brave, smart, and willing to risk his life to help Markus.

Overall, I do think this is a good book! My issues with it are just personal preferences. I’ve seen others compare it to books by Ted Dekker and Frank Peretti, so if you like those authors, you would probably enjoy The String!

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. Thank you, Revell!