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Book Review

On the Cliffs of Foxglove Manor by Jaime Jo Wright

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Jaime Jo Wright’s BEST BOOK YET!

I’ve been following Jaime’s writing journey since her very first novel. With books like The Haunting at Bonaventure Circus and The Reckoning at Gossamer Pond, this author is known for her faith-based but creepy and gothic-feeling stories. On the Cliffs of Foxglove Manor was no exception to the eerie, mysterious feel and I LOVED it.

About On the Cliffs of Foxglove Manor:

1885: Adria Fontaine has been sent to recover goods her father pirated on the Great Lakes during the war. But when she arrives at Foxglove Manor–a stone house on a cliff overlooking Lake Superior–Adria senses wickedness hovering over the property. The mistress of Foxglove is an eccentric and seemingly cruel old woman who has filled her house with dangerous secrets, ones that may cost Adria her life.

Present day: Kailey Gibson is a new nurse’s aide at a senior home in a renovated old stone manor. Kidnapped as a child, she has nothing but locked-up memories of secrets and death, overshadowed by the chilling promise from her abductors that they would return. When the residents of Foxglove start sharing stories of whispers in the night, hidden treasure, and a love willing to kill, it becomes clear this home is far from a haven. She’ll have to risk it all to banish the past’s demons, including her own.

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Unknown Threat Book Review

Book Review

Unknown Threat by Lynn H. Blackburn

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Unknown Threat is 300 pages of non-stop action! Right from the very first few pages, I was thrown into this fast-moving story and utterly captivated from start to end. If you love romantic suspense, you’ll want to check out this new series from Lynn H. Blackburn! (Keep reading for my full review!)

About Unknown Threat:

US Secret Service Special Agent Luke Powell is lucky to be alive. Three of his fellow agents have died in unusual circumstances in the past ten weeks. Luke is devastated by the loss of his friends and colleagues, and his inability to locate the killer feels like a personal failure. He and his team are experts at shielding others, but now the protectors are in need of protection.

FBI Special Agent Faith Malone is driven to succeed and confident in her ability to solve every case she’s assigned. She’s been put in charge of the investigation into the unprecedented attacks, and with Luke’s life in danger, the stakes have never been higher. But it’s hard to know how to fight back when you don’t know who the enemy is.

Luke has teamed up with Faith before, but he’s not convinced she’s up for the job and she’s not convinced he’s telling her everything he knows. As more agents are targeted, Luke and Faith will have to learn to trust each other and work together to bring a killer to justice and prevent any more names from joining their fallen brothers and sisters on the Secret Service Wall of Honor.

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Book Review

The Haunting at Bonaventure Circus by Jaime Jo Wright

Rating: 4 out of 5.

This dual-timeline mystery was my third read by Jaime Jo Wright and, can I say, my absolute favourite of hers so far.

The writing in this book is strong and follows two separate characters: Pippa, in the late 1920’s, and Chandler in the present day. Wright has crafted both characters in a way that makes them feel flawed and so very real — women that you can connect with and understand.

The first timeline is set in the late 1920s and follows the story of Pippa — the adopted daughter of the owner of Bonaventure Circus. While the circus is a refuge for many rejected by society, Pippa was cast from its inner circle as a baby. Guarded by a mysterious figure named The Watchman, Pippa can’t help but feel compelled to uncover her roots. Her connection to an injured baby elephant is a touching analogy for her own feelings of neglect and rejection, as she searches for the truth about her birth parents. Along the way, Pippa is thrown into the path of a man seeking justice for his murdered sister and uncovers evidence of a serial killer haunting the circus train. But how far will she have to go to find the truth?

The second timeline follows Chandler Faulk — a project manager for the crumbling, old circus train depot. Chandler dives into the depot’s history in hopes of revitalizing the area and proving to her uncle that she is capable of handling the job. As she balances being a single, working parent with a newly diagnosed autoimmune disease, Chandler is pulled deeper into the circus’ dark past — uncovering some very real, present-day implications.

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Reader’s Thoughts

Both timelines were beautifully written with intriguing plots and page-turner chapters. Unlike a lot of traditional Christian fiction, the author isn’t afraid to explore some darker and edgier emotions and elements. Wright was able to weave together conversations about ghosts and the spiritual side of faith in a way that didn’t pretend to have all the answers but simply felt honest and true to character.

I also love how the dialogue and character interactions in Wright’s books feel so believable. One of my critiques with the Christian suspense genre, in general, is that it’s often heavy on the romance elements and light on the suspense. But this book blended the two aspects so well! Both timelines had romantic secondary-plots but it didn’t distract from the mystery or the tension that was building — instead, it added to the character motivation and created a well-rounded story. The character development felt entirely realistic (not cheesy!) and the relationships were ones I wanted to root for.

The only downside to a dual-timeline mystery is that the motivation of the present-day antagonist can occasionally feel a little weak. While I felt that again with this novel, it’s more of a nitpicky reader thing and didn’t ultimately take away from the surprise ending. (And it was a surprise!) While I’m usually able to figure out at least part of how a novel is going to unwind, this deliciously creepy read kept me wondering until the very end. 

A solid four stars for this one!

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Want to grab a copy for yourself? You can find The Haunting of Bonaventure Circus on Amazon, here!

I don’t know about you, but I usually have two or three different types of books on the go at the same time. I hop from one to the other as the mood strikes — flitting from biography to theology to general fiction. But when it comes to relaxation, there’s no genre I love more than a fast-paced suspense/mystery novel.

That’s why I was excited to review this new book: Justice Delivered by Patricia Bradley — and with its big plotlines, true-to-life characters and multiple twists and turns, this novel did not disappoint.
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Ever since I was young, I’ve loved a good mystery. I still remember the feel of a new Nancy Drew book in my hand: soft and smooth with unbound excitement lying in wait. There was nothing like the familiar creak of those yellow-spined stories as I’d bury my nose into their fresh pages.

Mystery. Suspense. Thrillers.

These are still the genres I gravitate towards the most; the books I pluck from library and bookstore shelves most often. That’s what drew me to this new book, Mind Games by Nancy Mehl — the allure of a rollercoaster ride of mystery and suspense.

And I have to say, I was not disappointed.

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With the arrival of a new little one, my reading has dramatically decreased over the past few months. It’s also been increasingly difficult to read anything that requires a lot of brain power. That’s why this trio of “romantic suspense novellas” was a perfect read for this sleep-deprived mama. Short and light, this book was an easy, entertaining read by three different Christian authors.

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