It's been a terrific reading year! I had a great many 5 star reads and I'm thrilled to share them all with you! Many of the books were for reviews, a good number weren't. I may have read more audiobooks this year than in previous years, but I don't have a good way to track that.
There are others that I read from previous years and I didn't blog about, but either left a review on Goodreads or gave it 5 stars, but forgot to review. Those will be at the end. Also, just a reminder, if you click any of the links, you'll be using my Amazon Associate link in which case, if you make a purchase, I'll make a few pennies! The first link with the title is to my review.
Here we go starting in January of 2023...
In 1715, Lady Blythe Hedley's father is declared an enemy of the British crown because of his Jacobite sympathies, forcing her to flee her home in northern England. Secreted to the tower of Wedderburn Castle in Scotland, Lady Blythe awaits who will ultimately be crowned king. But in a house with seven sons and numerous servants, her presence soon becomes known.
No sooner has Everard Hume lost his father, Lord Wedderburn, than Lady Hedley arrives with the clothes on her back and her mistress in tow. He has his own problems--a volatile brother with dangerous political leanings, an estate to manage, and a very young brother in need of comfort and direction in the wake of losing his father. It would be best for everyone if he could send this misfit heiress on her way as soon as possible.
Drawn into a whirlwind of intrigue, shifting alliances, and ambitions, Lady Blythe must be careful whom she trusts. Her fortune, her future, and her very life are at stake. Those who appear to be adversaries may turn out to be allies--and those who pretend friendship may be enemies.
In two world wars, intelligence and counterintelligence, prejudice, and self-sacrifice collide across two generations
In 1942, Evie Farrow is used to life on Ocracoke Island, where every day is the same--until the German U-boats haunting their waters begin to wreak havoc. And when special agent Sterling Bertrand is washed ashore at Evie's inn, her life is turned upside down. While Sterling's injuries keep him inn-bound for weeks, making him even more anxious about the SS officer he's tracking, he becomes increasingly intrigued by Evie, who seems to be hiding secrets of her own.
Decades earlier, in 1914, Englishman Remington Culbreth arrives at the Ocracoke Inn for the summer, never expecting to fall in love with Louisa Adair, the innkeeper's daughter. But when war breaks out in Europe, their relationship is put in jeopardy and may not survive what lies ahead for them.
As the ripples from the Great War rock Evie and Sterling's lives in World War II, it seems yesterday's tides may sweep them all into danger again today.
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. While printing resistance newspapers, she hears stories of the movement's legendary Havmand--the merman--and wonders if the mysterious and silent shipyard worker living in the same boardinghouse has something to hide.
When the Occupation cracks down on the Danes, these two passionate people will discover if there is more power in speech . . . or in silence. Bestselling author of more than a dozen WWII novels, Sarah Sundin offers pens another story of ordinary people responding to extraordinary circumstances with faith, fortitude, and hope for a brighter future.
Bestselling author Jocelyn Green sweeps you away in a dazzling novel of secrets, betrayal, and romance within one of New York City's most esteemed museums.
For years her explorer father promised Dr. Lauren Westlake she'd accompany him on one of his Egyptian expeditions. But as the empty promises mounted, Lauren determined to earn her own way. Now the assistant curator of Egyptology for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Lauren receives two unexpected invitations.
The first is her repentant father's offer to finally bring her to Egypt as his colleague on a new expedition. The second is a chance to enter the world of New York's wealthiest patrons who have been victims of art fraud.
With Egyptomania sweeping the city after the discovery of King Tut's tomb, Detective Joe Caravello is on the hunt for a notorious forger preying on the open wallets of New York's high society. Dr. Westlake is just the expert he needs to help him track the criminal. Together they search for the truth, and the closer Lauren and Joe get to discovering the forger's identity, the more entangled they become in a web of deception and crime.
They'll protect the president at any cost--but who will protect their hearts?
USSS Special Agent Zane Thacker has landed his dream assignment protecting the president of the United States. When the president plans a fundraiser at the exclusive estate of a political supporter in Raleigh, Zane is thrilled to be working again with Special Agent Tessa Reed, his best friend--and the woman he desperately wishes could be more.
Though Tessa almost lost everything, she battled her demons and came out on the other side healthy and healed. But when her role as the liaison between the Raleigh office and the president's protective detail wrenches her past back into the present, her greatest failure threatens to come to light.
Zane refuses to let Tessa go through this alone. But can he stand by the woman he loves and protect the president from a mounting threat at the same time?
The time for peace is over—now he demands vengeance
They followed him back. Against his will, against his intention. Now enemies threaten from every direction. Amidst it all Marco Dusan struggles to lead his people, to help them survive, even mayhap win the war. He will take any advantage to even the odds. But only after tragedy strikes does he learn just how much he’s willing to sacrifice.
He's not alone. Droserans fight as one, united against the offworlders—Symmachians who covet their planet. With the aid of unexpected allies, the Droserans battle on longer than anyone could have anticipated. Yet they cannot win. And the Faa’Cris, those supernatural warriors, fair of face and fierce of mien, do nothing.
But not all have turned their backs. After a bitter year of pain and loss, Kersei Dragoumis navigates a new heritage, ever intent on defending her people. Like her, light-years away from the Quadrants and even farther from the girl she thought she was, Eija Zacdari must come to terms with a new role. Or, rather, with an ancient one. And her success or failure may determine back in the Quadrants who lives and who dies.
In the end, Marco will have vengeance for the torment brought by this war. No matter the price. Not even if the price is his soul.
She's risking her life. He's risking his heart. It's unclear which is more dangerous.
Lyla Fox knows she has a reputation at the SNAP Agency for being impulsive, but when she receives a threatening letter from a man she helped put in prison, she can't stop herself from going all in to find out why he's coming after her. Unfortunately, she's going to need the help of the one person who questions her choices more than anyone else.
Explosives and weapons specialist Nicolás Garcia agrees to help Lyla in order to keep her safe, but her recklessness continues to be a major concern, especially when her investigation into a conspiracy puts a target on her back. Dealing with bombs is dangerous. Working with Lyla is proving to be just as treacherous--to both the mission and his heart.
Three friends. Two broken promises. One missing manuscript.
As a senior acquisitions editor for Fog Harbor Books in San Francisco, Ingrid Erikson has rejected many a manuscript for lack of defined conflict and dramatic irony--two elements her current life possesses in spades. In the months following the death of her childhood best friend and international bestselling author Cecelia Campbell, Ingrid has not only lost her ability to escape into fiction due to a rare trauma response, but she's also desperate to find the closure she's convinced will come with Cecelia's missing final manuscript.
After Ingrid jeopardizes her career, she fears her future will remain irrevocably broken. But then Joel Campbell--the man who shattered her belief in happily-ever-afters--offers her a sealed envelope from his late cousin, Cecelia, asking Joel and to put their differences aside and retrieve a mysterious package in their coastal Washington hometown.
Honoring Cecelia's last request will challenge their convictions and test their loyalties, but through it all, will Ingrid and Joel be brave enough to uncover a twice-in-a-lifetime love?
When a group of Kansas women start a Frauenverein, a benevolent society devoted to aiding widows and orphans, life changes for more than just the hurting people they seek to help in this heartwarming romance inspired by historical events—from the bestselling author of Freedom’s Song.
With classes paused for the planting season, Alexandertol’s schoolteacher Augusta Dyck is glad for some meaningful work to occupy her time. She even knows exactly who their town’s benevolence society should help first: quiet, reserved widower Konrad Rempel and his young twin sons.
Konrad Rempel, however, is adamant that he doesn’t want help. His boys are mischievous but good-hearted. And though Konrad may be struggling, he doesn’t want anyone else sticking their nose in and telling him what his sons need. Or what he needs.
For her part, the charity’s founder Martina Krahn is relieved to have a reason to spend time outside her unhappy home. It even occurs to her that she may, through her work, encounter a boy in need of a family and so find a son for her husband since they have no children of their own.
Augusta, Konrad, and Martina each have deep needs and desires, and each imagines how they should be met: by reaching out or by being left alone. But God, indeed, knows best. Will the competing agendas of Alexandertol’s residents prevent them from receiving God’s help? Or will the members of this small Mennonite community find the answers to their prayers in the very last place they expect—in one another?
Maggie inherited a gift from her time-crossing parents that allows her to live three separate lives in 1861, 1941, and 2001. Each night, she goes to sleep in one time period and wakes up in another. Until she turns twenty-one, when she will have to forfeit two of those lives--and everyone she knows in them--forever.
In 1861, Maggie is the daughter of a senator at the outbreak of the Civil War, navigating a capital full of Southern spies and wounded soldiers. In 1941, she is a navy nurse, grappling with her knowledge of the future when she joins a hospital ship going to Pearl Harbor. And in 2001, she's a brilliant young medical student, fulfilling her dream of becoming a surgeon.
While Maggie has sworn off romance until she makes her final choice, an intriguing man tugs at her heart in each era, only complicating the impossible decision she must make, which looms ever closer. With so much on the line, how can Maggie choose just one life to keep and the rest to lose?
Once upon a time in Texas . . .
Beauty has been nothing but a curse to Penelope Snow. When she becomes a personal maid for a famous actress whose troupe is leaving Chicago to tour the West, she hides her figure beneath shapeless dresses and keeps her head down. But she still manages to attract the wrong attention, leaving her prospects in tatters--and her jealous mistress plotting her demise.
After his brother lost his life over a woman, Texas Ranger Titus Kingsley has learned to expect the worst from women and is rarely disappointed. So when a young lady found in suspicious circumstances takes up residence with the seven old drovers living at his grandfather's ranch, Titus is determined to keep a close eye on her.
With a promotion hanging in the balance, Titus is assigned to investigate a robbery case tied to Penelope's acting troupe, and all evidence points to Penelope's guilt. But Titus might just be convinced that the fairest woman of all has a heart as pure as her last name . . . if only he can prove it.
Gemma Bennett is the leading lady of her own life, and her true love is writing screenplays. With her trusty pink notebook in hand, she signs up for the Citizen’s Safety Academy to research her newest blockbuster hope, a rom-com with a police officer as the hero. And the fact that the handsome and heroic Lieutenant Karson Zellner is the one leading the training? Well, who can blame her for wanting to spend evenings with the man she swooned over months ago when he responded to a call at her apartment?
Karson already has his fair share of problems before Gemma shows up, and he’s not exactly a fan of the ditzy blonde who can’t seem to stay out of trouble. The last thing he needs is a damsel in distress to rescue; there are plenty of people in real need of his help. The fact that she seems to think his job makes him a superhero is just one more strike against her. This isn’t a movie, and he feels like the furthest thing from a leading man.
Gemma can’t seem to stop doing the worst, most embarrassing things at just the wrong time. And as time goes on, Gemma begins to realize that the scripts for a perfect screenplay and a real-life happily-ever-after are two very different things. Can she step out of her own way to find the hero her story needs?
Beekeeper Beckett Walsh was living her dream, until her father's death sent her world into a tailspin. She suddenly finds she must deal with a new part owner of the family apiary--one who is looking to sell the property--and she cannot fathom why her father would put her in the position to lose everything they built together.
When Callie Peterson is named in the trust of a man she's never heard of, she's not sure what to do. Her fledgling business has just taken wing and her mother has reentered her life asking for help, making Callie's financial situation rather . . . precarious. She's sure she has no right to someone else's farm, but the money from the sale could solve her problems and give her the stability she's always craved.
With an entangled past behind them and an uncertain future ahead, Beckett and Callie must discover why they've been thrown together before all is lost.
Two resilient women separated by over 150 years are linked forever by their challenges, values, and determination.
Amber Prichard is thriving in her role as pastor’s wife, mom, and indispensable church volunteer—until chronic illness threatens to upend everything. Now unable to prove her value, she is forced to reevaluate how she defines herself. Inspired by an ancestor’s faded journal and heirlooms, she must work with her arch-nemesis if she wants to accomplish what is now impossible on her own.
Faced with the turmoil of the civil war, Willow Forrester didn’t intend to illegally enlist in the Union army as a secret female soldier. She only wanted to escape her father’s tyranny and follow her brother into the throes of adventure. When she comes face to face with the leader of a guerilla army, her health and insecurities threaten to shatter her heroism and render her powerless.
As their opposition threatens to overtake them, these two women must find their strength and identity to defeat impossible odds.
He has known nothing but darkness for years. Now it’s time to let it consume him.
After witnessing the brutal death of his brother at the hands of the Steward Knights, Mason Grey turns to vengeance. Using his Gifts to read and control the minds of others, he climbs the ranks of the Dark Army, determined to earn the coveted Shadowstone—a powerful tool against the light-wielding Stewards. But when he is wounded in battle, he finds himself recovering in the home of a chatty peasant girl...without the use of his Gifts. Even worse, the girl mistakes him for one of the Stewards he despises.
Seria Gayle longs to be seen as more than the town washerwoman. When she finds an injured Steward in the woods, she welcomes the chance to use her healing skills and hopes it will earn her some respect. But as she nurses the sullen stranger back to health, she discovers he is nothing like the knights she has long admired.
When Mason's true identity is revealed, Seria is devastated and humiliated. But she is offered a chance at redemption by the very prince that Mason hates. Now Mason struggles between two choices: accept the Shadowstone to avenge his brother or pursue this newfound light in the form of a peasant girl. With time running out and war looming, will Mason and Seria defy their own convictions for a chance at love or stand against one another like they’ve sworn to do?
As the eldest son of a Levite and a Philistine, Avidan is torn between his duty to his family legacy and the desire for something more. After an enemy attack strikes close to home, he takes the opportunity to fight with his cousins for the newly crowned King Saul. But when one of the cousins goes missing during the battle, Avidan refuses to leave him behind.
Keziah is the daughter of one of the most powerful clan chiefs in the territory of Manasseh. On the brink of a forced marriage to a loathsome man decades older than her, she has no choice but to run, hoping to find sanctuary with her mother's family.
United during their journeys and battling to survive the dangers that surround them, Avidan and Keziah make a pact to travel together. As challenges pile up, they must not only rely on each other to stay alive but also learn to trust the true and eternal King of Israel to guide their every step.
An accidental meet-cute, a case of mistaken identity, and a bucket-list of Christmas activities befitting a Hallmark movie make this holiday romantic adventure the perfect Christmas read.
Leave the candy canes, take the pepper spray!
Nothing screams Christmas like a week spent ice skating, visiting Santa, and sharing a kiss or two under the mistletoe. Frannie Frost has crafted the perfect bucket list of romantic activities to surprise her boyfriend in the most magical place at Christmas time-New York City. When he unexpectedly becomes her ex, her plans are derailed leaving her with a choice. Wallow in self-pity at Christmas time or take matters into her own hands.
Former NHL defenseman turned personal protection agent, Andrew Bishop, loves his job-when things go as planned-but Frannie Frost is definitely not part of the plan. Still, when her brother, the man who saved Andrew's life last year, asks him to deliver his sister safely to the airport, he can't say no.
The only problem? Frannie isn't leaving. She's determined to make the most of her trip by checking off a bucket list of cliché Christmas activities that would make even Santa's elves jealous. Andrew's content to let her go until he learns that Frannie's been mistaken for his client and thrust into the midst of danger.
Jemmah has always thought of herself as perfectly ordinary . . . until she faces extraordinary circumstances.
When her mother, the Persian king’s famous senior scribe, is kidnapped, Jemmah and her sister must sneak undetected into enemy territory to rescue her. But infiltrating their adversary’s lands proves easier than escaping them. Fleeing through dangerous mountain passes, their survival depends on the skills of a stranger they free from prison: a mysterious prince named Asher.
Asher is not who the world believes he is. Despite his royal blood, he has had to climb his way out of poverty to forge success from nothing. A manufacturer of some of the best weaponry in the East, Asher has only one goal: to destroy his father. But following his escape from prison, Asher is irresistibly drawn to Jemmah, unaware that she guards her own secret.
Jemmah must convince Asher to give up everything he has worked for, all for the sake of a higher purpose he’s not sure he believes in. The fate of the Persian empire—and possibly the Judean people—hang in the balance and in the persuasive power of one ordinary woman.
Victor Avila needs a break from the hustle of restaurant life. It’s December, but there’s no chance of snow in the forecast. It’s past time for a change in scenery. So, when a few friends invite him to go skiing Colorado, for once Victor says yes. He figures that mountains, snow, and time away from work are just what he needs to recharge. He swaps humidity for snowflakes, and despite being unable to escape a jolly Santa named Hank around every corner, he settles in for what he hopes will be a relaxing vacation.
Laura Hall has a contentious relationship with Christmas, but she’s found her own way to work around her feelings: fill her calendar to the point where she doesn’t have time to think about it. As hostess of the Black Bear Lodge, Laura has plenty to do running the lodge during the busiest season of the year. Her schedule is just the way she likes it during December, booked solid.
But this year, despite the slew of guests and activities to manage, Christmas seems determined to sink deep into her soul. Can the arrival of a charming Texan who doesn’t do so well in cold temperatures thaw the ice around Laura’s heart?
Two workplace rivals. One festive competition. And a romance that upends it all.
Every December two things are guaranteed for graphic designer Mackenzie Graham--Christmas celebrations and the annual promotion at her workplace. Those two things are by no means mutually exclusive. In fact, the better an employee is at harnessing the Christmas spirit, the more likely they'll win the new job. With her social anxiety, Mackenzie never thought she'd be a contender in her company's holiday competition, so how exactly has she found herself dueling her workplace crush with wrapping paper tubes and using tinsel as her weapon of choice for a much-needed raise?
Jeremy Fletcher's life is meticulously planned out, including how to win this year's promotion at work. Not only will the new position fulfill some of his career goals, but as a single guardian to his twin niece and nephew, he needs the salary increase to support his family. Jeremy has barely noticed Mackenzie Graham around the office, but now that she's his rival, he can't stop thinking about her. Her quirkiness intrigues him, and he's afraid that if he can't get his head on straight, the promotion isn't the only thing he'll end up losing to Mackenzie.
THE WULFRITHS. FIRST. IN BETWEEN. IN THE END.
The late middle ages. England’s king seeks to recover the French lands of his ancestor William the Conqueror and claim the continental throne. France’s king aspires to seize the remainder of his royal vassal’s lands and retain his throne. So begins the Hundred Years’ War, the backdrop against which the formidable Wulfriths of the AGE OF CONQUEST and AGE OF FAITH series continue their tale.
THE HONOR OF HECTOR WULFRITH
Pale rider. For all the wives lost to him, it is what some call England’s renowned trainer of knights, a name that reaches beyond those losses to the plague come out of the east. Believing it God’s will he not wed again, Hector Wulfrith resists being drawn to the courageous lady who enters a country at war with her own and, disguised as a man, trespasses on his home. However, when her resolve to obtain training for a boy she claims is Wulfrith kin drags him into her mess of murder and thievery, mutual attraction becomes something more. If he can save her, dare he risk gaining her for himself knowing her fate could prove the same as his doomed wives’? Would it not be better to encourage her to return the affections of his heir—a brother wronged for what Hector stole from him?
THE MESS OF SÉVERINE DE BARRA
Since the surrender of her town to English forces, the greatest kindness shown Séverine is that of an enemy of silvered dark hair who saved her from his own when she sought to protect her cousin. Years later, she crosses the channel to keep her word to the boy’s departed sire to place him with distant kin for knighthood training. But the trouble awaiting them in England follows them to Baron Wulfrith whom she must deceive to gain an audience—one that comes to naught though he proves her former savior. Desperate to secure her cousin’s future before the fugitive made of her endangers him, Séverine furthers her deception to obtain the baron’s aid and finds her heart turning to him. But to what lengths will one of fortified emotions go to save a French lady destined for imprisonment in the Tower of London—and possibly death?
