Leah Moyes’s Soul Thief is set in Thebes in 1184 BCE, where eighteen-year-old Akila Nady lives as the privileged daughter of Kheti Nady, a royal scribe serving Pharaoh Ramses III. Beneath that life, Akila assumes the name Akl, a disguised tomb thief who steals funerary...

In Sedona by J.F. McCarney, the two main characters are Randall Jenkins III, known as Colt, and Meredith Slayton. Colt used to be a bronc rider, but after a riding accident, he started working with abused and feral horses. Meredith is the breadwinner in her...

Salvatore A Trancucci III’s Sonny and Teresa begins in postwar Leavenworth, Kansas, where Sebastian “Sonny” Grasso has returned from Army service in Japan to play for the minor league Leavenworth Braves. Teresa is an Iowa-born student nurse at St. Mary’s when a baseball game introduces...

Salt & Honey by Candi Miller is a well-researched historical novel set in South Africa in the 1950s and 60s. I knew very little about this piece of history, and it is exactly as sad as I thought it would be. The story follows Koba,...

In Lana Christian’s Survival Secrets, book two of The Magi’s Encounters, the Wise Men leave Bethlehem by another route, with knowledge of Yeshua that could place the child in great danger if it reaches Herod’s court. Akilah leads the caravan into the Wilderness of Paran,...

In Spanktown Papers by Jane Hulse, Sarah constantly finds herself caught between opposing viewpoints and difficult choices. She is an ambitious young newspaper employee during a time when women are rarely welcomed into public affairs. As the American Revolution unfolds and British forces approach Philadelphia,...

Shakespeare once wrote, “The course of true love never did run smooth.” That quote perfectly captures the heartbreak, betrayal, and lasting love at the center of Sarah by Shanna Hatfield. This World War I historical romance centers on Sarah, her longtime love Brett, and his...

In Irene Latham’s Some Starry Night, in 1886, struggling painter Vincent van Gogh arrives in Paris, hoping the city can finally give him the artistic future that has escaped him for years. At the same time, Emily Dickinson secretly leaves Amherst after learning that Bright’s...

In Joshua Becker’s Soul Mission, Ephraim teaches Spanish in Milwaukee while living with mental health issues that detach him from his wife Rachel, their young son Ari, and the ordinary rhythm of daily life. After horrifying visions connected to the Holocaust death camps begin pulling...

Laurence Hutson’s Shattered Faces is set during the First World War, when American sculptor Anna Ladd leaves Boston for Europe after learning that soldiers with severe facial injuries are hiding themselves from families and society. In London, she studies a new process that uses sculpture,...