Drawn by the Current by Jocelyn Green

A birthday excursion turns deadly when the SS Eastland capsizes with Olive Pierce and her best friend on board. Hundreds perish during the accident, and it's only when Olive herself barely escapes that she discovers her friend is among the victims.

In the aftermath of the tragedy, Olive returns to her work at a Chicago insurance agency and is immersed in the countless investigations related to the accident. But with so many missing, there are few open-and-shut cases, and she tries to balance her grief with the hard work of finding the truth.

While someone sabotages her progress, Olive accepts the help of newspaper photographer Erik Magnussen. As they unravel secrets, the truths they discover impact those closest to Olive. How long will the disaster haunt her--and how can she help the others find the peace they deserve?

My review:  Olive wants to be an insurance investigator.  There's one problem.  She's a woman.  She discovers several issues with the insurance policies that her company has paid on.  But she's a woman so she's not taken seriously.  When she goes on an excursion aboard the SS Eastland with her best friend and it capsizes, she is but into a very difficult position.  Her friend is in a very abusive marriage and fakes her death.  With the help of Erik she achieves her goal of becoming an investigator.  I found this book to be intriguing.  The women of this time weren't expected to know anything of use.  

I was given this book by Bethany House Publishing via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  I was not compensated in any way.  

Trust Me by Kelly Irvin

 A decade ago, Delaney Broward discovered her brother’s murdered body at the San Antonio art co-op he founded with friends. Her artist boyfriend, Hunter Nash, went to prison for the murder, despite his not-guilty plea.

This morning, Hunter walks out of prison a free man, having served his sentence.

This afternoon, Delaney finds her best friend dead, murdered in the same fashion as her brother.

Stay out of it or you’re next, the killer warns.

Hunter never stopped loving Delaney, though he can’t blame her for not forgiving her. He knows he’ll get his life back one day at a time, one step at a time. But he’s blindsided to realize he’s a murder suspect. Again.

When Hunter shows up on her doorstep asking her to help him find the real killer, Delaney’s head says to run away, yet her heart tells her there’s more to his story than what came out in the trial. An uneasy truce leads to their probe into a dark past that shatters Delaney’s image of her brother. She can’t stop and neither can Hunter—which lands them both in the crosshairs of a murderer growing more desperate by the hour.

My review:  This is the story of Delaney learning to trust Hunter again after he was convicted of killing her brother.  She believed in his innocence right up until he was convicted.  Hunter maintains he didn't do it even when he is released from prison.  The morning he's released another murder happens.  How can he convince Delaney he didn't kill her brother or her best friend?  The police don't want to look at anyone by Hunter either.  Delaney seems to have lost her faith during the last decade.  Hunter found God in prison. Their rolls are now reversed. The killer is revealed and Hunter is vindicated.

I was given this book by Thomas Nelson Publishing via NetGalley for an honest review.  I was not compensated in any way.

Mrs Witherspoon Goes to War by Mary Davis

Full of intrigue, adventure, and romance, this new series celebrates the unsung heroes; the heroines of WWII. Peggy Witherspoon, a widow, mother, and pilot flying for the Women’s Airforce Service in 1944 clashes with her new reporting officer. Army Air Corp Major Howie Berg was injured in combat and is now stationed at Bolling Field in Washington D.C. Most of Peggy’s jobs are safe, predictable, and she can be home each night with her three daughters; until a cargo run to Cuba alerts her to American soldiers being held captive there, despite Cuba being an ally.

My review: This was an enlightening story of what the WASPS had to endure during WWII.  Peggy is a widow who has been flying and repairing airplanes since was a teen.  She is task with flying planes that aren't fit to fly and repair them.  She is braver than a lot of the men she works with.  By the middle of the story she discovers some men are being held in Cuba.  Peggy and two of her co WASPS set out to rescue them.  A great story of courage against great odds.

I was given this book by Barbour Publishing via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  I was not compensated in any way.

In Search of a Prince by Toni Shiloh

Brielle Adebayo is fully content teaching at a New York City public school and taking annual summer vacations with her mother to Martha's Vineyard. But everything changes when her mom drops a bombshell--Brielle is really a princess in the island kingdom of Ọlọrọ Ilé, off the coast of Africa, and she must immediately assume her royal position, since the health of her grandfather, the king, is failing.

Distraught by all the secrets her mother kept, Brielle is further left spinning when the Ọlọrọ Ilé Royal Council brings up an old edict that states she must marry before her coronation, or the crown will pass to another. Brielle is uncertain if she even wants the throne, and with her world totally shaken, where will she find the courage to take a chance on love and brave the perils a wrong decision may bring? 

My review:  This was a great book.  Brielle has to deal with her sense of betrayal by her mother for not informing her she was the granddaughter of a king.  She is portrayed as a very strong independent woman.  She is also a woman of faith and relies on God a lot for the strength she needs.  When she is told she has to marry in order to become Queen she turns to God for guidance.  The candidates that have been chosen for her are not suitable at all.  This is the story of her journey to becoming Queen.  The only negative thing I would say about the book, is that it repeats the history the country several times throughout the book.

I was given this book by Bethany House Publishing via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  I was not compensated in any way.  

Until Leaves Fall in Paris by Sarah Sundin

As the Nazis march toward Paris in 1940, American ballerina Lucie Girard buys her favorite English-language bookstore to allow the Jewish owners to escape. Lucie struggles to run Green Leaf Books due to oppressive German laws and harsh conditions, but she finds a way to aid the resistance by passing secret messages between the pages of her books.

Widower Paul Aubrey wants nothing more than to return to the States with his little girl, but the US Army convinces him to keep his factory running and obtain military information from his German customers. As the war rages on, Paul offers his own resistance by sabotaging his product and hiding British airmen in his factory. After they meet in the bookstore, Paul and Lucie are drawn to each other, but she rejects him when she discovers he sells to the Germans. And for Paul to win her trust would mean betraying his mission.

My review:  I found this book to be very good.  It seemed a little slow paced at first.  But once I got into it it picked up and I couldn't put it down.  The first part of the book was setting the scene for the rest of the book.  Ms. Sundin seems to get into how bad things were in France during the Nazi occupation without going into much detail.  How Lucie was always hungry, and Paul always had the best.  The trials of their escape from France kept me reading.

I recommend this book to all who love history, mystery, and a little romance thrown in.

I was given this book by Revell Publishing via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  I was not compensated in any way.

 

Following the Trail by Lynette Eason

Lacey Jefferson’s search for her missing sister quickly turns into a murder investigation—thrusting Lacey and her search-and-rescue K-9, Scarlett, into a killer’s sights. Now teaming up with her ex-boyfriend, Sheriff Creed Payne, is the only way to discover the murderer’s identity. But can they survive long enough to dig up the truth?

My review:  This book starts out fast and keeps going.  Lacey returns to her hometown to look for her sister.  She'd only been there a few hours when she and her K-9 dog are called upon to search for a missing child.  While doing that, Scarlett, her dog discovers a body.  It's her sister.  Ex-boyfriend Creed wants her to stay in town and start a K-9 unit for his Sheriff's department.  She agrees only as long as it takes to find the killer of her sister.

Overall, it was a good book.  I enjoyed the story line and the characters.  I would recommend this book to all who enjoy a good mystery.

I was given this book by Love Inspired Suspense via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  I was not compensated in any way.  

Lost in Darkness by Michelle Griep

Travel writer Amelia Balfour’s dream of touring Egypt is halted when she receives news of a revolutionary new surgery for her grotesquely disfigured brother. This could change everything, and it does. . .in the worst possible way

Surgeon Graham Lambert has suspicions about the doctor he’s gone into practice with, but he can’t stop him from operating on Amelia’s brother. Will he be too late to prevent the man’s death? Or to reveal his true feelings for Amelia before she sails to Cairo? 

My review: I found this book to be slow moving and dark.  I've read other books by Ms. Griep and enjoyed them.  This one not so much.

Amelia wants to travel Egypt but there's a new procedure her late father had discovered that might help him be able to live a normal life.  Graham wants to be part of a practice by he has reservations about the dr he's in practice with.  

I was given this book by Barbour Books via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  I was not compensated in any way.