Not Quite Mr. Knightley, by Kim Griffin

 

 

It was the year 1970, and Nancy was living her dream. An internship at the U.S. Embassy in London, and a handsome My. Knightley fiance.
But when she reads a letter from her future father-in-law, her house of cards comes crumbling down. She packs up and runs, but once home realizes she didn't leave it all behind her. A quick proposal from the boy next door has her life turning in unexpected directions.
This book is wonderful at showing how to set boundaries to protect a marriage, how important respect and honor are inside the marriage, and how important life itself is.
Kim Griffin is one of the best Christian authors I read. She always puts true scriptural lessons in the pages, and not just superficially. We can all learn from Nancy's beautiful story, about repentance and faith and God's love, as well as how love should be lived out towards others. It truly was a wonderful book to get wrapped up in.

Tell Them You Lied, by Laura Leffler

 We've all had them. Friends we are awestruck by, obsessed by, who treat us as if we are equals - but yet are constantly pulling the rug out from under us, making us feel like we are being ridiculous.

Wednesday, the first week of college classes, in an art class with the professor she chose this college to learn from, a girl with careless style and wild hair bursts into the classroom late, and Anna is awestruck. Willow is cool, rich, and carelessly cruel. Anna is driven, ambitious, and vulnerable to Willow's toxicity, drawn in like a moth to a flame. Anna and Willow become inseparable, the foundation of a group of friends who will weather many highs and lows together, sometimes at the expense of one another.

Five years later, Anna is finally ready to do something about it. They're still together, living in an apartment in NYC, and Anna plans a prank to scare Willow, maybe shake her resolve, and give Anna back some of her own. But on the morning of the prank, September 11, 2001, the world went wrong, Willow went missing, and Anna is again left wondering what is happening. 

I read this book in big gulps, immersed in the late 90s vibes, the fashion, the art, and the ongoing discussion of women as muses and the artists who used them. I recognized the emotions, the personalities, and the electric buzz that ran through the well-written prose. It is one of my favorite reads so far this year. 

Expected publication May 27, 2025.

Thanks to Netgalley, the publishers, and the author for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Katabasis, by R.F. Kuang

 

This book. I’ve tried to give myself time to think about it, but it just seems so big. There was a lot of description and history. This is not a book you can dip in and out of during those times when you have “ten or twenty minutes to read.” You have to be focused—every sentence seems to add information to what you already know. Sometimes you don’t think it’s necessary, but it all adds to the depth of the world and the characters.

That said, I really loved the story. Alice Law never wanted anything but magic. Her tunnel vision bordered on obsession. Professor Jacob Grimes at Cambridge is considered the best in the world, and Alice will sacrifice anything to work with him. When his death in a magical accident jeopardizes her goals, she is determined to go to hell and bring him back—even though her rival, Peter Murdoch, has the same goal.

The descriptions of the landscapes and the adventures while they are in hell are very entertaining. The backstory (it feels like there is so much more about Peter’s life than Alice’s) drags the story down a bit, and it does start a little slow, but once I got into it, I couldn’t put it down without it occupying my thoughts until I finished it.

Expected publication August 26, 2025

Thanks to Netgalley, the publishers and the author for the advance readers copy in exchange for an honest review. 

Blood Moon, Britney S. Lewis

This was such a fun read!

Eighteen-year-old Mirabella “Mira” Owens grew up in Timber Plains, Kansas, hearing all about the local legend— how Werewolves had come to their area to protect the humans from Vampires. No one really believes those old fairytales, do they?

Mira's mother had disappeared one night when Mira was 13, and now it's just her and her dad. She's got so much to worry about, as she goes off to college and leaves him alone. Little does she know that was the least of her worries as strange things start to happen on and off campus as she tries to settle in, make new friends and focus on her studies. 

Things start to spiral as she receives a cryptic letter from her mother, warning her that all is not as it seems, and some of her friends start acting strange. 

I enjoyed the campus life happening in this story and the diverse cast. When things started being creepy I had my suspicions, but I was wrong about what I thought was coming and the twists and turns kept me reading to find out what happened! I'm looking forward to the next book in the series! I also have to say that I rarely read a book set in Kansas, and as a Kansas girl myself, that made it even better. 

Expected publication August 12, 2025

Thank you to Netgalley, the publishers, and the author for letting me read this ARC edition for an honest review. 

Our Last Resort, by Clémence Michallon

 

Growing up in a cult, Frida and Gabriel were once so close they finished each other's sentences. Each one all the other had to call family. As they've grown older, they've grown apart. They are trying to reestablish that sibling connection, at a secluded spa and resort in the desert of Escalante, Utah. The spot is ideal - until the dead body of a resort guest is found. The local police put the resort on lock down, and the siblings, who would rather leave and try to forget, start to revisit memories of their childhood in the confining cult in upstate New York. Frida starts to see the darkness she avoided looking at in her brother - who exactly is he and what is he hiding?

This book alternates between past and present, and you learn piece by piece what contributes to their personalities, their bond, and the gap that has grown between them.

The characters aren't exactly likable, and the book starts slowly, but then it starts rolling and I couldn't  put it down until I knew what happened. I did guess the "plot twist" early, but it was a very enjoyable read.

Expected publication July 8, 2025

Dancing in the Florida Sun, by Kim Griffin

One of the things I love most about Kim Griffin's Christian Fiction is that it is truly Christian. Many books today have a sentence or two about God and call themselves CF. Kim delivers on the Christian message.
Brooke Ferguson had the life she dreamed of: a 4.0 in pre-law, the perfect pre-med boyfriend, and a prestigious position in her sorority. When she found out she was pregnant, all that came crashing down. Her sorority kicked her out, and her boyfriend became distant. She struggled with being a single mom. She thought she was at rock bottom—but then her mother died. How could she survive it? 
Moving in with her grandmother in sunny Florida seemed a good way to get a new start. 
This book follows Brooke as she searches for peace and healing in her new life.
God is so patient with us, even when we are angry at him and stubbornly refuse to see His goodness. Brooke goes through many things that many of us struggled with before we became believers, on our Christian walk, and meets up with good people who lead her through it all. I enjoyed this story immensely, how it dealt with hard issues without seeming dark, and the beautifully sweet romance that ensues. In this crazy world, we live in now, this story was the perfect one to get lost in.
Thank you to Kim Griffin for the ARC of this delightful book!

(Pub date: 3/26/25)

 

The Alice Network, by Kate Quinn

 

The Alice Network was a real-life network of female spies during WWI, based mostly in the Lille region of France. They gathered information for the British by utilizing their civilian jobs to pick up information on German troop movements and military positions. The network was named after it's leader, Louise de Bettignies, who used the alias Alice Dubois.

This book has been on my TBR since it came out in 2017. I'm sad that I waited until now to read it.

1947, the world still reeling from WWII, Charlie St. Clair, an American college girl, is pregnant and being taking by her mother to Switzerland to "fix" her problem. Restless and still grieving the death of her brother, she realizes that this is her chance to find out what happened to her beloved cousin Rose, who disappeared in France during the war. 

1915, Eve Gardiner joins the fight against Germany by being recruited to be a part of the Alice Network. Sent into enemy occupied France. She is trained by the best, and works well for her country, at great personal cost.

Now in 1947, Eve spends her days drunk and secluded, aided by a hired hand named Finn, until a cheeky American girl lands on her doorstep mentioning a name she hasn't heard in years. The girl wants help in finding her cousin, and Eve just wants revenge.

The chapters in this book go back and forth between WWI and 1947, and while I loved Eve's story (as hard as it was to imagine what the real life spies went through), Charlie's story was less interesting to me. I also thought it could have been shorter. But all in all I enjoyed the book and would recommend it to any Historical Fiction fans.