Rodeo Witness Protector by Sami A. Abrams

Rodeo Witness Protector
by Sami A. Abrams

ISBN-13: 9781488238895
Audiobook, Unabridged: 208 pages
Publisher: Harlequin Audio
Released: July 28, 2026

Source: audiobook review copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Book Description from NetGalley:
While stopping an attack near the rodeo grounds, bullfighter and part-time deputy Daniel Sinclair is stunned to see his high school sweetheart attempting to save a stabbed undercover deputy. As a witness now in possession of crucial evidence about a narcotics investigation, new rodeo doctor Annie Davis needs Daniel’s protection—for her and her missing four-year-old daughter. And the stakes only grow higher when the girl’s babysitter is found murdered and the recovered child refuses to speak. To safeguard the targeted family, can Daniel uncover who is behind it all before a drug ring silences them for good?


My Review:
Rodeo Witness Protector is a Christian romantic suspense. Deputy Daniel was once unable to save a child and now feels like he can't be trusted to watch over any child. When his high school sweetheart returns to town with an adopted 4-year-old, he finds that both mother and daughter need his protection. Not only did Annie testify against a fellow doctor who was illegally selling drugs, but she was just handed evidence by a dying undercover agent who was trying to uncover a drug dealer ring that used the rodeo and carnival circuit. Local law enforcement worked to figure out the evidence while Daniel helped protect Annie and her daughter.

The suspense came from the attacks on Annie and her daughter and trying to find the daughter when she went missing. The main characters were engaging and reacted realistically to events. Annie and Daniel got to know each other again as they spent time together and quickly renewed their friendship. Daniel and Annie prayed for guidance and safety. There was no sex or bad language. Overall, I'd recommend this enjoyable suspense novel.

The narrator of the audiobook did a good job, making it easy to follow who was talking and what was going on. She used different voices for the different characters and narrated the story in a way that allowed me to become immersed in the story.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.

A Lady's Handbook to Gadgets and Guile by Angela Bell

A Lady's Handbook to Gadgets and Guile
by Angela Bell

ISBN-13: 9780764242144
Paperback: 336 pages
Publisher: Bethany House
Released: July 7, 2026

Source: ebook review copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Book Description, Modified from Goodreads:
London, England, 1895. Ambulatory wheelchair user Margaret Kingsley secretly crafts gadgets for the Daughters of Genius Society, a covert team of lady inspectors disguised as harmless bluestocking spinsters. While her fellow inspectors gallivant about London solving crimes, Margaret has been perfectly content assisting from the sidelines--until her expertise is needed to infiltrate the domain of London's most prolific inventor, Alvan T. Harrison.

Charles Noble sacrificed his career as a musician to support his family after his father's stroke. Now he balances ledgers as a secretary by day and tends his disabled father by night, until taking a temporary job as event coordinator for a famous inventor commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of his mechanical empire. As strange occurrences surface, Charles's event planning collides with Margaret's case, and the pair must investigate the inventor's legacy while attraction sparks between them.


My Review:
A Lady's Handbook to Gadgets and Guile is a fantasy romance supposedly set in 1895 in England. The author made little effort to explain how things worked. Margaret and her father were geniuses, so of course their inventions worked. Somehow. Just don't look to hard. Some of the inventions made no sense: a steam-engine-powered vacuum? Do you actually understand how steam engines work, author? And the umbrella that could lift multiple people didn't appear to have a power source. Even people's attitudes and the technology available to everyone reflected much more modern times, so it didn't feel remotely historical to me.

Charles really saw Margaret and thought her beautiful and smart. His own father had struggles due to a stroke, so Charles understood her situation somewhat and honestly didn't feel like a life spent with her would be a burden. It's a sweet, fun romance that developed as they worked to solve the mystery. Well, the patent thief was pretty obvious. It was more about collecting the evidence needed to prove the case in a court of law.I liked their relationship.

The author spent a lot of time developing how Margaret suffered a severe injury to her back which left her in constant pain. Sometimes she's too tired to do anything, other times she could carefully dole out her energy. Her back also spasmed painfully when compressed (like a corset), after certain movements, etc. This sounds like a 'you can't push through it' injury that restricts what you can do. Yet, of course, we have her wearing a corset as a disguise (like the self-powered wheelchair doesn't give her away!) and still able to function. These back spasms were so bad it took up to an hour just to get out of bed, yet by the end she's doing things that would hurt a fully able-bodied woman with a great back. No real consequences beyond now being able to wake up to hanky-panky with her husband rather than an hour of pain getting out of bed. I wish that's the way things worked.

Margaret worshiped God with music when in pain. Both she and Charles found soul-healing in music and trusted God. There was no sex or bad language.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.

Fugitive Manhunt by Sharee Stover

Fugitive Manhunt
by Sharee Stover
Mac Fowler (Narrator)

ISBN-13: 9781488238826
Audiobook, Unabridged
Publisher: Harlequin Audio
Released: July 28, 2026

Source: audiobook review copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Book Description, Modified from Goodreads:
After a prison break, K-9 officer Lizzie Reynolds is ready to join the search for the criminals—but one of the escapees finds her first and ambushes her. She’s rescued by Deputy US Marshal Walker McCane, her high school crush, and they’re forced to work together to find the fugitives. Soon they realize that one of the prisoners has a personal vendetta against Lizzie. As they face persistent attacks, Walker and Lizzie must rely on each other to survive a dangerous game with a convict who wants to complete his deadly plan.


My Review:
Fugitive Manhunt is a romantic suspense. Lizzie worked with her team to solve an ongoing case of a pregnant girl who's been kidnapped, the last in a series of kidnapped pregnant girls that have been found murdered after giving birth. She interviewed some people, but this is the ongoing mystery that will be solved at the end of the series. She and her tracking K9 also helped search for a bunch of prison escapees, though this seemed to consist of walking a hiking trail in the search grid rather than asking the dog to start at the site of the escape and then track people. One of the escapees kept trying to kidnap Lizzie, so Walker, a US Marshal, tried to protect her while they figured out who's behind it. Lizzie was grabbed multiple times, so the suspense not only came from the attacks but from her needing to free herself.

Lizzie and Walker were both manipulated by a friend in high school and thought the other wasn't interested in a relationship. As they worked together and finally talked about it, they found that they still liked each other. There was no sex or bad language. Overall, I'd recommend this enjoyable suspense novel.

The narrator of the audiobook did a good job of saying the text in a way consistent with the text (with surprise if surprised, etc.), and read the story in a way that easily kept my interest. It was easy to follow who was talking and what was going on because she not only gave each character their own tone of voice but their own speech mannerisms as well.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.

Ambushed in Yosemite by Kellie VanHorn

Ambushed in Yosemite
by Kellie VanHorn

ISBN-13: 9781335919069
Paperback: 208 pages
Publisher: Love Inspired Suspense
Released: July 28, 2026

Source: ebook review copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Book Description, Modified from Goodreads:
Park ranger Skylar Jansen’s morning hike turns into a nightmare when she witnesses a man burying a body—and then the killer chases her through the wilderness. She’s saved by Special Agent Bode Tucker, a devoted single dad, who suspects a serial killer is at work. Soon it becomes clear that the killer may be connected to the cold case disappearance of Sky’s father. With targets now on both of their backs, they team up to investigate, but outrunning danger could be beyond their reach.


My Review:
Ambushed in Yosemite is a Christian romantic suspense. Skylar is the perfect damsel in distress, and I mean this in the nicest way as we are, after all, reading a suspense novel and most women aren't kick-ass law enforcement. Skylar's an average, kind woman with low self-worth and confidence. She often got in trouble because she didn't trust her own judgment. (The serial killer knows my name, where I live, and I don't really feel safe sleeping in my canvas-sided cabin, but the experts think I'll be safe with the police officer on guard outside, so, okay....) She's too trusting that people know what they're doing and are telling the truth. She had extremely good luck, though, in being matched with a serial killer that liked to play games rather than just kill his victim.

However, I can't imagine how Bode became a detective. The killer kept literally telling him the clues he needs, and Bode still couldn't figure out what was so blaring obvious. He did eventually figure it out when an evidence tech told him who the fingerprints belonged to, but the killer had to explain it to Skylar as he tied her up. Bode's also constantly running into known danger (as in, he knows it's a trap) because he can't stand leaving a loved one tied up as bait for even a moment. Sweet, but not generally a successful strategy. Some things just didn't make sense, like they knew that Skylar's phone had been used by the killer, and it's crime scene evidence at the very least. Yet she picked it up and just started using it again. Huh?

There was no sex or bad language. Despite the unrealistic elements, it was a sweet romance in that it gave hope that a man who wasn't that good at his job and a woman who wasn't very discerning could not only survive but end up happily matched.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.

A Fatal Crossing by Tom Hindle

A Fatal Crossing
by Tom Hindle

ISBN-13: 9798217185740
Paperback: 464 pages
Publisher: Dutton
Released: July 28, 2026

Source: ebook review copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Book Description, Modified from Goodreads:
November 1924. The Endeavour sets sail from Southampton carrying 2,000 passengers and crew on a week-long voyage to New York. When an elderly gentleman is found dead at the foot of a staircase, and the ship's captain is ready to declare it a tragic accident. But James Temple, a strong-minded Scotland Yard inspector, is certain there is more to this misfortune than meets the eye.

Ship's officer Timothy Birch agrees to investigate, and the trail quickly leads to the theft of a priceless painting. Its existence is known only to its owner and the dead man. Temple and Birch's search for the culprit is hurried as just days remain until they reach New York and more bodies are added to the count.


My Review:
A Fatal Crossing is set in 1924 on a death boat. Er, cruise ship. I had so many problems with this book, but the first is that I read mysteries to see justice done. Every bad person in this story (murderer, thief, or just looking away when a rule was broken or crime committed) walked away free, no justice done, and with a pile of bodies left in their wake.

The characters weren't likable, either. The British police officer was rude, mean, and disdainful toward everyone, even the captain of the ship. Ship officer Birch seemed incompetent from the beginning, and he's stupid. For example, a knife taken from the restaurant was found in the room where the painting was stolen and became evidence. Birch later had a sharp object pressed against his side by someone who would never have been allowed in the restaurant (his earlier conclusion) but he thinks the object must be that same knife. Logic need not apply. Birch also repeatedly said he'd report this or do that but then we skip ahead and he hasn't.

The mystery made no sense. It started with the premise that a famous painter who only painted landscapes was rumored to have painted a portrait. An artist thinks he's found the painting even though an experienced art dealer didn't think it was anything special. But the artist is going to try to sell the painting--which few art buyers think even exists--at a big art show everyone's going to. People found out about it and practically everyone tried to steal it with the intent of then selling it at the art show. Um, first, stolen property can't be sold openly! Second, even the owner would have to explain how he got the painting and have art experts examine the painting and decide if it's a fake or not. Third, we find out that the painting was taken out into pounding rain so bad that one couldn't see where they were going. It had to have gotten wet, which would destroy a watercolor painting, then it was stored in a place (which I guessed!) and in a way that would have prevented it from drying out properly, thereby ruining the painting even if it was an oil painting. But not only is the stolen painting not an actual portrait but it's in perfect condition. Sigh.

Finally, our detectives were stupid. The police officer took one look at the body in the morgue and concluded he must have been pushed off the top of the steps, hit his head, and died. I could think of several other ways the man could have a head wound on the back of his head and be found at the base of the stairs. Later, the police officer accepted that his theory of whodunit was wrong and gave up because he couldn't think of anything else to ask or do. I'm thinking, um, here's a long list of questions you never asked and clues you never followed up on. Birch even tasked a porter with looking into a matter only to completely forget to follow up with the fellow. This was a long, frustrating read.

At about 80%, I came up with a scenario which fit all of the clues and would have been a satisfying, classic mystery. I knew it wasn't the author's solution, which turned out to be so convoluted and unbelievable I thought, 'well, of course no one would guess this.' I did guess the twist in the last 10%. Ruined the whole story. And the ending was left open-ended as to if that action led to the hoped for result.

There was a fair amount of bad language. There was no sex. Go read a classic mystery and leave this on the shelf.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.

The Cloak and Dagger Club by Jackie McMahon

The Cloak and Dagger Club
by Jackie McMahon

ISBN-13: 9798217189557
Paperback: 368 pages
Publisher: Berkley
Released: July 14, 2026

Source: ebook review copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Book Description, Modified from Goodreads:
London, 1930. Lucy Hubbard is on the cusp of achieving her dreams. With her first mystery novel debuting with strong sales and glowing reviews, she's been invited by Horace Hazelmoor, the king of crime fiction, to join his elite group of writers—the Cloak and Dagger Club.

Thrilled at the opportunity, Lucy finds herself swept up into Horace's glamorous world at the Ritz hotel. She's even willing to put up with the inconvenient presence of her former fiancé, Frank Murray, the club's rising star who is on track to eclipse Horace as Britain's most popular crime writer.

But when Horace is found with a knife in his back, Frank is the police's prime suspect. Despite their complicated history, Lucy knows he's not capable of murder. With suspects galore and the danger rising, these two mystery writers must race to solve the crime—and fight their lingering feelings for each other.


My Review:
The Cloak and Dagger Club is a romance set in 1930 in England. Frank and Lucy met as children, became best friends, and fell in love. Lucy supported Frank's writing, but when he made it big as a published crime novelist, he neglected his now-fiancée in his craving for the praise and approval that he'd never gotten from his abusive father. Lucy broke up with him and wrote her own best-selling mystery novels. Three years later, they meet again at a crime writer's club meeting, investigate a murder, decide they're still in love, and we end with the details of their wedding. This is romance genre. While the characters were engaging and mildly developed, the mystery simply existed to help us get to know the characters better.

While some of this might be fixed by the final version (as I read an Advanced Reader Copy), I wasn't particularly impressed with the mystery aspect. Yes, there were clues, but it was a pretty simple mystery. Lucy was observant, but she failed to put clues together and only solved the crime because whodunit was convinced Lucy had it figured out and basically prompted her to reason it out. Frank at least had a burst of brilliance in which he put clues together and came to rescue Lucy.

Anyway, the main problems: One, the workers at the hotel where the victim lived had motive, means, and opportunity, but Frank and Lucy immediately decided the murderer must be someone from the writer's club. No one, not even the police, once suspected the barman who could have easily done the whole thing. Two, the police don't appear to do any detective work beyond providing time of death and a mention that both poison and a knife were involved. The detective simply harassed Lucy to pressure her into accusing Frank. Three, even though it was extremely obvious when the poisoning occurred, that death took some time, and that the knife didn't kill the victim, Frank and Lucy asked for alibis for when the death occurred. This was meaningless information.

They also spent most of their investigation digging up secrets on their fellow club members in the hopes of finding a motive. This should have messed up their friendships but somehow everyone's the best of friends by the end. Somehow along the way people forgot to even question how the knife got into the victim's back, and we only learned the answer in the final few paragraphs because we're in the thoughts of that attempted murderer. But we're supposed to pass attempted murder off as okay because it was a homosexual who did it out of love to protect their partner from exposure. Hmm.

There was no sex. There was a fair amount of bad language.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.

The Light of Stars by Jenelle Hovde

The Light of Stars
by Jenelle Hovde

ISBN-13: 9798400502934
Paperback: 368 pages
Publisher: Tyndale Fiction
Released: July 14, 2026

Source: ebook review copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Book Description, Modified from Goodreads:
When Kitty Grenville’s grandfather announces her engagement to Sebastian Sinclair, she’s appalled. She barely remembers the boy she met once as a child—and now he’s a man tied to the East India Company, the very organization that tore her and her brother from their mother and home in Hyderabad years ago. Unwilling to relinquish her dream of a love match or her passion for astronomy, Kitty is determined to refuse the marriage and find freedom in her own way.

Sebastian Sinclair carries the weight of duty and regret. To atone for past sins, he complies with his grandfather’s orders to return to England, fulfill a long-standing betrothal, and defend the maligned East India Company before Parliament. Though Kitty makes her disinterest clear, Sebastian is drawn to her intellect and spirit.

As Kitty navigates her first London season, her opinion of Sebastian begins to shift—especially when he shields her from scandal. When he’s abruptly called back to India, Kitty stuns everyone by marrying him and going with him, hoping to escape her grandfather’s control—and to find her mother.

But the challenges that await in India are greater than imagined. Together, Kitty and Sebastian must confront the legacy of family and empire—and decide if a marriage born of obligation can grow into a love strong enough to endure.


My Review:
The Light of Stars is a Christian romance set in 1814 in England and India. I had to keep reminding myself of just how very young and sheltered Kitty was. She's the daughter of a British man and a Muslim princess whose father ruled an area in India. When her father died (from the illness going around? or murdered due to politics?), the grandfather took her and her brother from the harem and raised them in England. Kitty deeply resented the East India Company for this, though I couldn't see how they were at fault. She idealized what life as a Muslim princess in India with her mother would have been like. Her main objections to Sebastian seemed to be that he didn't declare undying love for her, that he worked for the hated East India Company, and that he got to live in India and knew more about it than she did.

She wanted true love or her independence to pursue astronomy. Though Kitty's warned by several people that her behavior could cause a sandal, she publicly favored a suitor who's mainly interested in her money when people knew she's intended to marry Sebastian. She naively believed the man's flattery only to learn that the image she'd built up of him was an illusion and it's Sebastian that's been supporting her and trying to give her the things her heart desires.

Sebastian believed he could help guide East India Company in respecting the local workers while still making a profit for the British in India. Yet men that he respected were sure that there was more corruption and abuse than he's aware of. Both Kitty and Sebastian had to face reality and hard choices as secrets were uncovered. The characters were likable, and historical details were woven into the story that brought the setting alive. There was no sex or bad language. Overall, I'd recommend this interesting historical novel.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.