Knowing You by Tracie Peterson

Knowing You
by Tracie Peterson

ISBN-13: 9780764237447
Paperback: 320 pages
Publisher: Bethany House Publishers
Released: November 7, 2023

Source: ebook review copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Book Description from Goodreads:
Budding artist May Parker is captivated by the Japanese exhibits at the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition and longs to know more about her mother's heritage--which her mother refuses to speak of because of the heartache she left behind in Japan. Wanting to experience more of the exhibits, May works colorizing photographs as a Camera Girl--but her curiosity leads her into danger when a suit of samurai armor becomes the target of an elusive art forger.

After ten years apart, May is reunited with her childhood friend Lee Munro, a police detective assigned to keep a watchful eye on the exposition. Their friendship immediately begins to blossom with hints of something more, but when they become entangled in a dangerous heist involving the samurai armor and their love is threatened, can they overcome the odds against them?


My Review:
Knowing You is a Christian romance set in 1909 in Seattle, Washington. Interesting historical details about the Expo and the prejudices of the time were woven into the story. The main characters were likable and behaved realistically. The story was mostly about May's cultural heritage. She had a (white) America father and a Japanese mother, but her mother refused to talk about Japan due to bad memories. Despite this and the bullying she received for her Asian looks, May's obsessed with learning more about Japan. May spent much of her free time at the Japan exhibit and took detailed pictures and sketches of the samurai armor so she could paint it. One picture captured a known art forger studying the armor, and Detective Lee saw this picture. Can he arrest the forger before he steals the armor and replaces it with a copy?

When she was young, Lee protected her from bullying even though his own parents despised Asians. So May and Lee were already close friends, and they realized how much they meant to each other as they spent time together. Lee's parents objected so strongly that they threatened to disinherit him if he married May, so he debated how to honor his parents when he knew their prejudice wasn't biblically based. And they quote Scripture at each other over the topic.

This book was the third in a series, but it can be read as a stand-alone. However, it spoiled the main events of the previous books. May and Lee were both Christians who prayed to God and read their Bibles for guidance. There was no sex or bad language. Overall, I'd recommend this enjoyable historical romance.


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.