Political Intrigue

James Holt, a rancher from Dakota, is summons to the American Zone of the Panama Canal in 1909 in Sigmund Brouwer's latest historical novel, Saffire. This novel is part mystery, part political intrigue, and romance all in the historical setting of Panama. James Holt's dry humor and Inspector Miskimon, who is quite orderly, provide interesting conversations throughout the novel as Holt tries to unravel the mysterious disappearance of a young girl's mother. Saffire is close in age to his own daughter and her spunkiness at finding her mother endears her to him. But as he begins to ask questions he realizes there is more going on below the surface than a missing woman. This book started out slowly and I almost stopped reading it, however, the more I kept going, the more drawn into the story I became. Brouwer uses actual historical figures and places in this novel making for an interesting read. I received this book for free to review from WaterBrook's Blogging for Books.

Firm Foundation

In The Artisan’s Wife, the third book of the series “Refined by Love” by Judith Miller, the reader is introduced to Ewan and Rose’s sister Ainslee McKay. Ainslee discovers her twin sister, Adaira, has eloped and left her to fulfill the obligation of running the newly purchased tile works in Weston. Ainslee and Adaira have always done things together. Now Ainslee must leave her family striking out into unknown territory of running the new business by herself. Ewan and Ainslee make a deal that he will try to find a buyer while she makes the business profitable. She hires Levi Judson to work at the tile plant and to put his artistic abilities to work in creating mosaics on the tile. As time passes a friendship develops between them that can easily be broken by a secret Levi holds. Ewan finds a buyer for the tile works, now Ainslee must decide if she wants to pursue the mosaic tiles showing her confidence and faith in Levi, or give up the business and go back home where she is most comfortable. Both Levi and Ainslee must learn to trust God through the good and the bad. Overall, it was a nice historical romance to read and discover what the McKay family was up to after the first two books. My only disappointment was that Adaira was left out other than occasional mentions of her. I received this book to read for free to give my honest opinion from Bethany House Publishers.