Today marks the last review by my book buddy Carrie for the Summer of 2023. She is a very busy wife, mother of 2, and a super teacher, so we will have to wait for more of her insightful reviews next summer. Thanks, Carrie, for helping a girl out!
Today Carrie shares her thoughts on When Tomorrow Came by Hannah Linder.
Nan and Heath Duncan, siblings abandoned by their papa and abused by their guardian, have no choice but to survive on the London streets. When a kind gentleman rescues Nan from such a life, the siblings are separated and raised in two vastly different social worlds. Just when both are beginning to flourish and years have healed some of their wounds, their long-awaited papa returns and reunites them—bringing demands with him. Nan is expected to marry a rich suitor she’s never liked, and Heath is expected to forsake his gentle spirit and become the hardened man his father always was.
Dangers unfold, secret love develops, fights ensue, and murder upsets the worlds Heath and Nan have built for themselves.
They’ve waited their whole lives for their papa to return, for tomorrow to come—but now that it has, will they be able to see through to the truth and end this whirlwind of a nightmare before it costs one of their lives?
Hannah Linder resides in the beautiful mountains of central West Virginia. Represented by Books & Such, she writes Regency romantic suspense novels. She is a double 2021 Selah Award winner, a 2022 Selah Award winner, and a member of American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW). In way of career, Hannah is a Graphic Design Associates Degree graduate who specializes in professional book cover design. She designs for both traditional publishing houses and individual authors, including New York Times, USA Today, National, and International bestsellers. She is also a local photographer and self-portrait photographer. When Hannah is not writing, she enjoys playing her instruments—piano, guitar, and ukulele—songwriting, painting still life, walking in the rain, and sitting on the front porch of her 1800s farmhouse. To follow her journey, visit hannahlinderbooks.com.
Carrie’s Thoughts:
I really enjoyed Hannah Linder’s When Tomorrow Came. In this Regency novel, love, family, and restoration are common themes brought together with characters that are realistic and lovable from the start. Linder devoted time to developing the characters from an early age and on before diving into their lives as adults. I was invested from the beginning and wanted the very best for them.
The story begins in the early 1800s in London with siblings Nan and Heath Duncan and shows what life on the streets was like for them after their father disappeared. With an unfortunate accident, one act of kindness shows how it can change a life. Nan goes with a wealthy family while Heath chooses to stay behind on the streets. Linder fast-forwards several times to show how the siblings are faring in their different lives now separated, but keeps you interested and wanting more. Eventually, the siblings are reunited but struggle to connect, since they were raised so differently and had vastly different lives. Then their father returns, bringing with him turmoil for both their lives. He insists Nan marry for riches to someone she doesn’t like, let alone love. The why is mysterious. He tries to get Heath to leave the rectory life to take on a trade to become a man. With their father bringing turmoil to both of their lives, the story really begins and has many twists and turns that aren’t fully revealed until the end. You might think you know what is going on, but you also might be as surprised as I was too.
I love how When Tomorrow Came shows the power of trusting others and how it can affect your life. It also shows how not trusting can also impact a life. Family and what you will do to protect them is a theme throughout the book. Linder brings it all together in a wonderful way, leaving you feeling fulfilled with the book’s ending. I would read other books by her.
Happy Friday, everyone! Today I am featuring a historical novel from Hannah Linder, When Tomorrow Came. This Regency romance looks like something I will love. I hope the opening line of the prologue piques your interest. It is repeated several times throughout, so it’s important!
Here’s the first line:
“All these years.”
They Waited Their Whole Lives for Their Papa to Return
Nan and Heath Duncan, siblings abandoned by their papa and abused by their guardian, have no choice but to survive on the London streets. When a kind gentleman rescues Nan from such a life, the siblings are separated and raised in two vastly different social worlds. Just when both are beginning to flourish and years have healed some of their wounds, their long-awaited papa returns and reunites them—bringing demands with him. Nan is expected to marry a rich suitor she’s never liked, and Heath is expected to forsake his gentle spirit and become the hardened man his father always was.
Dangers unfold, secret love develops, fights ensue, and murder upsets the worlds Heath and Nan have built for themselves.
They’ve waited their whole lives for their papa to return, for tomorrow to come—but now that it has, will they be able to see through to the truth and end this whirlwind of a nightmare before it costs one of their lives?
Hannah Linder resides in the beautiful mountains of central West Virginia. Represented by Books & Such, she writes Regency romantic suspense novels. She is a double 2021 Selah Award winner, a 2022 Selah Award winner, and a member of American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW). In way of career, Hannah is a Graphic Design Associates Degree graduate who specializes in professional book cover design. She designs for both traditional publishing houses and individual authors, including New York Times, USA Today, National, and International bestsellers. She is also a local photographer and self-portrait photographer. When Hannah is not writing, she enjoys playing her instruments—piano, guitar, and ukulele—songwriting, painting still life, walking in the rain, and sitting on the front porch of her 1800s farmhouse. To follow her journey, visit hannahlinderbooks.com.
They Waited Their Whole Lives for Their Papa to Return
Nan and Heath Duncan, siblings abandoned by their papa and abused by their guardian, have no choice but to survive on the London streets. When a kind gentleman rescues Nan from such a life, the siblings are separated and raised in two vastly different social worlds. Just when both are beginning to flourish and years have healed some of their wounds, their long-awaited papa returns and reunites them–bringing demands with him. Nan is expected to marry a rich suitor she’s never liked, and Heath is expected to forsake his gentle spirit and become the hardened man his father always was.
Dangers unfold, secret love develops, fights ensue, and murder upsets the worlds Heath and Nan have built for themselves. They’ve waited their whole lives for their papa to return, for tomorrow to come–but now that it has, will they be able to see through to the truth and end this whirlwind of a nightmare before it costs one of their lives?
PRAISE FOR WHEN TOMORROW CAME
“The plot is full of intrigue, and it’s anchored by complicated characters whose secrets are slowly, carefully revealed. Readers will be hooked.”—Publisher’s Weekly
“Filled with intrigue, heartache, love, and a cast of beloved characters…this unique story had me crying and cheering. I can’t wait to read her next book!”— Kimberley Woodhouse, bestselling author of the award-winning Secrets of the Canyon series
When Tomorrow Came captured my heart from the very beginning…All the characters were so endearing and the story line with mystery and suspense kept me up way too late.”— Dana Michael, Goodreads
EXCERPT
“Miss Duncan, please.” A hand circled her arm, tightened, started to tug. “Step aside and let the servants handle him.”
Handle him. As if Gilbert Stanhope were nothing more than a trinket to be moved to another shelf or a tapestry to be hung on a different wall or a—
“Nan.” The use of her forename jolted her, struck through some of the panic long enough to make her rise.
Lord Humphries drew her back. “Take him to one of the guest chambers on the east wing, men. Careful you do not jostle him.”
Jostle him. Her chest hammered. No, please do not jostle him.
Even when the manservants circled him, lifted him, he didn’t stir. His head dangled. Eyes remained shut. How long had they been like that?
“Let me go.” She pulled against the hold on her.
The servants passed through the doorway, disappeared.
“My lord, let me go—”
“Miss Duncan, do not take on hysterics.” Her ladyship, for the first time, finally
pushed from her chair. “You are forgetting yourself entirely. Sit down and calm down, if you please.”
“But I want to—”
“Nan, Mother is right.” Lord Humphries caught her shoulders, trapping her. “We have already sent for the apothecary, and there is very little you can do.”
“I want to be with him.”
“But it would only further upset you, my darling—”
“The only thing further upsetting me is your hands. Now will you please let me go?”
At the words, her ladyship inhaled a lungful of air, and Lord Humphries reddened by three shades. With an awkward apology, he walked away from her. “Of course, Miss Duncan. Forgive me. I was only attempting to calm you.”
With gathering tears, she fled through the same doorway the servants had exited. Big, empty, glittering halls. How thudding and severe fell her footfalls on marble so pristine. God, what is wrong?
She mounted mahogany stairs when a maid pointed her in the right direction. Up, up, up—but it took much longer than it ever should have.
Please, God.
She halted in a carpeted hall, approached the only door swung wide open. Three servants slipped out, no expression, finished with one duty and off to the next.
Then Nan entered.
He lay still upon a four-poster bed, an elderly maid already hovering close—but at the sight of Nan, she retreated to a corner chair and said nothing.
“Gil?”
His eyes adjusted on her, hazy, uncertain.
She pressed close to the bed and grasped his hand. “Gil, you are awake?”
“Yes.” Strange, how his voice could sound so normal when his face appearedso wan. “Yes, awake.”
“What is wrong?”
“Don’t. . .know.”
“Is there pain?”
“Burning.”
“Where?”
“Mouth. . .throat. Everything so . . . blurry and . . . and . . .”
“And what?”
Stared at her, stared hard.
“Gil?”
First, it was just a twitch, a faint jerk of his chest. Then his arms began to shake,his legs, everywhere.
“Gil!” Her scream summoned the maid to her side. They seized his arms.“Gil, please.”
Convulsing, half breathing, teeth jarring in a deathlike rhythm of pain. Just
as quickly, though, the writhing ceased. He lay limp as before. Didn’t move, hardly breathed.
Just looked at her.
“In the name of mercy, what is the matter with him?” She lifted his hand to
her chest, squeezed with the same devilish fear as when Heath would not wake up. “What is the matter?”
She hadn’t expected an answer, but a voice from close by whispered anyway. “I ’ave not seen this in a long time, miss.” The old maid reached out and mopped sweat from Gilbert’s brow. “An’ I had ’oped not to see it again.”
Hannah Linder resides in the beautiful mountains of central West Virginia. Represented by Books & Such, she writes Regency romantic suspense novels. She is a double 2021 Selah Award winner, a 2022 Selah Award finalist, and a member of American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW). Hannah is a Graphic Design associate degree graduate who specializes in professional book cover design. She designs for both traditional publishing houses and individual authors, including New York Times, USA Today, and international bestsellers. She is also a local photographer and a self-portrait photographer. When Hannah is not writing, she enjoys playing her instruments–piano, guitar, and ukulele–songwriting, painting still life, walking in the rain, and sitting on the front porch of her 1800s farmhouse.
Happy Tuesday! I was a bit stumped with today’s TTT prompt. Not that I don’t have plenty of books that I am anticipating. But I have already covered this topic in some form or fashion in the past month or so. I don’t want to bore everyone by repeating myself again and again. So I decided to look for books that are from new-to-me authors, those whose books I have yet to read for one reason or another, but that I need to read if you know what I mean! Some are upcoming releases; some have been in the book world for a little while. Some are from never before discovered authors; others from authors I know I need to read. I was astounded by the book choices that now populate my gargantuan TBR list. Help me now!
The Antiquity Affair by Lee Kelly and Jennifer Thorne
Two estranged sisters must band together to solve a puzzle three millennia in the making in this female-heroine take on Indiana Jones.
1907: The dawn of Egyptology is a time of imperialism and plunder, opulence and unrest, and Dr. Warren Ford, esteemed archaeologist, is the man of the hour. His daughters—prim intellectual Lila, on the eve of her debut as a Manhattan socialite, and doting nonconformist Tess, who dreams of following in his footsteps—have always lived their lives in the shadow of their famous father’s exploits. But when a secretive organization becomes intent on finding a lost artifact legendary for its dangerous power, it isn’t Dr. Ford they turn their sights on—it’s his two remarkable daughters.
Tess and Lila called themselves The Fearless Fords in their childhood, dreaming of daring international adventures together, but the sisters have barely spoken for years. Presented now with a grand adventure and a puzzle that will require all their wits, the two women face a choice. Will they follow the clues fast enough to win the ultimate prize? Or will they prove clever enough to change the game entirely?
The Antiquity Affair is a high stakes trans-Atlantic thrill ride, with the page-turning excitement and romance of classic adventure novels and a poignant story of sisterhood at its core—all the messy and beautiful truths of what it means to be family.
Bastille Day by Gregory Garrett
Veteran TV journalist Calvin Jones travels to Paris, where he negotiates love, friendship, and despair in award-winning novelist Greg Garrett’s Bastille Day.
With brilliant pacing and gorgeous prose, acclaimed novelist Greg Garrett tells the story of American TV journalist Calvin Jones, who travels to Paris to work with a producer friend he knows from their dark days covering the war in Iraq.
Cal Jones has had a quiet ten years, by design. After surviving the loss of two people he loved in the Iraq war, which he covered as a national correspondent, he fell apart and retreated to a local news job in Texas. Cal is still wrestling with those old demons when he goes to Paris to work with an old friend and encounters Nadia, a brilliant, lovely, and sad Saudi Muslim woman in Paris with plans to wed a Saudi sheikh in a family-arranged marriage.
Against his own better judgment, Cal falls for Nadia, even dragging her from the Seine when she attempts to solve her insoluble problem by taking her own life. He begins to risk a heart he thought was too badly broken to ever love again, and as the wedding ticks closer, to hope that perhaps Nadia can make a choice that includes him. Then their time rescuing each other is interrupted by the terror attack in Nice, which Cal is called out to cover. Back in that setting, Cal is thrown back into the memories of senseless violence and extremism that shattered him in Iraq—and that threaten to shatter him and his hopes now.
Garrett’s characters wrestle with the ghosts of their pasts, as they long for love, friendship, and faith in the present. Bastille Day is a gloriously-affecting novel about how our histories can damage us, but hope can heal us.
Beneath His Silence by Hannah Linder
Will Seeking Justice Lead to Her Own Demise?
A Gothic-Style Regency Romance from a Promising Young Author
Second daughter of a baron—and a little on the mischievous side—Ella Pemberton is no governess. But the pretense is a necessity if she ever wishes to get inside of Wyckhorn Manor and attain the truth. Exposing the man who killed her sister is all that matters.
Lord Sedgewick knows there’s blood on his hands. Lies have been conceived, then more lies, but the price of truth would be too great. All he has left now is his son—and his hatred. Yet as the charming governess invades his home, his safe cocoon of bitterness begins to tear away.
Could Ella, despite the lingering questions of his guilt, fall in love with such a man? Or is she falling prey to him—just as her dead sister?
Bless Your Heart, Rae Sutton by Susannah Lewis
Sometimes what your life is missing is an eccentric group of older ladies to take you under their wing?.?.?.
When Rae Sutton’s mama passes away and leaves her the house where she grew up, Rae can’t imagine how the little old place might restore her broken life. Mourning the recent loss of her marriage, she takes the house and settles back into her tiny hometown with her fourteen-year-old daughter, Molly Margaret, and their overweight dog.
There she’s embraced by her mother’s close-knit circle of friends, the Third Thursday ladies. Though almost half their age and far less confident of positive outcomes, Rae joins their ministry-slash-book-club-slash-gossip circle and allows the women to speak wry honesty and witty humor into her tired heart. As a new career and a new romance bring their own complications, Rae relies on the unlikely family she’s found and begins to wonder if her future holds more hope than she ever could have imagined.
The Call of The Wrens by Jenni L. Walsh
The Call of the Wrens introduces the little-known story of the daring women who rode through war-torn Europe carrying secrets on their shoulders.
An orphan who spent her youth without a true home, Marion Hoxton found in the Great War something other than destruction. She discovered a chance to belong. As a member of the Women’s Royal Naval Service—the Wrens—Marion gained sisters. She found purpose in her work as a motorcycle dispatch rider assigned to train and deliver carrier pigeons to the front line. And despite the constant threat of danger, she and her childhood friend Eddie began to dream of a future together. Until the battle that changed everything.
Now twenty years later, another war has broken out across Europe, calling Marion to return to the fight. Meanwhile others, like twenty-year-old society girl Evelyn Fairchild, hear the call for the first time. For Evelyn, serving in the war is a way to prove herself after a childhood fraught with surgeries and limitations from a disability. The re-formation of the Wrens as World War II rages is the perfect opportunity to make a difference in the world at seventy miles per hour.
Told in alternating narratives that converge in a single life-changing moment, The Call of the Wrens is a vivid, emotional saga of love, secrets, and resilience—and the knowledge that the future will always belong to the brave souls who fight for it.
A Cry in The Dark by Jessica Patch
Deep in the Kentucky hills, three women have been found brutalized and murdered. But the folks in Night Holler have their own ways and their own laws. And they’re not talking…
Led to an isolated Appalachian Mountain town by a trail of disturbing murders, FBI special agent Violet Rainwater’s determined to catch a serial killer with a twisted agenda. With locals refusing to reveal their secrets, Violet’s only ally is Detective John Orlando. But even John has an ulterior motive—he’s convinced this case is connected to his wife’s murder.
As they dig deeper, Violet uncovers a link to her own unresolved past. For years she’s worked the cold case of her mother’s abduction, which had led to her birth. The need to look into the eyes of the sinful man who fathered her consumes Violet. Until she can, she’ll never have peace. Because she’s terrified she might be exactly like him.
In this chilling novel, when the present collides with Violet’s mysterious past and John’s tragic loss, they must unravel the warped, sinuous connections before the killer strikes again. But solving the case might not be nearly as terrifying as the possibility that Violet’s finally found her roots…
Hardly Any Shooting Stars Left by B. K. Froman
A captivating tale of humor and mystery by an award-winning author.
After her father’s death, a creative, free-spirited young woman plans to leave her Oregon ranch and hometown of busybodies. But she didn’t count on a corpse in her shop—or murder. Forced to create friendships with strange, crabby, or too-helpful neighbors, she must face a murder charge and confront aching childhood memories in a town and a life stuck in the past.
Lexi DePriest has always been a loner with a sharp wit and lack of concern about fitting in. If she could quickly sell the family ranch—her father’s life’s work—she’d get out of the Oregon valley, but life has never been easy.
When her crackpot neighbor shoots the drone she uses to check fences and cattle, a battle begins. Nosy eyes in the tiny community are watching, some malevolent—and dangerously nearby.
With no explanation,a man is found murdered in her shop, and the trust she’s built in herself and with a few townsfolk unravels. It takes a crabby school secretary and a Scottish welder to secretly examine murder suspects. The investigation gives her a rare choice to fit in to the home where she’s always lived—but will she choose community, family, or herself?
Indigo Isle by T. I. Lowe
“Storms show up and there ain’t a thing we can do to stop them.”
Sonny Bates left South Carolina fifteen years ago and never looked back. Now she’s a successful Hollywood location scout who travels the world, finding perfect places for movie shoots. Home is wherever she lands, and between her busy schedule and dealing with her boss’s demands, she has little time to think about the past . . . until her latest gig lands her a stone’s throw from everything she left behind.
Searching off the coast of Charleston for a secluded site to film a key scene, Sonny wanders onto a private barrier island and encounters its reclusive owner, known by locals as the Monster of Indigo Isle. What she finds is a man much more complex than the myth.
Once a successful New York attorney, Hudson Renfrow’s grief has exiled him to his island for several years. He spends his days alone, tending his fields of indigo, then making indigo dye―and he has no interest in serving the intrusive needs of a film company or yielding to Sonny’s determined curiosity. But when a hurricane makes landfall on the Carolina coast, stranding them together, an unlikely friendship forms between the two damaged souls. Soon the gruff exterior Hudson has long hidden behind crumbles―exposing the tender part of him that’s desperate for forgiveness and a second chance.
A story of hanging on and letting go, of redemption and reconciliation, and of a love that heals the deepest wounds, from the author of the breakout Southern fiction bestseller Under the Magnolias.
The Unhiding of Elijah Campbell by Kelly Flanagan
Elijah Campbell is on the verge of losing his writing career, his faith, and his marriage when a recurring childhood nightmare drives him back to his hometown, Bradford’s Ferry. There, his encounters with loved ones both past and present shed light on the reason his wife left him—and the meaning of his nightmare. However, beyond the light he begins to glimpse something even more terrifying—a decision he must make either to continue hiding the secrets of his past or unhide the only thing that can save his marriage: himself.
In psychologist Kelly Flanagan’s nonfiction works (Loveable, True Companions), he drew from clinical insight to explore the spiritual depths of identity and relationships. Now, in this debut novel, he weaves a compelling and plot-twisting tale that brings new life to those insights, along with fresh revelations about personal growth, spiritual transformation, and the dynamics of interpersonal relationships.
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