This past Monday, the weather outside was dreary and cold in the south. One’s mood could turn down the melancholy road, and I was heading in that direction by the afternoon. Before that feeling rooted itself, I told myself it was a good day to settle down with a book and a cup of tea. I started reading, “Out of Time” by Irene Hannon this past Sunday night, and I was trying my hardest to keep my eyes open to continue reading. I couldn’t wait to pick it up back. One would think by reading the book description, this story would not be a cozy read. The weather is hot and concerning incidents that set the mood, occurred immediately and continued. Perhaps, those details distracted me from the weather outside. Whatever the case, I couldn’t put this book down. I was completely immersed.
I love a good suspense story that entails a small town, an old mystery, treasure, isolated estate, and journals with cultural, historical elements. Irene Hannon’s story is just the ticket.
Don’t you just love it when you find an author whose stories you haven’t read before and then you get excited about searching other books by them? I do!
Most likely by the time you see this post, I will have finished this story and I look forward to sharing my thoughts more on the book and what other stories I’ve chosen to read by this author.
Stephanie
About the Book:
Book #3 in the Undaunted Courage Series
For historical anthropologist Cara Tucker, the chance to spend a sabbatical semester on a remote country estate–with full access to its vast library and centuries-old journals–is a dream come true . . . until a series of strange incidents begin to turn her dream into a nightmare. Someone, it seems, does not want anyone diving into the past and unearthing old ghosts.
Sheriff Brad Adams has seen his share of suspicious activities during his law enforcement career, but what’s happening at the isolated estate is out-of-pattern in his quiet, rural Missouri county. Beset by danger, Cara and Brad work together to try to untangle the clues. But when the peril turns lethal, the situation takes on a new urgency, and their mission is Find out who is behind the string of menacing incidents before the perpetrator strikes another deadly blow.
About the Author:
Irene Hannon, who writes both contemporary romance and romantic suspense, is the author of more than 65 novels. Her books have been honored with three coveted RITA awards from Romance Writers of America (the “Oscar” of romance fiction) and she is a member of that organization’s elite Hall of Fame. She has also received a Career Achievement award from RT Book Reviews for her entire body of work. Other awards for individual books include National Readers’ Choice, HOLT Medallion, Daphne du Maurier, Retailers Choice, Booksellers’ Best, and Reviewers’ Choice from RT Book Reviews. She is also a two-time Christy award finalist.
Millions of her books have been sold worldwide, and her novels have been translated into multiple languages.
A former corporate communications executive with a Fortune 500 company, Irene now writes full time. To learn more about Irene and her books, visitwww.irenehannon.com.
IVP Academic sent me an invite via email a few days ago, asking me if I would like to read and review “A Woman’s Place Is in the Story,” and I was thrilled to accept the invite. What perfect timing, I thought. I first heard of Dr. Glahn’s work through Dr. Carmen Joy Imes and I have a few of Glahn’s books already on my wish-list, including, “Nobody’s Mother: Artemis of the Ephesians in Antiquity and the New Testament.”
Recently, I have been thrilled to have discovered many female and male scholars addressing this topic, and I’m looking forward to the continuous journey in reading and studying these much needed works.
When I read the book description and the first few pages of “A Woman’s Place Is in the Story,” it was like the author was reading my thoughts I’ve had over the years about women of the Bible, in the Old Testament and New Testament. I am certain it will be thus for many women and men who come across this book. A big thank you to IVP Academic for the advanced copy! – Stephanie
About the book:
Expected Publish Date: Aug 25, 2026 by IVP Academic
We Misread the Bible When Women Are Left Out
Ignore them, marginalize them, or dismiss them as brief cameos—these have long been common approaches to Christian teaching on the women of the Bible. The result? We miss their significance in the biblical story and, in turn, misunderstand Scripture itself. Scholar Sandra Glahn challenges this pattern, calling readers to recognize how biblical narrative actually works. When we do, we see that women are not incidental to the story but essential to it.
In A Woman’s Place Is in the Story, Glahn models how we can better read stories in their literary context and understand why the original authors included what they did. She reexamines both well-known and neglected passages, such as Tamar and Judah, the Hebrew midwives, Abigail, and the Samaritan woman at the well. Even when they appear briefly, women in Scripture move the plot forward and reveal profound truths about who God is.
In this book, you’ll explore how leaving women out of the biblical story changes the plot and meaning that was intended, how distorting women as they appear in the biblical story affects the way we view women in general, and how misunderstanding how women appear in the story affects the way we view God.
Women have always been part of the whole story of God. With A Woman’s Place Is in the Story, discover how rightly seeing women in the biblical narrative leads to more faithful interpretation and application for the benefit of all God’s people.
It’s time to tell the whole story.
Author the Author:
Dr. Sandra Glahn is a professor at Dallas Theological Seminary. She is the author or co-author of more than twenty-five books, including Nobody’s Mother: Artemis of the Ephesians in Antiquity and the New Testament and her forthcoming work (August 2026), A Woman’s Place Is in the Story: Seeing Women in the Biblical Narrative.
2025 was a great year of reading and studying. I’ve learned so much with my Ancient Cultural Biblical studies and have discovered authors that write fiction stories that I’ve not heard of before. The books below are stories I’m currently reading and I’m almost finished with “The Palace at the End of the Sea.” There are also a few books I need to write a review for and get them up on my blog.
The next few blogs will be about study books I’m starting this winter, books I recently acquired and perhaps, reflections of 2025.
How was your reading for 2025? Did you discover authors you had not read before?
Happy New Year!
Stephanie Hopkins
Persian Fire by Tom Holland
In the fifth century BC, a global superpower was determined to bring truth and order to what it regarded as two terrorist states. The superpower was Persia, incomparably rich in ambition, gold and men. The terrorist states were Athens and Sparta, eccentric cities in a poor and mountainous backwater: Greece. The story of how their citizens took on the most powerful man on the planet is as heart stopping as any episode in history.
When the Day Comes (Book 1) by Gabrielle Meyer
Libby has been given a powerful to live one life in 1774 colonial Williamsburg and the other in 1914 Gilded Age New York City. When she falls asleep in one life, she wakes up in the other without any time passing. She has one conscious mind but two very different lives and bodies.
In colonial Williamsburg, Libby is a public printer for the House of Burgesses and the royal governor, trying to provide for her family and support the Patriot cause. The man she loves, Henry Montgomery, has his own secrets. As the revolution draws near, both their lives—and any hope of love—are put in jeopardy.
Libby’s life in 1914 New York is filled with wealth, drawing-room conversations, and bachelors. But the only work she cares about—women’s suffrage—is discouraged, and her mother is intent on marrying her off to an undesirable English marquess. The growing talk of war in Europe further complicates matters and forces her to make sacrifices she never imagined. On her 21st birthday, Libby must choose one path and forfeit the other forever—but how can she possibly choose when she has so much to lose in each life?
The Palace at the End of the Sea (Theo Sterling #1) by Simon Tolkien
A young man comes of age and crosses continents in search of an identity—and a cause—at the dawn of the Spanish Civil War in a thrilling, timely, and emotional historical saga.
New York City, 1929. Young Theo Sterling’s world begins to unravel as the Great Depression exerts its icy grip. He finds it hard to relate to his father, a Jewish self-made businessman, refuses to give up on the American dream, and his mother, a refugee from religious persecution in Mexico, holds fast to her Catholic faith. When disaster strikes the family, Theo must learn who he is. A charismatic school friend and a firebrand girl inspire him to believe he can fight Fascism and change the world, but each rebellion comes at a higher price, forcing Theo to question these ideologies too.
From New York’s Lower East Side to an English boarding school to an Andalusian village in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, Theo’s harrowing journey from boy to man is set against a backdrop of societies torn apart from within, teetering on the edge of a terrible war to which Theo is compulsively drawn like a moth to a flame.
I’ve recently started reading the three books below-one of them is historical fiction and the other nonfiction. I am finding them to be enjoyable and reads thus far. The Lost Worldof the Prophets and Finding Phoebe are books written by Biblical Scholars. They are informative andI’m truly gaining so much knowledge and insight from them so far and I would highly recommend them.
A few times I’ve posted about my deep dive into cultural and Biblical background studies and it has really opened up a whole new world for me about understanding and examining ancient cultures. By doing so you first must take off your western lenses. We westerners tend to carry over our modern cultural ideas, sensibilities and prejudices when reading about other cultures and ancient times.
I can’t wait to share my thoughts more in-depth about the books below!
Stephanie
Finding Phoebe: What New Testament Women Were Really Like by Susan Hylen
Published January 17, 2023 by Eerdmans
Forget what you think you know about women in the early church.
In this learned yet accessible book, Susan E. Hylen introduces first-century primary sources to illuminate readers’ understanding of New Testament women. Perfect for clergy, spiritual reading groups, and all curious minds, Finding Phoebe combines incisive scholarship and instructional sensibility to encourage readers to develop their own informed interpretations of Scripture.
Contrary to popular conceptions of “biblical womanhood” as passive and silent, women often served as leaders and prophets in their communities. Women owned one-third of all property during the period, granting them access to civic power through patronage. Many women worked outside the home and were educated according to the needs of their professions. Through careful examination of “modesty” and “silence” in the Greco-Roman world, Hylen reveals the centrality of these virtues to both men and women practicing self-control in service of communal good.
Hylen’s work will challenge readers to free their minds of modern preconceptions and consider New Testament women on their own terms. This practical book includes historical context, scriptural evidence, and questions for discussion.
The Lost World of the Prophets: Old Testament Prophecy and Apocalyptic Literature in Ancient Context (The Lost World Series #7) by John H. Walton
Published February 27, 2024 by IVP Academic
I’ve started with the 7th book in this series because I’m currently studying Biblical prophecy and the Prophets. I do intend to read the whole series.
Being responsive to God is at the heart of prophecy. But readers of ancient prophecies and apocalyptic literature―including those in the Old Testament―can come away thoroughly perplexed. Are the prophets speaking about their own times, about our present, or about some still-unrealized future? It’s common to study prophecy with a focus on the sole question of prediction and fulfillment, either for the sake of apologetics or for understanding the end times, but such an approach can fail to track with the original intent of the authors. We need to shake loose both from a paradigm of reading prophecy as an offer of mysterious divination as well as from the habit of constructing eschatological timelines of any sort. How do these books work as meaningful Scripture for Christians today? John Walton applies his signature method to help us recover the lost world of the prophets. To read these biblical books well, we must A fresh reading of the Old Testament text in light of the ancient Near Eastern context can open new avenues of awareness. Walton provides a clear, helpful guide to the nature of biblical prophecy and apocalyptic literature that will help readers avoid potential misuse and reclaim the message of the prophets for their lives. The books in the Lost World Series follow the pattern set by Bible scholar John H. Walton, bringing a fresh, close reading of the Hebrew text and knowledge of ancient Near Eastern literature to an accessible discussion of the biblical topic at hand using a series of logic-based propositions.
The Palace at the End of the Sea by Simon Tolkien
Theo Sterling #1
Published June 1, 2025 by Lake Union Publishing (For review.)
441 pages, Kindle Edition
New York City, 1929. Young Theo Sterling’s world begins to unravel as the Great Depression exerts its icy grip. He finds it hard to relate to his father, a Jewish self-made businessman, refuses to give up on the American dream, and his mother, a refugee from religious persecution in Mexico, holds fast to her Catholic faith. When disaster strikes the family, Theo must learn who he is. A charismatic school friend and a firebrand girl inspire him to believe he can fight Fascism and change the world, but each rebellion comes at a higher price, forcing Theo to question these ideologies too.
From New York’s Lower East Side to an English boarding school to an Andalusian village in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, Theo’s harrowing journey from boy to man is set against a backdrop of societies torn apart from within, teetering on the edge of a terrible war to which Theo is compulsively drawn like a moth to a flame.
I finished Children of the Book: A Memoir of Reading Together by Ilana Kurshan. The book has been published but I haven’t turned in my review yet because there is something the author briefly mentions about a group of people that made me pause and I’m trying to work out how I’m going to address this issue objectively. I will say I wish she had fleshed it out a bit better to get a clearer picture and that is part of the problem I’m having with the passage. Also, the author’s narrative often moves rather quickly onto other things… Okay, that is all I’m going to say about the subject until I release my review. Be sure to be on the lookout for it!
The books I’m currently reading are enjoyable thus far and I recommend them to consider reading. In this post, I will show three of them and the fourth book will be for another post because it is a very complex topic that I will be talking about in depth.
I hope you all have a wonderful weekend of resting and reading.
Stephanie
Daughter of Egypt by Marie Benedict
Not yet published Expected Date: March 24, 2026 – I have a review copy from the pubs.
1920’s London was enthralled by the discovery of the treasure-filled tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun. Filled with priceless statues, jewels, and the gold-encased mummy of the boy Pharaoh himself, the burial site unleashed a fascination with the ancient world and revolutionized the world of archeology.
The discovery was made by Lord Carnarvon of Highclere Castle and his associate, famed archeologist Howard Carter. What no one knows is that without the pioneering spirit of Lady Evelyn Herbert, Carnarvon’s daughter, the tomb might never have been found. As a young woman, Evelyn was fascinated by the story of Hatshepsut, a woman who had to assume the guise of a man in order to rule Egypt. Although she brought peace and prosperity to Egypt, her male successors ruthlessly and thoroughly erased her name from history.
Lady Evelyn’s ambition to find the tomb of Egypt’s first woman ruler exposes her to life-threatening danger and pits her against archeologists who refuse to believe the tomb can be found―and certainly not by a woman. Refusing to give up, Evelyn is on the verge of success when she is suddenly forced to make an agonizing choice between loyalty to her beloved father and Carter and realizing the dream of a lifetime.
About the author:
Marie Benedict is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of The Mitford Affair, Her Hidden Genius, The Mystery of Mrs. Christie, The Only Woman in the Room, Lady Clementine, Carnegie’s Maid, The Other Einstein, and the novella, Agent 355. With Victoria Christopher Murray, she co-wrote the Good Morning America Book Club pick The Personal Librarian and the Target Book of the Year The First Ladies. Her books have been translated into thirty languages, and selected for the Barnes & Noble Book Club, Target Book Club, Costco Book Club, Indie Next List, and LibraryReads List. Up next is the February 11, 2025 release, The Queens of Crime, the thrilling story of Agatha Christie’s legendary rival, mystery writer Dorothy Sayers, the race to solve a real-life murder, and the power of friendship among women. And in April, her first children’s book will released, a middle grade historical adventure co-written with Courtney Sheinmel called The Secrets of the Lovelace Academy.
Phoebe by Paula Gooder
Published September 4, 2018
Sometime around 56 AD, the apostle Paul wrote to the church in Rome. He entrusted this letter to Phoebe, whom he describes as the deacon of the church at Cenchreae and a patron of many. But who was this remarkable woman? Biblical scholar and popular author and speaker Paula Gooder imagines Phoebe’s story—who she was, the life she lived, and her first-century faith—and in doing so opens up Paul’s world, giving a sense of the cultural and historical pressures that shaped his thinking and the faith of the early church. After the narrative, Gooder includes an extensive notes section with comments on the historical context, biographical details, cultural practices, and more. Rigorously researched, this is a book for anyone who wants to engage more deeply and imaginatively with Paul’s theology.
About the author:
Paula Gooder is a speaker and writer on the Bible, particularly on the New Testament. She began her working life, teaching for twelve years in ministerial formation first at Ripon College Cuddesdon, Oxford and then at the Queen’s Foundation for Ecumenical Theological Education in Birmingham. Following this she spent around eight years as a speaker and writer in biblical studies travelling the country and seeking to communicate the best of biblical scholarship in as accessible a way as possible, after that she spent six years working for the Bible Society as their Theologian in Residence and then for the Birmingham Diocese as their Director of Mission Learning and Development. She is currently the Chancellor of St Paul’s Cathedral in London.
Tempest at Annabel’s Lighthouse by Jaime Jo Wright
Published April 1, 2025
In 1874, a battered woman awakens atop a forgotten gravesite by Lake Superior. Identified only by the locket around her neck inscribed with the name Rebecca, she seeks refuge with an elderly lighthouse keeper named Edgar. But as Rebecca struggles to remember who she is, she finds herself haunted by the lingering memories of Annabel, a mysterious woman who perished in the unforgiving waves of Lake Superior years earlier. With the spirit of Annabel seemingly reawakened, and an unknown adversary on the hunt to silence Rebecca once and for all, there is more at stake than just reclaiming her own memories. Rebecca must reclaim Annabel’s as well.
In the present day, author and researcher Shea Radclyffe escapes to the lighthouse outside a historic mining town in Michigan, seeking clarity about her failing marriage. Instantly drawn to the lighthouse’s landlord, Shea contends with the vengeful legend of Annabel’s ghost and a superstitious community that has buried the secrets surrounding a decade-old murder. As the secrets harbored around Annabel’s lighthouse unravel, Shea must navigate a fight of torn loyalty, self-discovery, and the haunting forces of love and a vengeance that should have drowned a century before.
About the author:
Daphne du Maurier and Christy Award-Winning author, Jaime Jo Wright resides in the hills of Wisconsin writing suspenseful, mysteries stained with history’s secrets.
My current reads are fantastic and I’m really enjoying the uniqueness of the writing style, characters and plot of “The Curious Inheritance of Blakely House.” I have created a daily reading schedule for these three books and the anticipation of looking forward to my time with them has really helped keep me on track with my reading habits. I love when that happens! First up, “Reflections on the Psalms by C. S. Lewis.”
This book was first published January 1, 1958.
For morning daily devotions, I’m currently studying through the book of Psalm verse by verse. So I thought I would read several books on people’s thoughts about the Psalms. Also, It won’t be too long before I read several others. I’ll be sure to post those books and my thoughts about them when I get to them.
The devotional I’m using is a four year plan but I’m wanting to shorten it in about two years tops. We will see how that goes!
Lewis writes here about the difficulties he has met or the joys he has gained in reading the Psalms. He points out that the Psalms are poems, intended to be sung, not doctrinal treatises or sermons. Proceeding with his characteristic grace, he guides readers through both the form and the meaning of these beloved passages in the Bible.
The Curious Inheritance of Blakely House by Joanna Davidson Politano – This book is from my birthday book haul
Published April 15, 2025 by Revell
It is 1901 when clockmaker and brilliant tinker Sydney Forrester inherits Blakely House, the eclectic estate of an estranged uncle she’s never met. The well-known but mysterious industrialist has left behind a stunning array of peculiar inventions–and a couple of nephews’ intents on removing this interloper from the estate. Convinced that Sydney has something to do with their uncle’s death, the late master’s nephews contest the will and work against their cousin at every turn.
Sydney finds a sometimes-ally in the estate’s butler, an ex-adventurer who ran aground on the island years ago. But when a mysterious man washes ashore with a stunning surprise that upsets everything, Sydney must prove she has inherited the late master’s brilliance as well as his property–or someone else will.
The Lost Baker of Vienna: A Novel by Sharon Kurtzman
Not yet published Expected Date: Aug 19, 2025
I am reading this book from NetGalley for review and it is wonderful so far!
In 2018, Zoe Rosenzweig is reeling after the loss of her beloved grandfather, a Holocaust survivor. She becomes obsessed with finding out what really happened to her family during the war.
Vienna, 1946: Chana Rosenzweig has endured the horrors of war to find herself, her mother, and her younger brother finally free in Vienna. But freedom doesn’t look like they’d imagined it would, as they struggle to make a living and stay safe.
Despite the danger, Chana sneaks out most nights to return to the hotel kitchen where she works as a dishwasher, using the quiet nighttime hours to bake her late father’s recipes. Soon, Chana finds herself caught in a dangerous love triangle, torn between the black-market dealer who has offered marriage and protection, and the apprentice baker who shares her passions. How will Chana balance her love of baking against her family’s need for security?
The Lost Baker of Vienna affirms the unbreakable bonds of family, shining a light on the courageous spirit of WWII refugees as they battle to survive the overwhelming hardships of a world torn apart.
I’m currently traveling my way through the Empires of Ancient Assyria, Babylon and the Persians. These studies are pretty intense and a few of my reading materials take liberties or have a running theme (if you will) that has a zero foundation. That said, I’m gaining quite a bit more insight into people’s cultures in ancient times by comparative studies. I will be sure to go more into that another time.
At the end of next year -or maybe sooner- I will be traveling forward again to the first century but before I do that, I want to study a bit more on Rome right before the first century. Also, I’ve been searching books on Rome that I haven’t read yet and I do include historical fiction as well. Last week, I came across Colleen McCullough’s books and I remembered I have the first book in her Rome series that has been sitting on my book shelf for quite some time. The book is huge and there are 896 pages! I’m still going to add it to my reading for next year but I know I will have to take a lot of notes. Despite the amount of pages and annotating, I’m excited about reading the story. Colleen McCullough is best known for her book, “The Thorn Birds.” I do believe McCullough wrote something like eleven books?
Stephanie
Masters of Rome #1
896 pages, Hardcover
First published September 28, 1990 by William Morrow & Company in New York City
The reader is swept into the whirlpool of pageantry, passion, splendor, chaos and earth-shattering upheaval that was ancient Rome. Here is the story of Marius, wealthy but lowborn, and Sulla, aristocratic but penniless and debauched — extraordinary men of vision whose ruthless ambition will lay the foundations of the most awesome and enduring empire known to humankind.
A towering saga of great events and mortal frailties, it is peopled with a vast, and vivid cast of unforgettable men and women — soldiers and senators, mistresses and wives, kings and commoners — combined in a richly embroidered human tapestry to bring a remarkable era to bold and breathtaking life.
Shortly after “The Greatest Knight” by Elizabeth Chadwick came out in the early 2000s, I read this amazing story and it was the first time I read anything about William Marshal. Chadwick’s stories are among my favorite historical fiction reads. After I read her story, I did a little research om William Marshal but since then, hadn’t picked up a biography on his life. Recently I discovered Thomas Asbridge’s book about Marshall and the reviews have been promising.
I have been adding titles to my wish-list and for books I want to read in the fall-time or next year and I will definitely be reading Asbridge’s book.
I wish there was more time on the day because there are so many intriguing books out there that are calling to be read.
Stephanie
The Greatest Knight by Elizabeth Chadwick by Elizabeth Chadwick
A penniless young knight, William Marshal is plucked from obscurity when he saves the life of Henry II’s formidable queen, Eleanor of Aquitaine. In gratitude, she appoints him tutor in arms to her son. However, being a royal favorite brings its share of conflict and envy. Besmirched by his enemies, banished from court, William seeks redemption in pilgrimages across Europe and the Holy Land, returning to find bygones forgotten and his prowess on the battlefield in demand. The only knight ever to unhorse the legendary Richard Coeur de Lion, William is offered the hand in marriage of Isabelle de Clare, 18-year-old ward of the King. Strangers to each other on their wedding day, the pair must immediately confront deadly political intrigue, strained family loyalties and betrayals. As King Richard prepares to depart on crusade, other men, including the King’s own brother John, are waiting for their moment to seize power – it is William’s duty to stand in their path…
The Greatest Knight: The Remarkable Life of William Marshal, the Power Behind Five English Thrones by Thomas Asbridge
Caught on the wrong side of an English civil war and condemned by his father to the gallows at age five, William Marshal defied all odds to become one of England’s most celebrated knights. Thomas Asbridge’s rousing narrative chronicles William’s rise, using his life as a prism to view the origins, experiences, and influence of the knight in British history.
In William’s day, the brutish realities of war and politics collided with romanticized myths about an Arthurian “golden age,” giving rise to a new chivalric ideal. Asbridge details the training rituals, weaponry, and battle tactics of knighthood, and explores the codes of chivalry and courtliness that shaped their daily lives. These skills were essential to survive one of the most turbulent periods in English history—an era of striking transformation, as the West emerged from the Dark Ages.
A leading retainer of five English kings, Marshal served the great figures of this age, from Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine to Richard the Lionheart and his infamous brother John, and was involved in some of the most critical phases of medieval history, from the Magna Carta to the survival of the Angevin/Plantagenet dynasty. Asbridge introduces this storied knight to modern readers and places him firmly in the context of the majesty, passion, and bloody intrigue of the Middle Ages.
The Greatest Knight features 16 pages of black-and-white and color illustrations.
The last couple of weeks or so, I’ve really picked up my reading pace and achieving a good number of books read and reviewed. I’m not sure how long it will last-life tends to get in the way-but I’m encouraged and I’m really enjoying what I’m reading. I’m almost through with “The Lies They Told” by Ellen Marie Wiseman and I recently picked up “One Little Lie” (Pelican Harbor #1) by Colleen Coble from NetGalley. I thought why not since I’ve never read this author’s work before. So far, it is an interesting read. I’m also working my way through “Assyria: The Rise and Fall of the World’s First Empire” by Eckart Frahm.
I’ve turned in a review to the Publishers through NetGalley for “The Man in the Stone Cottage” by Stephanie Cowell and my review will be posted on September 13th here on Layered Page. There will also be a couple reviews coming up shortly. Excited!
Jane Hardy is appointed interim sheriff in Pelican Harbor, Alabama, after her father retires, but there’s no time for an adjustment period. When her father is arrested for theft and then implicated in a recent murder, Jane quickly realizes someone is attempting to destroy the only family she has.
After escaping with her father from a cult fifteen years ago, Jane has searched relentlessly for her mother–who refused to leave–ever since. Could someone from that horrible past have found them?
Reid Dixon is well-known for his documentaries, and his latest project involves covering Jane’s career. Jane has little interest in the attention, but the committee who appointed her loves the idea of the publicity.
Jane finds herself depending on Reid’s calm manner as he follows her around filming, and they begin working together to clear her father. But Reid has his own secrets from the past, and the gulf between them may be impossible to cross–especially once her father’s lie catches up with him.
I’m absolutely thrilled with what I’m currently reading and with the book I just finished. Last night I started reading, “The Man in the Stone Cottage” by Stephanie Cowell. The story is really intriguing so far and as a big fan of the Brontë sisters, this is a must read. I’m also currently reading “The Lies They Told” by Ellen Marie Wiseman. Her story touches on a deep and troubling history that took place in American in the early 1900s. A story that everyone must be aware and it will surely touch the deepest depth of your heart.
Yesterday, I posted my review for “Last Light Over Galveston” by Jennifer L. Wright. Last night, I finished reading “The Lawyer and the Laundress” by Christine Hill Suntz and I will be posting my review early next week. Tomorrow, My review for “The Secrets of Good People” by Boo Walker; Peggy Shainberg is going live.
Have a beautiful bookish weekend, everyone!
Stephanie
Expected publication: September 16, 2025 by Regal House Publishing
In 1846 Yorkshire, the Brontë sisters—Charlotte, Anne, and Emily—navigate precarious lives marked by heartbreak and struggle. Charlotte faces rejection from the man she loves, while their blind father and troubled brother add to their burdens. Despite their immense talent, no one will publish their poetry or novels. Amidst this turmoil, Emily encounters a charming shepherd during her solitary walks on the moors, yet he remains unseen by anyone else. After Emily’s untimely death, Charlotte—now a successful author with Jane Eyre—stumbles upon hidden letters and a mysterious map. As she stands on the brink of her own marriage, Charlotte is determined to uncover the truth about her sister’s secret relationship.
Layered Pages 