Musings by Erin

  One of my go-to authors for Biblical Historical fiction is Tessa Afshar. I didn't think I would ever love a book of hers more than Bread of Angels, but I was wrong. Jewel of the Nile has taken its place and has also taken the seat of "best read of 2021" - at least to date (and I'm pretty sure it will take a LOT to unseat it from that position). This book was exactly what I needed at the time that I read it. I loved the characters, the story line, the spiritual message and the emotional healing that took place in this book. It was a beautiful story of the love of Jesus.  The author had intended for this novel to be about the daughters of the apostle Philip, but when she received a letter from an African-American reader asking if any of her heroines would ever look like her, Ms. Afshar took a different take. Philip's daughters are still in the book as friends of Chariline, but the heroine herself is half Roman/half Cushite, giving her a unique skin tone of Biblica...

Rachel Dylan is well known for her legal thrillers and romantic suspense novels. Her latest series follows 3 best friends who'd attended law school together and ended up in various parts of the government. Power Play is book 3, and follows Vivian Steele, who is an attorney with the State Department (for more info on the series, see my 9/12/20 post on Backlash, which was book 2 of the series). This book introduces some new characters, brings in visits from old ones, and is chock-full of action, mystery and suspense. There's a solid faith thread, great character development and of course a romance as well.  Here's a little bit about the book: When State Department attorney Vivian Steele witnesses two ambassadors collapse as if poisoned at a diplomatic dinner in Washington, DC, she is recruited to be a member of a joint FBI task force assigned to investigate. But she soon finds her by-the-book ways clashing with a special agent in the Diplomatic Security Service, Jacob ...

  Nicole Deese is well known for her fun contemporary romances with lovable quirky characters and belly-laugh inducing humor along with the serious issues and spiritual depth. In her upcoming novel, All That Really Matters, Molly is a social influencer who, in the quest of obtaining more followers, volunteers at an organization that houses kids who have aged out of foster care. Through this volunteer work, Molly's whole outlook is turned on its head and she has to come to terms with how to move forward. I really loved Molly's character development throughout the novel and enjoyed her character as well as that of Silas and several of the "kids". There were several twists at the end as well, which kept things interesting! As a part of the author's launch team, I had access to get some questions answered. Here's how that went! 1. Did you have a favorite character or one you related to best? If so, who and why? I loved writing Molly’s spunk, tenacity, and confiden...