Erica Vetsch: Children of the Shadows

By Kelly Bridgewater

Welcome to the Blog Tour for Children of the Shadows by Erica Vetsch, hosted by JustRead Publicity Tours!

About the Book

Title: Children of the Shadows
Series: Thorndike & Swann Regency Mysteries #3
Author: Erica Vetsch
Publisher: Kregel Publications
Release Date: October 23, 2023
Genre: Christian Regency Mystery

Detective Daniel Swann and debutante Juliette Thorndike once again team up to solve a dangerous mystery--while trying to keep their growing romance secret.

Someone is preying upon the street children of Regency London. They seem to think no one will notice when urchins go missing--and even if they are noticed, who will care?

Daniel needs to do something about the missing children. But with recent revelations about his past and an unexpected, somewhat unwelcome inheritance to deal with, this is a terrible time to dive back into the seedy underbelly of the crime world. Nevertheless, he's still a Bow Street runner, and his partner Lady Juliette is sensitive to the plight of these wayward youngsters. They're on the case, searching shadowed alleys and coal-drenched streets to find the missing.

But the tangle of expectation and the dynamics of power cannot be easily ignored, even if there are children in danger. When Daniel's past threatens to overwhelm his future, he will need a miracle and the help of his friends to both apprehend the villain and unravel his tangled family web. And it may be that his new responsibilities demand that he leave the children of the shadows to their terrible fate--or lose everything.

Erica Vetsch's popular Regency mystery series concludes with a bang, sure to satisfy readers who have hung on every page since book one.

 

My Thoughts:

Missing Children. Rightful heir to a name. Emotions running wild. These are some of the events that will happen when readers approach and dive into Children of the Shadows by Erica Vetsch. I enjoy the tame mystery element of the Regency era mystery. Nothing over the top, but enough of a head scratcher that readers will keep flipping through the pages to find out what is happening to the children. I love how seamless the story flows. Once I dove into the lives of Daniel and Juliette, it was like returning to friends that readers have not seen for a while. It was nice to play catch up and feel the hurt and love just alongside them. The setting is nicely handled and developed in my imagination as the characters roam through London from the wealthy to the poor side of town. Readers should definitely read the first two books in the series to help set up some of the backstory for Daniel. Not that this story cannot be read as a stand alone novel, but the first two stories give more information on what happens in this story. Vetsch does a wonderful job at crafting a couple of threads that has woven through all three stories and delivered them nicely to the readers like she promised. Overall, Children of the Shadows by Erica Vetsch is definitely a book that I want to own in my personal library and would recommend this story to young mystery lovers.

I received a complimentary copy of Children of the Shadows by Erica Vetsch from Kregel Publishing, but the opinions stated are all my own.

My Rating:   4.5 out of 5 stars

PURCHASE LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | ChristianBook | Bookshop | BookBub

More in This Series

 

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About the Author

Erica Vetsch is a New York Times best-selling author and ACFW Carol Award winner, and has been a

Romantic Times top pick for her previous books. She loves Jesus, history, romance, and watching sports.

This transplanted Kansan now makes her home in Rochester, Minnesota.

Connect with Erica by visiting ericavetsch.com to follow her on social media and sign up for email updates.

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Tour Giveaway

(1) winner will win a complete paperback set of the Thorndike and Swann series, and a $10 amazon gift card

Full tour schedule linked below. The giveaway begins at midnight October 23, 2023 and will last through 11:59

PM EST on October 30, 2023. Winner will be notified within 2 weeks of close of the giveaway and given 48

hours to respond or risk forfeiture of prize. US only. Void where prohibited by law or logistics.

Giveaway is subject to JustRead Publicity Tours Giveaway Policies.

Enter Giveaway

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Follow along at JustRead Tours for a full list of stops!

David James Warren: Heart of Stone

 By Kelly Bridgewater

Rembrandt Stone has nothing left to lose…or does he?

Detective Rembrandt Stone doesn’t recognize himself in the mirror. Doesn’t recognize the world he’s returned to. Doesn’t even know his own name. But he knows one thing…living in this world is impossible.

Good thing he has an ally—an unexpected friend from the past. And together, they just might be able to unravel the entire mess. But first…Rembrandt will have to return to the past one final time and intercept himself before he makes a lethal mistake.

Time has outwitted him. It’s time for him to outwit time. Can he reconstruct a past he just destroyed or is there nothing left of his world to save?

The explosive ending to the True Lies of Rembrandt Stone!

 

My Thoughts:

Heart of  Stone by David James Warren hits the final, explosive conclusion to the 6 part mini-series beginning with Cast the First Stone. If readers have been reading these books as they have been released, they will be excited to obtain the final book and have the full story come to life. If readers are not familiar with the whole series, I highly recommend reading them in order. Heart of Stone has a few surprises that are important to the overall arch of the plot, so readers would not want to be confused to some of the reference to items that occurred in a previous story. Overall, Heart of Stone was a high octane suspense chase through the pages of Rem’s life as he tries to finally return his life back to normal. What a wonderful story! I loved the way Warren kept the reader guessing at the end of each novel, begging me to return to the next installment, which luckily enough, I did not have to wait to long to read. Highly recommend this series for fans of lots of movement and suspense in their novels.

I received a complimentary copy of Heart of Stone by David James Warren from Sunrise Publishing, but the opinions stated are all my own.

My Rating:  4 out of 5 stars

Purchase Heart of Stone

David James Warren: Blood From a Stone

 By Kelly Bridgewater

He fled the future with blood on his hands. Now, he’ll do anything to stop a killer.

Tragedy has yet again taken from Detective Rembrandt Stone everything he loves. Now, he has one last chance to get things right and stop a killer he’s been hunting across four timelines. Instead, he gets tangled in a petty crime that just might cost him his once chance at justice.

With two murders to stop, and thirty-eight lives still in the balance, Rembrandt must play his hand against time just right if he wants to win his future. Play it wrong and his life will stay shattered beyond repair.

What sacrifices will he have to make to come home to his wife and daughter?

The stakes have never been higher in the heart-wrenching, edge-of-your-seat fifth story of theTrue Lies of Rembrandt Stone.

My Thoughts:

Blood from a Stone by David James Warren for the fifth time allows readers to time travel with Rembrandt to the past as he tries to fix the future back to the way it was. Of course, more problems arise. After having failed four times, he hopes and prays that the fifth time is the charm. Again with the knowledge of past events, he tries to stop the crimes before they occur, but it does not end up correct and a domino effect of errors start occurring. After reading all five novels at this time, I really can’t wait to see how Warren ties up this series. Does everything go back to the way it was? Does Rembrandt learn to accept life the way it is? The plot continues to showcase danger and the hunt for the Jackson Five killer. I do enjoy the amount of action that is crafted in the novel. I do enjoy that Warren has Rembrandt try really hard to win his wife’s Eve affections. Overall, Blood from a Stone is another thrilling installment, and I can’t wait to get my hand on the final book and see how this series ends.

I received a complimentary copy of Blood from a Stone by David James Warren from Sunrise Publishing, but the opinions stated are all my own.

My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Purchase Blood from a Stone

Robin Caroll: Darkwater Secrets

By Kelly Bridgewater

A murder investigation uncovers sordid secrets and haunting mistakes

The Darkwater Inn stands tall and proud in the French Quarter, the hub of New Orleans. Bourbon Street is bustling, and general manager Adelaide Fountaine has her hands full with a hotel at capacity. But she is shocked when a body is found: a hotel guest stabbed with a kitchen knife.

Detective Beau Savoie, Adelaide's childhood friend, is on the case. As Beau digs into the victim's past, he unearths a shocking connection between Adelaide and the murdered guest. Beau is hurt that his friend--the woman he's quietly loved for years--kept the truth from him. To make matters worse, the stress of the investigation has sent Adelaide right into the comforting arms of her coworker Dimitri. But Beau can't press Adelaide too hard . . . because he's keeping secrets of his own.

Can Adelaide and Beau afford to hide from the truth with a killer on the loose?

From Amazon

My Thoughts:

A romantic suspense or suspense is a genre I have read quite widely in, so I have a good idea of what works and what doesn't. Some of my favorite suspense or thrillers writers are Steven James, Carrie Stuart Parks, and Lynette Eason. They know how to capture an audience with plenty of page-turning suspense and having me guess who the bad guy is from the beginning, chasing clues with every page. Darkwater Secrets by Robin Caroll is my first chance to read her book. I had a hard time calling this novel a suspense novel.

The setting in New Orleans came to life was one of Caroll's strongest suites when it comes to her writing. She brings the French Quarter to life and allows me to travel to a city that I have never or desired to visit. Caroll brought the history and the traditions of the city to life for me.

The plot was the problem I had with the novel. A mystery usually introduces the killing of the victim either in the prologue or in the first chapter, then the story moves forward, trying to follow the clues to solve the mystery. BUT . . . Caroll waited until Chapter three to show the murderer attacking and killing the dead person. The first two chapters introduce you to  Adelaide, Dimitri, and Beau and set the stage for the story. Another element that bothered me was that Caroll started to have the characters follow the trail of clues, leading us toward a justifiable reason to suspect a person. Then the next chapter, Caroll had the person claim he did the murder and turned themselves into the police. This was only around page 182 in the novel. For the next eighty pages, Carroll dragged me along to solve the issues mentioned in the first couple of chapters then ended the novel with the person appearing in court for his sentencing.

As for the characters, I found them not that interesting. None of them learned and changed from the beginning to the end. Static characters. Of all three main characters, Dimitri stood out the most because he wants to become a chef not the CEO of his father's hotel business. Never once was any of the character's lives in danger. They were never threatened by the murder or had any reason to be afraid.

Overall, Darkwater Secrets by Robin Caroll did not flow like a standard suspense novel. Caroll introduced the murdered body too late and showed her cards too early, making me want to close the novel and wandered why I should keep reading. I don't know how I feel about reading the next book in the series. If you are fans of Lynette Eason, Carrie Stuart Parks, or Steven James, like me, then this book might heavily disappoint you too. Fans of Colleen Coble, Brandilyn Collins, or Lorena McCourtney might enjoy this novel.

I received a complimentary copy of Darkwater Secrets by Robin Caroll from Gilead Publishing through JustRead tours, but the opinion stated are all my own.

My Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

Lindsay Franklin: The Story Peddler

By Kelly Bridgewater

Selling stories is a deadly business

Tanwen doesn't just tell stories--she weaves them into crystallized sculptures that sell for more than a few bits. But the only way to escape the control of her cruel mentor and claw her way from poverty is to set her sights on something grander: becoming Royal Storyteller to the king.


During her final story peddling tour, a tale of treason spills from her hands, threatening the king himself. Tanwen goes from peddler to prey as the king's guard hunts her down...and they're not known for their mercy. As Tanwen flees for her life, she unearths long-buried secrets and discovers she's not the only outlaw in the empire. There's a rebel group of weavers...and they're after her too.

From Amazon

My Thoughts:

The Story Peddler by Lindsay Franklin is her debut fiction novel. And what a gem of a story it is. The plot read like nothing I have ever seen before. It was different, yet in a marvelous way. The characters and the plot intertwined just like the story weaves coming from Tanwen's fingers. I got lost in this imaginary world and couldn't wait to see where Franklin was taking me. Franklin does a good job at describing this world and allowing me to travel around without allowing to stop and fill me with every detail. She explains just what I need to see when I need to see it. Her unique voice stands out, allowing me to experience the story in all its brilliance. The story caught my attention, and I really can't wait for the next installment coming out summer 2019. If you are a fan of C. S. Lewis or S. D. Grimm, then this book might be the right one for you.

I received a complimentary copy of The Story Peddler by Lindsay Franklin from Enclave Publishing through the Just Read Tours, but the opinions stated are all my own.

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars