The Marquess's Masked Archer by Abbey Downey Review

 

The Marquess's Masked Archer by Abbey Downey is an amazing start to her Headliners and Heartstrings series. It drew me in from the first page and if I hadn't had responsibilities to tend to, I would have finished this book in just a couple of days. I did NOT want to put it down. 

Sylvie Bryce is a young woman who just wants the chance to prove to her parents, mostly her overbearing mother, that she can make important decisions on her own. Especially the decision of who she wants to spend the rest of her life wed too. But she also wants to have some independence, and has decided to spend some of her summer participating in something she loves to do, archery. Which, is an acceptable past time for women of her station back in the beginning of the 20th century. However, having a job, making a spectacle of herself, using her archery in a show at a resort, is NOT something that is acceptable. So, she is doing so in disguise. 

Miles Wentworth is the marquess who she meets at one of the events she is obligated to attend. A man her mother wants to pair her up with because of his title. So, of course Sylvie wants nothing to do with him, as he is her mother's choice for her. He is sought after by many of the young ladies; however, his eye is set on Sylvie. And he wants to prove to her that he is worth falling for, even though it would mean giving her mother the satisfaction of being right. But, he too has a secret he is keeping from everyone. 

I loved watching Sylvie and Miles get to know each other better, even though they were doing so without both of them realizing it. They struggled with not knowing how the other was feeling while trying to keep secrets from each other. But as they got closer, and their feelings became clearer to themselves, they both desired to clear the air, so to speak. However, there were other circumstances going on that twisted things even more, including some blackmailing which really got under my skin.  

I was 100% rooting for them in every aspect of what they desired. I loved this glimpse into high society off on their summer vacation in a real historic setting. And though there were secrets and deception, it was obvious that it was wrong, and I loved that Sylvie and Miles were seeking for God's will in their lives, even through heartache and difficult times. 

I absolutely loved this book and I am looking forward to the next book in the series. I highly recommend this Christian historical romance. 

I received an e-copy of this book from the publisher and was not required to write a favorable review. These are my own honest thoughts.

Friday Fun - October 9, 2026

Welcome to my Friday Fun post. This is where I share with three different book parties that post on Fridays: First Line Friday, Friday Book Snippets, and Book Blogger Hop.

This week I have two books to share with you.

I read Fatal Finale by Nancy Mehl. This is the third and final book in her Erin Delaney Mysteries.

I started In Fairy Tales & Fraud by Heather Tabers. This is the second book in her Words & War series which releases next week. 

First Line Friday

(Please join Carrie for First Line Friday.)

Here are my First Line Friday selections:

Fatal Finale by Nancy Mehl:

"Kaely's eyes fluttered open, and she tried to focus on her surroundings."

I knew the story was about her getting kidnapped, so I wondered if she was already captured here or if it was something else.

In Fairy Tales & Fraud by Heather Tabers:

"The only thing worse than a fussing woman is two fussing women and I have a pair of them frettin' over me something fierce."

Okay, why two women and who were they and why were they frettin'?

Friday Book Snippets    

 

Friday Book Snippets is the new weekly blog party that has combined Book Beginnings on Friday and Friday56. Participants can link up at either Bemused & Bookish with Olivia or Head Full of Books with Anne. Here are the instructions:

Share two snippets (a sentence or short paragraph) from a) the book's opening and b) page 56 (or another page) from the book you are currently reading. No spoilers, please.

Here is my selection from page 56 or 56% of the way through the book:

Fatal Finale by Nancy Mehl:

"After the last dream, when Grace pleaded with him to avenge her murder, he woke up sobbing. He knew he had to follow through. What could anyone do to him?"

In Fairy Tales & Fraud  by Heather Tabers:

"Adele works her lower lip between her teeth. 'I'm so sorry. Maybe I misunderstood. Maybe I heard wrong.'

I shake my head. 'It's alright. I'll head over to the airfield after our shift and find out what's going on.'

She nods, then drops her gaze to her lap, where she picks at her thumbnail."

Book Blogger Hop.

Book Blogger Hop

The Book Blogger Hop is hosted by Billy over at Ranblings of a Coffee-Addicted Writer. The hop occurs weekly, starting on Friday and ending the following Thursday, featuring a specific book-related prompt each week. The main goal is to connect bloggers, encouraging them to follow each other, discover new titles, and grow their audience.

This week's question is: Do you run more than one blog? If so, how do you manage your time?

My answer: Not anymore. I used to also have a homeschool blog and that one actually took up the majority of my time. And I have one where I shared my healthy eating, but that one went to the wayside too. 

And now it is time to share my current Reviews:

 

Last week I shared about one book. Here's my review:

The One I Didn't Expect by Sara R. Turnquist

And here is the review for the first book I shared about above:

Fatal Finale by Nancy Mehl

The One I Didn't Expect by Sara R. Turnquist Review

 

The One I Didn't Expect by Sara R. Turnquist is a wonderful conclusion to the Fox Grove series. Each book in this series focuses on one of three friends, their upcoming ten-year high school reunion, and their potential love interests. We are introduced to all three of the friends in the first book mainly through the FMC, Tilly, texting them as she plans the reunion. In the second book we got Gracelyn's story. And now, we finally got to read Jo's story. 

Jo is in vet school down in Florida and has been keeping to herself the fact that she is struggling with her studies and her clinicals. She is not sure what her future looks like, but for now she wants to head to her ten-year class reunion. However, she doesn't have a way to get there because she doesn't have a vehicle. Enter our MMC, Ethan, brother of Tilly, Zoo Educator, and guy with a secret crush on Jo since they were in school. He happens to be on his way home from a zoological conference down in Florida, so he agrees to bring her back to Fox Grove in time for the reunion. 

Or, at least they hope they will be in time. Things keep happening that delay them, causing them to be in close proximity for even longer than they had planned. And they hadn't gotten off to the greatest of starts when he arrived to pick Jo up. I loved watching their relationship evolve as they dealt with the delays and they spent more time together. There was humor but also some serious discussion going on, and dealing with struggles, anger, and grief. . 

I loved this quote: "So much of life is outside of our control and pulls us forward whether we like it or not. Why not take some joy when and where it comes?"

And I loved seeing faith play an important role in their lives and learning to trust God.

All in all, this was a great book, though I really wish there was another book upcoming so we could see more of these three couples, how their relationships are developing, plus more of their other friends and family members. I do wish some things had been wrapped up a bit more as well. 

I received an e-copy of this book from the publisher and was not required to write a favorable review. These are my own honest thoughts.

Fatal Finale by Nancy Mehl Review

Fatal Finale was an awesome conclusion to Nancy Mehl's Erin Delaney Mysteries series. I loved the way it came full circle back to her original Kaely Quinn Profiler series, as that is my favorite series of hers, the series where we first become acquainted with Kaely Quinn and her unique way of profiling a murderer. 

I love that Erin is friends with Kaely in this series and that Kaely isn't just a side character. This story is told from multiple characters' points of view, including side characters and the bad guy. I love being able to get in the head of the criminal and see where he's coming from. Usually this adds to the suspense for me, but with this book I found that it lessened the suspense, and I really started having sympathy for this character, even though he had kidnapped Kaely and had given Erin six days to find her before he kills her. 

Against the kidnapper's warning, Erin is working with the police chief, who she might just being admitting to herself she has feelings for, and Kaely's husband Noah, who happens to be an FBI agent. They were actually confused on how the kidnapped expected Erin to keep this information from the police and FBI to work alone when the police and FBI are so close to this case. 

I enjoyed reading each of the clues that the kidnapper gave to Erin and watching them try to decipher them as quickly as possible. Having the countdown did give this story a decent amount of suspense, but it definitely wasn't very intense. The reader learns a lot from the bad guy before the good guys have a chance to figure it out, and we know his identity quite quickly plus we know what his motive is. Even though it wasn't over-the-top suspenseful, I still could not put this book down and finished it in about a day. I needed to know how Kaely would be saved and what would happen to the kidnapper. There was also concern for the side characters that were introduced. 

Faith in God is a huge part of this story. I appreciate the way the characters lean on Him, pray to Him, trust in Him, share Scripture, and talk about salvation. There was an aspect that seemed a bit controversial until the truth of what was happening was revealed. 

I enjoyed this book more than the second book in the series, though I again felt that there were mistakes that should have been caught in editing. 

All in all, I loved this book and this series and can't wait to read more from this author. I was so excited when this book arrived at the library I just had to set the other book aside that I was reading. 

 

Friday Fun - October 2, 2026

Welcome to my Friday Fun post. This is where I share with three different book parties that post on Fridays: First Line Friday, Friday Book Snippets, and Book Blogger Hop.

This week I have one book to share with you.

I started an eARC of The One I Didn't Expect by Sara R Turnquist. This is the third and final book of the Fox Grove series and it releases next week, on October 6th.

First Line Friday

(Please join Carrie for First Line Friday.)

Here is my First Line Friday selection:

The One I Didn't Expect by Sara R. Turnquist:

"Josephine Mercer looked at the clock for the millionth time. . . when would the day end?"

I wondered if she was just having a bad day or if she had special plans at the end of her busy day.

Friday Book Snippets    

 

Friday Book Snippets is the new weekly blog party that has combined Book Beginnings on Friday and Friday56. Participants can link up at either Bemused & Bookish with Olivia or Head Full of Books with Anne. Here are the instructions:

Share two snippets (a sentence or short paragraph) from a) the book's opening and b) page 56 (or another page) from the book you are currently reading. No spoilers, please.

Here are my selections from page 56 or 56% of the way through the book:

The One I Didn't Expect by Sara R. Turnquist:

"'Traffic app?'

He glanced at her quickly. 'I mean. . . map app. Don't you have an app for directions?'

She shook her head, somewhat sheepishly.

'How do you find anything when you're driving?' He hated the frustration that seeped into his tone.

'I don't have a car,' she bit back just as forcefully.'"

Book Blogger Hop.

Book Blogger Hop

The Book Blogger Hop is hosted by Billy over at Ranblings of a Coffee-Addicted Writer. The hop occurs weekly, starting on Friday and ending the following Thursday, featuring a specific book-related prompt each week. The main goal is to connect bloggers, encouraging them to follow each other, discover new titles, and grow their audience.

This week's question is: As a book lover, what's your biggest fear?

My answer: That there is no way I am going to ever get to all the books I want to read. 

And now it is time to share my current Reviews:

 

Last week I shared about two books. I haven't finished the one, but here is the review for the other:

The Accident by A.M. Heath

A few weeks ago I shared about the newest book in the Painted Wind series, here is that review:

Song of the Khan by J.J. Fischer

Song of the Khan by J.J. Fischer Review

 

Song of the Khan by J.J. Fischer is an awesome third book of the Painted Wind series. I had a bit of trouble getting into it at first, but that was only because I was struggling to remember who everybody was, where we had left them all at the end of the last book, and what exactly was going on. As I continued in the story, my memory was constantly being jogged and I was sucked deeper into the world of the twin kingdoms. 

The story is told from multiple points of view, the main ones being Rigan and Corcoran, and Isel and Soren. There are so many awesome characters surrounding the main characters, plus downright evil and traitorous characters trying to bring them down on multiple fronts. 

The story has grown darker, starting with the first chapter, and it continued to grow darker still. There is war and prophecy, death and new life, and faith in the Divine Will. There are the two main love stories, plus other couples and families who become beloved as well. There are creatures of evil and of good. Plus fantastical fantasy creatures that come to the aid of our heroes. Including one that I didn't quite see coming until it was revealed and then I was like, oh yeah, that makes sense. Let's just say, this series has everything that I love in a fantasy story. 

I am very curious about how the author is planning on working out this huge prophecy. There are biblical connections that have me a bit confused and maybe a tiny bit concerned with how she might be playing it out. And reading the prophecy it sure seems like there is going to be some heartbreak in the characters' future, which means there will be the need for tissues in the next book. I'm very much looking forward to the fourth and final book of the series, but I have a bit of trepidation as well.

I highly recommend this book, along with the rest of the series. And yes, you really do need to read this series in order.

I received an e-copy of this book from the publisher and was not required to write a favorable review. There are my own honest thoughts.

The Accident by A.M. Heath Review

 

The Accident by A.M. Heath is cute yet cautionary short novella written completely in text messages and journal entries. I thought this was such a unique idea and was very well done. Who would think you could tell a story successfully this way. But A.M. Heath did it. 

The story starts off with a text message from Chris to Danielle. Only he had texted the wrong person, a complete stranger, by mistake. And to make it even more complicated, it wasn't Danielle who answered the text. It was her teenaged daughter Ashlyn. Danielle wasn't well, and didn't notice that her daughter had been texting back and forth with this stranger. Thankfully this is not a suspense story (seeing as I could definitely see things heading south in a suspense story), and we see the texts going back and forth between Chris and Ashlyn, plus we see Ashlyn's journal entries which help to expand upon the story, with her feelings, with events that are happening, the struggles she is dealing with. 

The reader can see that their conversations are innocent, but woo-ee, watch out when the truth comes to light and Danielle realizes that her daughter was been texting a stranger. And when Chris realizes he's been texting a teenager thinking he was talking with an adult.Then things become even more interesting and complicated because Danielle is the one texting Chris and we get to see her point of view, and are only seeing Ashlyn's thoughts through the journal entries. 

I love how biblical truths are woven into this story, along with warnings when it comes to social media safety. 

This story was a quick read. I started it in the afternoon and finished it the next morning. Definitely a unique story and one I recommend.