A Christmas To Remember by Penny ZellerSeries: Book 2 of 2 | Hilltop SeriesPublisher: Maplebrook Publishing, LLC. (December 9, 2025)Review by Gwen M. Plano A Christmas to Remember is a tender frontier Christmas story set in a small town in Montana, during the 1906 influenza pandemic. The disease left towns and communities struggling to care for... Continue Reading →
Restoring Hope by Philippa Cleall
Restoring Hope by Philippa CleallSeries: StandalonePublisher: Ark House Press (October 31, 2025) REVIEW BY GWEN M. PLANO In some ways, Restoring Hope is a familiar story. A young woman, Hope Elkins, escapes an abusive marriage and returns to her hometown to rebuild a family café and rediscovers herself. As the story unfolds, so do the foundational... Continue Reading →
The Prayer Box by Lisa Wingate
The Prayer Box by Lisa WingateSeries: Book 1 of 3 of A Carolina ChroniclesPublisher: Tyndale Fiction (September 1, 2013)Review by Gwen M. Plano Tandi Jo Reese runs from an abusive marriage. With her two children in tow, she finds a hiding place in Iola Anne Poole’s small bungalow on Hatteras Island, North Carolina. Tandi has very... Continue Reading →
Cowboy Walking Away by Jessie Gussman
Cowboy Walking Away by Jessie Gussman Series: Book 1 of 12, Coming Home to North Dakota SeriesPublisher: Jessie Gussman (March 1, 2022) REVIEW BY GWEN M. PLANO In this Christian romance story, Rose’s husband leaves her for another woman. She is devastated and questions herself, life, and even God. Soon thereafter, she meets Derek, who... Continue Reading →
Unexpected Witness by Penny Zeller
Unexpected Witness by Penny ZellerBook 1 of 3 Mountain JusticePublisher: Maplebrook Publishing, October 22, 2024 REVIEW BY GWEN M. PLANO In this Christian Suspense novel, nurse Mila Casey completes her shift at the local hospital and walks to her car in the employee parking lot. She notices some peculiar behavior, draws closer, and then witnesses... Continue Reading →
Rocky Mountain Pursuit by Mary Alford
Rocky Mountain Pursuit by Mary AlfordSeries: StandalonePublisher: Love Inspired Suspense (February 1, 2016)Review by Gwen M. Plano In this fast-paced Christian suspense novel, Reyna Peterson is pursued by those intent on malice. She runs, not knowing why. She hides, not understanding the reason she must. Each movement brings her deeper into a complex web of deceit... Continue Reading →
Over the Waters by Deborah Raney
Over the Waters by Deborah RaneySeries: StandalonePublisher: Raney Day Press (February 13, 2019)Review by Gwen M. Plano Writer Deborah Raney’s book, Over the Waters, is a layered journey through wealth and poverty, hope and despair, faith and its absence. The setting is the small Caribbean nation of Haiti, and specifically, one of its orphanages. In this... Continue Reading →
The REUNION by Dan Walsh
The Reunion by Dan WalshSeries: StandalonePublisher: Bainbridge Press; 2nd edition (August 28, 2019)Review by Gwen M. Plano The Reunion by Dan Walsh is a story of interwoven journeys. The one constant is Aaron Miller, a maintenance man for a trailer park. When he returned from the Vietnam War, he was accompanied by PTSD and an addiction to... Continue Reading →
Celebrity Pastor by Creston Mapes
Celebrity Pastor by Creston MapesPublisher: Rooftop Press (June 6, 2024)Review by Gwen M. Plano Creston Mapes is one of my favorite writers. His stories are fast-paced and thought-provoking—just what I enjoy. Though a suspense and thriller writer, he sidesteps gruesome details, as well as explicit sexual encounters, and creates stories that stand on their own. This book... Continue Reading →