After the Shadows by Amanda Cabot Review

 Happy Monday Bookish Lovelies :)

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend, and I'm so thankful you've decided to start your week off by stopping by my little corner of the internet.

My weekend was pretty crazy busy (thanks to work being insane), but I loved getting to spend Sunday having quality time with Jesus and my hubby, and curling up with some wonderful reads.

Since we got kind of a huge unexpected snowstorm over the weekend, I was especially grateful for great reads to curl up with inside out of the cold. 

One of those wonderful reads is one that I'm hear to tell you all about today.

I'm looking forward to sharing this particular review, and I hope you'll all keep reading down below to hear what I ended up thinking about this particular title.

After the Shadows by Amanda Cabot:

Source: Complimentary Copy Provided by the Publisher as Part of the Revell Reads Blogger Program

Publisher: Revell

Publication Date: March 21st, 2023

Genre: Christian Fiction/Historical Fiction

Series: Secrets of Sweetwater Crossing

Synopsis:

Emily Leland sheds no tears when her abusive husband is killed in a bar fight, but what awaits her back home in Sweetwater Crossing is far from the welcome and comfort she expected. First she discovers her father has died under mysterious circumstances. Then the house where the new schoolteacher and his son are supposed to board burns, leaving them homeless. When Emily proposes turning the family home into a boardinghouse, her sister is so incensed that she leaves town.

Alone and broke, her family name sullied by controversy, Emily is determined to solve the mystery of her father's death--and to aid Craig Ferguson, despite her fears of men. The widowed schoolmaster proves to be a devoted father, an innovative teacher, and an unexpected ally. Together they must work to unmask a killer and escape the shadows of their own pasts in order to forge a brighter future.

Bestselling author Amanda Cabot transports you to 1880s Texas Hill Country for a brand-new series that will have you flipping pages to solve the mystery and get to the happily-ever-after you long for.

(synopsis from goodreads)

My Review:

After the Shadows is the first in a brand new historical fiction series by beloved author Amanda Cabot. The Secrets of Sweetwater Crossing series takes readers on a journey to Texas in 1882, where Emily Leland has recently found herself a widow after her abusive husband is killed in an accident. Returning home to her childhood home isn't the refuge she's expecting, and instead she discovers both of her parent's have recently passed away, her father under mysterious circumstances. Left to try and pick up the pieces, Emily decides to open her family's generous home as a boarding house, which soon leads her to housing an elderly widow and the new schoolmaster (Craig Ferguson) and his young son. When certain sinister details from the town don't seem to be adding up, Emily and Craig must work together to uncover the truth behind terrible secrets, and learn to move past their own hurts from their pasts in the process.

All in all, this was a wonderful start to a new series, and it was hard to put it down once I started it. The characters were wonderfully developed, the setting was idyllic and atmospheric, and plot points were also introduced that are likely to be carried over into the next entries in the series. 

The romance was slow burn, which I'm usually a big fan of, and was kept clean and sweet without compromising any of the emotion behind Emily and Craig's feelings. I always think it's a sign of a talented author when they can tell a wonderful romance without needing to include sensual content to do so, and that was definitely the case here.

My only complaint for the entirety of the story was that I personally found the culprit was quite easy to pick out from early on, and that left the ending of the story to be a bit of a letdown to me when I was proven right.

However, I overall loved this one, and I think it's another solid story from one of the genre's best. I definitely recommend it to anyone who enjoys Christian historical fiction, especially with a side of mystery.

Final Rating: 4/5.

Thanks so much to Revell for allowing me to read and review this title!

I voluntarily read and reviewed a complimentary copy of this novel from the publisher (Revell) as part of the Revell Reads Blogger Program. I was not required to give a positive review. All thoughts and opinions are my own, and this is my honest review.

Thanks so much for reading guys! I pray your week is off to a great start, and I look forward to sharing many more book reviews with you all in the very near future. :)