If you’re already an avid book reader or someone still trying to follow through on your New Year’s goal of reading more, the summer is a great time for relaxing with a good book. Longer, sunnier days, afternoons beside the pool, family vacations with long road trips or flights – all of this makes for some prime reading time! If you’re on the hunt for just the right book to enjoy this summer, I’ve got you covered! Here are five Christian historical novels I absolutely LOVE that would make the perfect summer read. Simply click on the book titles to view each book on Amazon!
1. A Lady’s Guide to Marvels and Misadventure by Angela Bell
This book is SO MUCH FUN! It puts a unique, whimsical twist on both Around the World in 80 Days and The Nutcracker (no, Christmas is not involved in the story at all!), all set against the backdrop of Victorian England. We follow Clara Stanton, her grandfather’s apprentice, and her animal activist mother as they travel across Europe in search of Clara’s missing, highly-eccentric Grandfather Drosselmeyer – and get into many hilarious hijinks along the way. When I tell you this book made me laugh, I mean truly laugh out loud on multiple occasions. Clara’s mother and her menagerie of special needs or stray animals were truly the highlight of the book for me. The scene with the baby foxes on the loose is perhaps the funniest thing I have ever read in my life… You’ll just have to read it to find out what I mean!
2. A Beautiful Disguise by Roseanna M. White
This book is the first in Roseanna’s newest series, The Imposters, about a pair of English aristocratic siblings who were left broke upon the death of their eccentric father and decided to use their unique acting and acrobatic skill sets – courtesy of growing up with retired circus performers as their household servants – to start a private detective business. It’s whimsical and a little zany and absolutely so much fun! In this first installment, the Imposters find themselves working a case involving a missing intelligence agent, and the twists just keep on coming. Roseanna’s books are always so good, and this one was no exception. It had me guessing until the end and highly looking forward to the next installment in the series. If you want something set in the Edwardian era, with a dash of romance, a heavy dose of mystery, and a lot of charm, this book is it!
3. The Seamstress of Acadie by Laura Frantz
No one writes early American history novels like Laura Frantz. Her writing style is so lyrical and beautiful and never fails to leave me awed and inspired by her skill. Her 2024 release, The Seamstress of Acadie, was so good and ranks high on my list of favorites by her. It’s far more serious than my previous two recommendations, even a little heavy at times, as our heroine experiences so much heartache. But through the pain, there is hope and light. The romance between Sylvie Gallant and Major Blackburn was the absolute sweetest, and the theme of God’s ability to heal our broken hearts touched me in a deep way. I cannot recommend this book, and all of Laura’s work, enough!
4. Voice of the Ancient by Connilyn Cossette
Connilyn Cossette will always be the queen of Biblical Fiction for me. There are a couple other authors in this genre that I adore, and I always eagerly anticipate their new releases, but Connilyn’s books just have something so special about them. Many Biblical novels take a character from the Bible and flesh out what the details of their story might have been – and I love those kinds of books too – but Connilyn takes a different approach. She creates “regular” fictional people and places them in the midst of Biblical events, which allows us to view those passages of Scripture from a new, unique perspective. Her current series is called “The King’s Men” and it follows four cousins as they leave home to go fight alongside King Saul. In book one, Voice of the Ancient, after his impulsive decision to join the army against his father’s wishes goes horribly wrong, Avidan’s path unexpectedly collides with Keziah, a young woman in disguise and on the run from an unwanted marriage. What follows is an action-packed journey that had me on my toes until the very end! As always, Connilyn weaves such powerful Biblical themes into her stories, and this one truly left me convicted and challenged by the last page.
5. When the Day Comes by Gabrielle Meyer
This series, y’all… It has become one of my top two favorite things I have read in my adult life – and I’ve read some really incredible books in the past 8 1/2 years. The “Timeless” series by Gabrielle Meyer centers around a bloodline of women born with a strange gift–they have two different lives in two different eras of time. When they go to sleep in one timeline, they wake up in the other, back and forth every day until their 21st birthday when they must choose which life to keep and which to forfeit forever. If you can buy into the fantastical premise, I can almost 100% guarantee you will love this series just as much as I do. Book one, When the Day Comes, starts off the series with a young woman named Libby who lives in both 1774 Colonial Williamsburg, VA and 1914 Gilded Age New York City. When I tell you this book blew my mind… I mean it. There were several twists that had my jaw on the floor and I just could not see how on earth Libby’s story could have a happy ending. But sometimes you’ve just got to trust the author, right? And believe me, the tumultuous journey to get to the book’s ending is worth it! This book, and the whole series so far, is more than just an exciting story. It’s honestly so deeply beautiful and profound and one of the best things I’ve ever read!
Photo by Aliis Sinisalu on Unsplash
