Book Review: In the Shadow of the River

 In the Shadow of the River

by Ann H. Gabhart

 Revell 

 Christian  |  Historical Fiction 

Revell and Netgalley have provided me with a copy of In the Shadow of the River for review:

If all the world is a stage, then Jacci will play her role.

Her only hope is that her story does not turn out to be tragic.

Five-year-old Jacci Reed is kidnapped from the steamboat her mother, Irena, works on in 1881. As a result of her wounds, Irena takes Jacci aboard the Kingston Floating Palace, a showboat that is moored nearby. It is here that Jacci's actor grandfather tends to her, and it is there that Jacci gets her first taste of the life she is soon to lead.

15 years later, Jacci is an actress aboard the Kingston Floating Palace, largely content with her adopted family of actors, singers, and dancers. Especially Gabe, who has always supported her, and her gruff grandfather, who she has come to know and love. It has been years since Jacci's mother died, but the memory of the altercation that ultimately resulted in her death--and the cryptic things Jacci has heard about her past--are always present in the back of her mind.

When someone on the showboat attempts to kill Jacci, it is evident that her questions need to be answered. Secrets, however, tend to remain hidden, and she will have a difficult time finding the answers she needs. It is Gabe's only hope that they will arrive in time for him and Jacci to be able to begin their future together.

I give In the Shadows of the River five out of five stars!

Happy Reading!