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Counterfeit Love by Crystal Caudill (Review and Giveaway!)

Counterfeit Love

Crystal Caudill's debut novel is filled with non-stop action, intrigue, romance, and mystery. 

Book Details:

Title: Counterfeit Love by Crystal Caudill
Category: Adult Fiction, 336 pages
Genre: Historical Romance
Publisher: Kregel Publications
Release date: March 15, 2022
Content rating: PG-13 (violence related to a gang of thieves and counterfeiters)


Book Description:

Can this undercover agent save the woman he loves--or is her heart as counterfeit as the money he's been sent to track down?

After all that Grandfather has sacrificed to raise her, Theresa Plane owes it to him to save the family name--and that means clearing their debt with creditors before she marries Edward Greystone. But when one of the creditors' threats leads her to stumble across a midnight meeting, she discovers that the money he owes isn't all Grandfather was hiding. And the secrets he kept have now trapped Theresa in a life-threatening fight for her home--and the truth.

After months of undercover work, Secret Service operative Broderick Cosgrove is finally about to uncover the identity of the leader of a notorious counterfeiting ring. That moment of triumph turns to horror, however, when he finds undeniable proof that his former fiancé is connected. Can he really believe the woman he loved is a willing participant? Protecting Theresa and proving her innocence may destroy his career--but that's better than failing her twice in one lifetime.

They must form a partnership, tentative though it is. But there's no question they're both still keeping secrets--and that lack of trust, along with the dangerous criminals out for their blood, threatens their hearts, their faith, and their very survival.

To read an excerpt of Counterfeit Love click here.


My Review:
Reviewed by Laura Fabiani

Crystal Caudill's debut novel is filled with non-stop action, intrigue, romance, and mystery. I enjoyed it for the most part but I did have some issues with it. Theresa Plane is an orphan who lives with her curmudgeon grandfather. She is engaged to Edward Greystone but it becomes clear she does not love him when Broderick Cosgrove comes back to town and gets her heart pounding again after six years of not seeing each other. There is backstory here, but it's not clear what exactly happened between the two of them because the author only reveals bits and pieces of it throughout the story, and this made the beginning somewhat hard to follow.

Broderick Cosgrove is an operative in the Secret Service and he is working undercover to try to uncover the leader of a counterfeiting ring. Unfortunately, Theresa's grandfather is involved and this puts Theresa in danger and she becomes a suspect for the Secret Service. There are twists and turns, a slew of characters, and enough action to almost label this a thriller, rather than a Christian historical romance. Not a bad thing. However, the amount of action came at the cost of underdeveloped characters, such as that of Edward and Nathaniel. The pacing was great though, and it kept me turning the pages.

Theresa is strong-willed and fiercely independent but she threw herself into dangerous situations that made her seem foolish and naive. I had a hard time liking her when she was engaged to one man but pining over another. I also have a hard time with books whose characters do illegal things and questionable activities in the name of service to their country and expect God to listen to their prayers even while they disregard His moral standards.

Apart from this, fans of historical fiction will enjoy the added historical notes from the author at the end of the book that gives more details on the history of the Secret Service, counterfeit bills, route ciphers, and the devastating flood of 1884.


Disclosure: Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for giving me this book for review. I was not compensated in any other way, nor told how to rate or review this product.

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About the Author:


Crystal Caudill is the author of "dangerously good historical romance," with her work garnering awards from Romance Writers of America and ACFW.

She is a stay-at-home mom and caregiver, and when she isn’t writing, Caudill can be found playing board games with her family, drinking hot tea, or reading other great books at her home outside Cincinnati, Ohio.

Learn more at crystalcaudill.com. You can also find her on Facebook and Instagram.


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