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TOP 5 Reasons
to read
The Thorn Bearer





#1  The Heart


The heroine of this story, Ashleigh Dougall, is a survivor. Despite great personal tragedy she has a will to live and to love. With dignity and grace, the author leads us through the darkest alleys of Ashleigh's personal struggles. I promise no spoilers with my reviews, but I will tell you that the resolution is beautiful. No trite platitudes or easy resolutions. This is a story of faith and forgiveness with a very sensitive heart.

#2 The History

The release of The Thorn Bearer coincides with the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Lusitania in World War I. I never dreamed that would be a favorite part of the book for me. I only watched Titanic once. That's right, I never found shipwrecks to be very romantic. Yeah ... well ... Mrs. Basham knows how to tell a story and keep you on the edge of your seat. The details of her research mercilessly wretch you back in time to experience the intrigue of a world of both fact and fantasy.

#3 The Hero

A good romance needs a great hero. The Thorn Bearer has Sam Miller. He has a dime-a-dozen name. He's not a duke or a prince. He makes at least one serious blunder. He is human, after all, but Sam is not any ordinary man. For Ashleigh Dougall, he is a life-line to her weary soul. For the reader, he keeps the pages turning and the romance sparking.

#4 The Writing

Seamless. Captivating. Heartfelt. Truly enjoyable.

#5 The Title

Seriously? Yes. Once the identity of the Thorn Bearer and the theme of his sacrificial healing is clear ... well, the title is genius. Be that as it may, the masterful delivery of the themes of faith and forgiveness hidden in the title are what I love most about this book.

Bravo, Pepper Basham!

Lisa Harris is the author of over twenty novels, the winner of multiple awards including both the Christy Award and Best Inspirational Suspense Novel for 2011 from Romantic Times. Somehow, this is the first of her novels that I have read. Romantic/Suspense is not my go to genre, but I was intrigued by the author and wanted to give one of her novels a go.



Hidden Agenda, the final installment of Lisa Harris' Southern Crimes Trilogy, begins with high-stakes and never lets up. It reads like a movie I would watch with my husband ... and there aren't many that we both like. We usually agree on action flicks with enough suspense for him and enough drama for me. Hidden Agenda would make a great date night for us.

Overall, I enjoyed Hidden Agenda, even if it is a departure from my regular reading, and I look forward to reading more from Lisa Harris in the future.

• The romance is clean and believable. That ranks high with me.
• The mystery carries the story to the end and concludes in a satisfying manner.  In other words, no lose ends ... I hate those.
• The spiritual journey of the main characters is true to life, and that makes or breaks Christian fiction for me. I was not disappointed.

Hidden Agenda is a stand alone novel, however characters from the previous two books and their continuing story are incorporated in this novel. Those who prefer no spoilers may want to begin with the first books of the trilogy--Dangerous Passage and Fatal Exchange.


I was given a copy of this book by the publisher for an honest review. The opinions stated are my own.

Short and Sweet

This is a novella. The joy of that is not staying up all night to read a good story, and I prefer spending time in a book as opposed to a movie.

By sweet, I mean satisfying, clean, and romantic. That's important to me. There's nothing worse than having to set aside what could have been a great book because it crosses the line of decency.

By sweet, I do NOT mean shallow. Appalachian Serenade is filled with characters whose lives are anything but easy or simple. Thomas pours heaps of heart onto these pages and does so with grace and dignity.

Refreshing and Reverant

What really begged my attention was the setting--Wise County, WV. I wanted to know if this author was going to dole out a cliched mountain community. Oh, thank goodness, no! Without sugar-coating the realities of the harshness of Appalachia, she submits both the tenderness and passions of daily life as it would have been.

Appalachian Serenade is a complete, stand-alone novella but beware--you will get a taste for more!