3.5 stars

Torie was a likable character and I found myself rooting for her to find answers to the mysteries that surround her. The danger she finds herself in makes her a sympathetic character. I also liked Joe and Hailey. Joe was a great father and his love for his daughter was evident from page one.

A Stranger's Game had several layers: Torie was trying to resolve issues in her past while solving her friend's murder. Joe was also dealing with a mystery at his job while trying to navigate single-parenting and a potential relationship with Torie.

I liked the way the author melded all the mysteries together but there were some things that seemed implausible even after the pieces had fallen into place. I also didn't like the fact that Torie and her father never really stood up to the aunt who was horrible to them both throughout the book. I just couldn't understand why they allowed her to get away with her behavior.

Overall, this was an enjoyable read with characters that were relatable. Readers will be reminded that God is with them even when bad things happen.

Took me a little while to get into the story and figure out who was who. I felt it was a stretch that no one recognized Torie (especially her aunt, if Torie really looked so much like her mother). I did like the main characters well enough and was satisfied with the conclusion of the novel even though it seemed a bit “out there”. I had figured out the bad guy. There were a few inconsistencies in the plot, and I felt like there was some “misdirection” from the author just to pad the number of pages. Anyway 3.5 stars.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Thomas Nelson Publishing through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

A solid Christian mystery/romance. A very enjoyable, easy read. Love the island setting, the seals and turtles! I'm becoming an avid Coble Fan!!

Jekyll Island is the setting for this stand alone mystery. The history of the Federal Reserve is quite an interesting factor in the plot of the story. Love the added details of the seal lion training program for the Navy. Readers will enjoy seeing the island through Hailey' enthusiastic personality. Joe and Tori's budding relationship moved at a nice pace as they both strived to solve the crimes. I thought the ending was rather abrupt but satisfying. Recommended!

I enjoyed A Stranger's Game. We follow Torie Bergstrom as she goes undercover to investigate her best friend's murder but meanwhile she stumbles into something dark and spinster.

I enjoyed the faith elements in this book and didn't feel like the focus was on getting the man as it can often feel with Christian romantic suspense books, I feel like the true emphasis was on Christ and how He is what was missing from Torie's life.

This story had my interest from the get go. It felt like I had a list a mile long of suspects. Then trying to figure out who was an actual suspect, who was an accomplice, and who was just being disagreeable. Then wondering if all the events were interconnected or if they separate attacks. On top of that the development of a relationship between Joe & Tori and them having to learn to trust themselves and each other. A well crafted story.
I received a copy of this book as an ARC through NetGalley and all opinions are my own.

Engaging and enjoyable romantic suspense. Exciting plot with several back stories. It kept me turning the pages. One of those can't wait for the conclusion but also don't want it to end books. Good characters in a lovely location.

⭐⭐⭐ .5 Stars
I am a : Colleen Coble fan this is #17 for me.

Victoria Bergstrom has not been home to Jekyll Island, Georgia for eighteen years. When she was ten years old, her mother died and she moved to Arizona.
Her longtime best friend Lisbeth Nelson says she misses Georgia, so Victoria arrangers for her to work on one of the hotel properties that her family still owns.
Victoria returns to the island in as Torie Berg an alias when she learns that Lisbeth who was terrified of the ocean has drowned, she knows it was more than an accident and set out to find answers.
Victoria‘s father has arranged for Victoria now Torie to work at the Hotel as an IT expert and also to stay at Stingray Cottage where Lisbeth stayed.

Torie soon finds an ally in Joe Abbott and his adorable/talkative eight year old daughter Hailey. Hailey is super excited with the Loggerhead turtles that are known to nest in these Sea Islands of Georgia.
Joe is a member of the Navy’s Marine Mammal Project. This project originated in San Diego however, when Joe’s wife Julie died in a freak accident, Joe decides to move to the other side of the country to the Jekyll Island. He also work part time with law enforcement and is actually the person who found Lisbeth.

Aww love these characters ~ well all but a few!
Story kept me interested.

I always enjoy reading the ‘author’s notes’ in this case author Colleen Coble entitles hers ~ “A Note from the Author’.. She tells us a bit more about Jekyll Island and that it is owned by Northview Hotel Group and not Bergstrom Hospitality. She also tells us an interesting piece of information she came across in researching " The Creature from Jekyll Island: A Second Look at the Federal Reserve" by author: G. Edward Griffin …. Hmmm

Want to thank NetGalley and Thomas Mercer for this eGalley. This file has been made available to me before publication in an early form for an honest professional review.
Publishing Release Date scheduled for January 4, 2022

Another great book by Colleen Coble. I know her books are listed as most places as inspirational but to me this book and the last series of hers didn't feel like it. And I have been able to get several people to read her books since they are inspirational like most books that go in that category.

I really enjoyed this book. Can't wait to read more from her. I love her books have been taking place in the south.

This read grabbed me and never let go! There is something serious happening from the beginning to end, and the author did an amazing job of keeping me guessing! Is it the weird guy? Maybe the Aunt? I thought I knew, but?

We are offered a precocious young girl, that you will fall in love with, and a young woman who's mother and best friend have died, were they murdered? Also we are gifted with sea lions, these guys are special and they work for crabs and our government, keeping us safe, and trained by Joe , and now befriended by Torrie.

I have enjoyed many books by this author, and this one was a hit!

I received this book through Net Galley and the Publisher Thomas Nelson, and was not required to give a positive review.

I've read many of Coble's books, and while I enjoyed this one, it wasn't my favorite. It felt a bit more disjointed, though I did love the setting and the incorporation of turtles!

This is a romantic suspense story, and the mystery was solid. Characters are realistic and relatable in their struggles. Scenes are well detailed and easy to visualize. I liked Torie, and I enjoyed uncovering the clues with her.

“But evil things happen to all of us, honey. Hard things, bad things. We don’t understand, and a lot of the time, we can’t understand because we aren’t God. When those times come — and they come to everyone — all we can do is trust that God loves us.”

Torie Berg strongly believes that her friend, Lisbeth Nelson’s, drowning was no accident. That’s why she’s returned to Jekyll Island after 18 years. She intends to search for clues because she can’t believe the police report.

As straightforward as it may seem, pretending to be a new IT hire and searching for clues, it’s anything but easy. Someone wants Torie off the island and is trying to force her to leave by breaking into her cottage and messing around with personal items and their placement. If it weren’t for Joe Abbot and his daughter, Hailey, she’d have high tailed it out of there!

Joe might regret coming to Torie’s aid, though. When it costs him personally to get involved with Torie, he has to do some soul searching and evaluate his plans for the future. Will training sea lions for the Navy be enough for him? Does Hailey need female influence? Can he handle Torie’s baggage?

I loved the delicate balance of mystery and romance. Torie was authentic and her quest propelled the story. What really did happen to Lisbeth?

A new author to me, Colleen Coble pleasantly surprised me with the references to God and faith alongside the main message encompassing family, friends, and trust. I’d classify it as a Christian romantic mystery! I also loved learning about Jekyll Island in Georgia, the sea turtles, and its rich WW2 history.

Publishes January 4, 2022.

I was gifted this advance copy by Colleen Coble, Thomas Nelson and NetGalley and was under no obligation to provide a review.

Colleen turns in another strong offering with this one. I love the premise, it’s original and intriguing, and involves the daughter of the owner of a hotel chain going undercover at one of their hotels to investigate her best friend’s death.

It was definitely suspenseful and kept me guessing through several twists and turns! And the characters! Torie is complex and multi-faceted, and Joe and Hailey steal your heart within moments of appearing on the page!

I think I’d definitely rate this one of her best!!

But there was one thing that nagged at me while I was reading it, and just to be clear, this has no reflection on the quality of the book, it was great! This was just me trying to remember something I couldn’t remember. When Torie helps hide the glass globes for the scavenger hunt, it felt SO familiar to me!! If this wasn’t an ARC I’d have thought I’d read it before and forgotten. But obviously not! I must have read a different book with a similar scavenger hunt… but do you think I can remember what book?! Of course not! 😂 And it’s really bugging me, so if anyone knows what other book might have a scavenger hunt for tourists involving glass globes hidden around a coastal town, please let me know in the comments!!!

Despite the scavenger hunt feeling familiar, it was a highly original plot and I definitely recommend for fans of romantic suspense. I think this will definitely be a comfort read for me in future. Oh, and if you like books that feature animals - just wait until you meet Simon the sea lion!!!!!!!!

Many thanks to @tnzfiction and @netgalley for the ARC! I was only asked to provide an honest review in return and here you have it!

This was a really good suspenseful book! It has a lot of action, a good mystery and some romance. It also takes place on an island that is about 20 mins from where I live.
It’s a page turner and one you don’t want to miss. I really enjoyed it!
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the early copy

1.5/5⭐️

Torie Bergstrom has come back to her childhood home of Jekyll Island (incognito as an IT tech, as her father owns the Jekyll Island Club Resort) to find out how her best friend suspiciously died. She is stalked by an unknown, possibly related to her friend’s death. She meets marine biologist Joe, who trains sea lions for the Navy’s defense and his 8-year-old daughter Hailey, who she grows close to as they work together to find answers.

There are really three plot lines here (Torie’s friend’s death, a possible naval threat and Torie’s mom’s suspicious death 18 years prior). All of which may or may not be connected.

I hate to say this, but the only thing that I found redeeming here was the setting, which brought back memories of my own previous visits to the island. The writing was choppy, and I found quite a few things that did not follow through as feasible or even logical (good editing needed). The characters were one-dimensional and lackluster. Unfortunately for me, just a hodgepodge of disappointments.

My thanks to #NetGalley and #ThomasNelson for providing me the free early arc of #AStranger’sGame for review. The opinions are strictly my own.

LOVE LOVE LOVE this book!

A Stranger's Game is just utter perfection!

Torie has it all, a rich hotel heiress who is enjoying her time at the top. When Torie finds out her best friend, Lisbeth, has died she knows that things are not as it seems. Lisbeth was afraid of water, there is no way she would have ever "gone for a swim" . How did Lisbeth end up drowning?

Torie needs to find out the truth even if that means going under cover. When Torie decides to check into the hotel that Lisbeth died at under a different name she knows she is putting herself at risk but ends up meeting Joe and his daughter. Together, they set out to find out what actually happened to Lisbeth.

The closer they come to finding out the truth the more details they uncover about the mysterious death of Torie's mother many years previous. Someone will go to great lengths to make sure these long buried secrets, stay secret.

This was an interesting read from start to finish and I loved every bit of it! I highly recommend this novel!

Colleen Coble is hands down one of my absolute favorites. Every time I pick up one of her books, I know I am in for a great suspense read that will keep me on the edge of my seat... A Stranger's Game certainly did not disappoint.

When Torie's best friend dies of an apparent suicide, she finds herself returning to Jekyll Island after 18 years haven't not returned to her childhood home since her mother's death...the very death that her friend had been there looking into at the time of her own. Right from the start, I was quite drawn into this island setting and the mysterious deaths that seemed to occur there. I found myself wanting to figure out how or if all the pieces fit together. The action at times seemed a little bit slower to me than what I have seen in other books by the author, but I still found myself at the edge of my seat nonetheless... there was so much going on and I felt like there was a good bit of suspicion thrown in various directions to really keep things entertaining throughout. While I was excited to see how it ended, I also found I enjoyed these characters and wasn't quite ready to say goodbye quite just yet when it ended.

If you love romantic suspense, this is certainly one to add to your TBR.

**I received a complimentary copy for consideration. All thoughts are my own.

Colleen Coble is one of my favorites, and I always look forward to her new book releases. I expect great things going into each and every one of her books, but I was honestly completely blown away by A Stranger's Game. I've read so many of her books over the years, and this one may just be my favorite yet. It had every element a reader of Christian suspense could ever want, and I'm still thinking about it days after finishing it.

The mystery and the characters both wrapped me up into the story immediately, but what I ended up loving most of all was the setting. I'd never heard of Jekyll Island before picking this one up, but I now feel like I've almost vacationed there myself after the vivid and beautiful descriptions that Colleen Coble uses to form the setting for her new, wonderfully written mystery.

This one was definitely sinister, and a wild ride from start to finish, and I loved each and every moment. I loved both Tori and Joe as characters, and appreciated the emphasis on the fact that just because we all come from different backgrounds, we all matter just as much to our Heavenly Father. I usually really enjoy the addition of children to stories, and I thought Joe's daughter was sweet, charming and quirky, and I really enjoyed the friendship that starts to develop between her and Tori.

I don't think anyone can set up a mystery quite like Colleen Coble does, and I have to say the ending of this one really surprised me. I thought I had quite early on figured out the culprit, only to find out that I was completely wrong. I've read quite a few mysteries lately, and this is the first one that left me completely surprised so I really enjoyed that.

All in all, this amazing read is everything I've come to expect from this author, and I can't recommend it enough. The characters are heart warming, the mystery is well developed, the setting is atmospheric and beautiful, and the faith content plays an essential role.

Final Rating: 5/5.

I can't recommend this one enough, and I look forward to rereading it in the future.

Thanks so much to Thomas Nelson for allowing me to advance read and review this!

I voluntarily read and reviewed a complimentary advance reader copy of this novel from the publisher (Thomas Nelson) via NetGally in exchange for an honest review. I was not required to give a positive review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

** “But evil things happen to all of us, honey. Hard things, bad things. We don’t understand, and a lot of the time, we can’t understand because we aren’t God. When those times come — and they come to everyone — all we can do is trust that God loves us.” **

Colleen Coble once again shines in the thriller department with her latest standalone novel “A Stranger’s Game.”

Torie Berg has not been back to her childhood home in Jekyll Island, Ga., in 18 years. But when her childhood friend dies under mysterious circumstances, she returns under a secret identity to look into Lisbeth’s death at the resort her family owns.

Widower Joe Abbott works security at the Jekyll Island Club Resort as well as trains marine mammals to be used in national security while raising his daughter Hailey.

When a major convention comes to the resort with national implications and Torie continuously finds herself in dangerous situations while looking into her friend’s death, Joe and Torie are drawn together while jointly trying to figure out all the horrific events happening on the island.

Coble, as always, does an incredible job of developing a plot filled with twists and turns, heart-thumping action (both suspensefully and romantically), and very real, relatable and flawed characters. Readers will love both Joe and Torie, as well as his spunky daughter Hailey and a cool sea lion named Simon.

“A Stranger’s Game” is also filled with a number of great themes, like “one’s friends are known in the hour of need”; it can be hard to trust God when scary things occur (“Life isn’t always safe, Hailey. It’s an adventure God gives us, and we never know exactly what will happen. But what do we know for sure? … That God is in control”); hiding behind our shields; finding a purpose; not judging or making assumptions about others; and God uses bad things to make us more beautiful.

Fans of authors like Lynette Eason, Kelly Irvin, Terri Blackstock and Irene Hannon will love this novel.

Five stars out of five.

Thomas Nelson provided this complimentary copy through NetGalley for my honest, unbiased review.

Colleen Coble has become one of my favorite authors. She has a knack for story telling and I’ve loved every one of her books. A Stranger’s Game did not disappoint. It is a standalone story and is chocked full of romance and suspense. The setting, Jekyll island, was depicted beautifully. Eighteen years after her mother’s death, Tori returns to Jekyll island after her friend drowns. They said it was an accident but Tori doesn’t believe it and sets out to prove it. The. The characters are realistic and the storyline kept me on the edge of my seat. I literally could not put the book down. I love that she adds faith to her stories and proves you don’t need all the bad language to tell wonderful story. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to read a tale of romantic suspense with a happy ending.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from The publisher via NetGalkey and the thoughts are my own.