Books for Christian Girls: "Millstone of Doubt" by Erica Vetsch

About this book:

  “Caught in the explosion of the Hammersmith Mill in London, Bow Street Runner Daniel Swann rushes to help any survivors only to find the mill's owner dead of an apparent gunshot.
   Even though the owner's daughter, Agatha Montgomery, mourns his death, it seems there are more than a few people with motive for murder. But Daniel can't take this investigation slow and steady. Instead, he must dig through all the suspects as quickly as he can, because the clock is ticking until his mysterious patronage--and his job as a runner--comes to an abrupt and painful end. It seems to Daniel that, like his earthly father, his heavenly Father has abandoned him to the fates.
    Lady Juliette Thorndike is Agatha's bosom friend and has the inside knowledge of the wealthy London ton to be invaluable to Daniel. She should be in a perfect position to help with the case. Still, her instructor in the art of spy craft orders her to stay out of the investigation. But circumstances intervene, dropping her into the middle of the deadly pursuit.
   When a dreadful accident ends in another death on the mill floor, Daniel discovers a connection to his murder case--and to his own secret past. Now he and Juliette are in a race to find the killer before his time runs out.”

Series: Book #2 in the “Thorndike & Swann Regency Mysteries” series. Review of Book #1 Here! (It is best to read them in order.)

Spiritual Content- A couple Scriptures are mentioned; Prayers; Church going (though Juliette isn’t able to concentrate on the sermon); Talks about God, serving Him, & God being our Heavenly Father; 'H's are capital when referring to God; Juliette hopes that God forgives her for telling a lie; Daniel isn’t sure if God called him to be a Bow Street runner because the job doesn’t feel like a sacrifice since “it seemed to him that the God preacher talked about mostly called people to do things that were hard, that cost them something in the doing. Certainly not something they enjoyed or might have a talent for.” (this is not brought up again in thoughts or correction); Daniel doesn’t understand about God being a loving heavenly Father due to his earthly father not being in the picture, let alone loving & says he never felt anything when listening to sermons about what a good Father God is (he says that God doesn’t care about him anymore than his real father, but a good mentor sets him straight that God’s hand was still on his life and that he had many father figures throughout his life and that gets through to Daniel); Mentions of God; Mentions of prayers & praying; Mentions of churches, church going, & vicars/ministers; A few mentions of those in the Bible; A few mentions of blessings & being blessed (including Daniel not feeling blessed because he doesn’t know his biological father); A few mentions of forgiveness; A mention of meeting your Maker; A mention of doing a Christian action; A mention of a miracle; A mention of a prayer book; A mention of an anarchist being like John Wesley at a revival meeting;

*Note: Mentions of a lore about a man who became a ghost (barely-above-not-detailed); A mention of a man wanting to be stood up to and being told to go to the devil since he told someone else that enough times; A mention of a man grouping all aristocrats together as evil; A mention of ghostly faces.

Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘botheration’, a ‘dash it all’, a ‘drat’, an ‘idiot’, and two ‘stupid’s; Sarcasm & Eye rolling; An explosion, fires, finding a murdered body, being pushed, pain, injuries, blood/bleeding, & almost fainting (up to semi-detailed); Nearly drowning, (semi-detailed to detailed); Juliette lies (because of the secrets spies have); Daniel feels resentful towards his mother due to the fact she agreed to not contact him; A bit of social drinking; All about many mentions of explosions, fires, if it’s an accident or arson, deaths, bodies, murders, how they happened, & the murderer(s) (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of suicides (that a murder was not suicide & then a rumor of a ghost that took their life); Mentions of autopsies & corpses (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of pain, injuries, & blood/bleeding (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of a murder, art thieves, & thefts (Book #1); Mentions of Juliette being kidnapped (Book #1); Mentions of a planned duel (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of violence, threats, protests, & anarchists (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of crimes, criminals, arrests, & a prison; Mentions of guns/weapons, gunfire, & someone being shot (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of arson, bombs, & bombers; Mentions of thieves, looters, break-ins, stealing, & stolen items; Mentions of pickpockets & fighting a couple off; Mentions of bribes & embezzlement; Mentions of card games with gambling/betting, cheating, con-artists, & debts; Mentions of alcohol, drinking, drunks, & pubs/taprooms (including how Uncle Bertie acts like a drunk at social events to keep from being detected when spying, how Daniel thinks that a drunk man is bad enough, but that there’s something terribly wrong about a drunk woman, & that more nurse were drunks with no medical knowledge); Mentions of pipes, cigars, & smoking; Mentions of jealousy; Mentions of lies, lying, & liars (including Daniel not being sure if he should be impressed or regret her ability to quickly come up with a lie); Mentions of gossip & rumors; Mentions of injured horses & them being killed (one from the explosion and one because he couldn’t be saved, barely-above-not-detailed); A few mentions of wars; A few mentions of threatening to hang a criminal; A few mentions of hunting, an accident, & a death; A couple mentions of throwing up; A mention of a torture device; A mention of someone saying that someone else would have been better off dying in the explosion than to go through what he currently is; A mention of a missing woman; A mention of a doctor having a fetal pig in a jar; A mention of children being deported for stealing.

Sexual Content- a palm kiss, a cheek kiss, a barely-above-not-detailed kiss, a semi-detailed kiss, and a detailed kiss (with a growl); Recalling a kiss (borderline semi-detailed // detailed); Wanting to kiss & thinking about kissing someone (barely-above-not-detailed); Touches, Embraces, Shivers, Nearness, & Smelling (including Daniel thinking that it’s a very intimate thing to touch a woman’s hair, all borderline barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed); Recalling touches, embraces, & shivers (up to semi-detailed); Wanting to touch & embrace (barely-above-not-detailed); Blushes; Noticing (borderline barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed); A man leers at Juliette & grabs her mouth from behind her (she defends herself by kicking him in a place “that Uncle Bertie had guaranteed would take the fight out of any man” and also gives him a bloody nose); Mentions of Daniel being born an illegitimate son of an unwed servant & not knowing anything about his biological father (including him feeling less than for it and *Major Spoiler* it's revealed towards the end that he is actually the legitimate son of a wealthy man and his parents were married, but the man was threatened by his father to annul the marriage; however, he faked the papers and still got married to another woman while still legally married to Daniel’s mother (the second marriage thus being a bigamous marriage) *End of Spoiler*); Mentions of rumored affairs, a married woman attracting many men, cheating on their wedding vows, a woman possibly replacing her lover with a new conquest, & a rumor of man casting eyes toward a married woman and making advances (including Juliette thinking that married people with roving eyes are quite common, but she hates the notion of being unfaithful to a spouse); Mentions of a rumor of a married woman doing more than just flirt with other men, her possible trysts and lovers, her reputation for flirting, another wife not appreciating her flirting with “anything in trousers”, & her swaying her hips in a way that receives men’s attention; Mentions of kisses & kissing (including seeing other couples kissing); Mentions of flirting; Mentions of jealousy; A few mentions of a man knowingly entering a bigamous marriage; A few mentions of the reasons for murder being power, money, and something that “has to do with men and women” (both Daniel and Juliette understand the meaning, but are embarrassed since it’s improper to discuss between unmarried individuals); A mention of the possibility of a woman becoming pregnant by another man after her marriage was annulled; A mention of a man being something of a Lothario if rumors are to be believed; A mention of a woman doing a brash thing by trying to pursue a man at his boardinghouse; A mention of a man whistling at a woman; Some love, falling in love, & the emotions;

             *Note: A couple mentions of women’s clothing mesmerizing males; A mention of a woman displaying “her…er…wares rather boldly”; A mention of a woman’s daring neckline; A mention of butting into an investigation.

-Juliette Thorndike, age 19/20 (?)
-Daniel Swann, age 24-25
                                P.O.V. switches between them
                                         Set in 1816
                                                   304 pages

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Pre Teens-

New Teens-

Early High School Teens-

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My personal Rating-

I’ve been eagerly awaiting this sequel ever since finishing “The Debutante’s Code”. Regency spies and mysteries? That is absolutely my cup of tea and I was excited to see all the characters again. I even reread that first story to be able to be fully involved in this second one and, once again, swoon over the vocabulary used within that novel.

I definitely found the first book more fascinating because of the codes and art thefts, but this was an interesting story as well. Like the opening book of this series, I liked how the main plotline was the mysteries, not the romance. The romance was still on the lighter side (compared to most historical fiction books I’ve reviewed), but was more prevalent compare to the first book, and the faith content picked up a bit at the end. That latter note would be part of why my rating isn’t as high as the first book, as I would have preferred more faith discussions and questions being answered.

I do have to say that I was disappointed to be able to figure out the mysteries in this novel, though, especially since the first book took me by surprise in many ways. They both felt very obvious, but I’m not sure if that’s because I tried to notice any hints or forshadowings, or if it was more on the obvious side. I will still read the third book when it releases as I quite like Juliette, Daniel (even though he annoyed me some in this book due to his attitude towards Owen), and, yes, Uncle Bertie too.

See y’all on Friday with a new review!