Words Spoken True is a novel seeped in history, rich in storytelling, brimming with fascinating characters, and of course, sating with heart-stopping romantic scenes.

Ann H. Gabhart does a fantastic job of pulling readers into the mid-nineteenth century world of reporting and newspaper publishing. She also does a fantastic job with revealing the political views that surrounded Kentucky during that time. To be honest, I felt like her author's note at the beginning of the story was absolutely unnecessary because she did such a stunning job of showing and informing readers inside the story in a way that never once felt like she was dumping the information on to us.

While the publisher's synopsis or description of the book never hints at a mystery it's there from the very first page. This isn't your typical mystery, though. No, it's much darker.

Yes, I was able to figure it all out by chapter five, but that's only because I had to explore criminal behavior in high school forensics. Regardless of my background, I truly enjoyed going through this story and picking up those tidbits of behavioral clues. So whether you figure it or not, you still get to enjoy the mystery.

While the romantic scenes in this book are clean, the author unabashedly takes readers into a Songs of Solomon intimacy that might have your cheeks flaming red at certain points. Again, there's nothing that makes any of these scenes indecent in any way. While I didn't have a problem with it, if you're highly sensitive to this kind of writing in Christian fiction, this romance may not be for you.

I truly loved Words Spoken True. It's one of those larger than life stories that, by the time you've finished reading it, you know every second you spent doing so was absolutely worth it.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Revell Publishing in exchange for an honest review.

Available February 2012 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group