Historical Category Finalists - 2012 Whitney Awards

I'm making my way through the 2012 Whitney Award Finalists, and last night I finished up the Historical Category (click the titles to see my individual reviews).

Espionage	My Loving Vigil Keeping	Spinster’s Folly	The Five Books of Jesus	Within the Dark Hills
A. L. Sowards*	Carla Kelly	Marsha Ward	James Goldberg*	Sian Ann Bessey

Historical fiction is one of my favorite genres, and there are some great books among these finalists. It's hard to pick just one, but I'd probably go with Espionage by A.L. Sowards. I really liked learning about the old mining lifestyle portrayed in both My Loving Vigil Keeping and Within the Dark Hills, but Espionage's WWII European setting, and the American solider spying in enemy territory was very intense. The story has some religious/spiritual aspects, and I like the way they were included. It didn't detract from the rest of the story like it does in some novels. I did want more at the end, but it was well written with great characters, and a very enjoyable read.