Novel Threat by Traci Hunter Abramson - ADVISABLE

Novel Threat (Pen and Dagger #1) by Traci Hunter Abramson, 320 pages. Shadow Mountain Publishing, 2025. $28.

Language: G (0 swears, 0 “f”); Mature Content: PG;  Violence: PG13

BUYING ADVISORY: ADULT - ADVISABLE

APPEALS TO: SEVERAL

His employers might not know it yet, but it’s Brandon’s last night in the CIA—he’s resigning tomorrow to work for a publishing company. But his last night goes all wrong and his boss won’t let him resign, instead sending Brandon undercover at a different publishing company, Monroe. Kimber works in finance for the CIA and secretly dreams of being a published author one day—one day that the CIA is making come sooner than she ever imagined in order to get close to terrorists at Monroe Publishing.

The rom-com plot points are amusing and add the lighthearted scenes needed to balance out the terroristic acts and suspense in tracking down the perpetrators. Fighting to move forward—professionally to catch the bad guys and also romantically—encourages readers to turn just one more page through to the happy ending we all want. Overall, Brandon’s and Kimber’s story is an action-packed and entertaining read.

The majority of characters are implied White (American and British), and the main antagonist is implied to be Middle Eastern. The mature content rating is for kissing. The violence rating is for assault, mentions of drugs, illegal activity, gun and bomb use, terrorism, and murder.

Reviewer: Carolina Herdegen