The Puzzle Within by Gina Holder

About the Book

Title: The Puzzle Within 
Series: The Game Masters #1 
Author: Gina Holder 
Publisher: Scrivenings Press LLC 
Release Date: June 3, 2025 
Genre: Romantic Suspense

FBI agent Arizona Powers is haunted by nightmares—fragments of a childhood kidnapping no one believes ever happened. Still recovering from a nervous breakdown, she accepts a protection assignment for Bridgette Van Sloan, the strong-willed teenage daughter of a U.S. ambassador who's been receiving threats signed: Enigma. 

Nick Trueheart, a former escape artist known as "Nick of Time" turned diplomatic risk analyst, is grieving the loss of his beloved wife—and obsessed with finding her killer. When assigned to Bridgette's security detail, his biggest concern isn't the threats—it's the unstable agent with a vendetta against kidnappers. 

When Bridgette disappears from an escape room, Nick and Arizona become entangled in a high-stakes puzzlehunt and a race against time. They must confront their own failures and unravel the secrets hidden within themselves to rescue Bridgette … and survive a madman's twisted game. Because one thing becomes clear: Enigma’s real target is much bigger — and far more personal.

PURCHASE LINKS: Goodreads | Scrivenings Press | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Bookshop | BookBub

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About the Author

Gina Holder is a hybrid author and stay-at-home mom. She’s had an infatuation with books for as long as she can remember. She loves sharing uplifting messages from God’s Word and introducing readers to new and new-to-them authors on her blog. When she’s not writing, Gina enjoys playing the piano, cooking, reading, watching Hallmark mysteries, and solving “escape room” puzzles. She loves growing in her craft as an author. She published her debut novel in 2017. Gina lives in Wyoming with her husband and daughter.

Connect with Gina by visiting storiesbygina.com to follow her on social media and subscribe to email updates.

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Review

The Puzzle Within is the first book I have read written by Gina Holder and I look forward to reading more. If you love puzzles, if you love Sherlock Holmes, this is the book for you. This book was dripping with puzzles, mystery, and suspense. I am excited to see where the next book will take us.

The character development is great. Arizona/Ari has a lot to unpack. She unearths a secret about her childhood that she didn’t know about, and as she and Nick are trying to find out who Enigma is, they uncover even more secrets. Nick is trying to overcome the grief and guilt of his wife’s death. There are a lot of characters in this story and a lot that we don’t even begin to touch the surface on.

The storyline was fantastic. There were so many moving parts to this story. At times my brain was overwhelmed. Trying to figure out who is Enigma? What do all these secret codes mean? What is the bigger picture? There was a lot, and it made for a fun puzzle, putting all the pieces together. I had quite the time trying to figure out Enigma and who it might be and what the motive was.

The romance between Arizona and Nick was low-spice, kisses-only romance.

Gina Holder did a great job intertwining faith throughout the book.

*I received a complimentary copy from the author and voluntarily chose to review it. All opinions are my own.