Tag: christian fiction

Book Talk Tuesday: What I’ve Been Reading

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I read some really good books at the end of 2022 and beginning of 2023. Rather than post long reviews of each, I decided to give a few sentences about what really stood out to me.

The last two books of 2022:

REMARKABLY BRIGHT CREATURES by Shelby Van Pelt: The title refers to the Giant Pacific Octopus, specifically Marcellus, a captive specimen at a Pacific Northwest aquarium, and one of the Point of View characters. I listened to this one on audio and loved it! It’s fun and funny. Besides Marcellus, the POV characters include a widow in her sixties and a young man searching for his biological father.

LOVE LETTERING by Kate Clayborn: A young woman who does custom hand lettering/calligraphy is blocked. She’s also developed a bad habit of weaving secret messages into some of her projects. She’s shocked when one of her clients wants to know how she knew his marriage was doomed. I read this as an ebook and loved it. The writing is beautiful and the characters engaging. (Open door sex. I often skip/skim sex scenes, but this one actually added to the character’s growth and I found myself actually–gasp–reading it!).

January 2023:

ALL THAT REALLY MATTERS by Nicole Deese: This won all kinds of awards and rave reviews and I finally got around to reading it and I’m so glad I did! A faith-filled romance about a social media influencer who volunteers at a home for teens and young adults transitioning out of foster care finds herself changed forever. I read this as an ebook and plan to read the next book in the series.

THE PEOPLE WE MEET ON VACATION by Emily Henry: I’d read Emily Henry’s books before and and after this one, but hadn’t gotten around to this one yet. Two best friends since college have vacationed together every summer for twelve years until an unfortunate incidence in Croatia. Two years later, she’s determined to get their relationship back and invites him along to Palm Springs. In July. What could go wrong? I read this in paperback. (Open door sex that I skimmed.)

February 2023:

THE STORIED LIFE OF A.J. FIKRY by Gabrielle Zevin. When this was released as a movie last year, I saw lots of people rave that it was one of their favorite books of all time. I listened to it on audio and while I enjoyed it, I wouldn’t call it an all time favorite. I’m not even sure it’ll make my Top Ten of the year. Though it definitely could. It tugs at the heart strings and it’s set in a bookstore. What’s not to love? It covers several years in the life of A.J. Fikry and his adopted daughter who was abandoned in his bookstore as a two-year-old. I also watched the movie after I finished the book and the movie followed the book very closely. Both are worth the time.

THE CARTOGRAPHERS by Peng Shepherd: This is another that was raved about and it sounded intriguing. A young woman cartographer’s career was ruined seven years ago by her father, a renowned and respected cartographer, over a cheap, mass-produced road map from the 1930s. But when her father and another New York Public Library employee are found dead, Nell realizes that map may be a lot more valuable than she thought. This has a fantasy element I wasn’t expecting, but I still enjoyed it. I read it as an ebook and found the ability to enlarge the included maps and sketches very helpful.

A DAY LIKE THIS by Kelley McNeil: I read this for a book club. The member who recommend it said she enjoyed it because the author kept her guessing until the end. I got some inklings of the solution a bit before that, but I still found it a satisfying read. A mom of a young girl is in a traffic accident and when she wakes up, the doctor and hospital and EMS responders insist there was no daughter in her car. When her husband arrives at the hospital, he tells her they lost their baby in a miscarriage over five years ago. This sends Annie on a quest to find the daughter she knows exists. I enjoyed this one and read the ebook in a day and a half.

Have you read any of these? What have you been reading? Any recommendations? I’d love to hear from you!

Book Talk Thursday: SUNDOWN

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Sundown is the final installment in Susan May Warren’s Sky King Ranch trilogy. I’ve been eagerly waiting for Colt and Tae’s story since Colt was introduced to us with the Kingston triplets in the first book, Sunrise. We got a bit more of Colt and Tae in book 2, Sunburst, but their story comes to a full and satisfactory conclusion in Sundown.

Colt Kingston is determined to get to the bottom of Taylor–Tae–Price’s story. His brother Dodge and Dodge’s fiancee, Echo, found Tae in a blizzard in book 1, Sunrise. She suffered amnesia and wasn’t speaking for a long time. Once Tae remembered some things, she was too terrified to speak. When she does tell her story, it’s almost too preposterous to be believed.

Tae knows her tale sounds crazy, but it’s true, every word. When her past follows her and endangers the whole Kingston family, she has to leave to keep them safe. Too bad Colt can’t let her go alone.

Adventure, suspense, and intrigue follow to the nail-biting conclusion. Another worthy addition to the Warren tradition of romantic adventure stories with strong and determined heroines and the wounded but willing men who love them.

I love Warren’s stories and Sundown was worth waiting for. I love the twists and turns. I love the interconnecting stories and cross-over characters. I love how a story thread that Warren started stitching in book 1 will complete a lovely pattern in the final book. Although each book can be read as a stand alone, I think they’re enjoyed more if read in order. And since all 3 are available, why not? I highly recommend this book and the whole series!

I received a free advance copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley, but that did not induce me to leave a review, favorable or not.

Book Talk Tuesday: HANGING BY A MOMENT

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I’m so excited! It’s time to go back to Deep Haven, Minnesota with Andrea Christianson and Susan May Warren.

Hangin’ By a Moment is a story of second chances and of choosing to move past fears and trusting again.

Jack made some mistakes but he’s ready to embrace a new life in Deep Haven and put the past behind him. Unfortunately, the past seems determined to follow him.

Colleen Decker grew up in Deep Haven and left it behind. But when fear chases her home again, she finds the time-out she needs.

Jack is a former pararescue jumper and Colleen is a trauma nurse. They work together to help the newly formed Deep Haven Crisis Response Team. As they grow closer, they realize they each have secrets they need to share and issues they need to deal with.

I enjoyed this entry in the Deep Haven collection a lot. We met Colleen Decker in Susie’s previous book, YOU DON’T KNOW ME, so we know a bit of Colleen’s back story and why she ran from Deep Haven. Jack’s secret involves prison time for a mistake he deeply regrets. He knows it could have been much worse, but he still has a hard time forgiving himself and letting it go. It doesn’t help that it seems no one else will let it go, either.

I like how the authors showed Jack’s and Colleen’s journeys from broken people to healed and whole. The plot and characters grew organically. At times, Colleen’s assumptions about Jack seemed a bit misguided or naïve, but that’s a small quibble.

I highly recommend this book!

I received a free advance copy of this book from the publisher. This did not induce me to write a review, favorable or otherwise.

Book Talk Tuesday: Restoring Heritage Series

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Happy Tuesday and talking about books. This isn’t a normal book review. It isn’t even a two-fer. It’s a four-fer. Or a two+two-fer.

I had the opportunity recently to read Tari Faris’s new series, Restoring Heritage. It consists of a prequel novella, then two novels, then an interim novella, while we wait for novel #3.

The books are set in the small town of Heritage, Michigan and like all the best series have characters who pop in and out of each others’ stories.

Heritage seems to be dying. Businesses are leaving, storefronts are empty, and houses are vacant.

In P.S. GOODBYE, Caroline and Leah Williams are trying to keep their family business afloat. Caroline is also trying to start a new business as a life coach. So when a wounded former Special Forces operator returns to town needing a job, they agree to help out each other. But it can’t be that simple, can it? No, it can’t.

The first full length novel, YOU BELONG WITH ME, is Luke and Hannah’s story. Best friends and next-door-neighbors in high school, they’re now all grown up and still friends, even though both of them want more, but believes the other doesn’t see them “that way,” and that they aren’t worthy of the other.

Hannah is a Realtor, desperate to save the historic homes and shops of Heritage, and somehow redeem her family’s tarnished name. But her every plan and idea is stymied by a local developer wanting to buy the downtown buildings and put in a strip mall.

Luke has his own reasons for helping Hannah and growing closer to her, then retreating. It takes news that shatters everything he thought he knew about his past to bring him to embrace his future. The local pastor, Nate, two sisters Janie and Olivia, and Hannah’s brother, Thomas, are secondary characters.

Novel #2, UNTIL I MET YOU, is Nate and Olivia’s story, along with Nate’s brother, a newcomer to Heritage and another newcomer. This is a story of second chances and redemption, and I’m afraid to say much more would be to give away too many spoilers.

The final installment (so far) is a Christmas novella, WHILE IT WAS SNOWING. This is about one of Olivia and Janie’s brothers Gideon and his friend and co-worker, Dan. That is Danielle. He suddenly realizes she’s a–gasp–girl–when he sees her for the first time at a wedding.

Danielle can’t get wait to get out of the dress and back to Gideon treating her like one of the guys. Although if she’s honest with herself, she kind of liked how he looked at her. Like something inside him was finally seeing her.

All four stories work great as stand-alones, but they mesh together well, too. I really enjoyed them. Faris does a fabulous job at weaving in spiritual truths without preaching. The stories are well constructed and well told.

I highly recommend them!

What’s your favorite small town series?

Book Talk Tuesday: STORM FRONT

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I look for three things in a book:

  • Characters I love and relate to
  • A plot that moves without unnecessary internal navel gazing
  • Multiple story threads that intersect
  • A satisfying ending

Why I love Susan May Warren’s books:

  • Characters who emerge from the page as real and fully developed people
  • Engrossing and exciting action that moves the story forward
  • An overarching mystery or story that ties the others together
  • The main protagonists end with a deeper understanding of themselves, God, and they usually get the love of their life.

STORM FRONT has all that and more. Much more.

Storm-Front800-768x1187The story starts about nine months after TROUBLED WATERS (the most recent book in the series) and about eighteen months after A MATTER OF TRUST (when Ty and Brette met, in Gage and Ella’s story).

Ty Remington blames himself for the helicopter accident that nearly killed his friend and mentor, Chet King, and ruined Ty’s knee. He ignores the fact that he hiked out in a snowstorm with a broken knee and saved Chet’s life. He’s been unable to fly and feels like he’s just a hanger-on and pizza fetcher for the PEAK rescue team.

For the past eighteen months, he can’t get journalist Brette Arnold out of his mind. They only knew each other for two days, but they’d developed a bond. Or at least he thought they had. He can’t shake the feeling that something’s wrong and that she needs him.

Brette ran from Ty when she got a devastating medical diagnosis. She convinced herself he was better off without her. And she didn’t need rescuing or anyone taking care of her. Except she did. She really did.

As STORM FRONT opens, Brette is on the mend and working with a crew of storm chasers. She and Ty both happen to be at the aftermath of a tornado in Minnesota. Brette’s co-worker’s younger brother is missing and so is Chet King, Ty’s mentor.

As soon as he sees Brette, Ty knows he was right. Something was wrong, terribly wrong.

Brette and Ty work together to find the missing people after the tornado. In the process, they find the spark they shared is still warm and it takes only a kiss to fan it into a flame.

But they both have some deep issues they have to deal with before they can become the people God has designed them to be.

The secondary couple in this couple is Ben King and Kacey Fairing, who we met in the first book in this series, WILD MONTANA SKIES.

The next and final book in this series will be Pete and Jess’s story.

Warning: STORM FRONT ends with a heckuva cliff hanger that leads into that final book.

I received a free copy of STORM FRONT from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.