How about a second helping of Christian romantic suspense titles? This post includes some author favorites from the first Christian Romantic Suspense edition of Relevant Fiction Reviews and some new authors as well. Continue reading
My Scribbler’s Heart
Top 10 Tuesday: Books I Meant to Read in 2017 But Didn’t Get To
Linking up with The Broke and the Bookish for Top Ten Tuesday . . .
10 Books I Meant To Read In 2017
But Didn’t Get To
(and totally plan to get to in 2018!)
Here’s a smattering of books I’ve been meaning to get to for oh, so long! I stuck to ten, but there are a whole lot more. Hopefully this list will keep me accountable. Some of these books I won as prizes. Others I downloaded on sale days, for free. One’s a classic I’ve never read. And one I’ve returned to the library, unread, at least once.
What books have you been meaning to read but haven’t gotten to yet? Continue reading
An Open Book
Welcome to the January 2018 edition of An Open Book, hosted both at My Scribbler’s Heart AND CatholicMom.com!
After a recent overnight trip to Washington, DC with our family, my husband picked up Star Spangled Banner: The Unlikely Story of America’s National Anthem by Marc Ferris. His interest was piqued by our visit to the Smithsonian Museum of American History, where the original flag that inspired Francis Scott Key is on display. Not as moving as the display at Fort McHenry in Baltimore, but close. We’re looking forward to learning more about our anthem’s history.
On the way to and from Washington, DC, I listened to Christmas at Carnton by Tamera Alexander. I loved this historical Christian romance set during the Civil War in Tennessee. The narration was extremely well done, in my opinion, and I was immediately drawn into this story of a pregnant widow in dire financial straits and an injured Confederate sharp shooter. Easily the best Christmas book I’ve read/listened to this season.
While waiting for hotel staff to resolve our overflowing toilet issue in the hotel room, I was able to finish Charming the Troublemaker by Pepper Basham. I enjoyed this second book in the Mitchell’s Crossroads series set in Appalachia (Virginia, to be specific) much more than the first. Both main characters, brokenhearted but independent Rainey and lonely, charming Alex are likable, but Alex’s originality steals the show. Light humor and gentle faith themes make this “kissing book” a fun, easy read.
For Christmas, we gave our oldest son Life-Changing Love by Theresa Linden, the second in the West Brothers series of Catholic teen fiction by Theresa Linden. He received Roland West, Loner for Christmas last year, and eagerly dug into this book during his Christmas break. While clumsy redhead Caitlyn graces the cover, Roland and his brothers are front and center in this book, and it’s equally enjoyable for boys and girls.
His only homework during the Christmas break is to begin reading Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes by Edith Hamilton. Somehow I missed reading something this comprehensive despite majoring in Classics in college. I love that my son enjoys these classic myths.
At the recommendation of Franciscan Mom, my fourth-grader is enjoying books by Lois Lenski. She zipped through Strawberry Girl, and is currently reading Indian Captive: The Story of Mary Jemison. This Newbery Award-winner recounts the true story of a young girl captured and raised among the Seneca Indians. My daughter is captivated.
The other book open next to “her” side of the loveseat is a Christmas gift: The Other Side of Freedom by Cynthia T. Toney. She’s told me twice so far what a good book it is. On a southern strawberry farm in 1925, young Sal and his Italian immigrant family must discern when to be silent and when to speak up in defense of his father as they become embroiled in a case of bootlegging and police corruption.
My new reader borrowed Christmas with Morris and Boris by Bernard Wiseman from the school library. We have a collection of Morris the Moose stories that all of my children have loved. Listening to a beginning reader can be tedious, and the humor of Morris makes the task more pleasant.
I’ve also introduced her to Henry and Mudge through Henry and Mudge and the Bedtime Thumps by Cynthia Rylant. This series about a boy and his HUGE (but not Clifford-sized) dog is also fun for new readers and their families. I love Cynthia Rylant’s writing for children.
My youngest child received a copy of The Monks’ Daily Bread by Sylvia Dorham. This simple rhyming book, delightfully illustrated, follows the monks through their daily routine when the cupboards are bare, and they must rely on God’s providence for their dinner. A great read-aloud book that children will long remember and treasure.
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Top 20 Faves of 2017
Here are 20 of my favorite books read in 2017. It was tough to pare it down to 20, and there are some books I loved that I left off of the list, but here they are, in no particular order.
My Top 20 Favorite Books of 2017! My Scribbler's Heart Blog Share on X
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Christmas Reading Recommendations
I enjoy reading Christmas books from the beginning of Advent straight through to the end of the Christmas season – long after most people have dragged their needle-dropping trees to the curb.
These are recommendations from the Christmas-themed novels I’ve read since my #5Faves: Christmas Romance Novellas (and More) post two years ago.
Author Interview with A.K. Frailey
Melchior: Vengeance Is Mine is a sweeping saga that shows the generational effects of our choices. The tapestry of interwoven characters was rich and well done, in my opinion. I’ve seen written that during the development of the novel, your husband passed away. How was the novel’s development affected by your grief, and how did that grief affect the novel?
Writing has always been a bit if an escape from reality and yet an opportunity to look at life—my life as well as life in general—from a fresh angle. John suffered the effects of Leukemia for four years before he passed away, so my writing during those years shadowed that reality. Many questions arose while I watched the man I loved suffer and die. At the same time, God’s grace remained tangible and held me together far better than I realized during the ordeal. The dual reality of grief and comfort, testing and surrender, informed the complexities of the novel. I realized I could no longer simply tell a “story.” Rather, I reflected through character, plot, and setting something of life’s mystery, which pointed to something beyond me as a writer and humanity as a whole. That is the core of Melchior’s journey—to realize that he didn’t have to understand God or even himself; he simply needed to allow God to grow inside him no matter what was happening around him. Continue reading
Help Support Corinna Turner’s Elfling in Its Amazon Scout Campaign
Corinna Turner’s latest novel, Elfling, has been accepted for an Amazon Kindle Scout campaign. To help it go further, it needs lots of nominations! Anyone who nominates it will get a free Kindle copy if the campaign is successful.
Nominate Elfling!
Doing the Most With and For the Least This Christmas
I considered whether this post didn’t belong in November, the month in which Catholics traditionally remember the poor souls in Purgatory. Is a reflection on conversion, sacrifice, and the last things too melancholy for the pre-Christmas season?
But “pre-Christmas” isn’t really a season. A marketing device maybe, but not a true season and definitely not a liturgical season. The more I thought, the more I became convinced that Advent is a perfect time to meditate on sin and conversion. Continue reading