Katie

First Line Friday – Still the One (Rachel D. Russell)

Happy Friday and welcome to First Line Friday, hosted by Hoarding Books. I have good news for fans of Susan May Warren’s Deep Haven series. And fans of her Christiansen series. And, well, fans of Susan May Warren’s contemporary romance in general. There is a new series of Deep Haven novels coming out through Sunrise Publishing, a company established by Susan May Warren and Lindsay Harrel. You can read more about this unique publisher on their website, but the most important thing to know is that there will be SIX brand new contemporary romances releasing this year set in Deep Haven. These novels have been written by three up-and-coming authors who have been mentored by Susie, and the first one, Still the One, releases next Tuesday, 12 January. And you can currently pre-order the Kindle version for just $4.99!

8 January 2021

The Mulberry Leaf Whispers (Linda Thompson) – Review + Giveaway

A WWII Japanese naval officer. The teenage daughter of a legendary Christian samurai. Three centuries separate them, but a crucial question binds their destinies together.

Which lives have value?

In the highly anticipated sequel to her award-winning debut novel, The Plum Blooms in Winter, Linda Thompson provides a riveting story inspired by true events.

7 January 2021

Top Ten Tuesday – Most Anticipated New Releases Jan-Jun 2021

Happy Tuesday, reading friends, and happy new year! It’s time for another Top Ten Tuesday post, thanks to That Artsy Reader Girl, and this week we’re getting excited about what’s coming up in 2021—specifically, the new releases we’re most looking forward to reading in the first half of 2021. I have a mixture of Christian fiction and general market titles this year, having discovered a few general market authors I’m keen to read more from (Kate Quinn, Anna Lee Huber, and Ashley Weaver).

Of course, this is only a smattering of the books I’m looking forward to this year, but I was firm with myself in limiting this list to ten!

5 January 2021

The Red Canary (Rachel Scott McDaniel) – Review

Music sparks her world, but can love ignite her heart?

In 1928, soot from the local mills and music from speakeasies linger in the Pittsburgh air. When the manager of The Kelly Club is found dead, nightclub singer Vera Pembroke is thrust into peril. As the only witness to the crime, she’s sentenced to hide away in the Allegheny Forest with a stuffy police sergeant as her guardian.

Sergeant Mick Dinelo harbors a burning hatred for Pittsburgh’s underworld after the devastation it left on his life—and heart. He should be out exposing culpable gangsters rather than tending to the impetuous woman who defies his every effort to keep her safe.

Mick and Vera must set aside their differences to solve the murder that someone wants to keep buried beneath the soot of Steel City.

4 January 2021

Best of 2020 – Emoji Files, Part V: The LOL Awards

Greetings, reader friends! Today we reach the end of my annual Emoji Files celebrating my best reads of 2020. If you’ve missed my previous posts for 2020, make sure you check out The Swoony Awards, Got Me in the Feels, The WOW Awards, and Take Me Away.

The LOL Awards are, not surprisingly, for those books that have made me laugh this year. I’m always on a quest to find books that make me laugh, and for that reason, I’ve branched out a bit in my search for romantic comedy, which means there are some general market reads on this list that aren’t clean reads (Chateau of Happily Ever Afters by Jaimie Admans and Because of Miss Bridgerton by Julia Quinn).

2 January 2021

First Line Friday – The Red Canary (Rachel Scott McDaniel)

Happy Friday and happy new year! Welcome to First Line Friday, hosted by Hoarding Books. I’m heading back to the late 1920s this week with a historical romance that has a heaped side-serving of suspense. If you enjoy reading books in this time period, I encourage you to check out Rachel Scott McDaniel’s newest release, The Red Canary.

1 January 2021

Best of 2020 – Emoji Files, Part IV: Take Me Away

Welcome back, reader friends! It’s time for Part IV of my annual Emoji Files celebrating my best reads of 2020. If you’ve missed my previous posts for 2020, make sure you check out The Swoony Awards, Got Me in the Feels, and The WOW Awards.

The Take Me Away Awards go to those books that were truly immersive reads, carrying me away to different times and places with authentic historical, sensory, and cultural details and introducing me to some fantastic and intriguing characters who inhabit those worlds. Through these stories I’ve travelled all over the world and beyond—an experience that has had extra significance in 2020!

1 January 2021

Best of 2020 – Emoji Files Part III: The WOW Awards

Hello again, reader friends! Welcome to Part III of my annual Emoji Files celebrating my best reads of 2020. If you’ve missed either of the previous posts to date, make sure you check out The Swoony Awards and Got Me in the Feels.

Normally, the WOW Awards go to those books that kept me riveted with high-intensity action, pumping adrenaline, plot twists, or just some good old-fashioned suspense. And most of the books in this list did exactly that. This year, however, I’ve included two books that don’t necessary meet that criteria: Lu. by Beth Troy and Heartless by Tamara Leigh, both of which WOWed me in their own ways…

31 December 2020

The power of fiction, the beauty of words, and the God who made us to wield them for His glory.