Christian Fiction – Fiction Aficionado

First Line Friday – No Stone Unturned (David James Warren)

Happy Friday and welcome to First Line Friday, hosted by Hoarding Books. It’s book club week for me, which means I’m currently in the middle of a race to finish this month’s book, Shades of Light by Sharon Garlough Brown, before our meeting tonight! 😬 It’s a heavier book than most, dealing as it does with depression and anxiety—and as someone who has had experience with depression, I can tell you it cuts close to the bone. I haven’t finished it yet, but if nothing else, I can tell you that this book portrays both the feelings of the sufferer and the feelings of those who are walking alongside the sufferer very well.

9 April 2021

First Line Friday – Shades of Light (Sharon Garlough Brown)

19 March 2021

This Life (Jennifer Rodewald) – Review

They’ve been stripped of everything but a refurbished bus and each other. And it may be the best thing that’s ever happened to them.

Jacob Murphy always felt like the invisible brother, until he fell in love with and married the woman who’d dated his younger brother. Then he became the despised brother. Driven to prove himself worthy of respect, he gambled everything on becoming the successful brother, but with his property speculation business falling apart, he’s ready to admit defeat. He’s lost nearly every worldly good, and after years of disappointments and heartache, it looks like his marriage is about to go the same way.

Kate Murphy lied her way out of life in a trailer park—a life she felt both trapped in and ashamed of. Only Jacob knows the truth about her background. But keeping up appearances has strangled her life and relationships, and even her marriage is troubled. In desperation, she makes a plan to escape from it all—ironically, in a skoolie. But there’s still a tender place in her heart for the man she married, and in a moment of compassion, she offers to take Jacob with her.

18 March 2021

First Line Friday – Before Time Runs Out (Amy Matayo)

Happy Friday and welcome to First Line Friday, hosted by Hoarding Books. I’m a fairly eclectic reader, but time travel is one genre I don’t usually pick up. But right now, I’m in the middle of my SECOND time travel novel of 2021. The first book in Amy Matayo’s Charles & Company Romance series released this week: Before Time Runs Out, and I’m loving it so far. There’s a lot of fun to be had with a character from the 1940s and a character from the twenty-first century meeting up in the 1870s!

12 March 2021

Shadows of the White City (Jocelyn Green) – Review

The one thing Sylvie Townsend wants most is what she feared she was destined never to have–a family of her own. But taking in Polish immigrant Rose Dabrowski to raise and love quells those fears–until seventeen-year-old Rose goes missing at the World’s Fair, and Sylvie’s world unravels.

Brushed off by the authorities, Sylvie turns to her boarder, Kristof Bartok, for help. He is Rose’s violin instructor and the concertmaster for the Columbian Exposition Orchestra, and his language skills are vital to helping Sylvie navigate the immigrant communities where their search leads.

From the glittering architecture of the fair to the dark houses of Chicago’s poorest neighborhoods, they’re taken on a search that points to Rose’s long-lost family. Is Sylvie willing to let the girl go? And as Kristof and Sylvie grow closer, can she reconcile her craving for control with her yearning to belong?

10 March 2021

First Line Friday – This Life (Jennifer Rodewald)

Happy Friday and welcome to First Line Friday, hosted by Hoarding Books. Next week is the release date for the next book in Jennifer Rodewald’s Murphy Brothers series: This Life. If you’ve read any of the other books in the series, you’ll already be familiar with Jacob and Kate—at least, as familiar as they’ve allowed readers to be so far. They haven’t exactly been giving off warm ‘n’ fuzzy vibes! I suspect we’re about to find out why…

5 March 2021

Network of Deceit (Tom Threadgill) – Review

After her rescue of nearly fifty kidnapped children made international headlines, Amara Alvarez gets what she’s worked for: a transfer to San Antonio’s Homicide Division. Reality sets in quickly, though, as her first case, the suspicious death of a teenager at a crowded local water park, brings chaos to her personal life.

As the investigation moves forward and she increases the pressure on the suspects, Amara finds herself under attack by cybercriminals. Her every move is being potentially watched online, and she’s forced to resort to unconventional methods to find the killer. With few leads, she fights to keep her first murder investigation from ending up in the cold case files.

Tom Threadgill is back with another riveting page-turner featuring the detective who is willing to put everything on the line to see that justice is served and lives are protected.

1 March 2021

First Line Friday – Shadows of the White City (Jocelyn Green)

Happy Friday and welcome to First Line Friday, hosted by Hoarding Books. This week I’m finally diving into Jocelyn Green’s new release, Shadows of the White City. Jocelyn is one of my favourite historical fiction authors, and having enjoyed Veiled in Smoke last year, I’m keen to read Sylvie’s story and catch up with Meg and Nate. I especially love that this story takes place many years later. It’s not often we get to catch up with characters so many years down the track!

26 February 2021

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