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

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). 

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2 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…

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31 December 2020

Best of 2020 – Emoji Files Part II: Got Me in the Feels

Yesterday I began posting my annual best-of series of posts, which I’ve dubbed The Emoji Files, since I group my favourite reads of the year according to the emotional impact they had on me. It all started yesterday with the Swoony Awards, so if you missed that, make sure you check it out here.

Today, I’m giving you the reads that ‘Got Me in the Feels’. These are the books that made me really emotionally invested in the story, sometimes to the point of tears (sobs, in at least one case!). Stories of consequences and difficult decisions, stories of loss, stories of transformation, and stories that just plain had my emotions in a tangle!

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30 December 2020

Best of 2020 – Emoji Files Part I: The Swoony Awards (and Top Ten Tuesday)

Happy Tuesday, reader friends, and welcome to the final Top Ten Tuesday for 2020 thanks to That Artsy Reader Girl. As always, this week’s topic looks back at our favourite books for the year. I’m also kicking off my annual Emoji Files awards where I break down my favourite reads for the year into the following categories:

The Swoony Awards – all the romance (le sigh!)
Got Me In The Feels – the books that reached in and plucked my heartstrings
The WOW Awards – suspense, thrills, high stakes, and surprises
Take Me Away . . . – fully immersive reads that took me to times and places far away
The LOL Awards – from light-hearted to bust-a-gut humour

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29 December 2020

First Line Friday – Christmas in Three Quarter Time (Rachel McMillan)

Happy Friday, and welcome to First Line Friday, hosted by Hoarding Books. If you’re missing being able to travel this year, then this Christmas read is for you! Christmas in Three Quarter Time by Rachel McMillan immerses you in a Viennese Christmas complete with Christkindl markets, Sachertorte, and a man who rescues a bunny. It’s simply delightful!

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11 December 2020

Burying Daisy Doe Blog Tour + Giveaway

No cold case is more important than the one that destroyed her own family

Every small town has one unsolved case that haunts its memory, festering for generations below the surface with the truth of humanity’s darkness. Star Cavanaugh is obsessed with the one that tore her family apart.

Over sixty years ago, Daisy Doe was murdered and discarded outside Pineville, Alabama, buried without a name or anyone to mourn her loss. When Star’s father tried to solve the case, he was also killed. Now a cold-case detective with resources of her own, Star is determined to get to the bottom of both crimes. But she’ll have to face an entire town locked in corruption, silence, and fear–and the same danger that took two other lives. The only people in the town she can trust are her grandmother and the charming Mike Luinetti, and both of them trust a God Star isn’t sure she believes in. Can Christians so focused on the good really help her track down this evil?

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10 December 2020

The Cul-de-Sac War (Melissa Ferguson) – Review

All’s fair in love and prank wars. 

Bree Leake doesn’t want to be tied down. She’s had more jobs than she can count, and she plans to move as soon as the curtains fall on her less-than-minor stage role at The Barter—the oldest live performance theater in the US. But just when it’s time to move on again, Bree’s parents make her an offer: hold steady for a full year, and they will give her the one thing she’s always wanted—her grandmother’s house. Her dreams are coming true . . . until life at the theater throws her some curve balls. 

And then there’s Chip McBride—her handsome and infuriating next-door neighbor. 

Chip just might be the only person whose stubborn streak can match Bree’s…

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5 December 2020