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

To Dwell Among Cedars (Connilyn Cossette) – Review

Eight years ago, when the Philistines stole and then surrendered the ark of the covenant back to the Israelites, Eliora left her Philistine homeland to follow the ark to the community of Kiryat Yearim. There, the family she was adopted into has guarded the ark at the top of a mountain in seclusion. 

Ronen is a Levite musician determined to secret away the ark to a more fitting resting place, watched over by priests who would restore the Holy of Holies. He never expected that the Philistine girl he rescued years ago would now be part of the very family he’s tasked to deceive.

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First Line Friday – Boundless (Tamara Leigh)

Happy Friday and welcome to First Line Friday, hosted by Hoarding Books. It’s a day to rejoice, because Tamara Leigh’s latest book downloaded to my Kindle overnight! Boundless is book number six in her Age of Conquest series and I can’t wait to dive in. Unfortunately, I have another book to finish before I can dive in, but that just means I can relish the anticipation for a little longer. Provided I can actually hold out… 😁

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Top Ten Tuesday – 2020 Releases I Still Need to Read

Happy Tuesday, reading friends! It’s time for another Top Ten Tuesday post, thanks to That Artsy Reader Girl. This week’s topic is Books I Meant to Read in 2020 but Didn’t Get To. Considering we moved out of our old home in December 2019, knocked it down and rebuilt over the first half of 2020 and moved into our beautiful new home in August of 2020, it was more a case of “Books I Wish I’d Had Time to Read but Knew There Was No Chance,” but why split hairs? The result is the same.

So, here are ten books I really wish I’d had time to fit into my reading schedule last year. I wonder how many of them I’ll manage to fit in to this year’s reading.

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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.

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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!

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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.

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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.

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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!

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