The Christy Awards

Dear Readers,

The Christian fiction publishing world was all a buzz this week.  First there is the Christy Awards shortlist announcement on Wednesday and the Carol Awards on Friday.  Both awards represent the best of Christian fiction.

The Christy award winners will be announced in November at the banquet in Nashville.  I will be attending and love spending time with authors, publishers and readers.  It is just a wonderful time celebrating the one thing that brings all of us together, fiction.

I thought I would include the finalists for the Christy’s and that was we can all make sure we have them all read before the event.

Congratulation to all the authors.

Contemporary Romance

The Secret Life of Sarah Hollenbeck – Bethany Turner

Troubled Waters – Susan May Warren

True To You – Becky Wade

First Novel

Freedom’s Ring  – Heidi Chiavaroli

The House on Foster Hill – Jaime Jo Wright

Missing Isaac – Valerie Frase Luesse

Turtles on the Road – Kaly Rhea/Rhonda Rhea

General Fiction

A Time to Stand – Robert Whitlow

Life After – Katie Ganshert

The Space Between Words – Michele Phoenix

Historical 

Catching the Wind – Melanie Dobson

Isaiah’s Daughter – Mesu Andrews

Many Sparrows – Lori Benton

Historical Romance 

A Dangerous Legacy – Elizabeth Camden

The Lacemaker – Laura Franz

To Wager Her Heart – Tamera Alexander

Mystery/Suspense/Thriller

Coldwater – Samuel Parker

The House on Foster Hill – Jaime Jo Wright

Rule of Law – Randy Singer

Short Form

Guilt by Association – Heather Day Gilbert

Her Secret Daughter – Ruth Logan Herne

12 days at Bleakly Manor – Michelle Griep

Visionary

Awakened – Morgan Busse

The Day the Angels Fell – Shawn Smucker

The Man He Never Was – James Rubart

Young Adult 

The Delusion – Laura Gallier

Last Summer at Eden – Christina Hergenrader

Unraveling – Sara Ella

 

 

 

 

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New Releases – Sept. 17 – 22

Dear Readers,

Believe it or not, Christmas is only a couple short months away.  I have a few more titles you can add to your wish list, if you can hold off long enough reading them.  🙂

Happy Reading,

Legacy of Mercy – Lynn Austin – Having returned to Chicago, young socialite Anna Nicholson can’t seem to focus on her upcoming marriage. The new information she’s learned about her birth mother continues to pull at her, and she hires Pinkerton detectives to help her discover the whole truth.  But as she meets people who once knew her mother and hears stories about the past, Anna soon discovers that some secrets are better left hidden. With pressure mounting to keep the past quiet, she discovers daily that her choice to seek God’s purpose for her life isn’t as simple as she had hoped.  When things are at their darkest, Anna knows she can turn to her grandmother, Geesje de Jonge, back in Holland, Michigan. Geesje’s been helping new Dutch immigrants–including a teen with a troubled history–adjust to America. She only hopes that her wisdom can help all these young people through the turmoil they face.

The Healing – Linda Byler – An Amish Romance – John is the youngest of seven boys and is constantly overshadowed by his big brothers who seem to all be stronger, smarter, and better looking than he is. As a teenager, he knows he’s overweight and is sure he’ll never be popular like his brothers are. But those struggles are nothing compared to the battle he is about to fight. After weeks of feeling exhausted, depressed, and achy, he has no idea what’s wrong with him and begins to wonder if he’ll be miserable for the rest of his life. By the time he is finally diagnosed with Lyme disease, his body is failing and his spirits are nearly at rock bottom.

White as Silence Red as Song – Alessandro D’Avenia – Sixteen-year-old Leo has a way with words, but he doesn’t know it yet. He spends his time texting, polishing soccer maneuvers, and killing time with Niko and Silvia. Until a new teacher arrives and challenges him to give voice to his dreams. And so Leo is inspired to win over the red-haired beauty, Beatrice. She doesn’t know Leo exists, but he’s convinced that his dream to win her over will come true. When Leo lands in the hospital and learns that Beatrice has been admitted too, his mission to be there for her will send him on a thrilling but heartbreaking journey. He wants to help her but doesn’t know how–and his dream of love will force him to grow up fast.

Flame in the Night – Heather Munn – Julien Losier has just turned eighteen. But this is Vichy France in 1942, and his coming of age is marred by the Nazi occupation of his homeland. His father has always taught him that evil is resisted by the power of God, not by the gun. But when the roundups of Jews begin and both his best friend and the girl he’s falling for become targets, Julien must question where real power lies. Can he be a man who protects the people he loves if he follows his father’s ways of peace?  His hometown is a fragile fortress where hundreds of Jewish youth hide in plain sight, protected only by the goodwill of their neighbors. Julien takes part in the intricate system of sentries and alert codes that keep them safe, doing what he can to resist the Nazis. As the Germans close in, he can see the moment coming when all the town’s careful defenses will fail. He’s torn between the faith of his father and his increasing surety that fighting violence with violence is the only way to win. How can the meek inherit the earth when the strong hold all the cards?

Fit to Be Tied – Debby Mayne – #2 Bucklin Family Reunion Series – Being rich is fine, but when wealth comes from striking oil, it’s a slippery mess for a family who doesn’t know what to do with it. The Bucklin cousins are all together again, and this family reunion is shaping up to be another disaster.  Coralee falls for the police officer who pulls her over. Sally has finally found a guy, but now she’s not sure a relationship is even worth the bother. No matter how hard Brett tries to avoid trouble, he somehow stumbles right back into the thick of it. And Marybeth and Bucky continue to fumble and bumble as they learn how to handle being rich.

 

Reading Challenge

Fall quote

Dear Readers,

What a beautiful quote from Nathaniel Hawthorne.  I love fall.  The temps, the colors, the crisp air.  It is a wonderful and beautiful season and yes I spend many hours outside reading.

Happy Reading,

Lynn Austin Visit

New Releases Sept 10 -15

Dear Readers,

Students are settling back into school.  The rhythms of life have returned to normal.  Okay I prefer the summer rhythms, but I haven’t figured out how to stop time yet.  I am still refusing to give up outdoor reading, but sometimes it requires a heavy blanket and a warm fire.

Here are a few new titles to enjoy while the seasons change.

Happy Reading,

Everything She Didn’t Say – Jane Kirkpatrick – In 1911, Carrie Strahorn wrote a memoir sharing some of the most exciting events of twenty-five years of shaping the American West with her husband, railroad promoter and writer Robert Strahorn. Nearly ten years later, she’s finally ready to reveal the secrets she hadn’t told anyone–even herself. Certain that her writings will be found only after her death, Carrie confronts the pain and disappointment of the pioneering life with startling honesty. She explores the danger a woman faces of losing herself within a relationship with a strong-willed man. She reaches for the courage to accept her own worth. Most of all she wonders, Can she ever feel truly at home in this rootless life?

An Hour Unspent – Roseanna M. White – #3 Shadows Over England – Once London’s top thief, Barclay Pearce has turned his back on his life of crime and now uses his skills for a nation at war, including keeping an eye on a talented engineer working as a clockmaker. But not until he rescues the man’s daughter from a mugging does he begin to wonder what his future might hold.  Evelina Manning has constantly dreamed and worked for independence, but she certainly never meant for it to inspire her fiancé to end their engagement and enlist in the army. When the intriguing man who saved her returns to the Manning residence to study clock repair with her father, she can’t help being interested. But she soon learns that nothing with Barclay Pearce is as simple as it seems. As 1915 England plunges deeper into war, the race is on for any technological edge, and Evelina’s father’s ideas have captured the attention of many–perhaps too many. As danger seems to encroach from every side, it may just take a reformed thief to steal the time they need to escape.

Harbor Secrets – Melody Carlson – #1 Legacy of Sunset Cove. – It’s 1916 when newspaper woman Anna McDowell learns her estranged father has suffered a stroke. Deciding it’s time to repair bridges, Anna packs up her precocious adolescent daughter and heads for her hometown in Sunset Cove, Oregon.  Although much has changed since the turn of the century, some things haven t. Anna finds the staff of her father s paper not exactly eager to welcome a woman into the editor-in-chief role, but her father insists he wants her at the helm. Anna is quickly pulled into the charming town and her new position…but just as quickly learns this seaside getaway harbors some dark and dangerous secrets. With Oregon’s new statewide prohibition in effect, crime has crept along the seacoast and invaded even idyllic Sunset Cove. Anna only meant to get to know her father again over the summer, but instead she finds herself rooting out the biggest story the town has ever seen and trying to keep her daughter safe from it all.

Reading Challenge