Author: Iola Goulton

Do you have book storage problems?

Bookish Question # 214 | Do you have book storage problems?

Do you have book storage problems? How do you decide which books stay and which go?

Do I have book storage problems?

No and yes.

I spent a day over the Christmas break rearranging my main bookshelf (the one with all my Christian fiction), and bagging up books to donate to my local church. The books I want to keep are now all on one shelf (yay!)

Unfortunately, there are also two piles of unread books that I may or may not want to keep once I’ve read them.

(Big assumption: that I’ll actually read the paperbacks when I also have 100+ unread novels on my Kindle).

There is also five (yes, five) bags of books to donate.

The plan is to offer them to my church library first. However, the church library is currently in storage as the cafe and office space have recently been renovated. They have ordered more shelves, but global supply chain problems mean the shelves are apparently stuck on a ship somewhere. I don’t want to donate the books until the library is up and running again, so I can make sure I’m not offering books they already have. Here’s hoping the shelves arrive soon, because my second choice will be to donate them to the annual Rotary Club Easter Book sale.

The second part of the question is harder to answer: how do I decide which books stay and which books go?

I keep books I’ve worked on as an editor, or books where I’m mentioned in the acknowledgements. I donate books that I’ve since bought on Kindle. But that still leaves a lot of decisions. I ended up donating books I’ve enjoyed but know I won’t read again (and this is one reason for donating to the church library: they’re still handy if I want to re-read something).

So now I don’t have a book storage problem. I just have to stop buying paper books.

What about you? Do you have book storage problems? How do you decide what which books stay and which go?

"What do you want in a dream man?" "For him to love God, love me, and any children we might have"

Book Review | In Search of a Prince by Toni Shiloh

Brielle Bayo is happy in her life as a middle school civics teacher in New York.

But one day her mother shares a bombshell: her long-dead father was the Crown Prince of Ọlọrọ Ilé, a small island kingdom off the coast of Africa. And that means Bri is actually Princess Brielle Adebayo, heir to the throne.

Bri and her best friend travel to Ọlọrọ Ilé to meet Bri’s grandfather and decide whether she will accept her role, or abdicate. But when she decides to step into her heritage and future, there’s one more challenge ahead … finding a husband.

The setup and the characters got me engaged from the very first page.

I’m not usually a fan of princess stories or made-up kingdoms, but the author has done a great job in creating a believable setting and history of Ọlọrọ Ilé.

I liked the fact that the story also had a minor suspense thread, which was enough to add interest to the plot without turning it into a nail biter. (I also liked the fact that I didn’t guess the identity or the motive of the evildoer, but that it still made perfect sense).

I especially liked the fact that the characters were all strong Christians.

Bri prayed about her problems and did her best to seek and follow God’s will in making her big decisions.

One thing that bugged me was the odd speech tags (stated, ordered, censured, requested). I will admit that I started skimming the tags.

This novel would be a great choice for anyone who likes princess stories like The Princess Diaries and is looking for a Christian version.

Thanks to Bethany House and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review.

About In Search of a Prince

It seems like a dream come true . . . until it forces her to question everything.

Brielle Adebayo is fully content teaching at a New York City public school and taking annual summer vacations with her mother to Martha’s Vineyard. But everything changes when her mom drops a bombshell–Brielle is really a princess in the island kingdom of Ọlọrọ Ilé, off the coast of Africa, and she must immediately assume her royal position, since the health of her grandfather, the king, is failing.

Distraught by all the secrets her mother kept, Brielle is further left spinning when the Ọlọrọ Ilé Royal Council brings up an old edict that states she must marry before her coronation, or the crown will pass to another. Brielle is uncertain if she even wants the throne, and with her world totally shaken, where will she find the courage to take a chance on love and brave the perils a wrong decision may bring?

You can find In Search of a Prince online at:

Amazon | BookBub | ChristianBook | Goodreads | Koorong

Don’t forget to click here to check out my Amazon shop for my top picks in Christian fiction!

First Line Friday

First Line Friday #221 | Love on Ice by Carolyn Miller

It’s First Line Friday! That means it’s time to pick up the nearest book and quote the first line. Today I’m sharing from Love on Ice by Carolyn Miller, the second book in her Original Six series about six ice hockey players. Here’s the first line from the Chapter One:

Not bad for a sports-and-science-focused tomboy, Holly Travers thought, eyeing the intricate paper rose she’d just fashioned, her lips lifted in satisfaction.

What’s the book nearest you, and what’s the first line?

About Love on Ice

She’s focused on winning gold. He wants to lose the player tag. Can a fake relationship become something real?

Aussie short track skater Holly Travers has one goal – make the Vancouver Games, no matter what it takes. She has no time for distractions, even if they come in the handsome form of her Canadian best friend’s twin brother. This hockey player may say he’s not a player, but can she trust him?

Brent Karlsson has one goal – make his sister’s best friend realize he’s a changed man and she should give him a chance. When a set-up in Hawaii helps these two opposites realize they have more in common than they thought, what happens when he wants to turn their fake relationship into something real? And how can a relationship work when these two elite athletes never see each other and live on opposite sides of the world?

Love on Ice is the second book in the Original Six hockey romance series, a sweet and swoony, slightly sporty, Christian contemporary romance series.

You can find Love on Ice online at:

Amazon | BookBub | Goodreads | Koorong

Click the button to check out what my fabulous fellow FirstLineFriday bloggers are sharing today:

First Line Fridays hosted by Hoarding Books

You can then click the link which will take you to the master page of all this week’s #FirstLineFriday posts.

And you can click here to check out my previous FirstLineFriday posts.

Share your first line in the comments, and happy reading!

Don’t forget to click here to check out my Amazon shop for my top picks in Christian fiction!

What's your view about swearing in fiction?

Bookish Question # 213 | What’s your view about swearing in fiction?

I don’t swear and nor do most of the people I know (including the non Christians I work with).

As such, I always find swearing a little jarring when I hear or read it.

However, I do know that some people swear (and some people swear a lot). Most movies I watch have some swearing—they have to, or else they end up with a G rating. TV shows often have swearing as well, although it tends to be fairly low-key and is always consistent with the type of TV show (e.g. I do expect more swearing in an adult crime drama series than in a family comedy show).

I suppose you could say my view depends on the genre.

Likewise, my view of swearing in fiction depends on the genre. If I’m reading a general market thriller or suspense novel, then I expect to see some swearing and I’m not surprised by it. Sure, I  might not like it and I often feel there is too much, but that’s my personal taste.

For example, The Martian by Andy Weir had a lot of swearing. But Mark Watney had just discovered he was alone on an inhospitable planet (Mars) with no way to get home. I can understand the sentiment, and his language did fit his predicament.

If, however, a character is in a less precarious situation, then they probably don’t have to swear. As such, I’m not a fan of swearing in romance (especially not in historical romance) or rom-com. Adding the f-word to a sentence doesn’t make the sentence funny, no matter what some “comedians” might think. There are always alternatives.

 On this basis, I don’t want to see any swearing in Christian fiction.

It’s not funny. It’s not clever. It’s not strong writing. There is always a way to get the sentiment across without using the words. So I prefer for authors to be original and not use the swear words.

I’m also not a fan of derivatives of swear words e.g bloody (a shortened for of By Our Lady, referring to Mary, Mother of Jesus), or Geez (a shortened and misspelled version of Jesus). The other word I don’t like (and which I have seen in a couple of Christian novels recently) is spitless. It’s a made-up substitute for another word (no, spitless isn’t in the dictionary). I actually don’t mind made-up words … in general market material (e.g. characters in Battlestar Galactica used “frack”).

What I don’t mind is silly words used in place of swear words.

For example, NZ Twitter has taken to calling people they don’t like (often politicians or media “personalities”) casseroles (with apologies to all those tasty casseroles out there). Those politicians or personalities who are especially dim are absolute casseroles. One politician was recently awarded the title of full casserole. British English has muppets and numpties.

So that’s my preferred approach: no overt swearing, but using nonsense words where necessary.

What’s your view on swearing in fiction?

Novels are about looking through someone else's eyes,seeing what someone else sees when they look at the world.

Book Review | The Girl Who Could Breathe Under Water by Erin Bartells

I am not a fan of novels about novelists. It feels a little self-serving … and do we trust them to tell the truth? Is being a writer really like writers portray their profession in fiction? I think not.

But I am a fan of Erin Bartels. I thought The Words Between Us was absolutely brilliant, so when I saw The Girl Who Could Breathe Under Water available as a review copy, I immediately clicked. With that title and that cover image, wouldn’t you?

Then I read the book description and I wasn’t so sure:

The best fiction simply tells the truth.
But the truth is never simple.

When novelist Kendra Brennan moves into her grandfather’s old cabin on Hidden Lake, she has a problem and a plan. The problem? An inflammatory letter from A Very Disappointed Reader. The plan? To confront Tyler, her childhood best friend’s brother–and the man who inspired the antagonist in her first book. If she can prove that she told the truth about what happened during those long-ago summers, perhaps she can put the letter’s claims to rest and meet the swiftly approaching deadline for her next book.

But what she discovers as she delves into the murky past is not what she expected. While facing Tyler isn’t easy, facing the consequences of her failed friendship with his sister, Cami, may be the hardest thing she’s ever had to do.

Plumb the depths of the human heart with this emotional exploration of how a friendship dies, how we can face the unforgivable, and how even those who have been hurt can learn to love with abandon.

But I gave it a go because, well, Erin Bartels. And that cover. And the title.

And I’m glad I did.

The Girl Who Could Breathe Under Water was brilliant. It’s a compelling story about a wounded character who doesn’t give up her secrets easily, or the secrets she knows about other people. It’s a multi-layered story that is good on the outside and even better underneath. It’s a (mostly) made-up story that rings true because it’s anchored in truth, in the way real people think and feel and act.

It’s a story that reminds us that our truth is not the only truth, and reminds us that our past makes our present, and sometimes we have o to overcome that past in order to have a future.

What it isn’t is “classic” Christian fiction with nice Christian characters who pray and read their Bibles and go to church. But it is a powerful examination of truth, and it’s a story you won’t soon forget.

Thanks to Revell and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review.

About Erin Bartels

Erin BartelsErin Bartels is the award-winning author of We Hope for Better Things, The Words between Us, All That We Carried, and The Girl Who Could Breathe Under Water (coming January 2022). Her short story “This Elegant Ruin” was a finalist in The Saturday Evening Post 2014 Great American Fiction Contest and her poetry has been published by The Lyric. She lives in the capital city of a state that is 40% water, nestled somewhere between angry protesters on the Capitol lawn and couch-burning frat boys at Michigan State University. And yet, she claims it is really quite peaceful.

You can find The Girl Who Could Breathe Under Water online at:

Amazon | BookBub | ChristianBook | Goodreads | Koorong

Don’t forget to click here to check out my Amazon shop for my top picks in Christian fiction!

First Line Friday

First Line Friday | Week #220 | Guarding Her Heart by Bella Calhoune

It’s First Line Friday! That means it’s time to pick up the nearest book and quote the first line. Today I’m sharing from Guarding Her Heart by Bella Calhoune, step #1 in my effort to read more Christian fiction from BIPOC authors. Also, the book description hints at an amnesia plot and that’s a one of my favourite plot points. Here’s the first line from the Chapter One:Marissa Santana nursed her diet Coke and watched from across the courtyard as her sworn enemy chatted up a group of good-looking ladies.

Well, if amnesia wasn’t enough to hook me, the “sworn enemy” line is!

What’s the book nearest you, and what’s the first line?

About Guarding Her Heart by Bella Calhoune

When realtor Marissa Santana witnesses a murder in the wee hours of the morning, she finds herself suffering post-traumatic stress in the form of amnesia. After two attempts on her life, Marissa realizes she isn’t safe from a killer’s vengeance. Protection arrives in the form of Matt Cruz, Sheriff of Briarwood, who vows to keep her safe. Problem is, Cruz is the last person Marissa wants to give her around the clock protection.

Town sheriff, Matt Cruz, is duty bound to protect Marissa Santana from a killer’s revenge, even though he doesn’t think much of the gossipy realtor. Cruz is still stewing over a rumor he believes Marissa spread about him and an elderly resident of Briarwood. But now, with danger looming, he vows to keep her from a killer’s grasp at all costs.

As Cruz provides around the clock protection for Marissa, they find themselves growing closer and bridging the wide gap between them. As their feelings turn romantic, a killer is still waiting in the shadows to strike out at Marissa. Will true love prevail?

You can find Guarding Her Heart online at:

Amazon | BookBub | Goodreads

Click the button to check out what my fabulous fellow FirstLineFriday bloggers are sharing today:

First Line Fridays hosted by Hoarding Books

You can then click the link which will take you to the master page of all this week’s #FirstLineFriday posts.

And you can click here to check out my previous FirstLineFriday posts.

Share your first line in the comments, and happy reading!

Don’t forget to click here to check out my Amazon shop for my top picks in Christian fiction!

What's your favourite book with a one-word title?

Bookish Question #212 | What’s your favourite book with a one-word title?

I tidied my physical bookshelf yesterday, which means I’m able to answer this question 🙂

Freefall by Kristen Heitzmann

It has an amnesia plot (a favourite), a suspense element (another favourite), and it’s set in Hawai’i (my favourite US state). What’s not to like?

Here’s the book description:

When a young woman stumbles out of the Hanalei Mountains on the island of Kauai with no memory of who she is or how she got there, Cameron Pierce reluctantly agrees to investigate the mysterious circumstances surrounding her arrival. As pieces begin to fall into place, he suspects her injuries were no accident, but he’s far from convinced she’s an innocent victim. And there’s that nagging feeling he’s seen her somewhere before …

Now known as Jade, the woman begins to recall fragments of what led her to this place, and she realizes the danger isn’t over. Jade and the cynical Hawaiian investigator attempt to reconstruct the threads of her identity, but the stakes are far higher than either expected.

Kristen Heitzmann has a lot of novels with one-word titles, and they’re all good but Freefall is my favourite.

You train for it, you know what to do should you have to do it, but you never actually expect to have to use the training.

Book Review | Life Flight (Extreme Measures #1) by Lynette Eason

Penny Carlton is a helicopter ambulance pilot who gets caught up in the investigation when a serial killer escapes from a nearby prison. Holt Satterfield is her ex-boyfriend, and leading the search for the killer.

I found the opening chapters of Life Flight an awkward combination of annoying and thrilling.

Thrilling, because they are fast-paced and placing the characters in a life and death situation (yes, the clue is in the title). But annoying, because of the situation they’d been placed in—forced to undertake a rescue in bad weather, and without a satellite phone to communicate with. Yes, the phone issue was resolved (but even the resolution left a loose end), but it still left me wondering if these characters were competent.

There were also a couple of frustrations as the story progressed. For example, if a serial killer who is known to use disguises disappears into a stairwell, wouldn’t it make sense to check everyone who exits the stairwell i.e. don’t ignore people just because they’re not dressed the same as the killer?

(Yes, I wanted the good guys to win even if I wasn’t convinced they deserved to.)

You may wonder why I’m sharing these moans, given I enjoyed the book overall. It’s because these are the things I would have liked to have known before I read the book. I find it much easier to ignore issues that pull me out of the story or force me to suspend disbelief if I know the issues in advance … because then I’ve made the decision in advance to not be annoyed by the problems.

I enjoyed the will-they-won’t-they chase to catch the serial killer before he found his next victim … especially once it became obvious Penny was going to be the next victim. It was a fast-paced novel with excellent characters, and kept me turning the pages to find out what happened.

Life Flight by Lynette Eason was a fast-paced #Christian novel with excellent characters, and kept me turning the pages to find out what happened. #BookReview Share on X

I also liked the fact Life Flight was clearly Christian fiction. Holt and Penny are both Christians who believe God is in control and seek to follow Him. If a novel is categorised as Christian fiction, then I want to see that play out in the characters. They did in Life Flight, which is a definite positive.

Overall, I enjoyed Life Flight, and I’ll look forward to reading the next book in the series.

Thanks to Revell Books and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review.

About Lynette Eason

Lynette EasonLynette Eason is the bestselling author of the Women of Justice series, the Deadly Reunions series, and the Hidden Identity series, as well as Always Watching, Without Warning, Moving Target, and Chasing Secrets in the Elite Guardians series. She is the winner of two ACFW Carol Awards, the Selah Award, and the Inspirational Readers’ Choice Award. She has a master’s degree in education from Converse College and lives in South Carolina.

Find Lynette Eason online at:

Website | Facebook | Twitter

About Life Flight

EMS helicopter pilot Penny Carlton is used to high stress situations, but being forced to land on a mountain in a raging storm with a critical patient–and a serial killer on the loose–tests her skills and her nerve to the limit. She survives with FBI Special Agent Holt Satterfield’s help. But she’s not out of the woods yet.

In the ensuing days, Penny finds herself under attack. And when news reaches Holt that he may not have gotten his man after all, it will take all he and Penny have to catch a killer–before he catches one of them.

Bestselling and award-winning author Lynette Eason is back with another high-octane tale of close calls, narrow escapes, and the fight to bring a nefarious criminal to justice.

Find Life Flight online at:

Amazon | BookBub | ChristianBook | Goodreads | Koorong

Don’t forget to click here to check out my Amazon shop for my top picks in Christian fiction!

First Line Friday

First Line Friday | Week #219 | In Search of a Prince by Toni Shiloh

It’s First Line Friday! That means it’s time to pick up the nearest book and quote the first line. Today I’m sharing from In Search of a Prince by Toni Shiloh, a Christian The Princess Diaries set on a beautiful island off the coast of Africa. Here’s the first line from the Chapter One:

Your Majesty, I am afraid the news is not good.

What’s the book nearest you, and what’s the first line?

About In Search of a Prince

It seems like a dream come true . . . until it forces her to question everything.

Brielle Adebayo is fully content teaching at a New York City public school and taking annual summer vacations with her mother to Martha’s Vineyard. But everything changes when her mom drops a bombshell–Brielle is really a princess in the island kingdom of Ọlọrọ Ilé, off the coast of Africa, and she must immediately assume her royal position, since the health of her grandfather, the king, is failing.

Distraught by all the secrets her mother kept, Brielle is further left spinning when the Ọlọrọ Ilé Royal Council brings up an old edict that states she must marry before her coronation, or the crown will pass to another. Brielle is uncertain if she even wants the throne, and with her world totally shaken, where will she find the courage to take a chance on love and brave the perils a wrong decision may bring?

You can find In Search of a Prince online at:

Amazon | BookBub | ChristianBook | Goodreads | Koorong

Click the button to check out what my fabulous fellow FirstLineFriday bloggers are sharing today:

First Line Fridays hosted by Hoarding Books

You can then click the link which will take you to the master page of all this week’s #FirstLineFriday posts.

And you can click here to check out my previous FirstLineFriday posts.

Share your first line in the comments, and happy reading!

Don’t forget to click here to check out my Amazon shop for my top picks in Christian fiction!

What books are you looking forward to reading in 2022?

Bookish Question #211 | What books are you looking forward to reading in 2022?

My TBR list has a lot of books that I want to read, and which I am slowly (very slowly) making my way through.

The speed at which I crawl through the to-read pile may or may not have anything to do with the speed at which I also purchase new books. As I have recently heard, buying books and reading books are two separate hobbies.

If I tell you some of the books I especially want to read from my to-read pile, maybe I’ll actually read them! Here goes …

  • Desert Willow by Patricia Beal, because I enjoyed A time to Dance, so really should read this.
  • Why I Still Believe by Mary Jo Sharp, because so many people leave the faith as adult,s and I’d like to understand that better …. which includes understanding why people stay.
  • Over the Waters by Deborah Raney, because it was recommended to me.
  • The Holy Bible (English Standard Version), because I try and read a different version each year and the ESV is new to me.
  • The Bible Recap by Tara-Leigh Cobble, a one-year chronological reading plan based on the ESV (and which has a Bible app plan and a daily podcast, so I can chose to read or listen each day).
  • Daring Greatly by Brenee Brown, because she’s an author who has been recommended to me by both Christians and nonChristians, so she seems to have bridged the Christian/general market divide.
  • Forgiven by Carol Ashby, another book/author that’s been recommended to me.
  • A Lowcountry Bride by Preslaysa Williams, which I keep meaning to read yet somehow haven’t.
  • Canyon War by Sarah Elizabeth Sawyer, because it’s got a great opening line, and features a nineteenth-century female doctor.
  • Operation Romance Books 1-4 by Elizabeth Maddrey. I’ve actually just read the first two and discovered the box set while researching this post … so please excuse me while I read #3 and #4.

I will also be reading the next releases from some of my favourite contemporary and historical romance authors, including:

  • Carolyn Miller
  • Becky Wade
  • Tari Faris
  • Meredith Resce (her Luella Linley series is brilliant)
  • Elizabeth Camden
  • Elizabeth Musser
  • Christine Dillon
  • Carla Laureano
  • Lynn Austin
  • Janet W Ferguson
  • Susan Meissner
  • Courtney Walsh
  • Mila Holt

And, of course, all the books from debut and new-to-me authors I’ve yet to find out about.

What books are you looking forward to reading in 2022?

What do you recommend I add to my to-read pile?