Tag: Thomas Nelson

I’m Cat Cranwell. Half owner of the platform about to take the world by storm. And famous for a living.

Book Review | Famous for a Living by Melissa Ferguson

Cat Cranwell is an online influencer who is unceremoniously cancelled when the new social network she’s promoting is found to be selling data.

My first impression of Cat was shallow.

My second impression was that she was clever enough to know she really should read a contract before signing it … but not clever enough to stand up for herself and insist that she (or her lawyer) actually read the contract. I almost stopped reading at this point. In fact, I did stop reading, only to return to the book several months later.

Anyway, Cat’s uncle invites her to his small town in Montanna, where he has a job she can do while she waits for the hullabaloo to die down. He’s the head Park Ranger for Kannery National Park, and hires Cat to reenergise their social media profiles and marketing in general.

So Cat catches a flight to the middle of nowhere, taking more suitcases than she should reasonably have been allowed to check in. (Who needs six suitcases to go anywhere?) She meets her uncle’s quirky colleagues, including the elusive Zaiah Smith.

Famous for a Living had the same city-girl-meets-country-boy grumpy sunshine plot and overall vibe as Brynn and Sebastian Hate Each Other. Brynn and Sebastian’s story had them both as point of view characters, while Cat’s story is told entirely in first person from her point of view.

I found that a little hard going … and I say that as someone who usually loves first person.

I think my problem was that I found Cat annoying and unlikeable for the first third of the book. She mellowed slightly in the middle third and was quite likeable by the end (although I still don’t see what Zaiah saw in her, or vice versa).

The cover gives off definite rom-com vibes, and there were some funny lines and even funny scenes. The writing was good and occasionally great, although there were a few times I had to backtrack because it felt like I’d missed something important (like Zaiah giving any indication he was romantically interested in Cat. Or vice versa). As such, the story was definitely more com than rom.

The story did make some solid points about social media use and addiction.

However, I would have liked to have seen that spread more evenly throughout the story. I guess it could be argued that the whole story was a warning against social media addiction, but that wasn’t the impression I got.

Famous for a Living is categorised as Christian fiction, and I kept waiting for Cat–or Zaiah, or anyone–to show some kind of Christian message (like how we, as Christians, should look to God rather than social media for love). But it never came. Yes, I guess it was a clean and wholesome romance, but I would have liked to have seen more of a faith element, and much more of a romance.

If you enjoy rom-coms from authors like Bethany Turner, then you may enjoy Famous for a Living.

Thanks to Thomas Nelson and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review.

About Melissa Ferguson

Melissa Ferguson

Find Melissa Ferguson online at:

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About Famous for a Living

She’s Insta-famous. He uses a flip phone.

When her business partner is accused of serious financial crimes, superstar influencer Cat Cranwell—an engineered marvel of beauty, energy, and fun—falls from her penthouse perch. Des­perate to get away from the online trolls and paparazzi docu­menting her disgrace, Cat accepts her uncle’s offer to work with him in Kannery National Park, Montana. About as far as possible from life as she’s known it.

Cat’s world shifts from the swirling haze of likes and comments to lit­eral blizzards of frostbite temperatures and waist-deep snow. In place of negotiating brand deals, she finds herself negotiating at the ledge of a frozen lake with her die-hard Polar Bear Plunge coworkers. Instead of padding through the marble kitchen of her Manhattan loft, she’s sharing a tent-sized cabin with a roommate eager to bond like characters in sitcoms. But something curious is also happening in this overwhelming breath of fresh air as she reacquaints with the most honest parts of her­self and begins to ask the hard questions. Can Cat love herself with, and without, the world watching?

Then there’s that other tiny problem—she’s falling for Zaiah, the ruggedly handsome park ranger—and he hates anything remotely connected to social media, quite possibly her included.

Written with bestselling author Melissa Ferguson’s signature wit and charm, this laugh-out-loud romantic comedy of opposites attract is full of hilarious romp and a romance that will melt readers’ hearts.

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First Line Friday

First Line Friday #260 | Authentically Izzy by Pepper Basham

It’s First Line Friday! That means it’s time to pick up the nearest book and quote the first line. I’m quoting from Authentically Izzy by Pepper Basham. It’s an epistolary novel, a genre I enjoy and would love to see more of.

Here’s the first line from the Chapter One:

This is a cautionary tale. A tale of family, literary classics, podiatry, matchmaking, Shakespeare, and distance.

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

 

About Authentically Izzy

Dear Reader,

My name is Isabelle Louisa Edgewood—Izzy, for short. I live by blue-tinted mountains, where I find contentment in fresh air and books. Oh, and coffee and tea, of course. And occasionally in being accosted by the love of my family. (You’ll understand my verb choice in the phrase later.) I dream of opening my own bookstore, but my life, particularly my romantic history, has not been the stuff of fairy tales. Which is probably why my pregnant, misled, matchmaking cousin—who, really, is more like my sister—signed me up for an online dating community.

The trouble is . . . it worked. I’ve met my book-quoting Mr. Right, and our correspondence has been almost too good to be true. But Brodie lives across an ocean. And just the other day, a perfectly nice author and professor named Eli came into the library where I work and asked me out for a coffee. I feel a rom-com movie with a foreboding disaster nipping at my heels.

But I’ve played it safe for a long time. Maybe it’s time for me to be as brave as my favorite literary heroines. Maybe it’s time to take the adventures from the page to real life. Wish me luck.

Authentically,

Izzy

Find Authentically Izzy online at:

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Click here to check out what my fabulous fellow FirstLineFriday bloggers are sharing today.

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

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She was beginning to wonder if loving a man like Michael was truly worth all she had given up.

Book Review | Something Good by Vanessa Miller

Well, there’s plenty of conflict in Something Good.

Jon-Jon’s family is suffering financial because of his injuries in an accident that wasn’t his fault. Their insurance won’t pay for the operation he needs, and they’re not getting any help from Alexis Marshall, the woman who caused the accident.

Alexis wants to help, but her husband won’t let her because he thinks it will affect his big business deal. He’s too busy trying to present a perfect persona, which impacts on Alexis’s relationship with her mother.

Marquita Lewis has had a tough upbringing, with a mother who has serious mental health issues and who hasn’t been taught a lot of what we might think are the basics of life. When she shows up on the Marshall’s doorstep, it challenges them all.

The overriding theme of Something Good is implied by the title.

God can bring something good out of even the worst of circumstances if we let him. It’s a great theme, and the novel does a great job of showing this at the big-picture level.

My problems with Something Good were in the detail.

First, this book has a plot that shouldn’t be allowed to happen. I will admit to Kiwi privilege here: I live in a country with “socialist” national healthcare as well as separate state-funded medical insurance for those injured in accidents. As such, it grates that Jon-Jon’s medical expenses cause his family such financial stress. It’s a sad indictment on “the land of the free” that this plot is  possible and all-too believable.

Second, there were a lot of editing issues e.g. misspelled words (e.g. Epson salt), awkward tense changes (maybe they’re in italic in the paper version, but they weren’t in my ebook review copy), repetition (arms and hands flailing in consecutive paragraphs, as though the sentence was moved but the original sentence not deleted), and weird dialogue tags (objected, joked).

But the main problem the dialogue—it felt wooden, unnatural, and inconsistent with the characters. The quality of the editing was an unpleasant surprise, because Thomas Nelson novels are usually edited to a much higher standard. The editing drew me out of the story many times which is a shame, because Something Good is a powerful story that deserves to be read.

In particular, I found Alexis an inspiring character.

Why? Because of her determination to hold onto God despite her circumstances, and her habit of praying her way through the bad times. I found that encouraging, and it’s great to see Thomas Nelson returning to their heritage of novels displaying strong Christian values. More, please!

Meanwhile, I look forward to exploring some of Vanessa Miller’s extensive list of previous novels.

Thanks to Thomas Nelson and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review.

About Vanessa Miller

Vanessa MillerVanessa Miller is a bestselling author, with several books appearing on Essence Magazine’s Bestseller’s List. She has also been a Black Expressions Book Club Alternate pick and #1 on BCNN/BCBC Bestsellers’ List. Most of Vanessa’s published novels depict characters that are lost and in need of redemption. The books have received countless favorable reviews: “Heartwarming, drama-packed and tender in just the right places” (Romantic Times Book Review) and “Recommended for readers of redemption stories” (Library Journal).

Find Vanessa Miller online at:

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About Something Good

When three women find their lives inextricably linked after a terrible mistake, they must work together to make the most of their futures.

Alexis Marshall never meant to cause the accident that left Jon-Jon Robinson paralyzed—but though guilt plagues her, her husband hopes to put the past behind them. After all, he’s in the middle of selling a tech business—and if Alexis admits to texting while driving, the deal could collapse and cost them millions. Meanwhile, Alexis’s life is not as shiny and perfect as it may seem from the outside. She has secrets of her own. As she becomes consumed with thoughts of the young man she hit, can she reconcile her mistake with her husband’s expectations?

Trish Robinson is just trying to hold it together after the accident that left Jon-Jon dependent and depressed. As the bills pile up, Trish and her husband, Dwayne, find themselves at odds. Trish wants to forgive and move on, but Dwayne is filled with rage toward the entitled woman who altered their lives forever. Trish can’t see how anything good can come from so much hate and strife, so she determines to pray until God intervenes. Then one afternoon Marquita Lewis rings their doorbell with a baby in her arms and changes everything.

Vanessa Miller’s latest inspirational novel reminds readers that differences may separate us, but if we cling to each other, God can bring something good out of our very worst moments.

You can find Something Good 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 #223 | Something Good by Vanessa 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 Something Good by Vanessa Miller, a new-to-me author. Here’s the first line from the Chapter One:

These gluten free, avocado-toast-eating-green smoothie-drinking bougie country folk got on Marquita Lewis's last nerve.

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

 

About Something Good

When three women find their lives inextricably linked after a terrible mistake, they must work together to make the most of their futures.

Alexis Marshall never meant to cause the accident that left Jon-Jon Robinson paralyzed—but though guilt plagues her, her husband hopes to put the past behind them. After all, he’s in the middle of selling a tech business—and if Alexis admits to texting while driving, the deal could collapse and cost them millions. Meanwhile, Alexis’s life is not as shiny and perfect as it may seem from the outside. She has secrets of her own. As she becomes consumed with thoughts of the young man she hit, can she reconcile her mistake with her husband’s expectations?

Trish Robinson is just trying to hold it together after the accident that left Jon-Jon dependent and depressed. As the bills pile up, Trish and her husband, Dwayne, find themselves at odds. Trish wants to forgive and move on, but Dwayne is filled with rage toward the entitled woman who altered their lives forever. Trish can’t see how anything good can come from so much hate and strife, so she determines to pray until God intervenes. Then one afternoon Marquita Lewis rings their doorbell with a baby in her arms and changes everything.

Vanessa Miller’s latest inspirational novel reminds readers that differences may separate us, but if we cling to each other, God can bring something good out of our very worst moments.

You can find Something Good online at:

Amazon | BookBub | ChristianBook | Goodreads | Koorong

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

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!

She'd had exactly four dates since high school, all of them forgettable.

Book Review | Much Ado About a Latte by Kathleen Fuller

Anita Bedford is happy in her job as a waitress at the Sunshine Diner in the small town of Maple Falls, even if it means working with Tanner Castillo, her high school crush and first kiss. But she wants to prove to her family and herself that she can do more, by buying the abandoned building next door to the diner and opening a cafe that sells proper barista coffee.

(I can only assume both rent and property are extremely cheap in Maple Falls, because every other novel I’ve read with a waitress as the heroine has shown her living paycheck to paycheck and barely able to afford rent, let alone buy a building. Or perhaps she’s got the only waitressing job in North America that pays a living wage).

Tanner Castillo’s father died when he was a child, so he and his mother have been working two jobs since forever to make ends meet and to give Tanner’s younger brother the opportunity to go to college. But he’s managed to save some money as well, because he wants to buy the Sunshine Diner and drag it into the twenty-first century with new decor and proper coffee.

Well, it’s not hard to see where the story is going and that there are problems ahead.

There’s plenty of room for tension—romantic and otherwise. The story delivers that in spades, helped by two compelling main characters who can’t both succeed …

I had a couple of reservations about the novel. First, there is a scene where a character drinks three cocktails in a very short space of time, and there are the obvious consequences. I know many Christians drink and I’m sure some drink too much, but this scene felt out of place in what I thought was a Christian rom-com. Such a scene might have fit in a novel with a theme around the dangers of excess alcohol, but I didn’t think it fit here. Of course, that statement assumes the novel is Christian fiction. While it’s categorised as Christian romance, there was nothing especially Christian about it except one character who teaches Sunday School.

The other thing I didn’t like was the ending. It felt rushed, and I thought the epilogue felt forced.

Much Ado About a Latte by Kathleen Fuller delivers romantic tension in spades, helped by two compelling main characters who can't both succeed. #BookReview #ChristianRomCom Click To Tweet

But the other 90% of the novel was great fun, with plenty of humour and several excellent side characters. The romance builds well, and all the tension only makes the eventual payoff sweeter.

This is the second book in the Maple Falls series. I haven’t read the first, but this was a standalone novel and I didn’t feel like I’d missed anything.

Thanks to Thomas Nelson and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review.

About Kathleen Fuller

Kathleen Fuller

With over a million copies sold, Kathleen Fuller is the author of several bestselling novels, including the Hearts of Middlefield novels, the Middlefield Family novels, the Amish of Birch Creek series, the Amish Letters series, the Brides of Birch Creek series, the upcoming Mail Order Brides of Birch Creek, as well as a middle-grade Amish series, the Mysteries of Middlefield. She has also contributed to numerous novella collections.

She and her husband James live in Arkansas and have three adult children. When she’s not writing, Kathleen is avidly crocheting, reading, and traveling, sometimes all at the same time. She runs the Facebook group Books & Hooks, which combines her love of books, crochet, and collecting recipes that she’ll never have enough time to make.

Find Kathleen Fuller online at:

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About Much Ado About a Latte

A coffee war is brewing in Maple Falls, where Anita and Tanner are serving up plenty of steam to keep the town buzzing.

Anita Bedford needs to face reality. It’s time to decaffeinate the dream that she and Tanner will ever be more than friends. Growing up in small-town Maple Falls, she’s had a crush on Tanner for years. But he’ll only ever see her as good, old, dependable Anita. Now she’s finally ready to make her own goals a reality. In fact, that deserted building next door to Sunshine Diner looks like a promising location to open her own café.

Tanner Castillo may know how to operate a diner, but he doesn’t know beans about love. After pouring his life savings into buying the Sunshine Diner, he needs to keep his mind on making a success of it and supporting his widowed mother, not on kissing Anita Bedford. First order of business: improve his customers’ coffee experience. Next, he should probably find out who bought the building next door.

It’s a bitter cup to swallow when ambition turns longtime friends and coworkers Anita and Tanner into rivals. Now that they own competing businesses, how could they ever compete for each other’s hearts? Or will the two of them come to see what’s obvious to the whole, quirky town of Maple Falls: potential for a full-roast romance, with an extra splash of dream?

Welcome to Maple Falls, where everyone knows your name and has thoughts on your love life.

Find Much Ado About a Latte online at:

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Quote from State of Lies: Not too many employers were looking for quantum physicists. People tended to look at you strangely when you spoke of things like time travel, parallel dimensions, and wormholes as matters of fact.

Book Review | State of Lies by Siri Mitchell

It’s been a while since I’ve read a novel by Siri Mitchell. Her first novels were contemporary Christian romance, and I enjoyed the writing and the humour. She then moved into Christian historical romance. I read a couple and enjoyed Flirtation Walk, but didn’t enjoy the other—I didn’t like the characters, and found the language bloated when compared with her contemporary reads. However, after reading the other reviews, I see mine was a minority opinion.

I then read and enjoyed The Miracle Thief, the first of two general market historical novels released under the pen name of Iris Anthony. I thought it was a wonderful story, and was pleasantly surprised to find it actually had more Christian content than many of the Christian novels I read (and I’m not sure what it says about the publishing industry that the Christian publishers weren’t prepared to publish a novel featuring miracles, but a general market publisher was).

And now Siri Michell is back, and writing in a fourth genre: romantic suspense.

State of Lies is published by Thomas Nelson, part of HarperCollins Christian Publishing, and is like many current Thomas Nelson books: well-written with a great plot and characters, but no overt Christian content. Despite that, it’s a great read.

Georgia Brennan is a physicist in Washington, DC. She’s married to Sean, a historian, is the mother of six-year-old Sam, and the daughter of a US Army general who might just be the next secretary of defence. Life is great.

Sean is killed in a car accident on his way to pick up a part he needed to fix the kitchen sink.

Months later, when Georgie goes to fix the sink, she realises Sean was lying. That starts Georgie following a trail of lies and leaves her questioning everything she knows to be true.

The novel is Georgie’s story, written in first person point of view. She is an intelligent woman, which is something I always like to see in fiction. She is a strong character with a strong voice, a voice which drives the narration forward without slowing the pace.

State of Lies is a brilliant thriller, with political and military links as befits the Washington DC setting. It’s well-written, with excellent characterisation, and just the right balance between red herrings and genuine clues … along with plenty of surprises. I like to be able to figure some things out when I read a thriller or suspense novel, but I also like to be wrong occasionally.

I hope this is the first of many suspense novels from Siri Mitchell. Recommended for fans of the Criss Cross series by CC Warrens, and the If I Run trilogy by Terri Blackstock.

Thanks to Thomas Nelson and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review.

About Siri Mitchell

Siri MitchellSiri Mitchell is the author of 14 novels. She has also written 2 novels under the pseudonym of Iris Anthony. She graduated from the University of Washington with a business degree and has worked in various levels of government. As a military spouse, she lived all over the world, including Paris and Tokyo. Siri is a big fan of the semi-colon but thinks the Oxford comma is irritatingly redundant.

Find Siri Mitchell online at:

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About State of Lies

The secrets of those closet to us can be the most dangerous of all.

Months after her husband, Sean, is killed by a hit-and-run driver, physicist Georgie Brennan discovers he lied to her about where he had been going that day. A cryptic notebook, a missing computer, and strange noises under her house soon have her questioning everything she thought she knew.

With her job hanging by a thread, her son struggling to cope with his father’s death, and her four-star general father up for confirmation as the next Secretary of Defense, Georgie quickly finds herself tangled in a political intrigue that has no clear agenda and dozens of likely villains. Only one thing is clear: someone wants her dead too.

The more she digs for the truth, the fewer people she can trust.

Not her friends.

Not her parents.

Maybe not even herself.

Find State of Lies online at:

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Click here to find State of Lies and other great Christian fiction in my Amazon store!

You are far more than a job, a ministry, or even a calling. You are a person created and saved by God, no matter what your job is or what you do in life.

Book Review | Love and Other Mistakes by Jessica Kate

Natalie Groves is about to give the presentation she hopes will save her job when she gets a phone call. There’s a medical emergency. Her first thought is for her father, who’s got cancer. But when she gets to the scene she finds Jem, her childhood sweetheart and ex-fiance.

With a baby.

Now unemployed, Natalie unwillingly accepts a job as Olly’s part-time nanny on the condition she can also take an unpaid internship with a new Christian ministry, Wildfire. It’s the opportunity she’s been waiting for. And the handsome youth pastor in charge has nothing to do with that …

Jem has his own issues. He left town after an argument with his father, and he’s still not ready to mend those bridges. And he’s got his niece, sixteen-year-old Lily, who helps Natalie with Olly, and who moves in following an argument with her own father.

Love and Other Mistakes is a bit of a genre mash-up.

There’s Natalie and Jem’s second-chance romance. There’s the faith element—Natalie’s internship is with a Christian ministry, and Lily’s parents are both in full-time paid ministry. Then there is Lily’s story, which is more Young Adult. The overall tone is humorous, with a definite chick-lit vibe.

I found the first quarter packed in a lot of information, and the writing sometimes got in the way of the story. But then I totally got into the story, and finished it in two sittings.

Overall, Love and Other Mistakes is a funny yet poignant lesson in broken relationships that’s occasionally frustrating (Steph, I’m talking about you). It’s also a lesson in mending relationships, and in the power of honesty, love, and God to heal what’s broken.

Thanks to Thomas Nelson and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review.

About Jessica Kate

Australian author Jessica Kate writes inspirational romances that are fun, sassy and real. Jess is a screenwriting groupie, co-host of the StoryNerds vlog and podcasts, and her favorite place to be – apart from Mum and Dad’s back deck – is a theme park.

She’s traveled North America and Australia, and samples her favorite pasta wherever she goes – but the best (so far) is still the place around the corner from her corporate day job as a training developer.

She loves watching sit-coms with her housemates and being a leader in a new church plant.

You can find Jessica Kate online at:

Website | Facebook | Instagram | Podcast | Twitter

About Love and Other Mistakes

Jessica Kate’s hilarious, romantic debut novel proves that some mistakes—including love—are begging to be made again and again.

Natalie Groves once had big dreams. But soon after her fiancé, Jeremy Walters, inexplicably broke off their engagement and left town, her father was diagnosed with cancer. Now tasked with keeping her family afloat, Natalie’s grand plans have evaporated . . . and God feels very far away.

Fast-forward seven years, and Jeremy is back in Charlottesville with an infant son and years of regrets. When his niece, Lili, lands on his doorstep in need of a place to stay, Jeremy needs help—and fast.

An internship opening finally presents Natalie a chance at her dream job, but she needs a second income to work around it—and the only offer available is Jeremy’s. They could be the solutions to one another’s problems, provided they don’t kill each other in the process. When they join forces, sparks fly. But they both know there’s a thin line between love and hate . . . and that love will turn out to be the best decision—or the biggest mistake—of all.

Find Love and Other Mistakes online at:

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

Sam was … well, Sam. Australian. Genuine. Warm. Talented. Australian. Passionate about the very field she wanted to work in. And Australian.
First Line Friday

First Line Friday | Week 99 | The Secret to Hummingbird Cake

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 The Secret to Hummingbird Cake by Celeste Fletcher McHale. It got a few critical reviews for not being “Christian” enough … which got me wondering why! Here’s the first line:

I glanced at the grandfather clock. Almost midnight.

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

About The Secret to Hummingbird Cake

“Why won’t you just tell me what’s in that cake?” I’d been trying to get Laine’s recipe for years. We all had.

When all else fails, turn to the divine taste of hummingbird cake.

In the South you always say “yes, ma’am” and “no, ma’am.” You know everybody’s business. Football is a lifestyle not a pastime. Food—especially dessert— is almost a religious experience. And you protect your friends as fiercely as you protect your family— even if the threat is something you cannot see.

In this spot-on Southern novel brimming with wit and authenticity, you’ll laugh alongside lifelong friends, navigate the sometimes rocky path of marriage, and roll through the outrageous curveballs that life sometimes throws . . . from devastating pain to absolute joy. And if you’re lucky, you just may discover the secret to hummingbird cake along the way.

You can find The Secret to Hummingbird Cake online at:

Amazon | ChristianBook | Goodreads | Koorong

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

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!

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

Over the Line by Kelly Irvin

Book Review | Over the Line by Kelly Irvin

I really enjoyed Tell Her No Lies, Kelly Irvin’s first foray out of Amish into romantic suspense.

Over the Line? Not so much. The writing was excellent. There was an action-filled plot with plenty of suspense. There were two romances (although I was more interested in the secondary romance than the primary romance).

One of my problems was the sheer number of characters. There were a lot, and I found that confusing at times. But my main problem was the political focus. I don’t mind Christian fiction that debates current issues, but I want Christian fiction to focus on universal issues, not US-centric issues like gun control. It’s a deeply divisive political football, and I see nothing in the debate (from either side) that brings people closer to God—surely the purpose of Christian fiction.

But let’s get back to the actual story and the actual characters.

It was apparent early on that Gabriella and Eli had broken up because Gabriella thought she’d caught Eli being unfaithful. It was equally apparent that this is one of those conflicts that could have been solved in half a paragraph if Gabriella had been adult enough to listen to Eli’s explanation. In this, she behaved more like a rebellious Amish teenager than successful attorney-turned-chef.

Perhaps that’s what made the conflict so annoying: as an attorney, Gabriella was trained to consider both sides of an argument. Yet she didn’t.

Eli wasn’t any better. He was an odd mix of get-in-there-and-shoot-the-baddies and too-scared-to-confront-his-girlfriend. It was as though he was simply there to be Gabriella’s love interest … That’s why I found the secondary romance more interesting.

On the other hand, Natalie and Deacon were excellent characters. I would have liked to have seen more of them and to see their developing relationship. It has challenges, to be sure (as Natalie is a widowed paraplegic with two children), but I’d like to see how a couple overcomes those challenges.

I found the actual suspense side of the plot confusing, and I found it hard to divorce the plot from the wider politics of the situation. That affected my enjoyment. However, I’m sure Americans who live in border states will have a different view.

Thanks to Thomas Nelson and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review.

About Kelly Irvin

Author Photo: Kelly IrvinKelly Irvin is the bestselling author of the Every Amish Season and Amish of Bee County series. The Beekeeper’s Son received a starred review from Publisher’s Weekly, who called it a “beautifully woven masterpiece.” The two-time Carol Award finalist is a  former newspaper reporter and retired public relations professional. Kelly lives in Texas with her husband, photographer Tim Irvin. They have two children, two grandchildren, and two cats. In her spare time, she likes to read books by her favorite authors.

Find Kelly Irvin online at:

Website | Facebook | Pinterest | Twitter

About Over the Line

“You have something we want. We have something you want.”

Gabriella has never forgiven her former fiancé, homicide detective Eli Cavazos, for breaking her heart. Then a man she’s never met shows up at her restaurant, a bullet in his chest and her brother’s name on his lips. Gabby soon realizes this man is connected to a powerful ring of criminals who know far too much about her.

Against her better judgment, Gabby turns to Eli for help in finding her brother. When she receives a cryptic text from her brother’s cell phone, she realizes she is in deep and may be dragging Eli down with her. With her brother nowhere to be found and pain from her past threatening to overwhelm her, Gabby wonders how she will make it through this unexpected quest unscathed—or alive.

Taking us into the heat of Laredo, Texas, the secrets of a gun-smuggling ring, and the tensions on both sides of the border, Over the Line will keep you guessing until the last page.

Find Over the Line online at:

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Quote from Send Down the Rain by Charles Martin

Book Review | Send Down the Rain by Charles Martin

It’s Throwback Thursday! Today I’m resharing my review of Send Down the Rain by Charles Martin. He’s one of my favourite male Christian fiction authors, with a real strength in structuring stories so I can’t predict what’s going to happen.

About Send Down the Rain

Allie is still recovering from the loss of her family’s beloved waterfront restaurant on Florida’s Gulf Coast when she loses her second husband to a terrifying highway accident. Devastated and losing hope, she shudders to contemplate the future—until a cherished person from her past returns.

Joseph has been adrift for many years, wounded in both body and spirit and unable to come to terms with the trauma of his Vietnam War experiences. Just as he resolves to abandon his search for peace and live alone at a remote cabin in the Carolina mountains, he discovers a mother and her two small children lost in the forest. A man of character and strength, he instinctively steps in to help them get back to their home in Florida. There he will return to his own hometown—and witness the accident that launches a bittersweet reunion with his childhood sweetheart, Allie.

When Joseph offers to help Allie rebuild her restaurant, it seems the flame may reignite—until a 45-year-old secret from the past begins to emerge, threatening to destroy all hope for their second chance at love.

In Send Down the Rain, Charles Martin proves himself to be a storyteller of great wisdom and compassion who bears witness to the dreams we cherish, the struggles we face, and the courage we must summon when life seems to threaten what we hold most dear.

Send Down the Rain is an unusual story in many ways.

It starts decades ago with two brothers the day their father moves out, then jumps forward to the present. The first part shows three different characters, and it wasn’t until about a quarter of the way through that it became clear who the main character was.

Joseph is a 63-year-old Vietnam war veteran who has been running for more years than seems possible. We get to know him only gradually, as the story bounces back and forth between his past and his present, highlighting his failures (and sometimes his successes), his weaknesses and sometimes his strengths. He’s a strong narrator because he is weak: he’s humble and unpretentious and focuses more on what he’s done wrong than what he’s done right.

I got to about the 90% point in this book and thought it was good, but it hadn’t reached the heights of The Mountain Between Us (now a major movie starring Kate Winslet and Idris Elba) or Long Way Gone (a modern retelling of the story of the Prodigal Son).

But by the time I finished Send Down the Rain I had changed my mind.

It’s at least as good as these, but the power builds up and up and only bites at the end. There isn’t an obvious Christian thread or an overt parallel with a Bible story (as there was in Long Way Gone). Send Down the Rain is more of an exploration of love, loyalty, and family, a story of sacrifice and second chances. And that pretty much sums up the gospel.

An outstanding novel of love and faithfulness, in Martin’s trademark understated yet compelling style. Recommended.

Thanks to Thomas Nelson and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review.

About Charles Martin

Author Photo: Charles MartinChristy and I married in 1993. If you include dating, I’ve known and loved her for more than half my life. She is and always will be the home for my heart. We have three boys. Charlie, John T. and Rives. Folks often ask me, which of my books do I like the best. You might as well line up my sons and ask me who I love the most.

My hobbies are bow hunting, working out (a blend of old school stuff and martial arts, called Fight Fit) and Tae Kwon Do. In October 2012 I earned my black belt but I’m still the least flexible person you’ve ever met. The guy that trains me, laughs everytime I start warming up. My boys are far better at Tae Kwon Do than I but I doubt they have as much fun – I get to do and watch. They just do.

I also like to write, but that’s another story.

You can find Charles Martin online at:

Website | Facebook | Twitter

You can find Send Down the Rain online at:

Amazon | ChristianBook | Goodreads

You can read the introduction to Send Down the Rain below: