Tag: Women’s Fiction

First Line Friday

First Line Friday #326 | The Roads We Follow by Nicole Deese

It’s First Line Friday! That means it’s time to pick up the nearest book and quote the first line. I’m reading an advance copy of the next book in Nicole Deese’s Fog Harbor series, The Roads We Follow. Here’s the first line from the Chapter One:

I breathe in the fresh dopamine hit of a dark roast brewing somewhere behind the coffee shop's counter and remind myself that turning off my GSP location from the family tracking app is not one of the seven deadly sins.

If that appeals to you, then you might also be interested in the first book in the series. The Words We Lost is currently on sale on Amazon for $1.99 for the Kindle version.

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

 

About The Roads We Follow

Cover image: The Roads We Follow by Nicole DeeseAs the youngest daughter of a country music legend, Raegan Farrow longs to establish an identity away from the spotlight and publish her small-town romances under a pen name. But after her dream is dashed when she won’t exploit her mother’s fame to further her own career, she hears a rumor from a reliable source regarding a tell-all being written about the Farrow family. Making matters worse, the unknown author has gone to great lengths to remain anonymous until publication.

Raegan chooses to keep the tell-all a secret from her scandal-leery sisters as they embark on a two-week, cross-country road trip at their mother’s request and makes it her mission to expose the identity of the author behind the unsanctioned biography. But all is complicated when she discovers their hired bus driver, Micah Davenport, has a hidden agenda of his own–one involving both of their mothers and an old box of journals. As they rely on each other to find the answers they seek, the surprising revelations they unearth will steer them toward their undeniable connection and may even lead them down the most unexpected of paths.

Find The Roads We Follow online at:

Amazon | BookBub | ChristianBook | Goodreads

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

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!

I’ve been trying so hard to remember, I never thought about the repercussions when I do. Will it all be worth it?

Book Review | With Every Memory by Janine Rosch

I am a sucker for amnesia plots, and this is one of the best I’ve read. While amnesia is serious, many of the novels I’ve read have taken more of a rom-com approach, literary equivalents of Fifty First Dates. With Every Memory is more serious, although there are humorous moments.

Lori lost her memory ten months ago in the car accident that killed her teenage son.

Now she’s heading home after rehab to a sterile house she doesn’t remember, a distant husband, a rebellious teen daughter, and friends she no longer knows. What she does know is that the happy marriage she remembers has disappeared, and she has no idea why.

Avery lost her twin brother in the accident and has been lost ever since.

She’s flunking school and now the principal has threatened that she won’t be able to graduate with her class. He suggests a tutor—the annoying Xander, her brother’s best friend and the guy who put gum in her hair as well as a bunch of other stuff.

With Every Memory is written in first person point of view from Lori and Avery’s points of view. Two characters in first person does take a little getting used to and turns the story into a mix of women’s fiction (Lori’s story) and YA romance (Avery’s story).

Both women’s voices are equally strong in their own way, which is great.

I often find I prefer one character over another in stories like this. Lori’s story is strong, because it’s the amnesia story, and we get to see her gradually recovering her memories and rediscovering herself. Avery’s story is poignant, but also has touches of needed humour.

My favourite character was Xander, Austin’s best friend and Avery’s unwanted tutor, the guy who’s had a crush on her for half of forever. He sticks by Avery even when she’s pushing him away with her words and her actions. I admired him even while I felt sorry for him, because he understood (perhaps better than Avery) that her actions were borne out of grief. Xander wears his heart on his sleeve and is just plain wonderful—the guy any mom would want for their daughter.

Michael, on the hand, is more reserved, and is a workaholic. He justifies himself by saying he’s providing for his family, but Lori can’t help wonder if there’s something more, especially given what her friends say. that adds a tension to their relationship that kept me reading and made the book impossible to put down.

Overall, I loved With Every Memory, and it’s one of those books I’ll enjoy even more the second time through because I’ll know the ending so I’ll be reading with a different mindset.

However, it won’t be right for everyone. It is written in first person, and that’s not everyone’s cup of tea. Also, Lori’s grief over losing her son (and Avery’s grief over losing her twin brother) is a big part of the story, and some people won’t want to read that. There is also a reference to sexual assault.

But forewarned is forearmed, and it’s definitely worth reading for a story of enduring love even in the most difficult times.

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

About Janine Rosche

Janine Rosche - author photo
Janine Rosche is the author of the Madison River Romance and Whisper Canyon series of novels. Prone to wander, she finds as much comfort on the open road as she does at home. This longing to chase adventure, behold splendor, and experience redemption is woven into her stories. When she isn’t traveling or writing novels, she teaches family life education courses, produces The Love Wander Read Journal, and takes too many pictures of her sleeping dogs.

Find Janine Rosche online at:

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About With Every Memory

Is the Life She Can’t Remember One She’d Rather Forget?

One year after her family was in a tragic car accident that killed her teenage son, Lori Mendenhall returns home with a traumatic brain injury that has stolen the last eight years of memories from her. She is shocked to find that the life she was leading before the accident is unrecognizable. Her once-loving husband, Michael, is a distant workaholic she isn’t sure she can trust and her once-bubbly daughter, Avery, has spent the last year hidden away in her room.

For Avery, life stopped when she lost her twin. Now, if she wants to graduate high school, she’ll have to accept help from Xander Dixon, her brother’s best friend and the boy who relentlessly teased her for years. And if Lori wants to reconnect with her husband, she’ll have to grapple with information her brain is trying to keep secret. With every memory that returns, she can’t help but wonder if the life she can’t remember is one she’d rather forget.

Find With Every Memory 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!

 

In our fast-paced life, it is often easier to push God into a tight schedule with the rest of our day rather than take time to truly hear him.

Book Review | The Promised Land by Elizabeth Musser

The Promised Land is the story of three Americans who each decide – for reasons good and bad – to walk a portion of the Camino de Santiago, from the village of Le Puy in southern France to the Spanish border (the full walk ends in Santiago, and covers a thousand kilometres or more, depending on where the pilgrim chooses to start: Rome, or somewhere a little closer).

I’ve been interested in the Camino since I saw the Martin Sheen movie, The Way. Based on the book description, I was expecting the characters to start their Camino pilgrimage at the beginning of The Promised Land, and for most of the story to be set on the Camino (as it was in the Way).

That was not the case. The first part of the story is spent introducing the main characters: Abbie, the housewife whose well-organised life is unravelling; Bobby, her oldest son, who wants to be an artist even though his mother wants him to go to college, and Caro, a sometime photographer for the online paper where Bobby interns in photography and graphic design.

Abby is a strange combination of annoying and endearing. She’s a complete control freak, something which has driven her husband and sons away. And she’s endearing in that it’s hard to feel any ill-will towards her, because she’s always acting out of love. She just doesn’t realise she’s been smothering her husband and children, and that’s effectively pushed them away.

Bobby is a typical teenage boy in many ways, but his heart is in the right place and he has good motives. He’s likeable and responsible, even when his mother is annoying him and everyone else.

Caro was probably the most complex character. The story flips between her present and her past, back to a time where she made a bad judgement call over a relationship that had far-reaching effects, effects she hasn’t been able to forgive herself for.

As with all Elizabeth Musser’s stories, there are deep spiritual truths hidden in the pages, particularly with Abby’s personal journey (or perhaps I thought that because she’s the character who best represents my stage in life). The challenge with deep spiritual truths is to show them in a way that feels consistent with the characters, as opposed to preaching to the reader. Musser achieves this with a seeming ease.

The Promised Land is a standalone story that includes characters from several of Elizabeth Musser’s earlier novels: The Swan House, The Dwelling Place, and The Long Highway Home. Recommended for those looking for Christian fiction that will both inspire and challenge their faith.

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

About Elizabeth Musser

Author Photo Elizabeth MusserElizabeth Musser writes ‘entertainment with a soul’ from her writing chalet—tool shed—outside Lyon, France. Elizabeth’s highly acclaimed, best-selling novel, The Swan House, was named one of Amazon’s Top Christian Books of the Year and one of Georgia’s Top Ten Novels of the Past 100 Years (Georgia Backroads, 2009). All of Elizabeth’s novels have been translated into multiple languages.

From an interview with Publisher’s Weekly, “Elizabeth Musser likes to say she has two part-time jobs. Not only is she an award-winning novelist, but she and her husband serve as missionaries at a small Protestant church in Lyon, France. In both lines of work, she avoids preaching and simplistic answers, choosing instead to portray a God who cares in the midst of life’s complexity…”

Elizabeth adds, “My desire is to offer the best literature I can write, drawing the reader into a story that is compelling, believable and sprinkled with historical detail. I seek to give a realistic picture of what faith lived out in this world looks like, and, as always, I hope that my stories can be appreciated by all audiences, not just those readers who hold my same religious beliefs. It is a delight to receive confirmation of this through reader letters.”

For over twenty-five years, Elizabeth and her husband, Paul, have been involved in missions’ work in Europe with International Teams. The Mussers have two sons, a daughter-in-law and three grandchildren who all live way too far away in America.

You can find Elizabeth online at:

Website | Facebook | Pinterest | Twitter

You can read her Friday Fifteen here.

About The Promised Land

With her oldest son taking a gap year in Europe, her aging father losing his sight and his memory, and her husband of twenty years announcing that he’s leaving her, Abbie Bartholomew Jowett is surrounded by overwhelming loss.

Desperate to mend her marriage and herself, she follows her son, Bobby, to walk the famed Camino pilgrimage. During their journey they encounter Rasa, an Iranian woman working in secret helping other refugees, and Caroline, a journalist who is studying pilgrims on the Camino while searching for answers from her broken past.

Each individual has their own reasons for the pilgrimage, but together they learn that the Camino strips you bare and calls you into deep soul-searching that can threaten all your best laid plans.

You can find The Promised Land online at:

Amazon | BookBub | ChristianBook | Goodreads | Koorong

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

I did a lot of hard things. But hard things usually end up in the biggest blessings.

Book Review | The Extraordinary Deaths of Mrs Kip by Sara Brunsvold

Aidyn Kelley is an ambitious junior journalist in Kansas, but when her ambition gets her in trouble, she finds herself relegated to writing obituaries. Her editor sends her to a local hospice to interview the somewhat eccentric Mrs Kip.

Clara Kip is seventy-nine years old, and an unexpected cancer diagnosis has left her not in hospital but in a hospice. Still, she is determined to die as she has lived – with Jesus.

Clara is immediately likeable as a character. She’s bubbly, bright, and determined to see the best in everything and everyone. Aidyn? Not so much. She’s self-absorbed and thinks she’s above the rules. That’s probably not too different to many other bright young graduates in their mid-twenties, but it didn’t help me like her.

Not liking Aidyn meant I found the first quarter of the book a bit of a struggle. I actually set the book aside for a couple of weeks. What got me reading it again were a few of the comments I saw online, readers praising the book as brilliant and heartrending.

So I picked the book up again, determined to give it another chance. But it wasn’t until Aidyn and Clara met for the second time that I found myself really being drawn into the story. And once I was drawn in, it was impossible to put it down.

I don’t want to say too much about the plot in case I give spoilers. But I can explain why I changed my mind.

The story flips between the present (well, the book is set in 2016) and Clara’s past. At first, the past stories seemed like random anecdotes, with no particular purpose. But as I kept reading, it became apparent that the past stories were tied up with the present, in that they were the stories Mrs Kip was telling Aidyn, the stories that show how ordinary can become extraordinary when walking with God.

The Extraordinary Deaths of Mrs Kip is Christian fiction of the best kind.

Mrs Kip has been a Christian for decades, and she’s the kind of Christian we should all aspire to being: one who loves God and loves those people He puts in her path and loves them well.

The whole story took place over less than ten days in book time, but the changes Mrs Kip inspires in Aidyn made it feel like a much longer timeframe. I guess that’s because of the lesson of Mrs Kip’s extraordinary death—and life—which is one we can hear and adopt ourselves.

I always let the Lord guide me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. (Psalm 16:8)

Recommended for fans of authors such as Cynthia Ruchti, Sharon Garlough Brown, Elizabeth Musser, and Christine Dillon.

About Sara Brunsvold

Sara Brunsvold creates stories that speak hope, truth, and life. Influenced by humble women of God who find His fingerprints in the everyday, she does the same in her life and her storytelling. Sara’s recognitions include the 2020 ACFW Genesis Award for Contemporary Fiction. She lives with her family in Kansas City, where she can often be spotted writing at a park or library.

Find Sara Brunsvold online at

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About The Extraordinary Deaths of Mrs Kip

Aidyn Kelley is talented, ambitious, and ready for a more serious assignment than the fluff pieces she’s been getting as a cub reporter for the Kansas City Star. In her eagerness, she pushes too hard, earning herself the menial task of writing an obituary for an unremarkable woman who’s just entered hospice care.

But there’s more to Clara Kip than meets the eye. The spirited septuagenarian may be dying, but she’s not quite ready to cash it in yet. Never one to shy away from an assignment herself, she can see that God brought the young reporter into her life for a reason. And if it’s a story Aidyn Kelley wants, that’s just what Mrs. Kip will give her–but she’s going to have to work for it.

Debut author Sara Brunsvold delights with this emotional multigenerational story that shows that the very best life is made up of thousands of little deaths to self. You’ll want to be just like Mrs. Kip when you grow up!

You can find The Extraordinary Lives of Mrs Kip online at:

Amazon | BookBub | ChristianBook | Goodreads | Koorong

First Line Friday

First Line Friday | Week #243 | The Extraordinary Deaths of Mrs Kip by Sara Brunsvold

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 Extraordinary Deaths of Mrs Kip by debut author Sara Brunsvold.

Here’s the first line from the Chapter One:

Clara Kip had prayed repeatedly to die in Sao Paulo. The Lord, however, gave her Kansas.

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

 

About The Extraordinary Deaths of Mrs Kip

Aidyn Kelley is talented, ambitious, and ready for a more serious assignment than the fluff pieces she’s been getting as a cub reporter for the Kansas City Star. In her eagerness, she pushes too hard, earning herself the menial task of writing an obituary for an unremarkable woman who’s just entered hospice care.

But there’s more to Clara Kip than meets the eye. The spirited septuagenarian may be dying, but she’s not quite ready to cash it in yet. Never one to shy away from an assignment herself, she can see that God brought the young reporter into her life for a reason. And if it’s a story Aidyn Kelley wants, that’s just what Mrs. Kip will give her–but she’s going to have to work for it.

Debut author Sara Brunsvold delights with this emotional multigenerational story that shows that the very best life is made up of thousands of little deaths to self. You’ll want to be just like Mrs. Kip when you grow up!

You can find The Extraordinary Deaths of Mrs Kip online at:

Amazon | BookBub | ChristianBook | Goodreads | Koorong

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

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!

Granny used to say that the trees all over the state of Georgia had stories they could tell, and none of them was good.

Book Review | When Stars Rain Down by Angela Jackson-Brown

It’s 1936 Georgia, and seventeen-year-old Opal Pruitt works alongside her Granny Birdie as cook and housekeeper for Miss Peggy and her family—her daughter, Mss Corinne, and her college-age grandson, Jimmy Earl. She even has a crush on Jimmy Earl, but he is white and lives in Parsons while she is colored and lives three miles away, in Colored Town.

Jimmy warns Granny Birdie that the Ku Klux Klan will be “visiting” Colored Town. Some think the best response is to stay inside, while others believe they should fight. As When Stars Rain Down shows, both answers have merit … and both answers have issues.

Yes, When Stars Rain Down is a novel about racists and racism.

The author has a strong voice that brings out the difference between the characters in a way that feels natural yet is still easy to read, despite the difficult subject matter. We need more novels like this to be published and read. In particular, we need more novels from own voices or BIPOC authors … authors who have lived these experiences and can share their own feelings and reactions. As Opal says:

I didn’t want to hear another voice of another white person try to tell me my feelings weren’t mine to feel.

It’s not always an easy read, but it’s also not easy to stop reading. It’s a compelling read that shows some of the difficulties of being born Colored in the South in a when the Ku Klux Klan were openly active, when everyone knew who hid under the masks but no one did anything. Mostly.

It would be nice to think these kind of activities have been relegated to victory, but as I write this review, a white teenager has just livestreamed himself opening fire in a supermarket and killing ten Black people. The Ku Klux Klan may not exist in the same way as they did in 1930s Georgia, but the attitudes haven’t changed and the violence has only become worse.

But the novel is also uplifting, particularly as Opal, her grandmother, and many other residents of Colored Town show and life their Christian faith. Recommended.

Thanks to Thomas Nelson and NetGalley for providing an ebook for review.

About Angela Jackson-Brown

Angela Jackson-Brown is an award-winning writer, poet, and playwright who is a member of the graduate faculty of the Naslund-Mann Graduate School of Writing at Spalding University in Louisville, Kentucky. In the fall semester of 2022, she will be joining the creative writing program at Indiana University Bloomington as an associate professor. Angela is a graduate of Troy University, Auburn University, and the Spalding low-residency MFA program in creative writing. She has published her short fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry in journals like the Louisville Courier Journal and Appalachian Review.

She is the author of Drinking from a Bitter Cup, House Repairs, When Stars Rain Down, and the upcoming novel The Light Always Breaks. When Stars Rain Down is a highly acclaimed novel that received a starred review from Library Journal and glowing reviews from Alabama Public Library, Buzzfeed, Parade magazine, and Woman’s Weekly. It was also a finalist for the David J. Langum, Sr. Prize in American historical fiction.

Find Angela Jackson-Brown online at:

Website

About When Stars Rain Down

The summer of 1936 in Parsons, Georgia, is unseasonably hot, and Opal Pruitt senses a nameless storm brewing. She hopes this foreboding feeling won’t overshadow her upcoming 18th birthday or the annual Founder’s Day celebration in just a few weeks. She and her Grandma Birdie work as housekeepers for the white widow Miss Peggy, and Opal desperately wants some time to be young and carefree with her cousins and friends.

But when the Ku Klux Klan descends on Opal’s neighborhood, the tight-knit community is shaken in every way possible. Parsons’s residents—both Black and white—are forced to acknowledge the unspoken codes of conduct in their post-Reconstruction era town. To complicate matters, Opal finds herself torn between two unexpected romantic interests—the son of her pastor, Cedric Perkins, and the white grandson of the woman she works for, Jimmy Earl Ketchums. Both young men awaken emotions Opal has never felt before.

Faced with love, loss, and a harsh awakening to an ugly world, Opal holds tight to her family and faith—and the hope for change.

You can find When Stars Rain Down online at:

Amazon | BookBub | ChristianBook | Goodreads

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

The most important thing Dawn expected from her ice cream was consistency—because she couldn't expect it from the rest of her life.

Book Review | The Sweet Life by Suzanne Woods Fisher

I downloaded this book for review based solely on the cover and the title. My mistake. I must have read the description—I always do—but I can tell in hindsight that I didn’t read it properly.

The title and cover gave me the impression The Sweet Life was a romance.

The last line of the book description would have confirmed that. As such, I was expecting this to be Dawn’s story of recovery from her broken engagement, then reconnecting with her ex through her mother’s impulse buy—a dilapidated ice cream store.

It started with a cast of characters … not a great sign in a contemporary novel. I can deal with the cast of characters in historical fiction, where it can be important for the reader to know which characters are real historical figures and which are imaginary. But in contemporary fiction? A good writer should be able to introduce the characters in such a way that the reader knows them all and never gets confused (which, to her credit, Suzanne Woods Fisher achieved). But starting with the cast of characters feels like a weakness, as though readers aren’t going to be able to work out these vital details.

Anyway, onto the story.

I was expecting this to be mostly Dawn’s story. It wasn’t.

It was probably an equal split between Marnie (the mother) and Dawn (the daughter). They are complete opposites, which was interesting but did occasionally veer into caricature. Both were obsessive to the point of ridiculous at times and felt like the author was trying to make a point rather than being true to the characters.

My favourite characters were Lincoln, a sixty-something ex-pastor who volunteers a lot of helping the ice cream parlour, and five-year-old Leo the Cowboy, who loves ice cream (although I did wonder where his parents were, and why he seemed to have the run of the town all day, every day).

My least favourite characters, unfortunately, were Marnie and Dawn.

I lost all respect for Dawn —the accountant who is trying to make partner in her firm—when she suggested paying Lincoln under the table. Maybe the author or publisher doesn’t know that that term means. If so, can I recommend asking Aunty Google? The internet says Dawn could face 57 years in prison if she’s caught … surely that’s a career-limiting move for an accountant who wants to make partner.

(Here’s a tip for employees: it’s illegal for your employer to pay you under the table and can result in severe penalties for your employer and for you).

The other thing that bugged me was the lack of communication between mother and daughter.

Dawn gets testy when she discovers her mother has spent money that’s not in Dawn’s detailed budget, but Dawn also doesn’t ask the obvious questions (like where the money is coming from). Yes, there were a couple of duh! moments when Dawn finally worked out the obvious.

In Marnie’s defence, she’s recently lost her husband and gone through breast cancer treatment. Now she wants to rebuild her life, and her relationship with her daughter. So she buys an ice cream shop, because her husband and daughter used to make ice cream together.

If you’re looking for a fun rom-com (as suggested by the cover), The Sweet Life is not the book for you.

But if you’re looking for women’s fiction that explores some deeper mother-daughter issues, it could be.

The Sweet Life appears to be the first book in the Cape Cod Creamery series. Even knowing it’s more women’s fiction than rom-com, I don’t know if I’m invested enough to want to read future books in the series.

The location had potential, but the characterisation writing just weren’t strong enough to grab me.

I had a similar issue with the last Suzanne Woods Fisher title I reviewed, The Moonlight School. I wrote:

My reactions to this book show the importance of setting expectations as an author, then delivering on them. The book was excellent. But it wasn’t the book the title or book description promised.

The Moonlight School and The Sweet Life are both from mainstream publishers. They are not self-published. As such, the issues with the book title, cover, and book description are the responsibility of the publisher, not the author.  I hope they do better for the author next time.

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

About Suzanne Woods Fisher

Suzanne Woods FIsherSuzanne Woods Fisher is an award-winning, bestselling author of more than 30 books, including On a Summer Tide and On a Coastal Breeze, as well as the Nantucket Legacy, Amish Beginnings, The Bishop’s Family, The Deacon’s Family, and The Inn at Eagle Hill series, among other novels. She is also the author of several nonfiction books about the Amish, including Amish Peace and Amish Proverbs.

Find Suzanne Woods Fisher online at:

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About The Sweet Life

Dawn Dixon can hardly believe she’s on a groomless honeymoon on beautiful Cape Cod . . . with her mother. Sure, Marnie Dixon is good company, but Dawn was supposed to be here with Kevin, the love of her life (or so she thought).

Marnie Dixon needs some time away from the absolute realness of life as much as her jilted daughter does, and she’s not about to let her only child suffer alone–even if Marnie herself had been doing precisely that for the past month.

Given the circumstances, maybe it was inevitable that Marnie would do something as rash as buy a run-down ice-cream shop in the town’s tightly regulated historic district. After all, everything’s better with ice cream.

Her exasperated daughter knows that she’s the one who will have to clean up this mess. Even when her mother’s impulsive real estate purchase brings Kevin back into her life, Dawn doesn’t get her hopes up. Everyone knows that broken romances stay broken . . . don’t they?

Find The Sweet Life 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 #236 | Under the Magnolias by T I Lowe

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 Under the Magnolias by T I Lowe, a new-to-me author.

Here’s the first line from the Chapter One:

At eighty feet tall with a spread of forty feet, the southern magnolia was known to get out of hand in our part of South Carolina.

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

About Under the Magnolias

Austin Foster is barely a teenager when her mama dies giving birth to twins, leaving her to pick up the pieces while holding her six siblings together and doing her best to stop her daddy from retreating into his personal darkness.

Scratching out a living on the family’s tobacco farm is as tough as it gets. When a few random acts of kindness help to ease the Fosters’ hardships, Austin finds herself relying upon some of Magnolia’s most colorful citizens for friendship and more. But it’s next to impossible to hide the truth about the goings-on at Nolia Farms, and Austin’s desperate attempts to save face all but break her.

Just when it seems she might have something more waiting for her—with the son of a wealthy local family who she’s crushed on for years—her father makes a choice that will crack wide-open the family’s secrets and lead to a public reckoning. There are consequences for loving a boy like Vance Cumberland, but there is also freedom in the truth.

T. I. Lowe’s gritty yet tender and uplifting tale reminds us that a great story can break your heart . . . then heal it in the best possible way.

You can find Under the Magnolias online at:

Amazon | BookBub | ChristianBook | Goodreads | Koorong

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

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!

Book Review | Feathers of Hope by Sharon Garlough Brown

Feathers of Hope is the story of three women: Katherine Rhodes, the preacher who is about to retire from her role as director of the New Hope Retreat Center, Wren Crawford, her great-niece, an artist and social worker turned cleaner, and Sarah, Katherine’s daughter and the mother of two teenage girls. It’s a novel about relationships: the relationships between the characters, and their relationships with God.

This is the first book I’ve read by Sharon Garlough Brown, although I’ve often seen her novels recommended as novels with solid Christian content and spiritual depth, and I have to agree with that assessment.

Brown’s characters follow Biblical Christianity, not the me-me-me self-help variety often portrayed in the media. It’s both challenging and refreshing.

I especially liked the way feathers of Hope addressed some difficult issues that aren’t often addressed in Christian fiction, issues like mental health, women preachers, and racism inside and outside the church. They are all big issues with no easy answer, ant it was refreshing to see them tackled fairly, but without trying to find an answer for the unanswerable.

Feathers of Hope by Sharon Garlough Brown is a refreshing yet challenging novel, Christian fiction with depth and truth. #BookReview #ChristianFiction Click To Tweet

Feathers of Hope is the third book in the Shades of Light series, following Shades of light and Remember Me. I do recommend reading the series in order. I didn’t – I haven’t read either of the other books, and I found the early part of the story difficult because I didn’t know the characters or understand the relationships between them.

(I’ve just found Shades of Light on my Kindle. Oops. But guess what’ I’ll be reading next?)

Recommended for Christians who want to read Christian fiction with depth and truth.

Thanks to InterVarsity Press and NetGalley for providing a  free ebook for review.

About Sharon Garlough Brown

Sharon Garlough BrownSharon Garlough Brown is an author, spiritual director, and retreat leader who is passionate about shepherding others deep into the love of God. She and her husband, Jack, have served congregations in Scotland, Oklahoma, England, and West Michigan, and currently direct Abiding Way Ministries, providing spiritual formation retreats and resources. Sharon enjoys all things British–especially tea–and loves when her son says, “Mom, would you like me to put the kettle on?”

Find Sharon Garlough Brown online at:

Website | Facebook | Instagram

About Feathers of Hope

In a season of loss and change, Wren Crawford and her great-aunt, Katherine Rhodes, share the journey as companions in sorrow and hope. As Katherine prepares to retire as the director of the New Hope Retreat Center, she faces both personal and professional challenges―especially after the arrival of the board’s candidate to replace her. Not only must she confront more unresolved grief from her past, but she’s invited to embrace painful and unsettling insights about her own blind spots. How might disruption become a gift that opens the way to new growth?

Wren’s world is shifting and expanding as she presses forward in recovery from a period of deep depression. Still processing open questions around the death of her best friend, Casey, Wren stewards her grief by offering compassionate care to the residents of the nursing home where she now works. But the shedding of her old life is exhausting―especially as she doesn’t yet see what new life will emerge. How might art continue to provide a pathway for deepening her awareness of God’s presence with her?

In this sequel to Shades of Light and Remember Me, fans of the Sensible Shoes series will not only be able to attend Katherine’s final retreat sessions at New Hope but also encounter old and new friends along the way.

You can find Feathers of Hope online at:

Amazon | BookBub | ChristianBook | Goodreads | Koorong

First Line Friday

First Line Friday | Week 232 | Feathers of Hope by Sharon Garlough Brown

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 Feathers of Hope by Sharon Garlough Brown, the third book in the Shades of Light series. Here’s the first line from the Chapter One:

When the cardinal landed at their bird feeder early that morning, its eyes bulging, its head stripped of red crest feathers, leaving it black and bald, Wren Crawford was sure the poor creature was either sick or wounded.

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

About Feathers of Hope

In a season of loss and change, Wren Crawford and her great-aunt, Katherine Rhodes, share the journey as companions in sorrow and hope. As Katherine prepares to retire as the director of the New Hope Retreat Center, she faces both personal and professional challenges―especially after the arrival of the board’s candidate to replace her. Not only must she confront more unresolved grief from her past, but she’s invited to embrace painful and unsettling insights about her own blind spots. How might disruption become a gift that opens the way to new growth?

Wren’s world is shifting and expanding as she presses forward in recovery from a period of deep depression. Still processing open questions around the death of her best friend, Casey, Wren stewards her grief by offering compassionate care to the residents of the nursing home where she now works. But the shedding of her old life is exhausting―especially as she doesn’t yet see what new life will emerge. How might art continue to provide a pathway for deepening her awareness of God’s presence with her?

In this sequel to Shades of Light and Remember Me, fans of the Sensible Shoes series will not only be able to attend Katherine’s final retreat sessions at New Hope but also encounter old and new friends along the way.

You can find Feathers of Hope online at:

Amazon | BookBub | ChristianBook | Goodreads | Koorong

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

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