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The Cedar Key by Stephenia H McGee
New Beginnings The Cedar Key by Stephenia H McGee is a most charming Christian contemporary novel that will warm your heart, leaving you smiling and hopeful. The novel deals with loss, belonging and roots. Loss cuts us to our core. We see the pain but there is hope too as a character made provision for […]
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*Everything Sad Is Untrue by Daniel Nayeri
In this one-of-a-kind, richly evocative memoir, “Everything Sad” disguises an otherworldly joy. *Everything Sad Is Untrue (a true story) by Daniel Nayeri. Levine Querido, 2020, 351 pages. Reading Level: Teen, 12-15 Recommended for: ages 13-up All Persians are liars and lying is a sin. . . My mom says it’s true, but only because everyone has sinned and needs God to save them. My dad says it isn’t. Persians aren’t liars. They’re poets, which is worse. As for Daniel (whose original, Persian name is Khosrou), he speaks truth through story, like Scheherazade of the 1,001 Arabian nights. She told stories to save her life, and perhaps Daniel’s motivation isn’t much…
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The Stolen Sisters by Louise Jensen
Damaged Goods The Stolen Sisters by Louise Jensen is a fabulous compulsive contemporary psychological thriller that I just could not put down. Louise Jensen lures the reader into the story from the start as we immediately feel sympathy for the characters. We begin asking questions as to what has happened to damage these young adults […]
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The Winter Garden by Heidi Swain
Warm And Welcoming The Winter Garden by Heidi Swain is the most charming contemporary novel set during the autumn in the run up to Christmas. It is the third book in the Nightingale Square series but can be read as a stand-alone. I enjoyed catching up with familiar faces. Once more the characters are warm […]
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*Swift by R. J. Anderson
A young piskey girl searches for truth as danger threatens her home and loved ones. *Swift by R. J. Anderson. Enclave Publishing, 2020. 272 pages. Reading Level: Young Adult, ages 15 and up Recommended For: Ages 15 and up Ivy loves the Delve, but she struggles to belong. Ever since her mother disappeared, life has been difficult. And why must others pity her? She might have been born without wings, but she is just as much a piskey! And more than other piskeys, she hates the mysterious spriggans who took her mother years ago. When more piskeys begin disappearing from the Delve, Ivy is too stubborn to sit back and…
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Protecting Tanner Hollow by Lynette Eason
Exciting Suspense Protecting Tanner Hollow by Lynette Eason is an exciting collection of four contemporary Christian suspense novellas. All are set in Tanner Hollow and entitled Lethal Homecoming, Lethal Conspiracy, Lethal Secrets and Lethal Agenda. The stories are all linked by the characters with the focus shifting in each one. Familiar faces from the Blue […]
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Entangled Objects by Susanne Paola Antonetta
Entwined Entangled Objects by Susanne Paola Antonetta is a unique novel exploring the lives of three women. These women are all totally different in terms of lifestyle, money etc but they are also remarkably similar in their experiences. Their lives all intersect at various points. There was the theme of fake compared with being real. […]
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Dust by Kara Swanson
Neverland spills into modern day life and sets two young people on a collision course in this YA fantasy. Dust by Kara Swanson. Enclave Publishing, 2020. 368 pages. Reading Level: Young Adult, ages 16 and up Recommended For: Ages 16 and up Claire Kenton hates Peter Pan. She hates the storybook that so enchanted her twin brother —who is now missing. She hates herself, too, and the weird, dangerous flakes that fall from her skin. Hates herself enough that she tried to end everything, just before our story starts. But now she has a reason to live; she has finally tracked down a trace of her brother, Connor —he was…
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Mortal Sight by Sandra Fernandez Rhoads
Secrets, shadows, and Milton’s Paradise Lost are woven together in a new YA fantasy. Mortal Sight by Sandra Fernandez Rhoads. Enclave Publishing, 2020. 304 pages. Reading Level: Young Adult, ages 16 and up Recommended For: Ages 16 and up Cera is tired of running. Tired of the strange life she lives, punctuated for the past 10 years by an epileptic fit prompting a move each birthday. This year she’s going to put her foot down. But then she realizes there’s more to her fits —more to the shadows she thinks she sees— and a whole other world her mom has been hiding from her. Or has her mom been hiding…
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Christmas Ever After by Karen Schaler
Positively Charming Christmas Ever After by Karen Schaler is a most delightful contemporary Christmas novel that will warm your heart and leave you smiling. Log cabins, snow, Christmas trees and Santas are everything you need for the festive atmosphere – but what happens if you really want to avoid Christmas every year? This novel will […]
