Happy Tuesday! As I was researching this week’s TTT topic — animals in a title or on a cover — I was surprised to find so many books with a bird in the title. So I decided to go with it! Seven of the books even have a bird image on the covers! There are lots of different genres represented in my list, so you’re sure to find a book to love.
No, I cannot forget from where it is that I come from I cannot forget the people who love me Yeah, I can be myself here in this small town And people let me be just what I want to be — John Mellencamp
I wasn’t raised in a small town, although the Orlando area wasn’t huge before Disney. I would never say I had a small town upbringing, but I have lived in small towns all my married life. I love a small town, and I think it was the best environment for my children growing up. Is that why I love stories set in small towns? Maybe.
This week TTT is featuring favorite literary tropes. One of my favorites is a character that returns to their roots and discovers truths about their lives. Although the small town mystery/suspense novels I have on the list may make them regret their decision, at least for a while. 😉 I’ve included recent novels I have read — historical romance, women’s fiction, mystery/suspense, contemporary romance — something for everyone. I hope you find a small town to love too.
Josie Norris became an instant mommy when her twin sister Nadine handed over her newborn son and vanished. What Josie saw as a temporary arrangement grew into a mother-son bond too deep to uproot. But with her irrational sister threatening to steal him back, Josie has been living the last few years with Kennedy in hiding, afraid to go home.
When Aunt Libby—the only person who knows the truth about Kennedy—suffers a traumatic head injury, Josie rushes to her McKenzie River home to help Gram care for the woman who raised her. But not only is Libby’s injury causing family secrets to spill, it’s forcing Josie to see the women in her life in a new light.
Will—a ranger who Kennedy adores and who Josie is determined not to—is desperate to help the woman who has stolen his affections. But can Josie ever truly be authentic with the man she loves? With her son’s fate hanging in the balance, she is faced with the choice to risk everything she loves in order to bridge the most impossible gulfs.
In this story of mothers, daughters, and sisters, Josie must find the grace to forgive people for not being who she needed them to be…and the courage to surrender her fears to the God who has never once left her side.
Complicated and messy are two good words to describe the relationships depicted in Camille Eide’s newest contemporary novel, The Secret Place. And the main relationships in question are that of sisters making this novel a good choice for fans of women’s fiction. The main plot features Josie, a single mom-by-proxy who does whatever it takes to protect her son, Kennedy. That she does so while wrestling with feelings of regret and guilt just underscores the tumult her life has become. With a theme of abandonment and elements of mental illness and drug abuse, this is not really an easy book to read. And while I often found it hard to like the characters (their continued mistakes and attitudes), their struggles are certainly true-to-life. The message of hope in a Father who does not abandon and the peace He can bring in the midst of turmoil is strong, yet not every preachy. The resolution at the end will surprise you too — I kept the pages turning faster and faster as I raced to find out what would finally happen.
A novel to contemplate and discuss, I think The Secret Place would make a good book club choice. Recommended.
Recommended.
Audience: adults.
(Thanks to Celebrate Lit for a complimentary copy. All opinions expressed are mine alone.)
About The Author
Camille Eide (EYE-dee) is the award-winning author of poignant, inspirational love stories including The Memoir of Johnny Devine. Camille lives in Oregon with her husband and has three adult kids and five grandkids. She loves baking, muscle cars, and the natural beauty of the Pacific Northwest. She also loves the liberating truth and wisdom of God’s word, and hopes that her stories will stir your heart, strengthen your faith, and encourage you on your journey.
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More from Camille
Secrets That Won’t Stay Hidden
Josie, the heroine in The Secret Place, faces more than one dilemma as a result of imperfect confidantes and their unkept secrets. So what inspired this story?
Many years ago, my late father-in-law suffered a traumatic brain injury and was life-flighted to a hospital 150 miles away. Family members gathered and were told to prepare for the possibility that he wouldn’t last the night. In an answer to many prayers, he made it through the night, but was in a coma, and no one knew what his future held or what long term effects his injuries would have.
His recovery was long, strange, and uncertain. In the first two weeks, he went from unconscious to incoherent to muttering. Then he progressed to forming real words, but what he said made no sense.
As his communication began to improve, his speech turned into an ongoing narrative. He talked about events and people and things long ago—including things we hadn’t heard before, things that confused and surprised family members young and old. We realized that these revelations were not simply a product of his addled brain, but in fact true. To our dismay, his social filters and verbal etiquette were gone, which made his kids and grandkids more than a little nervous. What kinds of memories and expressions would we hear from this beloved man of faith whom we all suspected had been a bit of a rascal as a youth?
To everyone’s relief, though my father-in-law said peculiar things and told us stories no one knew about, he didn’t have any shocking skeletons in his closet, and after eight weeks, he was pretty much back to his sensible, knowing self. But the fact that his private thoughts and potential secrets had at one point been so completely exposed sparked some intriguing “what if” questions in this writer’s mind:
What if you lost the ability to keep your private thoughts and secrets safe?
How might your life change if your secrets or some hidden past were exposed?
What if the person to whom you’ve entrusted a most crucial secret suddenly couldn’t?
The book’s title refers to several kinds of secret place. I look forward to hearing how many secret places readers can find in this story.
After a slow reading year in 2020 and a busy wedding schedule this year, I am trying to get my reading groove back. It’s been a slow process, but I think I am hitting my stride again. That being said, I’m sharing my most recent reads for Top Ten Tuesday this week. Have you read any of these books?
Happy Tuesday. I am still getting over the big day — my daughter’s wedding — last Saturday. I’ve been absent around the blog for a few weeks, so I am hoping this Top 10 Tuesday post — Colorful Book Covers — will give me a jumpstart. I have broken the post into 2 parts — bold color covers and muted color covers. I hope you find one to love!
Life is full of seasons, and I am finding Spring 2021 to be filled with fun, joy, and sorrow. Building a vacation home, my daughter’s wedding, and the passing of my sister a few weeks ago have filled my days. Not a lot of reading going on in my life right now, which under the circumstances is more than okay. But I do have some books on my Spring TBR List. I am hopeful to get many of them read and will be sharing my thoughts in the coming weeks. Posts may be sporadic for a few months, but I hope you will enjoy those I manage to schedule.
Happy Thanksgiving! This year Thanksgiving will look different for a lot of us. With grown children with commitments other than my family (is that really a thing? 😉 ), there will only be three for dinner on Thursday. But work from home allowed my son’s family and my daughter to be with us a whole week (one blessing of Covid), and the rest of the gang showed up for a great Sunday Thanksgiving meal. We laughed, watched our grand baby’s antics, and ate way too much.
Family — that’s the biggest thing I am thankful for. It’s been a difficult year for me, Covid notwithstanding. My family has prayed over me and stood with me during the hard cancer diagnosis. I am doing great, and I’m very thankful for having all my family around me.
Family is the theme of my Top 10 Tuesday Thanksgiving Freebie. I am featuring books that involve families, even the nutty or disfunctional ones. The books feature multi-generations, sibling relations, and not-related-but-family-anyway situations. Many involve series — lots of books to love. My list is far from exhaustive, but it does represent recent reading, those I loved years ago, and a variety of genres.. Happy reading!
Top Books Featuring Families
Almost Home by Valerie Fraser Luesse
The Fine Art of Insincerity by Angela Hunt
Five Miles South of Peculiar by Angela Hunt
Home to Chicory Lane (5-book series) by Deborah Raney
How Sweet The Sound by Amy K. Sorrells
On A Summer Tide (3-book series) by Suzanne Woods Fisher
Perennials by Julie Cantrell
The Sister Circle (5-book series) by Nancy Moser and Vonette Bright
The Sons of Blackbird Mountain (2-book series) by Joanne Bischof
I have never been to Indiana, but one of my best friends was born and raised there and sings her home state’s praises. She travels back there every summer to spend 2 (she says glorious) weeks at her family’s lakefront cabin. So in honor of Beth, I am taking my blog on a Reading Road Trip to the Crossroads of America — Indiana.
Of the books I have read that are set in Indiana, only one is historical fiction. If you know of any other titles, I would love to add them to my TBR pile!
Reading Road Trip — Indiana
Wings Like A Dove by Camille Eide
Can the invisible walls that separate people ever come down?
In 1933, Anna Leibowicz is convinced that the American dream that brought her Jewish family here from Poland is nothing but an illusion. Her father has vanished. Her dreams of college can’t make it past the sweat-shop door. And when she discovers to her shame and horror that she’s with child, her mother gives her little choice but to leave her family. Deciding her best course of action is to try to find her father, she strikes out…hoping against hope to somehow redeem them both.
When Anna stumbles upon a house full of orphan boys in rural Indiana who are in desperate need of a tutor, she agrees to postpone her journey. But she knows from the moment she meets their contemplative, deep-hearted caretaker, Thomas Chandler, that she doesn’t dare risk staying too long. She can’t afford to open her heart to them, to him. She can’t risk letting her secrets out.
All too soon, the townspeople realize she’s not like them and treat her with the same disdain they give the Sisters of Mercy — the nuns who help Thomas and the boys — and Samuel, the quiet colored boy Thomas has taken in. With the Klan presence in the town growing ever stronger and the danger to this family increasing the longer she stays, Anna is torn between fleeing to keep them safe . . . and staying to fight beside them.
Oh, that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away, and be at rest . . .
Before I Saw You by Amy K. Sorrells
Folks are dying fast as the ash trees in the southern Indiana town ravaged by the heroin epidemic, where Jaycee Givens lives with nothing more than a thread of hope and a quirky neighbor, Sudie, who rescues injured wildlife. After a tragedy leaves her mother in prison, Jaycee is carrying grief and an unplanned pregnancy she conceals because she trusts no one, including the kind and handsome Gabe, who is new to town and to the local diner where she works.
Dividing her time between the diner and Sudie’s place, Jaycee nurses her broken heart among a collection of unlikely friends who are the closest thing to family that she has. Eventually, she realizes she can’t hide her pregnancy any longer―not even from the baby’s abusive father, who is furious when he finds out. The choices she must make for the safety of her unborn child threaten to derail any chance she ever had for hope and redemption. Ultimately, Jaycee must decide whether the truest form of love means hanging on or letting go.
Lead Me Home by Amy K. Sorrells
Amid open fields and empty pews, small towns can crush big dreams.
Abandoned by his no-good father and forced to grow up too soon, Noble Burden has set his dreams aside to run the family farm. Meanwhile, James Horton, the pastor of the local church, questions his own calling as he prepares to close the doors for good.
As a severe storm rolls through, threatening their community and very livelihood, both men fear losing what they care about most . . . and reconsider where they truly belong.
Barefoot Summer by Denise Hunter
Madison’s heart has been closed for years. But one summer can change everything.
In the years since her twin brother’s drowning, Madison McKinley has struggled to put it behind her. Despite the support of her close-knit family and her gratifying job as a veterinarian in their riverside town, the loss still haunts her.
To find closure, Madison sets out to fulfill her brother’s dream of winning the town’s annual regatta. But first she has to learn to sail, and fast.
Beckett O’Reilly knows Madison is out of his league, but someone neglected to tell his heart. Now she needs his help—and he’ll give it, because he owes her far more than she’ll ever know.
Madison will do anything—even work with the infamous Beckett O’Reilly—to reach her goal. And as much as she’d like to deny it, the chemistry between them is electrifying. As summer wanes, her feelings for him grow and a fledgling faith takes root in her heart.
But Beckett harbors a secret that will test the limits of their new love. Can their romance survive summer’s challenges? And will achieving her brother’s dream give Madison the peace she desperately seeks?
Boo by Rene Gutteridge
For sixteen years, reclusive horror novelist Wolfe “Boo” Boone has been Skary, Indiana’s greatest attraction, turning the once-struggling town into a thriving tourist trap for the dark side. But then a newly reformed Wolfe quits the genre and starts to pursue Skary’s favorite girl-next-door. Truly horrified, the little town he made famous hatches a scheme to get their most famous resident out of love and back into the thrill business.
Home to Harmony by Philip Gulley
Welcome to Harmony …
In this acclaimed inaugural volume in the Harmony series, master American storyteller Philip Gulley draws us into the charming world of minister Sam Gardner in his first year back in his hometown, capturing the essence of small-town life with humor and wisdom.
I have been blessed over the years in opportunities to meet fantastic authors. It’s always a thrill to interact with writers either face to face or via email and social media. In the ten plus years I have been blogging, I have interviewed a number of my favorites, and since I am not as creative as them I have a stock list of questions. For this week’s Top 10 Tuesday I decided to highlight the answers authors gave to my number one question — When did you know you were a writer? I hope you enjoy this little glimpse into their writing journeys. And to see the rest of the interviews, just click on the author’s name.
Pepper Basham author of The Red Ribbon (October 2020)
I feel like I’ve always been a storyteller, but I didn’t start ‘writing’ down those stories until I was about 7 or 8. I actually still have a story I wrote and illustrated from when I was 9. Poorly illustrated . . . it was pretty clear writing was more my forte than drawing (especially from the sizes of the noses on my poor people I drew 😉 .
Lori Benton author of Mountain Laurel (September 2020)
I’ve always been a writer, making up stories as a child. Really! I was in the third grade and already a voracious reader when my best friend said out of the blue, “I wrote a story.” She showed it to me, and I was instantly intrigued. Could I write a story? It was an epiphany. I wrote a story. And never really stopped. But one day I decided to get more serious about it (I was about 21 by this time) and see if I could write a novel and maybe (if I could figure out how one did so) get it published. That novel, which I did finish, wasn’t published. Nor the one I wrote after that. It was quite a few years later (22 years in fact) before my debut novel Burning Sky reached store shelves.
I wrote my first story at the age of eleven. It was about an inchworm. When I was twelve I wrote my first romance — about a girl who gets stuck in an elevator with her celebrity crush. And I really haven’t stopped writing since. Before I began writing, though, I loved stories and words and daydreams.
I think I have always been a writer. As a child, I was a voracious reader. I gobbled up books left and right. I started writing stories and poems in elementary school. Everyone in high school assumed I was going to become an English professor. It didn’t turn out quite like that, but writing has always been a part of who I am.
From the time I was about four, I loved words and reading. I won a writing contest in fifth grade . . . but I didn’t realize I was a writer until I was about twelve. We came back from an ocean trip and I sat on the porch and wrote a poem . . . and Boom! It hit me — I was a writer. I promptly shared this epiphany with my mom and my grandma, and they were duly impressed. LOL. That’s not to say I launched into an immediate writing career trajectory. Goodness knows I entertained plenty of other majors in college, though I wound up with a degree in Humanities that focused on literature and writing.
My first book was writing captions in my Bugs Bunny coloring book to make it an actual story. I don’t remember a time that I wasn’t writing. My first published books were nonfiction, though, mostly devotionals, before I started writing historical fiction.
I think it was when I sought to right what I considered was a wrong: In the early years of my marriage, my father-in-law told me that his family had rescued a Jewish boy during WWII. They risked their lives to shelter him for one year, and then they got him to England through the Dutch underground. I asked him, “Did he ever come back to thank you for what he did?” “No.” “Well — did anyone thank you?” “No.”
I never considered becoming an author outside of medicine until the death of my first wife, Cynthia. Almost a year after her passing, I began to consider turning the journaling I’d done into a book, but had no idea how. Finally, at a writer’s conference, I got an inkling of 1) how to write a book, and 2) how hard it is to get one published. But I did and it was. The Tender Scar: Life After The Death Of A Spouse has been out for a decade and ministered to many thousands who have suffered a similar loss.
I always loved reading and making up stories in my head. One year, my brother Jared gave me a diary for Christmas and I wrote all the time. That’s when I knew. Even if I never publish another book, I will always write stories. I enjoy it so much.
Please welcome Camille Eide to By The Book today. I first encountered this talented author when I read The Memoir of Johnny Devine — outstanding! I then was privileged to read Wings Like A Dove, another excellent novel. You cannot go wrong with either of these books. Camille has graciously shared her thoughts on her writing journey plus is offering a giveaway of an ebook of Wings Like A Dove to one of my readers! (Leave a comment, to enter.)
Thanks, so much Camille!
Many authors say that they have always been a writer — making up stories as a child. When did you first become a writer?
Age 7. I wrote and illustrated my first novel. It was about Snoopy. I don’t remember it, but am fairly certain it wasn’t a bestseller.
Was there a special someone, such as a teacher, parent, or other relative, who encouraged you to pursue writing?
Yes — my 8th grade English teacher loaned me books she thought I’d like and encouraged me to submit short stories for a school publication. She believed I could write and encouraged me to pursue it. Which I did some — skits and plays for church, an odd article here and there, but with life, work, raising kids — I had never taken myself seriously as a writer until my youngest was in high school. One day in 2007, a friend and I brainstormed a Christian romance. I mulled over a plot and decided to try writing a novel. Voila! Success! Not really! That burst of inspiration, in my blissful ignorance, was justthe first step on a long journey of learning to write and publish fiction. That brainstormed story finaled in a contest and was eventually published 7 years later as Like There’s No Tomorrow.
Why did you choose the Historical genre?
I like and write both contemporary and historical fiction. For this story, I decided the social/cultural issues I wanted to explore needed the backdrop of an earlier era of American History. Oddly enough, when I first began researching and writing Anna’s story, immigration was not the hot topic that it has since become. But regardless the current climate on immigration, I think we will always benefit from conversation about grace and understanding.
Were there any obstacles you faced in your journey to publication?
Yes — my own blissful ignorance. Which I worked hard to overcome — and still do — by studying the craft and reading. And over the years, after attempting to contract with a major publishing house, my desire has changed. I am working with a small press whose community vision and goal I am behind 100%.
What types of research do you pursue? Books, on-site visits, etc.
ANYTHING I can get my hands on.
What does a typical writing day look like? Are you structured or informal in your writing schedule?
I wish I had a disciplined writing schedule, as in produce fabulous words while the clock is ticking, but I never have been good at that. I work by day as a church office manager, and am grammy to 5, so I write in the stretches between, and mostly late into the night and weekends.
How long does it usually take to craft your books? (from outlines/first drafts to final edits)
They have varied, but at least a year for a first draft, more for those that had to be shelved due to family needs. My first book went through the wringer for about 7 years before it was published. My 3rd (Johnny Devine) took less than a year to write and needed very little editing. But that was unusual, the idea for that story came to me clearly in a dream. Wings Like a Dove is my 4th and work on it started and stopped a few times, so I’ve lost track of how long it actually took to write. Book #5 is the same way.
Can you tell us a little about what inspired your latest novel.
Wings Like a Dove was inspired by a number of things: the desire to look at the “what if” question of a woman persecuted for being Jewish and pregnant, and a deeper desire to explore the problem of societal barriers and possible solutions.
What do you want your readers to take away with them after finishing one of your novels?
There is a love that never fails, and that grace, forgiveness, and compassion are powerful gifts we have at our disposal, both to give, and to receive.
Readers always want to know what is next for an author. Do you have any works in progress you can share about?
Yes! I’m resuming work on a contemporary romantic women’s fiction about a woman with a secret desperate to protect her son from her estranged twin, and a confidante no longer able to keep secrets. It’s a story about the ties that bind mothers, sisters, daughters and the power to face our deepest fears.
Camille Eide is the award-winning author of “more than a romance” inspirational fiction including The Memoir of Johnny Devine. Camille lives in the foothills of the Oregon Cascades with her husband and is blessed with three adult kids, five grandkids, and enjoys the natural beauty of the Pacific Northwest. She also loves the liberating truth, grace, and wisdom of God’s word, and hopes that her stories will stir your heart, encourage your faith, and cheer you on your journey.
Giveaway!
One lucky winner will receive an ebook copy of Wings Like A Dove. To enter, just leave a comment. One winner will be randomly chosen on March 2. (Please note: US only.)
Can the invisible walls that separate people ever come down?
In 1933, Anna Leibowicz is convinced that the American dream that brought her Jewish family here from Poland is nothing but an illusion. Her father has vanished. Her dreams of college can’t make it past the sweat-shop door. And when she discovers to her shame and horror that she’s with child, Anna is forced to leave home. She seeks refuge in a small Indiana town where anti-Semitism is becoming hard to ignore, and trying not to fall in love is becoming impossible.
With the Klan presence in town growing, and the danger to six orphan boys and their kind-hearted mentor increasing the longer she stays, Anna is torn between fleeing to keep this family safe … and staying to fight beside them.
It’s a tale of love, loyalty, and the power of grace.
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