Today’s Top 10 Tuesday topic is a Genre Freebie. As I always do, I am tweaking the prompt. đ I’m not featuring genre fiction, but 5-star general fiction. According to languagehumanities.org, general fiction is —
General fiction is the catch all term for novels and other literature that don’t fit into a particular genre. Romance, Western, mystery, science fiction and other genres each have a particular theme that is fitting to its classification. General works, on the other hand, don’t have enough elements of any one theme to be classified within a certain genre. The story and plot of general fiction is no less strong, and in many cases even stronger, than that of genre works.
General fiction offerings, in my experience, are well-told stories and are some of my favorite books. I hope you like my list and find a book to love!
For more genre favorites, check out That Artsy Reader Girl.
Top 5-Star General Fiction
Before I Saw You by Amy K. Sorrells
The Edge of Belonging by Amanda Cox
The Nature of Small Birds by Susie Finkbeiner
No One Ever Asked by Katie Ganshert
The Secret Keepers of Old Depot Grocery by Amanda Cox
Have you ever read a book that you absolutely loved, but had a difficult time putting all the feelings into words. Yeah, me too. This week I am featuring books that had everything — knock-out plotting, relatable characters, truths galore, made me think, kept me pondering. These are the ones I struggled reviewing. I’ve given you an even dozen — I hope you find a new favorite book!
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 Sudieâs 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 canât hide her pregnancy any longerânot even from the babyâs 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.
The Church Ladies by Lisa Samson
Competition for church members in Mount Oak has reached a furious peak. When tragedy strikes one of their hometown sons, the church women are drawn together through compassion. The Church Ladies is a contemporary tale illustrating how women can have a major impact on the church. Through friendships that reach beneath surface level â and trials more severe than simple â they unite with common purpose: to pray, share, and comfort. Slowly, the community of believers learns that the church grows when it is rooted in love. Characters youâll laugh and cry with, in situations every woman will instantly relate to, light up this page-turner about a miracle that could happen.
The Devil Walks in Mattingly by Billy Coffee
It has been twenty years since Philip McBrideâs body was found along the riverbank in the dark woods known as Happy Hollow. His death was ruled a suicide. But three people have carried the truth ever sinceâPhilip didnât kill himself that day. He was murdered.
Each of the three have wilted in the shadow of their sins. Jake Barnett is Mattinglyâs sheriff, where he spends his days polishing the fragile shell of the man he pretends to be. His wife, Kate, has convinced herself the good she does for the poor will someday wash the blood from her hands. And high in the mountains, Taylor Hathcock lives in seclusion and fear, fueled by madness and hatred.
Yet what cannot be laid to rest is bound to rise again. Philip McBride has haunted Jakeâs dreams for weeks, warning that he is coming back for them all. When Taylor finds mysterious footprints leading from the Hollow, he believes his redemption has come. His actions will plunge the quiet town of Mattingly into darkness. These three will be drawn together for a final confrontation between life and death . . . between truth and lies.
Hidden Among The Stars by Melanie Dobson
The year is 1938, and as Hitlerâs troops sweep into Vienna, Austrian Max Dornbach promises to help his Jewish friends hide their most valuable possessions from the Nazis, smuggling them to his familyâs summer estate near the picturesque village of Hallstatt. He enlists the help of Annika Knopf, his childhood friend and the caretakerâs daughter, who is eager to help the man sheâs loved her entire life. But when Max also brings Luzia Weiss, a young Jewish woman, to hide at the castle, it complicates Annikaâs feelings and puts their entire planâeven their very livesâin jeopardy. Especially when the Nazis come to scour the estate and find both Luzia and the treasure gone.
Eighty years later, Callie Randall is mostly content with her quiet life, running a bookstore with her sister and reaching out into the world through her blog. Then she finds a cryptic list in an old edition of Bambithat connects her to Annikaâs story . . . and maybe to the long-buried story of a dear friend. As she digs into the past, Callie must risk venturing outside the safe world sheâs built for a chance at answers, adventure, and maybe even new love.
The Last Year of The War by Susan Meissner
In 1943, Elise Sontag is a typical American teenager from Iowa â aware of the war but distanced from its reach. Then her father, a legal U.S. resident for nearly two decades, is suddenly arrested on suspicion of being a Nazi sympathizer. The family is sent to an internment camp in Texas, where, behind the armed guards and barbed wire, Elise feels stripped of everything beloved and familiar, including her own identity. The only thing that makes the camp bearable is meeting fellow internee Mariko Inoue, a Japanese-American teen from Los Angeles, whose friendship empowers Elise to believe the life she knew before the war will again be hers. Together in the desert wilderness, Elise and Mariko hold tight the dream of being young American women with a future beyond the fences. But when the Sontag family is exchanged for American prisoners behind enemy lines in Germany, Elise will face head-on the person the war desires to make of her. In that devastating crucible she must discover if she has the will to rise above prejudice and hatred and re-claim her own destiny, or disappear into the image others have cast upon her. The Last Year of the War tells a little-known story of World War II with great resonance for our own times and challenges the very notion of who we are when who weâve always been is called into question.
Maggie Bright by Tracy Groot
England, 1940. Clare Childs knew life would change when she unexpectedly inherited the Maggie Brightâa noble fifty-two-foot yacht. In fact, sheâs counting on it. But the boat harbors secrets. When a stranger arrives, searching for documents hidden onboard, Clare is pulled into a Scotland Yard investigation that could shed light on Hitlerâs darkest schemes and prompt America to action.
Across the Channel, Hitlerâs Blitzkrieg has the entire British army in retreat with little hope for rescue at the shallow beaches of Dunkirk. With time running out, Churchill recruits civilian watercraft to help. Hitler is attacking from land, air, and sea, and any boat that goes might not return. Yet Clare knows Maggie Bright must answer the callâpiloted by an American who has refused to join the war effort until now and a detective with a very personal motive for exposing the truth.
The fate of the war hinges on this rescue. While two men join the desperate fight, a nation prays for a miracle.
Missing Isaac by Valerie Fraser Luesse
There was another South in the 1960s, one far removed from the marches and bombings and turmoil in the streets that were broadcast on the evening news. It was a place of inner turmoil, where ordinary people struggled to right themselves on a social landscape that was dramatically shifting beneath their feet. This is the world of Valerie Fraser Luesseâs stunning debut, Missing Isaac.
It is 1965 when black field hand Isaac Reynolds goes missing from the tiny, unassuming town of Glory, Alabama. The townspeopleâs reactions range from concern to indifference, but one boy will stop at nothing to find out what happened to his unlikely friend. White, wealthy, and fatherless, young Pete McLean has nothing to gain and everything to lose in his relentless search for Isaac. In the process, he will discover much more than he bargained for. Before itâs all over, Pete â and the people he loves most â will have to blur the hard lines of race, class, and religion. And what they discover about themselves may change some of them forever.
No One Ever Asked by Katie Ganshert
When an impoverished school district loses its accreditation and the affluent community of Crystal Ridge has no choice but to open their school doors, the lives of three very different women converge: Camille Gray â the wife of an executive, mother of three, long-standing PTA chairwoman and champion fundraiser â faced with a shocking discovery that threatens to tear her picture-perfect world apart at the seams. Jen Covington, the career nurse whose long, painful journey to motherhood finally resulted in adoption but she is struggling with a happily-ever-after so much harder than she anticipated. Twenty-two-year-old Anaya Jonesâthe first woman in her family to graduate college and a brand new teacher at Crystal Ridgeâs top elementary school, unprepared for the powder-keg situation sheâs stepped into. Tensions rise within and without, culminating in an unforeseen event that impacts them all. This story explores the implicit biases impacting American society, and asks the ultimate question: What does it mean to be human? Why are we so quick to put labels on each other and categorize people as âthisâ or âthatâ, when such complexity exists in each person?
The Secret Keepers of Old Depot Grocery by Amanda Cox
Present Day. After tragedy plunges her into grief and unresolved anger, Sarah Ashby returns to her childhood home determined to finally follow her long-denied dream of running Old Depot Grocery alongside her mother and grandmother. But when she arrives, her mother, Rosemary, announces to her that the store is closing. Sarah and her grandmother, Glory Ann, make a pact to save the store, but Rosemary has worked her entire life to make sure her daughter never follows in her footsteps. She has her reasonsâbut sheâll certainly never reveal the real one.
1965. Glory Ann confesses to her family that sheâs pregnant with her deceased fiancĂŠâs baby. Pressured into a marriage of convenience with a shopkeeper to preserve the family reputation, Glory Ann vows never to love again. But some promises are not as easily kept as she imagined.
This dual-timeline story from Amanda Cox deftly explores the complexity of a mother-daughter dynamic, the way the secrets we keep shape our lives and the lives of others, and the healing power of telling the truth.
Stories That Bind Us by Susie Finkbeiner
Betty Sweet never expected to be a widow at 40. With so much life still in front of her, she tries to figure out whatâs next. She couldnât have imagined what God had in mind. When her estranged sister is committed to a sanitarium, Betty finds herself taking on the care of a 5-year-old nephew she never knew she had.
In 1960s LaFontaine, Michigan, they make an odd pair. Betty with her pink button nose and bouffant hair. Hugo with his light brown skin and large brown eyes. But more powerful than what makes them different is what they share: the heartache of an empty space in their lives. Slowly, they will learn to trust one another as they discover common ground and healing through the magic of storytelling.
Award-winning author Susie Finkbeiner offers fans a novel that invites us to rediscover the power of story to open the doors of our hearts.
The Swan House by Elizabeth Musser
Mary Swan Middleton has always taken for granted the advantages of her familyâs wealth. But a tragedy that touches all of Atlanta sends her reeling in grief. When the family maid challenges her to reach out to the less fortunate as a way to ease her own pain, Mary Swan meets Carl â and everything changes. For although Carl is her opposite in nearly every way, he has something her privileged life could not give her. And when she seeks his help to uncover a mystery, she learns far more than she ever could have imagined.
Where Hope Begins by Catherine West
Sometimes weâre allowed to glimpse the beauty within the brokenness . . .
Savannah Barrington has always found solace at her parentsâ lake house in the Berkshires, and itâs the place that she runs to when her husband of over twenty years leaves her. Though her world is shaken, and the future uncertain, she finds hope through an old womanâs wisdom, a little girlâs laughter, and a man whoâs willing to risk his own heart to prove to Savannah that she is worthy of love.
But soon Savannah is given a challenge she canât run away from: Forgiving the unforgivable. Amidst the ancient gardens and musty bookstores of the small town sheâs sought refuge in, she must reconcile with the grief that haunts her, the God pursuing her, and the wounds of the past that might be healed after all.
Where Hope Begins is the story of grace in the midst of brokenness, pointing us to the miracles that await when we look beyond our own expectations.
This summer I am going to play catch-up with my reading. I have some new releases I have scheduled to read, but there are some books that I have missed. My reading will be a mix of physical books, ebooks, and audiobooks — I read just about anything in all formats!
When an accident claims the life of an oil-rig worker on the first drilling platform off the North Carolina coast, Coast Guard investigators Rissi Dawson and Mason Rogers are sent to take the case. Tensions surrounding the oil rig are high and the death has everyone on edge. Environmental activists are threatening to do whatever it takes to stop the structure from being completed, while rumors are being whispered about ancient curses surrounding this part of the ocean.
Mounting evidence shows the death may not have been an accident at all. Was he killed by one of the activists or, perhaps more frighteningly, a member of his own crew? Rissi and Mason have to sort through not only a plethora of suspects, but also their own past and attraction to each other.
Just as the case seems like it’ll break open, worse news arrives. A tropical storm has turned their way and soon they’re cut off from any rescue–and right where the killer wants them. It’s a race to discover his identity before he eliminates the threat they pose.
A Dream within A Dream by Mike Nappa and Melissa Kosci
Trudi Coffey only realizes that she hasn’t seen Samuel Hill in weeks when the FBI shows up asking questions about him. After a strange encounter with an armed man demanding her help and an attack by a member of the Boston mob looking for someone named Dream, Trudi manages to find Samuel–or rather, he finds her. He’s made some pretty powerful enemies, but right now his full attention is on protecting Dream from the mob. Because Dream has something they want–the map to the location of artwork stolen from the Gardener Museum during the infamous 1990 heist.
With danger closing in from all sides, Trudi and Samuel will have to call on all of their allies to keep Dream safe and discover the identity of the people who have been hunting down Samuel. The real questions are whom can they trust? And who will make it out of this thing alive?
The Key to Everything by Valerie Fraser Luesse
Peyton Cabot’s fifteenth year will be a painful and transformative one. His father, the heroic but reluctant head of a moneyed Savannah family, has come home from WWII a troubled vet, drowning his demons in bourbon and distancing himself from his son. A tragic accident shows Peyton the depths of his parents’ devotion to each other but interrupts his own budding romance with the girl of his dreams, Lisa Wallace.
Struggling to cope with a young life upended, Peyton makes a daring decision: He will retrace a journey his father took at fifteen, riding his bicycle all the way to Key West, Florida. Part declaration of independence, part search for self, Peyton’s journey will bring him more than he ever could have imagined–namely, the key to his unknowable father, a reunion with Lisa, and a calling that will shape the rest of his life.
Through poignant prose and characters so real you’ll be sure you know them, Valerie Fraser Luesse transports you to the storied Atlantic coast for a unique coming-of-age story you won’t soon forget.
The Lacemaker by Laura Frantz
When colonial Williamsburg explodes like a powder keg on the eve of the American Revolution, Lady Elisabeth “Liberty” Lawson is abandoned by her fiancĂŠ and suspected of being a spy for the hated British. No one comes to her aid save the Patriot Noble Rynallt, a man with formidable enemies of his own. Liberty is left with a terrible choice. Will the Virginia belle turned lacemaker side with the radical revolutionaries, or stay true to her English roots? And at what cost?
Historical romance favorite Laura Frantz is back with a suspenseful story of love, betrayal, and new beginnings. With her meticulous eye for detail and her knack for creating living, breathing characters, Frantz continues to enchant historical fiction readers who long to feel they are a part of the story.
Life After by Katie Ganshert
Snow whirls around an elevated train platform in Chicago. A distracted woman boards the train, takes her seat, and moments later a fiery explosion rips through the frigid air, tearing the car apart in a horrific attack on the cityâs transit system. One life is spared. Twenty-two are lost.
A year later, Autumn Manning canât remember the day of the bombing and she is tormented by griefâby guilt. Twelve months of the question constantly echoing. Why? Why? Why? Searching for answers, she haunts the lives of the victims, unable to rest.
Paul Elliott lost his wife in the train bombing and wants to let the dead rest in peace, undisturbed and unable to cause more pain for his loved ones. He wants normalcy for his twelve-year-old daughter and young son, to see them move beyond the heartbreak. But when the Elliotts and Autumn are unexpectedly forced together, he fears sheâll bring more wreckage in her wake.
In LifeAfter, Katie Ganshertâs most complex and unforgettable novel yet, the stirring prose and authentic characters pose questions of truth, goodness, and ultimate purpose in this emotionally resonant tale.
Not by Sight by Kate Breslin
With Britain caught up in WWI, Jack Benningham, heir to the Earl of Stonebrooke, has declared himself a conscientious objector. Instead, he secretly works for the Crown by tracking down German spies on British soil, his wild reputation and society status serving as a foolproof cover.
Blinded by patriotism and concern for her brother on the front lines, wealthy suffragette Grace Mabry will do whatever it takes to assist her country’s cause. When she sneaks into a posh London masquerade ball to hand out white feathers of cowardice, she never imagines the chain of events she’ll set off when she hands a feather to Jack.
And neither of them could anticipate the extent of the danger and betrayal that follows them — or the faith they’ll need to maintain hope.
Stories That Bind Us by Susie Finkbeiner
Betty Sweet never expected to be a widow at 40. With so much life still in front of her, she tries to figure out what’s next. She couldn’t have imagined what God had in mind. When her estranged sister is committed to a sanitarium, Betty finds herself taking on the care of a 5-year-old nephew she never knew she had.
In 1960s LaFontaine, Michigan, they make an odd pair. Betty with her pink button nose and bouffant hair. Hugo with his light brown skin and large brown eyes. But more powerful than what makes them different is what they share: the heartache of an empty space in their lives. Slowly, they will learn to trust one another as they discover common ground and healing through the magic of storytelling.
Award-winning author Susie Finkbeiner offers fans a novel that invites us to rediscover the power of story to open the doors of our hearts.
The Summer House by Lauren K. Denton
Lily Bishop wakes up one morning to find a good-bye note and divorce papers from her husband on the kitchen counter. Having moved to Alabama for his job only weeks before, Lily is devastated, but a flyer at the grocery store for a hair stylist position in a local retirement community provides a refuge while she contemplates her next steps.
Rose Carrigan built the small retirement village of Safe Harbor years ago â just before her husband ran off with his assistant. Now she runs a tight ship, making sure the residents follow her strict rules. Rose keeps everyone at armâs length, including her own family. But when Lily shows up asking for a job and a place to live, Roseâs cold exterior begins to thaw.
Lily and Rose form an unlikely friendship, and Lilyâs salon soon becomes the place where residents share town gossip, as well as a few secrets. Lily soon finds herself drawn to Roseâs nephew, Rawlinsâa single dad and shrimper whoâs had some practice at starting over â and one of the residents may be carrying a torch for Rose as well.
Neither Lily nor Rose is where she expected to be, but the summer makes them both wonder if thereâs more to life and love than what theyâve experienced so far. The Summer House weaves Lauren K. Dentonâs inviting Southern charm around a womanâs journey to find herself.
Then Sings My Soul by Amy K. Sorrells
1904, Chudniv, Ukraine. Playing hide-and-seek in bucolic fields of sunflowers, young Jakob never imagines the horrific secrets he will carry as he and his brother escape through genocide-ridden Eastern Europe.
1994, South Haven, Michigan. At age 94, time is running out for any hope that Jakob can be free from his burden of guilt.
When Jakobâs wife dies, he and his daughter, Nel, are forced to face the realities of his worsening dementiaâincluding a near-naked, midnight jaunt down the middle of main streetâas well as emerging shadows Nel had no idea lay beneath her fatherâs beloved, curmudgeonly ways.
While Nel navigates the restoration and sale of Jakobâs dilapidated lake house, her high school sweetheart shows up in town, along with unexpected correspondence from Ukraine. And when she discovers a mysterious gemstone in Jakobâs old lapidary room, Jakobâs condition worsens as he begins having flashbacks about his baby sister from nearly a century past.
As father and daughter race against time to discover the truth behind Jackobâs fragmented memories, the God they have both been running from shows that he redeems not only broken years, but also the future.
The White Rose Resists by Amanda Barratt
The ideal of a new Germany swept up Sophie Scholl in a maelstrom of patriotic fervor — that is, until she realized the truth behind Hitler’s machinations for the fatherland. Now she and other students in Munich, the cradle of the Nazi government, have banded together to form a group to fight for the truth: the White Rose. Risking everything to print and distribute leaflets calling for Germans to rise up against the evil permeating their country, the White Rose treads a knife’s edge of discovery by the Gestapo.
Annalise Brandt came to the University of Munich to study art, not get involved with conspiracy. The daughter of an SS officer, she’s been brought up to believe in the FĂźhrer’s divinely appointed leadership. But the more she comes to know Sophie and her friends, the more she questions the Nazi propaganda.
Soon Annalise joins their double life — students by day, resisters by night. And as the stakes increase, they’re all forced to confront the deadly consequences meted out to any who dare to oppose the Reich.
A gripping testament to courage, The White Rose Resists illuminates the sacrifice and conviction of an unlikely group of revolutionaries who refused to remain silent-no matter the cost.
Today I am headed to the Show Me State on a Reading Road Trip! I visited Missouri many, many years ago when I was a child. I don’t remember much about the time spent there, but fortunately there are plenty of books to fire up my imagination! Acquired through the Louisiana Purchase, Missouri has been a state since 1821 and its culture is a of its midwest and southern roots. Are you a native or resident of Missouri? Show me what you love about your home state!
Reading Road Trip — Missouri
Unwilling Warrior by Andrea Boeshaar
Amid the dangers of the Civil War, Valerie Fontaine longs to know she is loved and saved. Her father, however, is cold and withdrawn. And their Christian houseguest, the photographer Benjamin McCabe, seems arrogant and judgmental. When Valerie commits her own life to Christ she finds herself drawn to Ben. But her father, against her wishes, is prepared to sell her into a loveless marriage with someone else. Will Valerie be forced to abandon her newfound love? Or will she and Ben, against the backdrop of this country’s most ruthless war, become in their own way, unwilling warriors?
Home to Chicory Lane by Deborah Raney
Audrey Whitmanâs dreams are coming true. Now that their five kids are grown, she and her husband Grant are turning their beloved family home into a cozy bed and breakfast, just a mile outside of Langhorne, Missouri.
Opening weekend makes Audrey anxious, with family and friends coming from all over to help celebrate the occasion. But when Audreyâs daughter, Landyn, arrives, the U-Haul sheâs pulling makes it clear sheâs not just here for a few days. Audrey immediately has questions. What happened in New York that sent Landyn running home? Where was Landynâs husband, Chase? And what else was her daughter not telling her? One thing was for sure, the Chicory Inn was off to a rocky start. Can Audrey still realize her dream and at the same time provide the comfort of home her daughter so desperately needs?
Reason to Breathe by Deborah Raney
At twenty-nine, Phylicia Chandler put her life on hold to care for her dying mother with her sisters, Joanna and Britt. Now Mom is gone and their father stuns them all by running off with a woman young enough to be their sister. Life is moving forward all around her, but Phylicia feels stuckâuntil her fatherâs protĂŠgĂŠ, Quinn Mitchell, presents the sisters with an intriguing business opportunity to purchase a trio of cottages just outside of Langhorne, Missouri. Joanna and Britt are convinced the three of them should launch a vacation rental venture, but Phylicia remains skeptical.
To complicate matters, Quinn soon finds himself falling hard for Phylicia. But how can he pursue this beautiful, talented woman twelve years his junior when sheâs still reeling over her fatherâs hasty engagement to a younger woman? Quinn is determined to give Phylicia her happily-ever-after. But first, he must help her come to terms with her discovery of long-held family secrets and persuade her that true love can transcend their differences.
No One Ever Asked by Katie Ganshert
When an impoverished school district loses its accreditation and the affluent community of Crystal Ridge has no choice but to open their school doors, the lives of three very different women converge: Camille Gray â the wife of an executive, mother of three, long-standing PTA chairwoman and champion fundraiser â faced with a shocking discovery that threatens to tear her picture-perfect world apart at the seams. Jen Covington, the career nurse whose long, painful journey to motherhood finally resulted in adoption but she is struggling with a happily-ever-after so much harder than she anticipated. Twenty-two-year-old Anaya Jonesâthe first woman in her family to graduate college and a brand new teacher at Crystal Ridgeâs top elementary school, unprepared for the powder-keg situation sheâs stepped into. Tensions rise within and without, culminating in an unforeseen event that impacts them all. This story explores the implicit biases impacting American society, and asks the ultimate question: What does it mean to be human? Why are we so quick to put labels on each other and categorize people as âthisâ or âthatâ, when such complexity exists in each person?
Mind Games by Nancy Mehl
FBI Behavioral Analyst Kaely Quinnâs methods may be highly unorthodox, but her talent is undeniable. Sheâs done her best to establish a new life for herself after being demoted and transferred to St. Louis when a reporter revealed sheâs the daughter of an infamous serial killer. But when that same reporter claims to have received an anonymous poem predicting a string of murders, ending with Kaelyâs, it seems her old life has followed her.
When a body is found that fits the poemâs morbid predictions, Kaely and her new partner, Special Agent Noah Hunter, are forced to move past his skepticism of her approach and work together to unravel the deadly riddle.
With a brazen serial killer who breaks all the normal patterns on the loose, Noah and Kaely are tested to their limits to catch the murderer before anyone else, including Kaely, is killed.
Vanished by Irene Hannon
Reporter Moira Harrison is lost. In the dark. In a thunderstorm. When a confusing detour places her on a rural, wooded road, sheâs startled by the sudden appearance of a lone figure caught in the beam of her headlights. Though Moira jams on her brakes, the car careens across the wet pavementâand the solid thump against the side of the vehicle tells her she hit the person before she crashes into a tree on the far side of the road.
A dazed Moira is relieved when a man opens her door, tells her he saw everything, and promises to call 911. Then everything fades to black. When she comes to an hour later, she is alone. No man. No 911. No injured person lying on the side of the road. But she canât forget the look of terror she saw on the personâs face in the instant before her headlights swung away. The person she hit had been in trouble. Sheâs sure of it. But she canât get anyone to believe her storyâexcept a handsome former police detective, now a private eye, who agrees to take on the case
Top 10 Tuesday is challenging bloggers to list books with numbers in their titles. There are few ways to go with this, but I chose to list books with the numbers one and two. All are #1 with me! In the words of Lawrence Welk (for you youngsters, Google) — with a-one, and a-two . . . .
Gray Fowler, star NFL tight end, is being pursued by a stalker, so his team hires a protection agency to keep Gray under the watch of a bodyguard at all times. When Gray meets Dru Porter, an agent assigned to him, he’s indignant. How can an attractive young female half his size possibly protect him?
But Dru’s a former Marine, an expert markswoman, and a black belt. She’s also ferociously determined to uncover the identity of Gray’s stalker. And she’s just as determined to avoid any kind of romantic attachment between herself and the rugged football player with the mysterious past. But the closer they get to finding the stalker, the closer they grow to each other. As the danger rises, can Dru and Gray entrust their hearts — and their lives — to one another?
No One Ever Asked by Katie GanshertÂ
When an impoverished school district loses its accreditation and the affluent community of Crystal Ridge has no choice but to open their school doors, the lives of three very different women converge: Camille Gray–the wife of an executive, mother of three, long-standing PTA chairwoman and champion fundraiser–faced with a shocking discovery that threatens to tear her picture-perfect world apart at the seams. Jen Covington, the career nurse whose long, painful journey to motherhood finally resulted in adoption but she is struggling with a happily-ever-after so much harder than she anticipated. Twenty-two-year-old Anaya Jones — the first woman in her family to graduate college and a brand new teacher at Crystal Ridge’s top elementary school, unprepared for the powder-keg situation she’s stepped into. Tensions rise within and without, culminating in an unforeseen event that impacts them all. This story explores the implicit biases impacting American society, and asks the ultimate question: What does it mean to be human? Why are we so quick to put labels on each other and categorize people as “this” or “that”, when such complexity exists in each person?
No One to Trust by Lynette EasonÂ
Summer Abernathy wakes up one morning to find her husband missing, three men in her home intent on finding him, and the life she’s been living based on a lie. Which Kyle Abernathy did she marry? The computer programmer she met in line at the bank? Or the one who was apparently using that image as a cover story?
The search for her husband — and answers — takes Summer ever deeper into a world of organized crime where people are used one moment and discarded the next. And with her deepest relationship of trust already shattered, Summer doesn’t know who to believe.
One Final Breath by Lynn H. Blackburn
When investigator Gabriel Chavez had his cover blown by an aggressive reporter, the silver lining was being able to rejoin the dive team. The downside? Dive team captain Anissa Bell — a woman who both fascinates and frustrates him.
Anissa grew up as a missionary kid on the Micronesian island of Yap and always planned to return after college. But she remained stateside, determined to solve the case that haunts her–the murder of her best friend and the disappearance of a three-year-old child.
When Anissa’s fractured past collides with Gabe’s investigation into the tragic shooting death of a teenage boy in Lake Porter, they’ll have to put their complicated history with each other aside in order to uncover the identity of a killer. What they’ll discover is that revenge has no statute of limitations.
Award-winning author Lynn H. Blackburn closes out her nail-biting Dive Team Investigations series with a story that will have you wondering how long you can hold your breath.
The One True Love of Alice-Ann by Eva Marie Everson
Living in rural Georgia in 1941, sixteen-year-old Alice-Ann has her heart set on her brotherâs friend Mack; despite their five-year age gap, Alice-Ann knows she can make Mack see her for the woman sheâll become. But when they receive news of the attack on Pearl Harbor and Mack decides to enlist, Alice-Ann realizes she must declare her love before he leaves.
Though promising to write, Mack leaves without confirmation that her love is returned. But Alice-Ann is determined to wear the wedding dress her maiden aunt never had a chance to wear â having lost her fiancĂŠ in the Great War. As their correspondence continues over the next three years, Mack and Alice-Ann are drawn closer together. But then Mackâs letters cease altogether, leaving Alice-Ann to fear history repeating itself.
Dreading the war will leave her with a beautiful dress and no happily ever after, Alice-Ann fills her days with work and caring for her best friendâs war-torn brother, Carlton. As time passes and their friendship develops into something more, Alice-Ann wonders if sheâll ever be prepared to say good-bye to her one true love and embrace the future God has in store with a newfound love. Or will a sudden call from overseas change everything?
And A-Two
Between Two Shores by Jocelyn Green
The daughter of a Mohawk mother and French father in 1759 Montreal, Catherine Duval finds it is easier to remain neutral in a world that is tearing itself apart. Content to trade with both the French and the British, Catherine is pulled into the fray against her wishes when her British ex- fiance, Samuel Crane, is taken prisoner by her father. Samuel asks her to help him escape, claiming he has information that could help end the war.
Peace appeals to Catherine, but helping the man who broke her heart does not. She delays . . . until attempts on Samuel’s life convince her he’s in mortal danger. Against her better judgment she helps him flee by river, using knowledge of the landscape to creep ever closer to freedom. Their time together rekindles feelings she thought long buried, and danger seems to hound their every mile. She’s risked becoming a traitor by choosing a side, but will the decision cost her even more than she anticipated?
A Tale of Two Hearts by Michelle Griep
London, 1853: Innkeeperâs daughter Mina Scott will do anything to escape the drudgery of her life, for thereâs nothing more mundane than serving customers day after day. Every minute she can, she reads and dreams of someday becoming a real ladyâand catch the eye of William Barlow, a frequent guest at the inn.
William is a gentlemanâs son, a charming but penniless rogue. However, his bachelor uncle will soon name an heirâeither him or his scheming cousin. In an effort to secure the inheritance, William gives his uncle the impression heâs married, which works until heâs invited to bring his wife for a visit.
William asks Mina to be his pretend bride, only until his uncle names an heir on Christmas Day. Mina is flattered and frustrated by the offer, for she wants a true relationship with William. Yet, she agrees. . .then wishes she hadnât. So does William. Deceiving the old man breaks both their hearts. When the truth is finally discovered, more than just money is lost.
Two Crosses by Elizabeth Musser The glimmering Huguenot cross she innocently wears leads her deep into the shadows.When Gabriella Madison arrives in France in 1961 to continue her university studies, she doesnât anticipate being drawn into the secretive world behind the Algerian war for independence from France. The further she delves into the war efforts, the more her faith is challenged.The people who surround her bring a whirlwind of transforming forces â a wise nun involved in the smuggling, a little girl carrying secret information, and a man with unknown loyalties who captures her heart. When she discovers a long hidden secret from her past, it all leads to questions about trust, faith in action, and the power of forgiveness to move beyond the pain of the past.
Two Roads Home by Deborah Raney
Minor-but-nagging setbacks continue to sour Grant and Audrey Whitmanâs initiation into the world of innkeeping, but larger challenges brew when an innocent flirtation leads to big trouble for the Whitmansâ son-in-law, Jesse. Jesse Penningtonâs friendly, outgoing personality has always served him well, especially in a career that has earned him and his wife Corinne a very comfortable lifestyle. But Corinne and Jesse are both restlessâand for similar reasons, if only they could share those with each other. Instead, too many business trips and trumped-up charges of harassment from a disgruntled coworker threaten their marriage and possibly put their three precious daughters at risk. With their life in disarray, God is tugging at their hearts to pursue other dreams. Can Corinne and Jesse pick up the pieces of what was once a wonderful life before it all crumbles beneath them?
Two Women of Galilee by Mary Rourke
Seeking to restore health to her lungs, Joanna, wife to Herodâs chief steward, approaches her cousin Mary, mother of the healer Jesus. Though their families were estranged when Joannaâs parents adopted Roman ways, Mary welcomes her graciously. Jesus indeed heals Joannaâs bodyâŚand her soul blossoms through her friendship with Mary and with her work as one of his disciples. But as word of Jesusâ miracles reaches King Herodâs court, intrigue, treachery and murder cast shadows onto Joannaâs new path, changing her life forever.
Here are the finalists for the 2019 Christy Awards. A top honor in Christian fiction, you can be sure of an excellent read when choosing one of these books. Congrats to all the talented authors!
This week on Top 10 Tuesday we are talking books that took us out of our comfort zone. I generally think of new genres when hearing out of comfort zone reads, but today I am going to highlight books with difficult subject matter. The books on my list are beautifully written and touched my heart, but were definitely not light and easy reads. They focus on the difficulties of life — the things we hope never to experience. Why read books like this? To challenge, to inform, to engage our sympathies (and empathy), to make us uncomfortable. But lest you think these selections are going to leave you feeling worse than when you started them, please know they are filled with grace and redemption. If you haven’t read some on my list, I hope you find one that will speak to your heart.
When Annie Jacobsonâs brother Mike enlists as a medic in the Army in 1967, he hands her a piece of paper with the address of their long-estranged father. If anything should happen to him in Vietnam, Mike says, Annie must let their father know.
In Mikeâs absence, their father returns to face tragedy at home, adding an extra measure of complication to an already tense time. As they work toward healing and pray fervently for Mikeâs safety overseas, letter by letter the Jacobsons must find a way to pull together as a family, regardless of past hurts. In the tumult of this time, Annie and her family grapple with the tension of holding both hope and grief in the same hand, even as they learn to turn to the One who binds the wounds of the brokenhearted.
Author Susie Finkbeiner invites you into the Jacobson familyâs home and hearts during a time in which the chaos of the outside world touched their small community in ways they never imagined.
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 Sudieâs 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 canât hide her pregnancy any longerânot even from the babyâs 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.
How Sweet The Sound by Amy K. Sorrells
Wealth and etiquette can hide a lot of things in the South, as the esteemed Harlan family of sleepy Bay Spring, Alabama, knows. But behind the gentle facade of white pillared porches and acres of cultivated pecan orchards, family secrets smolder.
Young Anniston Harlan cares little for high society and the rigid rules and expectations of her grandmother, Princella. She finds solace working the orchards alongside her father and grandfather, and relief in the cool waters of Mobile Bay.
Annistonâs aunt, Comfort Harlan, has never quite lived up to the family name, or so her mother Princellaâs ever-apparent scowl implies. When she gleefully accepts the proposal of her longtime boyfriend, Solly, a flood tide of tragedy ensues that strips Comfort of her innocence and unleashes generations of family secrets, changing the Harlan family forever.
While Comfort struggles to recover, Anniston discovers an unlikely new friend from the seedy part of town who helps her try to make sense of the chaos. Together, they and the whole town of Bay Spring discover how true love is a risk, but one worth taking.
Land of Silence by Tessa Afshar
Before Christ called her daughter . . .
Before she stole healing by touching the hem of his garment . . .
Elianna is a young girl crushed by guilt. After her only brother is killed while in her care, Elianna tries to earn forgiveness by working for her fatherâs textile trade and caring for her family. When another tragedy places Elianna in sole charge of the business, her talent for design brings enormous success, but never the absolution she longs for. As her world unravels, she breaks off her betrothal to the only man she will ever love. Then illness strikes, isolating Elianna from everyone, stripping everything she has left.
No physician can cure her. No end is in sight. Until she hears whispers of a man whose mere touch can heal. After so many years of suffering and disappointment, is it possible that one man could redeem the wounds of body . . . and soul?
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.
The Medallion by Cathy Gohlke
For fans of bestselling World War II fiction like Sarahâs Key and The Nightingale comes an illuminating tale of courage, sacrifice, and survival, about two couples whose lives are ravaged by Hitlerâs mad war yet eventually redeemed through the fate of one little girl.
Seemingly overnight, the German blitzkrieg of Warsaw in 1939 turns its streets to a war zone and shatters the life of each citizen â Polish, Jewish, or otherwise. Sophie Kumiega, a British bride working in the cityâs library, awaits news of her husband, Janek, recently deployed with the Polish Air Force. Though Sophie is determined that she and the baby in her womb will stay safe, the days ahead will draw her into the plight of those around her, compelling her to help, whatever the danger.
Rosa and Itzhak Dunovich never imagined they would welcome their longed-for first child in the Jewish ghetto, or that they would let anything tear their family apart. But as daily atrocities intensify, Rosa soon faces a terrifying reality: to save their daughterâs life, she must send her into hiding. Her only hope of finding her after the war â if any of them survive â is a medallion she cuts in half and places around her neck.
Inspired by true events of Polandâs darkest days and brightest heroes, The Medallion paints a stunning portrait of war and its aftermath, daring us to believe that when all seems lost, God can make a way forward.
My Hands Came Away Red by Lisa McKay
Right up until the day they burned the church, I thought I understood things. You know⌠God, people, myself. Life. Then, suddenly, I understood nothing except that we had to run. And that we might never make it home.
When eighteen-year-old Cori signed up for a mission trip to Indonesia she was mostly thinking about escaping her complicated love life, making new friends, and having fun on the beach.
She never expected a civil war to flare up on the nearby island of Ambon.
She never expected violence to find them.
And she never expected that seven teenagers would be forced to flee into the hazardous refuge of the mountains on their own.
Now, haunted by blood and fire, Cori and her teammates must rely on each other to survive.
No One Ever Asked by Katie Ganshert
Challenging perceptions of discrimination and prejudice, this emotionally resonant drama for readers of Lisa Wingate and Jodi Picoult explores three different women navigating challenges in a changing school district â and in their lives.
When an impoverished school district loses its accreditation and the affluent community of Crystal Ridge has no choice but to open their school doors, the lives of three very different women converge: Camille Gray â the wife of an executive, mother of three, long-standing PTA chairwoman and champion fundraiser â faced with a shocking discovery that threatens to tear her picture-perfect world apart at the seams. Jen Covington, the career nurse whose long, painful journey to motherhood finally resulted in adoption but she is struggling with a happily-ever-after so much harder than she anticipated. Twenty-two-year-old Anaya Jonesâthe first woman in her family to graduate college and a brand new teacher at Crystal Ridgeâs top elementary school, unprepared for the powder-keg situation sheâs stepped into. Tensions rise within and without, culminating in an unforeseen event that impacts them all. This story explores the implicit biases impacting American society, and asks the ultimate question: What does it mean to be human? Why are we so quick to put labels on each other and categorize people as âthisâ or âthatâ, when such complexity exists in each person?
We Hope for Better Things by Erin Bartels
When Detroit Free Press reporter Elizabeth Balsam meets James Rich, his strange requestâthat she look up a relative she didnât know she had in order to deliver an old camera and a box of photos â seems like it isnât worth her time. But when she loses her job after a botched investigation, she suddenly finds herself with nothing but time.
At her great-auntâs 150-year-old farmhouse north of Detroit, Elizabeth uncovers a series of mysterious items, locked doors, and hidden graves. As she searches for answers to the riddles around her, the remarkable stories of two women who lived in this very house emerge as testaments to love, resilience, and courage in the face of war, racism, and misunderstanding. And as Elizabeth soon discovers, the past is never as past as we might like to think.
Debut novelist Erin Bartels takes readers on an emotional journey through time â from the volatile streets of 1960s Detroit to the Michiganâs Underground Railroad during the Civil War â to uncover the past, confront the seeds of hatred, and discover where love goes to hide.
When The Heart Sings by Liz Tolsma
Natia has a secret, and sheâs hiding him right beneath her captorâs nose . . .
The Nazis have forced Natia and Teodor from their Polish farm to a labor camp. When the couple is separated, Natia is chosen to be the housekeeper for the campâs overseer, and Teodor is sent to work in the factory. Despite the strict camp rules â and the consequences for disobeying them â Natia finds a way to communicate with Teodor by sending messages through song as she passes Teodorâs dormitory.
The stakes get higher when Natia finds a Jewish orphan on the overseerâs doorstep. She is determined to protect the boy and raise him as the child she and her husband were unable to bear â but if her German captors discover how much sheâs hiding, both she and Teodor may pay the ultimate price.
Congratulations to the 2019 Inspy Award Winners! What a talented group. The Inspys are a blogger-based awards program, so you know that these books are definitely reader-approved. I hope you find your next great read!
A big congratulations to all the talented authors whose books are represented on the 2019 Inspy Award Shortlists! So many great books Now you have your summer reading list! đ
I listen to audiobooks while I walk in the mornings. I find it helps engage my mind while I automatically traverse the very familiar roads in my neighborhood. Because I pack my reading schedule with review books, I rarely read a book just because. Audiobooks help fulfill that need. My list today, Outstanding Audiobooks, consists of the most recent books I have listened to and loved. A variety of genres are represented, so there should be something on the list for just about everyone. They were excellent choices, both for content and the reader’s excellent portrayal of the characters. I don’t hesitate to recommend them to other audiobook fans.
Many of the books I review are provided to me free of charge from publishers, authors, or other groups in return for a review. The opinions expressed in the reviews are mine and mine alone. No monetary consideration is given. This disclaimer is in accordance with FTC rules.
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