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!
Tennesse has a long and illustrious history. The Volunteer State was the 16th state admitted into the Union, the last state to join the Confederacy, and the first state to re-join the Union following the Civil War. It borders 8 states and has the Appalachian Mountains in the east and the Mississippi River on its western border. Nashville is known for its vibrant music industry, while Memphis was home to Elvis. I have a long list of books set in Tennessee. They vary in genres, so there should be something for every reading taste. I hope you enjoy your book travel to Tennessee!
A Beauty So Rare by Tamera Alexander
Eleanor Braddock – plain, practical, no stunning Southern beauty – knows she will never marry. But with a dying soldier’s last whisper, she believes her life can still have meaning and determines to find his widow. Impoverished and struggling to care for her ailing father, Eleanor arrives at Belmont Mansion, home of her aunt, Adelicia Acklen, the richest woman in America – and possibly the most demanding, as well. Adelicia insists on finding her niece a husband, but a simple act of kindness leads Eleanor down a far different path – building a home for destitute widows and fatherless children from the Civil War. While Eleanor knows her own heart, she also knows her aunt will never approve of this endeavor.
Archduke Marcus Gottfried has come to Nashville from Austria in search of a life he determines, instead of one determined for him. Hiding his royal heritage, Marcus longs to combine his passion for nature with his expertise in architecture, but his plans to incorporate natural beauty into the design of the widows’ and children’s home run contrary to Eleanor’s wishes. As work on the home draws them closer together, Marcus and Eleanor find common ground–and a love neither of them expects.
But Marcus is not the man Adelicia has chosen for Eleanor, and even if he were, someone who knows his secrets is about to reveal them all.
Ada Wentworth, a young Bostonian, journeys to Hickory Ridge, Tennessee, in the years following the Civil War. Alone and nearly penniless following a broken engagement, Ada accepts a position as a lady’s companion to the elderly Lillian Willis, a pillar of the community and aunt to the local lumber mill owner, Wyatt Caldwell. Ada intends to use her millinery skills to establish a hat shop and secure her future.
Haunted by unanswered questions from her life in Boston, Ada is most drawn to two townsfolks: Wyatt, a Texan with big plans of his own, and Sophie, a mulatto girl who resides at the Hickory Ridge orphanage. Ada’s friendship with Sophia attracts the attention of a group of locals seeking to displace the residents of Two Creeks, a “colored” settlement on the edge of town. As tensions rise, Ada is threatened but refuses to abandon her plan to help the girl.
When Lillian dies, Ada is left without employment or a place to call home. And since Wyatt’s primary purpose for staying in Hickory Ridge was to watch over his aunt, he can now pursue his dream of owning Longhorns in his home state of Texas. With their feelings for each other growing, Ada must decide whether she can trust God with her future and Wyatt with her heart.
The train taking nineteen-year-old teacher Christy Huddleston from her home in Asheville, North Carolina, might as well be transporting her to another world. The Smoky Mountain community of Cutter Gap feels suspended in time, trapped by poverty, superstitions, and century-old traditions.
But as Christy struggles to find acceptance in her new home, some see her — and her one-room school — as a threat to their way of life. Her faith is challenged and her heart is torn between two strong men with conflicting views about how to care for the families of the Cove.
Yearning to make a difference, will Christy’s determination and devotion be enough?
Secrets can be funny things. We think they keep us safe, but more often than not, they spill out when we least expect and make a mess out of everything. It’s a truth Scarlett Jo Newberry knows all too well — a truth Grace Shepherd and Zach Craig are about to learn the hard way. As the lives of this boisterous pastor’s wife, polished news anchor, and beleaguered divorce attorney intersect in the tree-lined streets of Franklin, Tennessee, scandal threatens to topple their carefully constructed worlds. Grasping at survival, they embark on a journey of friendship and courage, desperate to find a way back to laughter, love, and life.
It’s been eighteen years since TV crime reporter Andi Hollister’s sister was murdered. The confessed killer is behind bars, and the execution date is looming. But when a letter surfaces stating that the condemned killer didn’t actually do it, Detective Will Kincaide of the Memphis Cold Case Unit will stop at nothing to help Andi get to the bottom of it. After all, this case is personal: the person who confessed to the crime is Will’s cousin. They have less than a week to find the real killer before the wrong person is executed. But much can be accomplished in that week – including uncovering police corruption, running for your life, and falling in love.
No one needs to push Nikki Boyd to excel on the Tennessee Missing Person Task Force. The case of her own missing sister, still unsolved after ten years, is the driving force in her work. When a Polaroid photo of a missing girl shows up at a crime scene, Nikki quickly recognizes similarities to the past. The closer she gets to the abductor, the more she feels that this case is getting personal, and that she is not the hunter at all – but actually the one being hunted.
Congratulations to all the talented authors who are now 2018 Christy Award Finalists. If you are on the hunt for some great books, here is an excellent place to start.
Contemporary Romance
The Secret Life of Sarah Hollenbeck by Bethany Turner
The Inspy Awards, the blogger-based awards program for inspirational books, has announced their 2018 shortlists. Whew! What a great bunch of books! Now it’s in the judges hands, and what a tough job they have. Congrats to all the authors! For more info, check out inspy.com.
Contemporary Romance/Romantic Suspense
A New Shade of Summer (Waterfall Press) by Nicole Deese
Then There Was You (Bellbird Press) by Kara Isaac
Jane of Austin (Waterbrook) by Hillary Manton Lodge
Congratulations to the winners of the 2018 Christy Awards. If you are looking for a great book to read, look no further than these talented authors and their books.
The Christy Award™ is designed to nurture and encourage creativity and quality in the writing and publishing of fiction written from a Christian worldview and showcase the diversity of genres.
The Award is named for Catherine Marshall’s enduring bestselling novel, Christy, published in 1967.
A few weeks ago the Top Ten Tuesday theme was books from 2016 that should have been read. My shelves are overflowing with 2016 titles as well as those from 2015, 2014, 2013 . . . . So in an act of equal time and fairness, I wanted to showcase more books that are so pretty, yet sit forlornly on my shelves waiting for me to come and open them up. I’m an equal opportunity neglecter — you’ll find both historical and contemporary fiction on this list.
This week the folks at The Broke And The Bookish are giving bloggers a Freebie. Check out what other topics they are exploring HERE.
In the most turbulent decade of our nation’s history, four Southern women—destinies forged by birth, hearts steeled by war—face near impossible choices on their journeys in life . . . and in love.
To Mend a Dream by Tamera Alexander
Savannah Darby would do almost anything to revisit her family home. So when new owner, Aidan Bedford, a Boston attorney and former Union soldier, seeks to redecorate the house for his fiancée, Savannah jumps at the opportunity. But the clock is ticking. Can she find the box her father supposedly hid there during the war before her assignment is completed? And before she sees yet another battle lost on the home front. This time, one of the heart.
An Outlaw’s Heart by Shelley Gray
When Russell Champion returns to Broken Arrow, he’s determined to begin a new life. But when he arrives at his mother’s homestead, he discovers she’s very ill, and the woman he loved is still as beautiful and sweet as he remembered. With time running out, Russell must come to terms with both his future and his past.
A Heart So True by Dorothy Love
Abigail knows all too well what is expected of her: to marry her distant cousin Charles and take her place in society. But her heart belongs to another. A terrible incident forces Abby to choose between love and duty.
Love Beyond Limits by Elizabeth Musser
Emily has a secret: She’s in love with one of the freedmen on her family’s plantation. Meanwhile, another man declares his love for her. Emily realizes some things are not as they seem and secrets must be kept in order to keep those she loves safe.
Tamera Alexander is the best-selling author of numerous books including A Lasting Impression and The Inheritance. Tamera is a two-time Christy Award winner, two-time RITA winner, and a recipient of the prestigious Library Journal Award.
A native of west Tennessee, Dorothy Love makes her home in the Texas hill country with her husband and their golden retriever. An award-winning author of numerous young adult novels, Dorothy made her adult debut with the Hickory Ridge novels.
Shelley Gray is the author of The Heart of a Hero series. Her Amish novel (written as Shelley Shepard Gray), The Protector, recently made the New York Times best seller list.
Elizabeth Musser, a native of Atlanta, Georgia now living in France, is a novelist who writes what she calls entertainment with a soul. For over 25 years, Elizabeth and her husband, Paul, have been involved in mission work with International Teams.
Four talented historical romance authors come together to bring stories of hope and love set amidst the change and turmoil of the American South in the mid-1800s. Each novella-length offering in Among The Fair Magnolias is what you would expect from Dorothy Love, Tamera Alexander, Shelley Gray and Elizabeth Musser — heart-filled stories featuring characters to cheer for. For fans of historical romance, it doesn’t get much better than this!
All four novellas are set in the American South either before or after the Civil War. Change comes swiftly, and the characters learn to reach for their dreams as they rebuild their lives. Settings include South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia and Texas and give the reader an insight into the challenges faced by those living in this era in our country’s history. Main characters scale obstacles in their lives as they reach out to their true loves. The authors tackle such issues as race relations and the mending of a splintered North and South. Strong faith messages run throughout, as the characters struggle with family duty, worthiness and purpose. I enjoyed all four of the stories and am glad that Thomas Nelson brought these authors together for this project.
Perfect for fans of historical romance, each standalone novella is a quick read, yet with a depth of characterization and plotting usually only found in full-length novels. A good bet for end of summer reading.
Pink is not what Eleanor Braddock ordered, but maybe it would soften the tempered steel of a woman who came through a war–and still had one to fight.
Eleanor Braddock–plain, practical, no stunning Southern beauty–knows she will never marry. But with a dying soldier’s last whisper, she believes her life can still have meaning and determines to find his widow. Impoverished and struggling to care for her ailing father, Eleanor arrives at Belmont Mansion, home of her aunt, Adelicia Acklen, the richest woman in America–and possibly the most demanding, as well. Adelicia insists on finding her niece a husband, but a simple act of kindness leads Eleanor down a far different path–building a home for destitute widows and fatherless children from the Civil War. While Eleanor knows her own heart, she also knows her aunt will never approve of this endeavor.
Archduke Marcus Gottfried has come to Nashville from Austria in search of a life he determines, instead of one determined for him. Hiding his royal heritage, Marcus longs to combine his passion for nature with his expertise in architecture, but his plans to incorporate natural beauty into the design of the widows’ and children’s home run contrary to Eleanor’s wishes. As work on the home draws them closer together, Marcus and Eleanor find common ground–and a love neither of them expects.
But Marcus is not the man Adelicia has chosen for Eleanor, and even if he were, someone who knows his secrets is about to reveal them all.
Tamera Alexander is the USA Today bestselling author of numerous books, including A Lasting Impression, A Beauty So Rare, To Whisper Her Name, and From a Distance. Her richly drawn characters and thought-provoking plots have earned her devoted readers worldwide, as well as multiple industry awards.
These awards include two Christy Awards for Excellence in Christian fiction (and seven finalists), two RITA awards for Best Inspirational Romance, three Gayle Wilson Awards of Excellence, two Bookseller’s Best Awards, and being listed among Library Journal’s Top Christian Fiction, among others.
After living in Colorado for seventeen years, Tamera has returned to her Southern roots. She and her husband now make their home in Nashville where they enjoy life with their two adult children who live nearby, and Jack, a precious—and precocious—silky terrier.
My Impressions:
A short-list nominee for both the Inspy and Christy Awards, A Beauty So Rare is an historical romance novel fans of the genre are sure to love. Part of Tamera Alexander’s Belmont Mansion series, it can be read as a standalone novel. Well-developed characters and attention to historical detail make this book a recommended read.
Eleanor Braddock is not your typical Southern Belle. Taller than most women and some men, she has never been called beautiful and only occasionally handsome. But her intelligence and determination set her apart from others in post-Civil War Nashville. Marcus Jeffery knows what he wants and this Austrian-born man knows he can achieve his goals in America. But family duty may prevent his dreams from becoming reality.
A vibrant and bustling Nashville comes to life in A Beauty So Rare. The New South is slowly emerging, and its citizens are set on rebuilding it and their own lives. Alexander has created strong characters in Eleanor and Marcus. Both are restrained by convention and family duty and obligations, but are determined to make their own way. Secondary characters are well-developed as well and add to the novels appeal. The historical details of this novel give it a richness sure to draw in fans of the genre. The romance develops slowly but satisfactorily with a definite happy ending.
All in all, I liked A Beauty So Rareand would recommend it.
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