Tag Archives: women's fiction

First Line Friday — The Light on Horn Island

18 Jul

Happy Friday! If you are looking for a beach-y read, look no further than The Light on Horn Island by Valerie Fraser Luesse. Set in the early 2000s on the Mississippi coast, it also highlights devastating Hurricane Camille that hit that state in 1969. It is pure southern and pays homage to all that is great about the Mississippi gulf coast. I loved the multigenerational cast of characters and the magical element that Luesse introduces. Or is it supernatural? You decide!

Here’s the first line:

Good pimento cheese is a reason to live.

Just when her life comes crumbling down, she discovers secrets that could shape her future–and heal her past. 

When Edie Gardner’s life in New York falls apart, her grandmother Adele “Punk” Cheramie coaxes her back to tiny Bayou du Chêne, Mississippi. Edie spent many happy summers there, a stone’s throw from untamed Horn Island, where she once found love. Can she now demystify the island’s strange new light?

Punk and her colorful friends introduce Edie to the Trove, a fascinating gallery and antique shop. Like Horn Island’s light, The Trove has appeared out of nowhere. Its proprietor, with a gift for discerning his customers’ needs, gives Edie a Victorian parlor game that asks players a series of personal questions, which is harmless fun at first. But Edie and her grandmother’s circle find that the game has a way of uncovering secrets, including a heartbreak that has haunted one of the women for decades. Banding together, this Southern sisterhood is determined to find answers that will bring healing, hope, and happiness–and maybe explain the transcendent illumination of a wild and windswept barrier island.

Valerie Fraser Luesse is the author of novels set in the South. An award-winning magazine writer, Luesse is perhaps best known for her feature stories and essays in Southern Living, where she wrote major pieces on the Mississippi Delta, Acadian Louisiana, and the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Her editorial section on the recovering Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina, photographed by Mark Sandlin, won the 2009 Travel Writer of the Year award from the Southeast Tourism Society. Luesse earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in English from Auburn University and Baylor University, respectively. Find her online at valeriefraserluesse.com; facebook.com/valeriefraserluessebooks; bakerpublishinggroup.com; bookbub.com/authors/valerie-fraser-luesse; and goodreads.com.

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Spotlight on Romantic Suspense/Women’s Fiction — The Ties That Loose

18 Jun

Welcome to the Blog + Review Tour for The Ties That Loose by Felicia Ferguson, hosted by JustRead Publicity Tours!

About The Book

The Ties That Loose

Title: The Ties That Loose
Author: Felicia Ferguson
Publisher: Salt & Light Publishing
Release Date: May 23, 2025
Genre: military romantic suspense / women’s fiction

Can you really trust God when life plummets out of your control?

While clearing out her mother’s estate, Dani Robicheau Kirkland makes a shocking discovery: a box containing pieces of her parents’ life hidden away after her father was declared Killed in Action in the Vietnam War. Inside she finds her mother had once clung to faith and the desperate certainty her husband was alive before she spiraled into the devastated alcoholic Dani has known.

Dani’s F-15 pilot husband, Chris, chafes under his father’s expectations to live up to his granddad’s legacy as WWII pilot. While the Bosnian War rages, Chris is tasked with a clandestine mission: flying an unsanctioned diplomat into Bosnia. But when his plane goes down due to a bird strike, Chris is trapped behind enemy lines with little hope of rescue.

Dani is terrified she’ll nosedive like her mother did, but still clings to hope and a certainty that Chris remains alive despite the Air Force’s doubts. As she searches for a way to bring Chris home and he strives to stay alive, they each battle their family histories desperate to find God’s future for them both.

Family ties ensnare them. Can God loose their grip forever?

Excerpt

Danielle Robicheau Kirkland spewed a huff, hoping to loosen her sweat-lodged bangs from her forehead. Swampy Louisiana humidity saturated Mama’s attic, thickening air already soaked with memories. Though the ladder access remained open, it offered no escape from either the heat or her duty. 

She rubbed her cheek against her shoulder, hoping to soothe the abrasive tingle from the mounds of pink insulation, an irritating result from a prior swipe with her fiberglass-covered gloves. But the prickling itch continued. Sighing, she surrendered her battle and stared at the stacks of boxes near the attic entrance. 

Christmas decorations, high school memorabilia, and childhood clothes. Nothing of earth-shattering importance, not that she’d expected it to be. Mama was neither a hoarder nor a collector. Any things of value had long been sold to finance her drinking. 

Dani smothered the flare of anger. The woman was dead. Yet here Dani was, still responsible for her. Once she finished cleaning out Mama’s house, though, she’d be free.

PURCHASE LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | BookBub

About The Author

Felicia Ferguson

Felicia Ferguson achieved master’s degrees in Healthcare Administration and Speech-Language Pathology, but has written since childhood and dreamed of authoring books that teach and inspire others. An award-winning fiction and non-fiction freelance writer, she has published several devotions and sweet romance short stories. Her passion, however, is writing women’s fiction and romantic suspense with strong female characters who work through their traumas and tragedies using biblical principles and counseling techniques.

As a child, Felicia lived in Kansas, Texas, and Louisiana before her family settled on a horse and cattle farm in Kentucky. As an adult, she lived in Tennessee for two years and later spent ten years in the Florida panhandle soaking up the sand and sun. But then God moved her once again. This time out of the South and into the mountains of Colorado. When she’s not glued to her laptop, Felicia enjoys hiking, Bible studies with friends, and looking forward to the next story.

Connect with Felicia by visiting feliciafergusonauthor.com to follow her on social media and subscribe to email updates.

Tour Giveaway

(1) winner will receive a That’s So 90s Trivia Game, in honor of the book being set in the 1990s!

The Ties That Loose JustRead Tours blog giveaway

Full tour schedule linked below. The giveaway begins at midnight June 16, 2025 and will last through 11:59 PM EST on June 23, 2025. Winner will be notified within 2 weeks of close of the giveaway and given 48 hours to respond or risk forfeiture of prize. US only. Void where prohibited by law or logistics.

Giveaway is subject to JustRead Publicity Tours Giveaway Policies.

Enter Giveaway

Follow along at JustRead Tours for a full list of stops!

JustRead Publicity Tours

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Top 10 Tuesday — Summer TBR

17 Jun

Happy Tuesday! Is it hot where you are? It is here in the sunny South, so that means it is officially Summer! of course, it is often hot here in the Spring and Autumn as well, but Summer is a special kind of hot. Some refer to it as Satan’s front porch. 😉 And let’s not even talk about the humidity! But the AC and ceiling fans that are obligatory here keep our reading environment cool and dry, so don’t feel too bad for us. Today bloggers are listing their Summer TBRs. I have a few projects that are keeping my pleasure reading at a minimum, but I do have a few books that will be well deserved breaks. I’ve only listed a few, but they are highly anticipated.

What are you reading this Summer?

For more Summer TBRs, check out That Artsy Reader Girl.

Top Books on My Summer TBR

Becoming Madame Secretary by Stephanie Dray

For A Lifetime by Gabrielle Meyer

The Highland Heist by Pepper Basham

The Light on Horn Island by Valerie Fraser Luesse

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Top 10 Tuesday — Summer Titles

3 Jun

Happy June! While summer has not officially commenced, here in the Sunny South it is definitely in full force! Today’s TTT challenge is a Summer Freebie. I am listing books with Summer in the title — I can’t believe I haven’t done this before. I have read most of the books on the list, but there are a few that are still on the TBR wishlist. Hope you find one to love.

For more Summer-y book lists, please visit That Artsy Reader Girl.

Top Summer Titles

The Best Summer of Our Lives by Rachel Hauck

Jane And The Year Without Summer by Stephanie Barron

Just for The Summer by Melody Carlson

On A Summer Tide by Suzanne Woods Fisher

The Summer Guests by Tess Gerritsen

The Summer House by Lauren K. Denton

Summer Island Book Club by Ciara Knight

The Summer of Yes by Courtney Walsh

The Summer of You And Me by Denise Hunter

Summer Plans And Other Disasters by Karen Beery

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Top 10 Tuesday — Animals on The Cover

27 May

Happy Tuesday! Today’s TTT topic is animal companions. I decided to feature books that have an animal on the cover. While some of the animals featured are companions, others are not, but do play a role in the story. I hope you find some new-to-you books to check out.

For animal companions, please visit That Artsy Reader Girl.

Top Books with Animals on The Cover

By Way of the Moonlight by Elizabeth Musser

Cold Case Pursuit by Dana Mentink

Darkness Calls The Tiger by Janyre Tromp

Ever Faithful by Karen Barnett

He Should Have Told The Bees by Amanda Cox

Prose And Cons by Amanda Flower

Sandpiper Cove by Irene Hannon

Two Parts Sugar, One Part Murder by Valerie Burns

Version 1.0.0

When Stone Wings Fly by Karen Barnett

Whiskers, Wreaths, and Murder by Kathy Manos Penn

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First Line Friday — The Book of Lost Names

23 May

Happy Friday! A month ago I had the pleasure of attending the Friends & Fiction Live event at the Atlanta History Center. What a wonderful bookish evening! Kristin Harmel was on hand to discuss her newest novel which releases in June — The Stolen Life of Colette Marceau. I don’t have an early copy of the book, I need to wait until release day, but I do have a copy of The Book of Lost Names. It’s been on my shelf for a while, and to be honest, I haven’t cracked it open. So I was pleasantly surprised that my home town of Winter Park, Florida is mentioned in the first line! I spent many hours at the library in my childhood dreaming of the places books could take me. It’s a treat to feature the first line.

Here it is:

It’s a Saturday morning, and I’m midway through my shift at the Winter Park Public Library when I see it.

Eva Traube Abrams, a semi-retired librarian in Florida, is shelving books when her eyes lock on a photograph in the New York Times. She freezes; it’s an image of a book she hasn’t seen in more than sixty years—a book she recognizes as The Book of Lost Names.

The accompanying article discusses the looting of libraries by the Nazis across Europe during World War II—an experience Eva remembers well—and the search to reunite people with the texts taken from them so long ago. The book in the photograph, an eighteenth-century religious text thought to have been taken from France in the waning days of the war, is one of the most fascinating cases. Now housed in Berlin’s Zentral- und Landesbibliothek library, it appears to contain some sort of code, but researchers don’t know where it came from—or what the code means. Only Eva holds the answer, but does she have the strength to revisit old memories?

As a graduate student in 1942, Eva was forced to flee Paris and find refuge in a small mountain town in the Free Zone, where she began forging identity documents for Jewish children fleeing to neutral Switzerland. But erasing people comes with a price, and along with a mysterious, handsome forger named Rémy, Eva decides she must find a way to preserve the real names of the children who are too young to remember who they really are. The records they keep in The Book of Lost Names will become even more vital when the resistance cell they work for is betrayed and Rémy disappears.

An engaging and evocative novel reminiscent of The Lost Girls of Paris and The Alice Network, The Book of Lost Names is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit and the power of bravery and love in the face of evil.

Kristin Harmel is the New York Times bestselling, USA Today bestselling, and #1 international bestselling author of The Paris Daughter, The Forest of Vanishing Stars, The Book of Lost Names, The Winemaker’s Wife, and a dozen other novels that have been translated into more than 30 languages and are sold all over the world.

Kristin has been writing professionally since the age of 16, when she began her career as a sportswriter, covering Major League Baseball and NHL hockey for a local magazine in Tampa Bay, Florida in the late 1990s. In addition to a long magazine writing career, primarily writing and reporting for PEOPLE magazine (as well as articles published in numerous other magazines, including American Baby, Men’s Health, Woman’s Day, and more), Kristin was also a frequent contributor to the national television morning show The Daily Buzz. She sold her first novel in 2004, and it debuted in February 2006.

Kristin was born just outside Boston, Massachusetts and spent her childhood there, as well as in Worthington, Ohio, and St. Petersburg, Florida. After graduating with a degree in journalism (with a minor in Spanish) from the University of Florida, she spent time living in Paris and Los Angeles and now lives in Orlando, with her husband and young son. She is also the co-founder and co-host of the popular weekly web show and podcast Friends & Fiction.

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Spotlight on Women’s Fiction — Every Life Filled with Purpose

22 May

Every Life Filled with Purpose JustRead Blog Tour

Welcome to the Blog Tour for Every Life Filled with Purpose by Shelia Stovall, hosted by JustRead Publicity Tours!

About The Book

Every Life Filled With Purpose

Title: Every Life Filled with Purpose
Series: The Weldon Novels #3
Author: Shelia Stovall
Publisher: Elk Lake Publishing, Inc.
Release Date: March 27, 2025
Genre: Contemporary Women’s Christian Fiction

Welcome to Weldon, Kentucky, where no one can keep a secret forever.

Imagine discovering a place where the locals treat you with warmth and welcome you like family. Carson Williams finds such a place when he visits his deceased mother’s hometown of Weldon. The atmosphere in the community creates a deep yearning in Carson, and he thinks Kentucky is the perfect place for a new beginning. Carson hopes the country life will lead to his emotional healing from PTSD.

While Carson is having lunch at the local diner with Sparky Compton, a young doctor who’s captured his heart, Virginia Willoughby collapses. Sparky springs into action, but Carson struggles to maintain control of his emotions. Mrs. Willoughby’s daughter, Emma Baker arrives, and the magnetic pull of Emma’s gaze confuses Carson. She reminds him of someone, but who? Later, Emma wonders why she can’t stop thinking about the mysterious stranger when her heart belongs to pastor Luke Davis.

But there are secrets in the small town—and they will impact both Carson and Emma.

Excerpt

The flashing lights of an ambulance parked in front of the Triple D made Emma Baker’s breath hitch as she turned the corner. Emergency vehicles in action always reminded her of the worst day of her life—the day her husband, Chris, died. Emma placed her hand over her heart. Mother!

Emma bolted to the group standing in front of the plate glass window and placed a hand over her heaving chest. A hush fell over the crowd as they stared at her.

“Who needs an ambulance?” She asked.

One of the pink uniformed waitresses wrung her hands. “It’s for Mrs. Virginia.”

With her worst fear confirmed, Emma rushed inside the restaurant, her heart pounding. Paramedics were lifting her unconscious mother onto a gurney. Emma’s legs weakened.

Sparky came up beside her. “I was just asking Dot to call you.” She removed a latex glove from her hand. “You can ride with me to the hospital.”

“What happened?” Emma clapped her hand over her mouth.

Sparky squeezed her shoulder. “Mrs. Virginia passed out and hit her head.”

“Why is there so much blood?”

“Head injuries always bleed considerably, and I suspect she’s on daily aspirin therapy.”

Emma gripped the table’s edge. “Yes. She is.”

Sparky turned to a man sitting in the booth. “Carson, did you see her faint? Did she clutch her chest?”

The stranger’s face matched the color of the white Formica tabletop. His dark hair was pulled back in a ponytail. “She … She …” He gulped. “Gave me the oddest look and collapsed.”

There was something familiar about the deep timbre of the stranger’s voice. Emma looked him over. He had a strong jawline and a cleft in his chin, and his eyes, which were almost black, held Emma’s gaze.

Sparky placed both hands on his shoulders and forced him to look at her. “Are you okay?”

He blinked, then nodded as if coming out of a trance. “I’m … I’m fine. Your patient needs you.”

Sparky slung the strap of her pack over her shoulder and grabbed Emma’s elbow. “Let’s go.”

A few years ago, Emma had helped Sparky search the internet for college scholarships, and now she was a doctor. Thank goodness Sparky had returned home to take over Dr. Singer’s practice. Emma followed her toward the exit where Dot waited. An odd sensation pulled Emma’s attention back to the stranger. He hadn’t moved, and his dark eyes held her captive. She knew that face, but from where?

“You need to go see about your mama, hon.” Dot’s voice broke the spell cast by the stranger.

Emma nodded and chased after Sparky. What did it matter if the stranger seemed familiar?

But for some reason, it mattered.

PURCHASE LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | BookBub

More In This Series

Every Window Filled with Light

About The Author

Shelia Stovall

Shelia Stovall is an author, speaker, and the Director of a small-town library in southern Kentucky. Her first Weldon novel, Every Window Filled with Light, won the 2022 Angel Book Award in the contemporary women’s fiction category and was a double finalist for a Selah award in 2022, and her second Weldon novel, Every Day Filled with Hope, was a finalist for a Selah award and a Carol award in 2023.

It tickles her to see shocked expressions when folks learn she’s traveling to Africa—again. She’s the worst missionary ever, but God continues to send her to the ends of the earth as He attempts to mold her into something useful.

Shelia is a country girl who relishes eating a bologna sandwich at a country store just as much as savoring an elegant meal in a posh restaurant.

Shelia and her husband, Michael, live on a farm, and she enjoys taking daily rambles to the creek with their four dogs. Spending time with family, especially her grandchildren, is her all-time favorite thing. The only hobby Shelia loves more than reading uplifting stories of hope is writing them.

Connect with Shelia by visiting sheliastovall.com to follow her on social media and subscribe to email newsletter updates.

Tour Giveaway

(2) winners will each receive a $25 Amazon gift card!

Every Life Filled With Purpose JustRead blog tour giveaway

Full tour schedule linked below. The giveaway begins at midnight May 20, 2025 and will last through 11:59 PM EST on May 27, 2025. Winners will be notified within 2 weeks of close of the giveaway and given 48 hours to respond or risk forfeiture of prize. US only. Void where prohibited by law or logistics.

Giveaway is subject to JustRead Publicity Tours Giveaway Policies.

Enter Giveaway

Follow along at JustRead Tours for a full list of stops!

JustRead Publicity Tours

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Top 10 Tuesday — Travel Books

20 May

Happy Tuesday! Today’s TTT prompt is books featuring travel. Having done that a few times before, I have changed the topic up a bit and am listing books I have read for my upcoming trip to Maine. I love to read novels that are set in travel destinations. Do you ever do that? My list consists of the books I have read in the past couple of months plus some others I have read over the years. There’s a variety of genres too. I hope you find one to inspire you!

For more travel books, please visit That Artsy Reader Girl.

Top Books Set in Maine

The Blackout Book Club by Amy Lynn Green

A Christmas by The Sea by Melody Carlson

Clammed Up By Barbara Ross

The Frozen River by Ariel Lawson

Haven Point by Virginia Hume

The Inn at Ocean’s Edge by Colleen Coble

Memory Lane by Becky Wade

On A Summer Tide by Suzanne Woods Fisher

Saving Mrs. Roosevelt by Candice Sue Patterson

The Spy Coast by Tess Gerritsen

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Top 10 Tuesday — Georgia Authors!

6 May

Happy Tuesday! This week TTT bloggers are spotlighting authors that live in their states. Georgia has a lot of great authors! The book festival that is held in my hometown has been blessed to host some wonderful Peach State authors. Choosing only 10 was challenging, so I expanded to a dozen. I think I’ll have to do a part 2 at a later date in order to feature all the great authors who live in Georgia. My list consists of author who write adult fiction in a variety of genres — I hope you find one to love!

To find authors from your state, please visit That Artsy Reader Girl.

Top Peach State Authors

Lindsey Brackett — Still Waters

Kimberly Brock — The Fabled Earth

Denny S. Bryce — The Other Princess

T. M. Brown — The Last Laird of Sapelo

Valerie Burns —Icing on The Murder

Clint Hall — Steal Fire from The Gods

Kristi Ann Hunter — Frankly, My Dear Clara

Rosey Lee — The Gardins of Edin

Elizabeth Musser — From The Valley We Rise

Lindi Peterson — Their Surprise Second Chance

Cindy Kay Stewart — Abounding Hope

Jayna Breigh — The Hunted Heir

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Spotlight on Contemporary Women’s Fiction — Beauty in The Bittersweet

30 Apr

Beauty in the Bittersweet JustRead Blog Tour

Welcome to the Blog Tour for Beauty in the Bittersweet by Jessica Stone, hosted by JustRead Publicity Tours!

About The Book

Beauty in the Bittersweet

Title: Beauty in the Bittersweet
Series: A Thornbush and Juniper Story
Author: Jessica Stone
Publisher: Story Architect
Release Date: May 5, 2025
Genre: Women’s Contemporary Fiction (Christian) with romance

If checking off lists were all it took, Elle Reed could keep her life from crumbling around her. But her husband betrays her trust, her best friend’s recent diagnosis reveals a hidden trauma, and a secret Elle has been keeping from her mother has wrecked their Gilmore Girls-esque relationship. Her career may be the one thing she has control over, and she holds it tightly with both hands.

Then she gets a call she never expects—her mother has passed away suddenly, taking any hope of reconciliation with her. Discovering Catherine’s collection of devotional journals while packing up her home provides an opportunity to glean the wisdom she so desperately misses. But the journals reveal that her mother had secrets of her own, leaving Elle wondering if anyone in her life is who they say.

When an upheaval at work rips away the only stability Elle has left, she has to face her biggest fear. What will it take for her to surrender control to The One who’s had it all along?

Excerpt

I slowly replaced the two books and pulled the box out of the closet. Pushing to my feet, I headed for the one room I hadn’t gone into since the day it had been necessary to select a dress to take to the funeral home. My mother had always considered her bedroom to be her sanctuary, and she kept it altogether clutter-free. Sitting on the edge of the mattress, I closed my eyes, trying to remember the last time we curled up here to watch movies.

I couldn’t stop myself from sinking into the memories any more than I could fight the softness of the plush floral bedding pulling me down. I pressed my nose into the place she’d last laid her head, where the scent of her rosemary shampoo lingered in the silk pillowcase, nearly convincing me she wasn’t truly gone. 

Even still, I wouldn’t cry.

At last, I reached toward the nightstand and found what I knew would be waiting. The current journal had a pale gray cover with a soft ribbon marking her last entry scarcely a third of the way into the book, and as I held it to my chest, the tears I had not built into today’s schedule finally broke free.



PURCHASE LINKS: Goodreads | Jessica Stone Stories | Amazon

About The Author

Jessica Stone

Despite her start as a journalist for a faith-based news publication two decades ago, Jessica Stone has always loved fiction. She believes that her testimony and message come most clearly through storytelling, and she loves the process of developing deep—and deeply flawed—characters who find redemption and learn to accept grace, just as she is herself. Jessica and her husband reside in Raleigh, North Carolina, near her parents and other family. This story—and her confidence to write it—were inspired by her own Gilmore Girls-esque relationship with her daughter, who is living out her dreams as a fashion designer in Paris. Beauty in the Bittersweet is Jessica’s debut novel and the first in her A Thornbush and Juniper Story series.

Connect with Jessica by visiting jessicastonestories.com to follow her on social media and subscribe to email newsletter updates.

Tour Giveaway

(3) winners will receive a print copy of Beauty in the Bittersweet plus a sticker/bookmark, journal and pen set!

Beauty in the Bittersweet blog tour giveaway JustRead

Full tour schedule linked below. The giveaway begins at midnight April 29, 2025 and will last through 11:59 PM EST on May 6, 2025. Winners will be notified within 2 weeks of close of the giveaway and given 48 hours to respond or risk forfeiture of prize. No shipping restrictions. Void where prohibited by law or logistics.

Giveaway is subject to JustRead Publicity Tours Giveaway Policies.

Enter Giveaway

Follow along at JustRead Tours for a full list of stops!

JustRead Publicity Tours

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