I can think of a lot of characters I wouldn’t want to go on holiday with …
I like modern comforts such as electricity, hot and cold running water, and flush toilets. On that basis, I think I’ll avoid holidaying with any characters from historical fiction.
I live in New Zealand, so I’ve already visited most of the locations in Close to You by Kara Isaac. I’d definitely recommend a holiday with Alison Shire and Jackson Gregory if you’re a Lord of the Rings fan … or if you just want to visit New Zealand.
I do enjoy a good road trip, and a few road trip novels do spring to mind:
I recently read an advance copy of The Summer of Yes by Courtney Walsh, and it’s one of the best books I’ve read in a long time. Kelsey and Georgina have a lot in common (although neither wants to admit it). I enjoyed tagging along on their fictional road trip, especially once we met Georgina’s son …
Another road trip that springs to mind is The Roads We Follow by Nicole Deese. Raegan Farrow heads off on a cross-country road trip with her country music star mother, her sisters, and a driver. They’re a fascinating family, and it’s sounds like a great trip.
And one more: The Billionaire’s Teacher by Elizabeth Maddrey is set in the Caribbean, so features lots of warm islands and no pesky restrictions on budget. It also happens to be a great romance.
Overall, I think my pick is Wes and Sunny in the Caribbean, simply because of the location.
So those are my picks.
What about you? Which character would you most like to go on holiday with?
A few different titles sprang to mind this year: two I’ve read and reviewed recently, two I’ve read and will review soon, and two I read years ago which feature my favourite US state: Hawai’i.
The Roads We Follow by Nicole Deese
The Roads We Follow by Nicole Deese might not count – it’s a road trip across the US, but it isn’t really a holiday. But it’s a great story!
As the youngest daughter of a country music legend, Raegan Farrow longs to establish an identity away from the spotlight and publish her small-town romances under a pen name. But after her dream is dashed when she won’t exploit her mother’s fame to further her own career, she hears a rumor from a reliable source regarding a tell-all being written about the Farrow family. Making matters worse, the unknown author has gone to great lengths to remain anonymous until publication.
Raegan chooses to keep the tell-all a secret from her scandal-leery sisters as they embark on a two-week, cross-country road trip at their mother’s request and makes it her mission to expose the identity of the author behind the unsanctioned biography. But all is complicated when she discovers their hired bus driver, Micah Davenport, has a hidden agenda of his own–one involving both of their mothers and an old box of journals. As they rely on each other to find the answers they seek, the surprising revelations they unearth will steer them toward their undeniable connection and may even lead them down the most unexpected of paths.
A 500-mile tandem bicycle ride isn’t my idea of a fun holiday, but Becca Kinzer turns it into a fun story.
She’s perfectly content leading a quiet life in her small hometown. He’s an adventurer with unquenchable wanderlust. The two couldn’t be any more opposite if they tried. But a tandem bicycle and a 500-mile road trip just might change all that.
After a failed engagement and her mother’s battle with cancer, Charlotte Carter’s life is finally turning around now that she’s landed a dream job teaching music. What she didn’t see coming was the imminent closure of the school’s music program. She’s determined to save it, even if it means getting creative. There’s no way she’s chalking this up as just another failure in her book of recent embarrassments.
Zach Bryant is back in town just long enough to see his brother Ben get married and then he’s off traveling the world again. He never imagined he’d run into Charlotte Carter, his brother’s ex-fiancé, or that everyone would believe he and Charlotte are an item. He certainly didn’t dream he’d end up riding a tandem bicycle hundreds of miles with her in an attempt to raise funds for a defunct music program, but how can he say no when the prize money would help him out of his financial predicament too?
Charlotte is sure she can set aside her differences with Zach long enough to cross the finish line and win the giant cash prize . . . can’t she? A few hundred miles in, she’s questioning her deeply held assumptions about Zach and wondering if maybe tandem biking is only the start of their biggest adventure yet.
An unusual and unpredictable unplanned holiday leads to Kelsey having a total rethink on life … and love. My full review will publish in July, but I couldn’t help myself – I had to read this as soon as I got my review copy!
Sometimes you’re so busy writing other people’s stories that you can lose the plot of your own.
This wasn’t how Kelsey Worthington’s day was supposed to go. She wasn’t supposed to be picking up Starbucks for her smarmy boss. She wasn’t supposed to get hit by a car that jumped the curb. And she certainly wasn’t supposed to wake up in a hospital room next to Georgina Tate—the legendary matriarch of New York City businesswomen.
Kelsey and Georgina couldn’t be more opposite. Kelsey’s a dreamer, a writer who questions her own skill. And Georgina is a confident businesswoman whose years of shouldering her way into boardrooms and making her voice heard have made her far too outspoken for the faint of heart.
But now, when Georgina’s failing kidneys force her to face some big regrets about the way she’s lived her life, the two women recognize they share a common thread. Maybe it’s time to confront a few things. They must ask themselves: What if I said yes to everything I’ve always said no to?
With Georgina as her companion, Kelsey soon finds herself doing things she’s never done before. Eating street food. Swimming in the ocean. Matchmaking for Georgina with the help of Georgina’s handsome son. And writing her own romance—both in book form and in real life.
Join Jade, Benny, and Bridger on 2,448-mile road trip down the historic Route 66. Now I want to My full review will publish in May.
How far would you go to fix the mistakes you’ve made and regain the trust you lost? For Jade Jessup, the answer is 2,448 miles. Once one of Chicago’s significant financial advisors, Jade lost her credibility when her fiancé (and coworker) stole millions of dollars from their clients in a Ponzi scheme. Now she’s agreed to help one of them–an aging 1960s Hollywood starlet named Berenice “Benny” Alderidge–seek financial restoration.
Jade sets off along Route 66 with Benny and her handsome adult foster son, Bridger, who is filming a documentary retracing the 1956 trip that started the love story between Benny and her recently deceased husband, Paul. Listening to Benny recount her story draws Jade into memories of her own darker association with Route 66, when she was kidnapped as a child by a man the media labeled a monster–but she remembers only as daddy.
Together, all three of these pilgrims will learn about family, forgiveness, and what it means to live free of the past. But not before Jade faces a second staggering betrayal that changes everything.
I’ve visited Hawai’i several times, including two visits to the Big Island and one to Maui, but I’ve never been to Kauai. Hawai’i is my favourite US state – its the best of New Zealand combined with the best of the USA (although I haven’t yet visited Alaska yet, so that view may change …)
When a young woman stumbles out of the Hanalei Mountains on the island of Kauai with no memory of who she is or how she got there, Cameron Pierce reluctantly agrees to investigate the mysterious circumstances surrounding her arrival. As pieces begin to fall into place, he suspects her injuries were no accident, but he’s far from convinced she’s an innocent victim. And there’s that nagging feeling he’s seen her somewhere before….
Now known as Jade, the woman begins to recall fragments of what led her to this place, and she realizes the danger isn’t over. Jade and the cynical Hawaiian investigator attempt to reconstruct the threads of her identity, but the stakes are far higher than either expected.
I enjoyed the entire Glenbrooke series, but love the first three books the most. Whispers takes us hiking in Maui, and it was great to see the island through Teri’s story.
Version 1.0.0
Teri leaves Glenbrooke thinking her visit to see her sister on Maui is going to be her chance to reconnect with the Marine biologist she met last summer.
She’s surprised to run into an old high school love interest from Escondido. And who is this clumsy, endearing guy from Australia who keeps showing up? Three men want her attention. What a vacation this is turning out to be!
Only one of them makes it clear that he’s got what it takes to win her heart. How does Teri know? The answer comes to her in whispers.
Come to Glenbrooke – a quiet place where souls are refreshed.
Most of the time I read to be entertained, not to think. But some novels manage to do both at the same time, which is great.
Kaleidoscpe Eyes by Karen Ball introduced me to synesthesia, which colours (literally) the way some people see. I wonder if this is where the New Age ideas around auras came from.
I read that so many times while I was writing and editing. I honestly can’t say how many times. I can say that I didn’t read the whole book each time—I read as much as I had written, and moved forward from there. I’m currently following a similar process for my second book.
If we exclude books I’ve written (or edited), then there are a few I can think of:
An Echo in the Darkness by Francine Rivers is the second in The Mark of the Lion series, and my favourite. I’ve definitely read it more than either of the other two books in the series.
Secrets by Robyn Jones Gunn is the first book in her Glenbrooke series. I read and enjoyed all the books, but I think Secrets and Whispers were my favourite.
Love Finds a Home by Janette Oke is the final book in the Love Comes Softly series, because this was the book where Belinds and Drew finally (finally!) get their happy-ever-after.
And the Bible. I’ve read through the complete Bible several times as part of a Bible in a Year challenge, but I consciously selected a different version of the Bible each time. So is that one book or several?
What about you? What’s a book you’ve read more than three times?
I’ve been buying and reading Christian fiction for a long time.
Many of the first books I bought and read had illustrated covers. Most look horribly dated now because of how much illustration styles have changed.
But the photographic covers from the same era also look dated, especially the contemporary titles, because clothing styles have changed.
The rise of imaging software such as PhotoShop has changed the look of photographic covers. It’s now relatively easy to merge multiple photographs into a single cover image, which wasn’t possible back when I first started buying Christian fiction.
Now, the choice between photos or illustrations on covers seems to be largely driven by genre.
Women’s fiction and rom com are more likely to have illustrated covers than, say, historical romance or romantic suspense. Contemporary romance can go either way.
Overall, I can’t say I have a preference. I wouldn’t choose or not choose a book because it had an illustrated cover … or because it had a photographic cover.
It all comes down to the genre and what I want to read at the time.
What about you? Do you prefer covers with photos or illustrations?
As a general rule, I prefer covers with pictures over covers with words.
The reason is that covers with words are often nonfiction, and I tend not to read nonfiction.
There are some fiction covers with words, but they tend to be hand drawn fonts. For example, here are recent covers from some of my favourite contemporary romance authors:
And here are some typical nonfiction covers with words:
So yes, I tend to prefer covers with pictures, but that’s largely driven by genre.
What about you? Do you prefer covers with words or pictures?
I’ve tossed various periods around in considering this question.
I studied the history of the Tudors in high school and subsequently read a lot of fiction set in Tudor times … to the point I grew tired of it.
I’ve read a lot of Regency romance and enjoy the period … but I’ve possibly read too many, because I’m a little tired of that as well.
I’ve also binged on and grown tired of US Civil War fiction, Western expansion fiction, Gilded Age fiction, and World War I fiction (although I’ll still read anything by Elizabeth Camden or Roseanna M White because their books always manage to put a unique spin on a period).
I am currently enjoying more modern historicals, novels set in World War II from authors such as Jennifer Mistmorgan and Janyre Tromp.
What about you? What’s your favourite period in historical fiction?
There are 66 books in the Protestant Bible, and a few more in the Roman Catholic Bible. My 2023 Bible in a Year challenge was a podcast with daily readings from the Catholic Bible, and I have to say none of those extra chapters or books will make it anywhere close to my list of favourite books. That could be because I was listening, not reading. Or it could be because I was unfamiliar with them.
Either way, it reminded me that our favourite book is likely to be one that is familiar, and it will only become familiar through repeated reading.
There are certain books in the Bible that no amount of reading can persuade me to love (like Job and Revelation). I’m also not a big fan of reading the genealogies, although they do remind me God’s plan is outworked through His people … His many people.
Overall, I think my favourite books is Romans because it has so much solid teaching.
What about you? What’s your favourite book in the Bible?
I don’t read a lot of nonfiction (Christian or otherwise). In theory, that should make this an easier question than my favourite novel because I don’t have as many books to choose from. In practice, it’s harder … because I don’t have as many books to choose from.
The obvious answer is the Bible, but I suspect that isn’t the meaning of the question.
If I try to recall the Christian nonfiction books I’ve read, the two that come to mind are both autobiographies. You’ve probably heard of (and perhaps read) them both.
The first is Joni by Joni Eareckson, which made a huge impression on me as a child and teenager, about how she was able to live and thrive despite her circumstances, and how she came back to God.
The second is the Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom, sharing her story of living the Netherlands during World War II, helping and hiding Jews, and her time in a concentration camp, and how God used her then and afterwards.
Both are encouraging true stories of regular Christian women faced with huge challenges, and the way they were able to cling to God despite their troubles.
Neither were “superwomen” or super Christians.
And that’s the beauty of their stories.
What about you? What is the best Christian nonfiction book you have ever read?
I have read more Christian novels than I can count.
According to Goodreads, I’ve read over 1,500 in the last ten years (and that’s just a drop in the bucket of all the novels published in the last ten years).
Most of the novels I read are good. Many are excellent. Few last in my memory beyond me writing my book review. The ones I remember longer tend to be the ones that make it to my end-of-year “Best of …” list.
Despite the fact I write contemporary Christian romance, the novels I remember tend to be historical Christian fiction from authors like Elizabeth Camden, Gabrielle Meyer, Roseanna M White, and Francine Rivers.
On that basis, it’s perhaps no surprise for me to decide my favourite Christian novel is Echo in the Darkness by Francine Rivers
Echo in the Darkness is the second book in her Mark of the Lion trilogy. In many trilogies, the middle book is the weakest (the “saggy middle” writers dread).
But it’s my favourite because it focusses on my two favourite characters in the series, Marcus and Hadassah, and their protracted romance. Marcus is a Roman and not a Christian, but journeys to Israel to discover more about Hadassah after he believes she has been killed in the arena. There he learns to forgive his sister (who he blames for Hadassah’s death) and find God’s forgiveness for himself. I love strong salvation stories, and Marcus’s journey to faith was compelling reading.
Equally compelling was Hadassah’s story back in Rome (and perhaps Ephesus. It’s been a while since I read it, so some of the details are hazy). She works with a healer and finds herself back in Marcus’s family home, caring for his mother.
Echo in the Darkness is, first and foremost, a Christian novel. It’s set in a fascinating period in history–the Roman empire shortly after the fall of Jerusalem–and it incorporates the history and customs of the day into a wonderful Christian romance with a good deal of light suspense.
The writing style might be a little dated, but there is a reason Echo in the Darkness (and many more of Francine Rivers’s books) have remained on bestseller lists for decades.
What about you? What is the best Christian novel you have ever read?
