Tag: Debut author

Book Review | Her Part to Play by Jenny Erlingsson

Adanne (pronounced Ah-dah-neh) is working as a makeup artist in Hope Springs, Alabama in between running the cash-strapped local community center and visiting her nephew, who is in hospital with cancer. She’s a little too good to be true on the outside, but insecure on the inside … which makes her relatable.

Giovanni Pomponio, better known as John Pope, is a Hollywood leading man who has recently returned to his childhood Christian faith … which raises some obvious challenges.

Her Part to Play is Jenny Erlingsson’s debut novel. While some elements of the plot are somewhat predictable (particularly given the overly wordy subtitle), I did enjoy the way she brought it all together into a faith-filled romance.

After all, I do love a Christian romance where the faith aspect is central.

Hope Springs is a fabulous small-town Southern setting, the kind of town many of us would like to live in—a town where people care about each other. I enjoyed “meeting” Adanne and the other residents of Hope Springs.

Jenny Erlingsson is an Alabama-born Christian writer of Nigerian descent who now lives in Iceland. Her heritage comes through in her writing, which is great to see. Her writing is strong, and I’d love to read a Christian romance set in Iceland!

Recommended for fans of small-town contemporary Christian romance featuring BIPOC and film star characters.

Thanks to Revell and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review.

About Jenny Erlingsson

Jenny ErlingssonJenny Erlingsson is an author and speaker of Nigerian descent. After 12 years working in junior high and women’s ministry, she moved with her family from Alabama to Iceland. When she’s not running after her four kids or ministering alongside her husband, she can be found writing romantic fiction and creative nonfiction to inspire deep faith in diverse settings, as well as encouraging other writers. Her other writings have been featured on (in)courage, Live Original, Velvet Ashes, and more. And in the margins, you might find her reading five books at a time with a side of Icelandic chocolate.

Find Jenny Erlingsson online at:

Website | BookBub | Facebook | Instagram | Pinterest

About A Part to Play

Her Part to Play by Jenny ErlingssonDesperate for extra income after her mother’s passing, Adanne accepts a last-minute job as a makeup artist for a movie filming in her small Alabama hometown. She’s working to save her parents’ legacy and help her brother, but the money hardly seems worth having to face the actor who got her fired from her last job in Hollywood.

John Pope has made his share of mistakes over the years. But after turning his life over to God and enduring a messy breakup, he’s ready to start rebuilding his career. Imagine his surprise when the woman called in to cover for his usual makeup artist is a quiet but feisty newcomer on the set–and definitely not a fan.

Sparks of tension–and could that be attraction?–fly between them, but Adanne hates the spotlight, and John’s scheming manager has bigger plans for him than to end up with the humble makeup girl from the small-town South. Can these star-crossed lovers find their way to happiness? Or will the bright lights of Hollywood blind their eyes to what’s right in front of them?

Debut author Jenny Erlingsson’s diverse cast comes alive with faith, romance, and a touch of humor to create a story worthy of the big screen.

Find A Part to Play online at:

Amazon | BookBub | Goodreads

First Line Friday

First Line Friday #337 | Her Part to Play by Jenny Erlingsson

It’s First Line Friday! That means it’s time to pick up the nearest book and quote the first line. I’m quoting from Her Part to Play, the debut novel from Jenny Erlingsson, an American author of Nigerian descent who currently lives in Iceland. That’s a unique background!

Here’s the first line from the Chapter One:

Sleep didn't come easily to the brokenhearted. Which was ridiculous.

What’s the book nearest you, and what’s the first line?

About A Part to Play

Her Part to Play by Jenny ErlingssonDesperate for extra income after her mother’s passing, Adanne accepts a last-minute job as a makeup artist for a movie filming in her small Alabama hometown. She’s working to save her parents’ legacy and help her brother, but the money hardly seems worth having to face the actor who got her fired from her last job in Hollywood.

John Pope has made his share of mistakes over the years. But after turning his life over to God and enduring a messy breakup, he’s ready to start rebuilding his career. Imagine his surprise when the woman called in to cover for his usual makeup artist is a quiet but feisty newcomer on the set–and definitely not a fan.

Sparks of tension–and could that be attraction?–fly between them, but Adanne hates the spotlight, and John’s scheming manager has bigger plans for him than to end up with the humble makeup girl from the small-town South. Can these star-crossed lovers find their way to happiness? Or will the bright lights of Hollywood blind their eyes to what’s right in front of them?

Debut author Jenny Erlingsson’s diverse cast comes alive with faith, romance, and a touch of humor to create a story worthy of the big screen.

Find A Part to Play online at:

Amazon | BookBub | Goodreads

Click here to check out what my fabulous fellow FirstLineFriday bloggers are sharing today.

And you can click here to check out my previous FirstLineFriday posts.

Share your first line in the comments, and happy reading!

Don’t forget to click here to check out my Amazon shop for my top picks in Christian fiction!

First Line Friday

First Line Friday #307 | Not Quite Mr Darcy by Kim Griffin

It’s First Line Friday! That means it’s time to pick up the nearest book and quote the first line. I’m a long-time Pride and Prejudice fan, so I’m always up for a Christian romance with a P&P link, so I was thrilled to join the launch team for Not Quite Mr Darcy by Kim Griffin. Here’s the first line from the Chapter One:

What’s the book nearest you, and what’s the first line?

 

It is a truth universally acknowledged that Mr Darcy does not exist.

About Not Quite Mr Darcy

“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that Mr. Darcy does not exist.”

Many a young woman has spent years looking for her perfect Mr. Darcy, but Kate Thomas knows better. A 29-year-old recently widowed southerner, Kate sets off to find herself on the other side of the ocean in the very country where Mr. Darcy’s life was penned. Looking only to escape reminders of her heartache, Kate journeys to places she never thought she’d go—finding faith, love, and family along the way.

Not Quite Mr. Darcy is not a P&P retelling but the story of a woman’s journey to discover what real love is.

An ocean … it’s vast and powerful. The water that fills it can bring death, or offer life. Kate Thomas moves her life across an ocean to conquer the hold of her past and find new life for her future.

Not Quite Mr. Darcy is women’s fiction with clean romance (kisses only). It tackles forgiving the seemingly unforgivable and the disillusionment many a woman has faced upon realizing that the perfect husband they’ve been raised to look for doesn’t exist. Kate, a recent widow, leaves her hometown of Memphis, Tennessee. Seeking distance from her past she takes a job in Kingsdown, England, working with a dementia patient in a cottage overlooking the English Channel. What she finds there is much more than she anticipated. Kate learns to find joy even in the hardest circumstances.

Find Not Quite Mr Darcy online at:

Amazon | Goodreads

Click here to check out what my fabulous fellow FirstLineFriday bloggers are sharing today.

And you can click here to check out my previous FirstLineFriday posts.

Share your first line in the comments, and happy reading!

Don’t forget to click here to check out my Amazon shop for my top picks in Christian fiction!

First Line Friday

First Line Friday #294 | The Christmas Box by Jessica Wakefield

It’s First Line Friday! That means it’s time to pick up the nearest book and quote the first line. I’ve just bought The Christmas Box by debut Australian author Jessica Wakefield. It’s three novellas featuring three of my favourite tropes: friends to more, forced proximity, and fake relationship. Here’s the first line from the Chapter One:

Change was coming. Amy Franklin hated change.

I only have to read that much to know I’m going to love Amy 🙂

What’s the book nearest you, and what’s the first line?

About The Christmas Box

Three Christmas Novellas: Can Christmas be saved by a mysterious box? Join three couples across three decades as they find love in places they least expected it.

1995: Braving Christmas

Amy Franklin is in love with her best friend. Years of family rejection have left her unable to tell Chris Lawrence how she feels for fear of history repeating itself. But as she becomes the key to saving his family’s Christmas tree farm, she realizes teaming up with Chris permanently might just be worth being brave after all.

2005: Risking Christmas

Holed up in a cabin in Connecticut during a blizzard, chef Josh Keller is looking to finish a proposal for his new restaurant. But he didn’t count on getting snowed in with Nicole Abbot, the very food critic who derailed his career faster than you can say master chef. As the days drift by, Josh and Nicole form a tentative truce that might just turn into more.

2015: Faking Christmas

Antonia Katsaros needs a fake boyfriend to attend her sister’s Christmas-themed engagement party, or she’ll never hear the end of it from her meddling family. In the mall, she meets Dylan Matthews, a guy more than ready to help the woman who helped his niece. Can their fake relationship turn real just in time for the holidays?

Find The Christmas Box online at:

Amazon | Goodreads

Click here to check out what my fabulous fellow FirstLineFriday bloggers are sharing today.

And you can click here to check out my previous FirstLineFriday posts.

Share your first line in the comments, and happy reading!

Don’t forget to click here to check out my Amazon shop for my top picks in Christian fiction!

What new-to-you authors have you read and loved in the last year?

Bookish Question #129 | What new-to-you authors have you read in the last year?

At the beginning of this year, I decided to track all the books I read by self-published (indie) authors and new-to-me authors on Goodreads.

Assuming I’m tracking properly, I’ve read (or attempted to read) books by 38 new-to-me authors so far this year (out of a target of 50).

Some of these are new because they’re debut authors. Some are new because they’re general market romance authors. Some are Christian fiction authors I’ve recently discovered, or only now gotten around to reading. Some are nonfiction authors, so I’ll ignore them for the purposes of this blog post!

I won’t embarrass anyone with the too-long list of new-to-me authors I’m not interested in reading more from. These include self-published authors with indifferent editing, established authors with meh plots or characters, and general market authors with an interesting hook, but which left me feeling the whole story would have been better if the hero and heroine had gotten themselves to a church and experienced a come-to-Jesus moment.

Here are five novels by new-to-me which impressed me (and links to my reviews, where I’ve reviewed them):

West of Famous by Joni M Fisher
The Hope of Azure Springs by Rachel Fordham
Lead Me Home by Amy K Sorrells
The Baggage Handler by David Rawlings
Love and Other Mistakes by Jessica Kate

What about you? What new-to-you authors have you read and loved in the last year?

What makes you buy or read a book from a new-to-you author?

Bookish Question #100 | What makes you buy or read a book from a new-to-you author?

One of my reading resolutions this year was to try to read more books from new-to-me authors.

Why? Well, I want to support new authors by recommending them to my readers.

And I want to understand trends in Christian fiction, especially when it comes to debut authors from the major publishers. What are they buying? Is there a new direction in terms of genre or location or time setting? Are there trends in writing or editing standards? This helps me give my freelance editing clients better advice.

But how do I find these new-to-me authors?

I often find new authors from traditional publishers through NetGalley. I follow all the major Christian publishers, and am always on the lookout for new names.

Many authors approach me for reviews. If the book is Christian fiction and appears well-written and well-edited, then I’m usually keen to read it.

I also find new-to-me authors through other book blogs, especially through the weekly First Line Friday meme. That usually gives me plenty of ideas for my weekend reading …

The one thing that holds me back from reading more new-to-me authors is that an author can only be a new-to-me author once 🙂

And I love many of the stories I read by new-to-me authors, and want to either read their entire backlist, or (if they’re a debut author) read all their new releases. And I can’t—not unless my existing must-read authors stop writing books (and that would be a tragedy).

What about you? Do you read books from new-to-you authors? What makes you buy or read a title from a new-to-you author?