Favourite Christmas Books...

...and why they're loved!  Last week I ran an offer on the Woman Alive Facebook Group.  For the chance to 'win' one of three books, two of which were the Revell titles A Simple Christmas Wish and The Unfinished Gift, I asked members of the group to tell me which were their favourite Christmas stories, and why.  I have always been a bit of a fan of Christmas stories, so I was interested to know whether other readers are, too. 

The responses resulted in quite a list of favourites for Christmas! Some very familiar, others less so.  Here are the books mentioned:

The Advent Calendar by Steven Croft - this one was mentioned twice!  The first nominee is still reading it, enjoying it very much, intrigued and touched and asking questions, the second nominee enjoyed it so much she passed it on to a friend.

Bah, Humbug! by Heather Horrocks - loved for 'happy endings'!

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens - great and memorable characters, tension, love, a moral, the wonderful happy ending and great catchphrases like 'God bless us everyone'

A Christmas Collection by Patricia St John - the stories are very moving, even though they are dated, the nominee can read them again and again as it is still the same 'Lord Jesus'

The Christmas Mouse by Stephanie Jeffs (I think this is the right one!) - it tells the story from the perspective of a little mouse who gets transported into the stable.  The nominee of this one says "Both my daughter and son sit transfixed while we read it, and it comes out year after year."

City of Bells by Elizabeth Goudge - wounded ex-soldier Jocelyn is in the cathedral for the Christmas service with his grandparents and cousins, and is struck that 'if these... whom he held to be his superiors, were believers, then their belief was  more likely to be true than his own unbelief."

A Cup of Christmas Tea - makes the reader teary every time she reads it! 

The Fourth King: The Story of the Other Wise Man by Ted Sieger - oozes love and mercy and kindness...

Heading Home by Naomi Reed - not strictly a Christmas book, but with a title that says it all

The Nutcracker - the nominee of this story used to love it as a child, and was also transfixed by the ballet.  She says "It is wonderful to see how my daughter's imagination has come alive with the story too."

The Secret of the Fourth Candle by Patricia St John - the nominator of this remembers reading the story to her son.  The second author to be mentioned twice.

Twelve Days of Christmas by Trisha Ashley - light, a good escape at a busy time of year, and it makes the reader laugh!

The Unfinished Gift by Dan Walsh - this one touched the reader for very personal reasons which I won't post on-line.  I know you'll understand.

The Bible was also mentioned!

My own favourites include the Anne Perry Christmas novellas, the latest of which is A Christmas Hope. 

For sheer fun and laugh-aloud enjoyment, one I dig out every year because it is such a gem is The Twelve Days of Christmas, by John Julius Norwich, Illustrated brilliantly Quentin Blake.  It is one of the funniest Christmas books ever.  If you haven't read it, it will change your view of the Christmas carol of the same name!

Finally, the one Christmas book which I've given copies away of because it is so fantastic, is Christmas Jars by Jason Wright.  Simply wonderful Christmas reading!

If you like Christmas stories, there must be something among that little collection to whet your appetite!

Happy Christmas!

Here Comes Award Number Three!

Fantasy fiction, while having a very long and established track record, is frequently dismissed as not fitting the Christian fiction mould, and it is often difficult to find the audience.  Partly because many Christian readers of fantasy do not look for them or expect to find them in Christian bookshops. 

So here is a reason to take note of this series, and an opportunity to talk about it.  Starflower, book 4 in The Tales of Goldstone Wood series, has just won the Clive Staples Award for Christian Speculative Fiction.  Earlier books in the series won two Christy Awards, including the 2012 Award for Visionary Fiction.  So the series now has a hat-trick of awards.  Not bad going, especially when you consider that Heartless, the first in the series, was the author's debut novel.

* * * * * * *

 

The Black Dogs Are on the Hunt, But Who Is Their Prey?

 

When a cursed dragon-witch kidnaps fairest Lady Gleamdren, the Bard Eanrin sets boldly forth on a rescue mission... and a race against his rival for Gleamdren's favor. Intent upon his quest, the last thing the immortal Faerie needs is to become mixed up with the troubles of an insignificant mortal.

But when he stumbles upon a maiden trapped in an enchanted sleep, he cannot leave her alone in the dangerous Wood Between. One waking kiss later, Eanrin suddenly finds his story entangled with that of young Starflower. A strange link exists between this mortal girl and the dragon-witch. Will Starflower prove the key to Lady Gleamdren's rescue? Or will the dark power from which she flees destroy both her and her rescuer?


"Fans of Tolkien...will be drawn into Stengl's effusive prose and wonderfully scary worlds...a series to stretch your imagination..."
USA Today

"...readers will enjoy this romantic adventure story, which is subtly laced with legends and Christian allegory akin to C. S. Lewis' Narnia series."
Elizabeth Ponder, Booklist (on Veiled Rose, Bk 2 in the series)


Starflower is available now.
Price: £8.99
ISBN: 9780764210266
You can order the book via your local Christian bookshop, or any other bricks and mortar or online bookshop.
For digital readers, this is also available in ebook format.

Review: Rules of Murder

Julianna Deering set out to write a book influenced by the classic mysteries of the 1920s and 30s, and thought it would be fun in the process to break or bend the 'rules for mystery writers'*.

The result is an entertaining English Whodunit, with a good dash of gentle humour sprinkled through the pages.

Drew Fathering arrives back at his Hampshire manor to discover it full of guests. Including the very unwelcome Mr Lincoln. The guest list at Fathering Place is increased with the arrival of Drew’s step-father’s American niece, who turns out to be far more welcome and catches Drew’s eye, and very quickly his heart. Unfortunately, an early opportunity to spend some time with Madeline is nastily interrupted when they discover a body. Then a second death follows...

This is a very engaging story. Deering keeps the pace up throughout, and her characters are interesting. Complicated enough to keep you wondering whether you’ve really guessed what’s happened (twice I’d got it right, and once I hadn’t), it’s a light and easy read, perfect for whiling away time enjoyably. Drew and Madeline are likeable leads, though there didn’t seem to be much any ‘courting’ between them meeting and being a couple. In less than a day they go from total strangers to being romantically involved which is a bit too sudden for me.

 

As an English reader, I was on the lookout for American outtakes in this novel, and must congratulate the author on their scarcity. Most of her conversation reads true to both the setting and the period, and she correctly uses ‘mum’ and ‘holiday’! Oh, and the book contains one of my favourite Marmite related paragraphs: “The door, appropriately marked MANAGER, was opened by a stubby little boy of perhaps ten. Bespectacled and fussily dressed, he looked annoyed at being disturbed when more than half of his Marmite sandwich was yet to be eaten.” 

 

The oddities are few. The most irritating for me was the use of the phrase ‘to be sure’ by Drew. It just isn’t right, and makes the English Gent sound Irish! Sedan is not an English term for any kind of car. Hired on is not right, nor is quarter after – the English say ‘taken on’, and ‘quarter past’. I have never in all my life heard or read anyone say a ‘trig little frock’. I had to Google that one! Homicide is not used in general conversation in the UK either in the way it is in Rules of Murder – we would say murder. However, these ‘nit-picks’ wouldn’t have stopped me reading this book, and didn’t stop me enjoying it. 

 

Recommended, and I am looking forward to the next one in the series.

 *The 'ten commandments for mystery writers' were outlined by Ronald Arbuthnott Knox (1888-1957), and English priest and theologian, in his 1929 Decalogue.

Review by Anne Rogers, and all views expressed herein are my own.

Rules of Murder is released in the UK in September 13
Price: £8.99
ISBN: 9780764210952
Full book information and a sample chapter is available here..
You can pre-order the book via your local Christian bookshop, or any other bricks and mortar or online bookshop.
For digital readers, this is also available in ebook format.

 

Books With Bite: For Such a Time (Sneak Peek)

Working in publishing I see a lot of books, and I tend to see them a long time before they are actually published.  Sometimes so far ahead that when the actual, physical (sorry, I'm an old fashioned sort of girl) book lands on my desk I think 'but hasn't that been out for ages already'?  In general, I try not to talk about things too early but every now and then something comes along which I just have to shout about early.

And this week, something has.

The 'something' in question is For Such a Time, a wonderfully engaging and compelling novel from an author with a bookselling background.

It turns out that I am not the only one who is already loving this book.  Here's a review from Debbie Macomber.  Someone with a bit of a wider audience than myself!

"I absolutely loved this book.  For such a Time kept me up at night, flipping the pages and holding my breath wanting to know what would happen next.  Based on the biblical book of Esther, the story takes the reader to a concentration camp inside World War II Czechoslovakia, where a young Jewish woman has captured the attention of the Kommandant and has the opportunity to save her people, much as Esther did in the biblical account.  The story is gripping, compelling, and I dare anyone to close the cover before the last suspenseful page."

There are lots of re-tellings of Bible stories, and some work better than others.  Being an old fashioned kind of reader, I like my novels to just tell a great story which hooks me in.  My favourite books are those you read in so completely engaged a way that when you close the covers you have to pull yourself back to the day to day reality from the world you've been engrossed in with an almost physical effort.

This is one of those books.


ISBN: 9780764211607
Price: £9.99
Publication Date: May 2014 (UK)
You will be able to order this book in the UK via your local Christian bookshop, or any other bricks and mortar or online bookshop.
It will also be available as an ebook.

And the Winners Are....

Three novels from Bethany House!  Once again, Bethany books have come up trumps at the Christy Awards, winning the Historical Romance, Suspense and Contemporary Romance categories.

 

The Christy Awards were first awarded in 2000, and honour excellence in Christian fiction in several categories.  You can find out more about them here.

Against the Tide, winner in the Historical Romance category, tells the story of Lydia, a young lady living in Boston, and working as a translator for the US Navy.  Lydia's language skills bring her to Alexander Banebridge, a mysterious man working to end the opium trade.  When his enemies gain ground, Alexander is forced to turn to Lydia for help...

The Suspense Category Winner, Rare Earth, features Marc Royce, who we first met in Lion of Babylon. In this story, Marc is sent to audit a relief organisation working in Kenyan refugee camps. However, his true mission is to focus on the area's reserves of minerals essential to high tech industry.  These elements, known as 'rare earths' have inflamed tensions worldwide, and stoked tribal rivalries.  Can Marc do anything to help restore justice?

Finally, in The Breath of Dawn, winner of the Contemporary Romance Award, two people with traumatic pasts must confront them in order to build a future - if they survive!

As well as these three prize-winners the author Lynn Austin, who has written a number of successful novels for Bethany House and who is an eight-times Christy Award winner, was inducted into the Christy Awards Hall of Fame.  Karen Hancock, who is also a Bethany author and the winner of four Christy Awards, was also inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Well done to all the authors, and well done to Bethany House's staff, who clearly know a good book when they see it!

You can order any or all of these books in the UK via your local Christian bookshop, or any other bricks and mortar or online bookshop.
All three are also available as ebooks.

Spring Snippets From Page 99!

Last year, Quench posted a couple of blog posts promoting new and forthcoming titles by using extracts from page 99 of each book.  I've seen this kind of idea in shops before.  Chicken House have done it/are doing it very effectively on at least some of their books by saying 'read page....' on the back.  I have bought at least one of their books as a result.  So I thought I'd take a look at some of our May and June titles, and give you some tasters from page 99 of each.  (Thank you, Quench Bookshop, Reading, for the idea!)

(Details of each book including extracts can be found at the foot of the post.)


Just before the doors started to close, they made it onto the elevator we'd just exited.  I made eye contact with the man in the front of the elevator, and there was a sense of recognition.  We both looked away before the doors slid shut.
    Time had stopped for us, but the clock had just started for these men who were on a lifesaving mission.  I looked at the aide who was with us, and I could see the horror on his face.  I knew immediately who they were, and it was a sight we were never supposed to see.
    The transplant team had come to collect Taylor's organs.


A long stretch upward brought us to a mountaintop several hours later.  From there we could see our destination thirty miles away, a city lying in a long valley ringed with mountains.  I-15 runs through Cedar City, and in the distance I could see the bridge I would cross over the interstate.
    Little yellow sunflowers along the roadside brightened the journey.  These little buttons of golden joy were also useful in determining wind direction, bending before the winds sweeping through the mountains.  Along the last five miles to Cedar City, the pretty flowers bowed low in my direction as a strong headwind tried to blow me back to Nevada.


"I guess you'd probably like the wood chopped a little bit bigger than that."  He forced a grin and nudged with his food one of the chips he'd managed to take off.
  She nodded.  "Yes.  A bit bigger would be helpful."
  Only then did he chance a glance at her.  She seemed to be fighting back a smile.
  "Go ahead.  Laugh." His grin widened.  "I deserve it.  I can admit - I'm a complete imbecile."
  Her smile broke free.  And even though she didn't laugh, he could see the hint of laughter dancing in her eyes.
  He had the feeling she wasn't used to smiling, much less laughing.
  "I suppose after my performance today, you'd like to hand me back over to the duke?"
"Maybe I will." As soon as her return jest was out, she ducked her head, almost as if she feared his response.
  Couldn't she see how much he enjoyed bantering with her?  "If you must return me to the duke," he persisted, "then at least persuade him not to put me back in the dungeon."
  Her gaze jerked up, and her smile faded.  "You were in a dungeon?"
  "Yes.  And only hours away from losing my head."


"I can't tell you everything," Mom answered, "You have to feel your way along on this a little bit at a time.  But I can tell you this.  The Fallen One is the ancient adversary, the serpent who seduced Adam and Eve in the Garden.  The morning star cast out of heaven.  He goes by many names - some call him Satan, others call him the devil, still others call him Beelzebub or Lucifer or the Prince of Darkness. But whatever you call him, he is the tempter and the accuser of humanity.  Like a shooting star he was flung from heaven, and since that day the angels refuse to even whisper his name.  Any evil comes from him.  He's behind it all, even the accident.
   "Look at me," she continued, putting my face in her hands and turning my head towards hers.  "That's on him, not you, do you hear me?  Somewhere you got the idea that it was  your fault.  It wasn't.  Sometimes bad things happen.  You need to believe that, Sky."
  It was a moment between a mother and a son that needed to take place.  Lord knows, I wanted to believe her, I needed to believe her, but somehow I just couldn't.  Things you've held onto for so long are hard to let go of, even if they're wrong.


As with most things, worry can have both a positive and a negative side to it.  When, for example, our concerns focus on circumstances within our control and prompt us to take action to prevent something bad happening, worry can lead to productivity.  Most of the time, though, we waste our energy worrying about things that are entirely out of our control or even our influence.
    Just as with anger, anxiety can trigger our fight-or-flight response.  Chronic worry damages our body.  Studies have linked it with suppression of the immune system, digestive disorders, muscle tension, short-term memory loss, premature coronary artery disease, and heart attacks.
    And consider this: 85 percent of the things we worry about never happen.  In addition, worrying about what might be supplants our trust in God.  In essence, it moves us further from, instead of closer to, Jesus.


Taylor's Gift, PB, £8.99

Biking Across America, PB, £8.99

A Noble Groom, PB, £8.99

The Gate, PB, £8.99

Tempted, Tested, True, PB, £8.99

All titles also available in digital editions.

Why Biblical Fiction?

Mesu Andrews' latest Biblical fiction title, Love in a Broken Vessel, is the third book she has written set in Bible times. 

Love Amid the Ashes, her first, is based on the story of Job, not necessarily the first subject who might spring to mind for a novel.  Her second, Love's Sacred Song, followed a year later and tells the story of the young King Solomon, and Arielah, a young girl promised to him as a 'treaty bride'.

Love in a Broken Vessel revisits a several-times-retold story: That of Hosea and Gomer.  When marrying Hosea becomes her only means of escape from a life of abuse, Gomer does what she’s good at - she survives. Can Hosea’s love for God and God’s love for Israel restore Gomer’s broken spirit?
Here is a sample chapter.

Mesu likes writing books based on Old Testament stories and characters, and says they're the result of her own struggles to understand biblical figures.  She looks for stories which she has found difficult or confusing, and works through them until she becomes 'settled in my own spirit with what I believe those stories say'.  She researches the historical backgrounds and Biblical records carefully to create stories which are believable, and yet which remain true to the Bible narrative.  Mesu herself says that her stories are "history, yes, and spiritual insight, yes, but it's all because I think it is necessary for a Christian to understand the Old Testament for them to understand the New Testament."

Her readers clearly appreciate this focus and level of attention to detail:

"Set at the time when Solomon ascended to the throne, I found this book extremely interesting. From a religious point of view, it definitely made me want to explore Ecclesiastes a bit more. ...I loved the personal tale that was told of at least one wife offered to him, by a desperate father who was actually bartering for the freedom of his beloved daughter. ...I enjoyed the sense of place that the author brought to this novel."
Alice Collins, A GoodBookStall review (UK) - for the full review see here. On Love's Sacred Song.
 
"Mesu, thank you for your books! As manager of a Christian book store here in the UK, it's taken quite some time for the local people to take to American Christian fiction, and your books break that hesitancy! Great plots (of course), characters, and deep spirituality, emotions, thoughts and creativity. I can always sell what I believe in, and these books DO sell, with customers coming for more. Personally though I just love your well-written, richly descriptive and attention-grabbing books. You give insight into what's a well-known and skimmed-over Bible story and bring them to real life. MORE, please, Mesu!”
 
“Andrews’s research shines through on every page as she delves deeply into the cultural, historical, and biblical records to create this fascinating and multilayered tale.”
CBA Retailers + Resources on Love Amid the Ashes
 
“Andrews weaves a beautiful tale and takes readers to an ancient Jerusalem rich with history and customs and a culture that struggles to follow the one true God. This novel is well researched and well told.”-RT Book Reviews, 4½ stars, on Love’s Sacred Song

Biblical fiction is a small category, but it is a strong one with enthusiastic readers.  Personally, when I read a novel about the time of the crucifixion, it resulted in my thinking completely differently about what it would probably have been like for Jesus' followers in the days between his death and his resurrection.  We often skim straight from one to the other, so I'd never really thought much about the bit in the middle.  That one book made a difference to how I read the Bible. 

Mesu's books do the same.

All three of Mesu's books are available in the UK through all Christian bookshops, and online, in both print and ebook form.