I have been enjoying giving away a monthly book! Congratulations to Diane and Steffani for winning January and February. And thanks to everyone who enters. Books have blessed me in so many ways, and I hope they bless you too!
Did you know that pre-orders are really important for authors? Publishers look at how well a book sells before it is released. If sales are low, it can even determine if the author gets another contract. As authors, we want to write books to bless our readers, but we need sales to continue to do it. As readers, if you love an author and know you want to buy their book, consider pre-ordering! Plus, did you know pre-order books are usually on sale? Another way to get more bang for your buck :).
Because of the importance of preorders for this month’s giveaway, I want to bless both you, the reader, and the author by giving away a pre-order! I read Joycelyn Green’s book Veiled in Smoke last year and LOVED it. I considered giving that book away this month. BUT she has a book releasing this month (that I have already pre-ordered myself) and I decided it would be the perfect book to pick for this month’s giveaway.
A synopsis of The Metropolitan Affair:
Bestselling author Jocelyn Green sweeps you away in a dazzling novel of secrets, betrayal, and romance within one of New York City’s most esteemed museums.
For years her explorer father promised Dr. Lauren Westlake she’d accompany him on one of his Egyptian expeditions. But as the empty promises mounted, Lauren determined to earn her own way. Now the assistant curator of Egyptology for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Lauren receives two unexpected invitations.
The first is her repentant father’s offer to finally bring her to Egypt as his colleague on a new expedition. The second is a chance to enter the world of New York’s wealthiest patrons who have been victims of art fraud.
With Egyptomania sweeping the city after the discovery of King Tut’s tomb, Detective Joe Caravello is on the hunt for a notorious forger preying on the open wallets of New York’s high society. Dr. Westlake is just the expert he needs to help him track the criminal. Together they search for the truth, and the closer Lauren and Joe get to discovering the forger’s identity, the more entangled they become in a web of deception and crime.
This book releases March 14th, so to contact the winner and get it preordered the giveaway will end March 11th.
To enter all you need to do is:
- Be a subscriber of my newsletter. If you are already on the list, you already have this step down. If not, you can join by entering your name and email at the top of my homepage.
2. Each month will be a different book. If it is a book you would love to have, simply comment with your favorite read of 2022 on the correlating blog post or Instagram post to be entered into that month’s giveaway.
Giveaway Rules:
Giveaway ends March 11th at 4:00 PM central time. US residents only. One winner will be selected at random and will receive a copy of The Metropolitan Affair by Jocelyn Green. Once contacted, winner will have 24 hours to respond, if winner does not respond in allotted time, they will be disqualified and a new winner will be chosen.
Good luck!
Now onto my February reads!
The Maid of Ballymacool by Jennifer Deibel
Topic or themes I saw: Abandonment, dreams, feeling unseen. Identity, worth, and significance.
Read it if you love:
✔️Ireland setting with some Irish dialect
✔️Cinderella type stories
✔️Christian romance
✔️ Stories that have a search for identity
Story: This enchanting tale takes us to a real place: the Ballymacool House in Ireland. While the characters and their stories were fictional, I love when the settings are real. The author’s note at the end was really cool in explaining what was real and what was fictional. The story behind some of the treasure Brianna found was super neat. I also love stories where the villain has their own story, where you can see how they got to be the way they are. That is done well in this one.
Favorite Quote: “Sometimes the most useful things we can do, don’t look useful at all.”
Thank you Revell for gifting me a copy of this book. All opinions are my own.
A Proper Pursuit by Lynn Austin
Topic or themes I saw: Abandonment, finding your calling, finding true love, being comfortable in who God made you.
Read it if you enjoy:
✔️Historical Christian fiction
✔️The 1893 Chicago World’s Fair
✔️Books with humor
✔️ Very distinct characters that are larger than life
✔️Exploring lots of different angles of a story (each aunt took a stand on something in that time period)
✔️Spiritual depth
✔️Strong settings
Story: A Proper Pursuit captivated and swept me away in the best kind of way. There are so many larger than life characters in this book. Violet travels to Chicago with the hopes of finding her mother. In the process she gets swept up in the agendas of her aunts. Freshly graduated from a ladies boarding school Violet knows how to be proper. But inside she is anything but. This is a beautiful tale set soundly in Chicago at the Worlds fair. It is rich in history and steeped in the theme of finding the thing which you were made for amidst the swirl of other opinions and society’s parameters.
Main takeaway: This quote sums it up perfectly. “You be exactly who God created you to be, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.”
I got the privilege of reading an early copy of this book. I met Sofia at the writer’s conference last March and she is just the sweetest. Her book Terra released on Valentine’s day!
Topic or themes I saw: Embracing and using the gifts and talents given by God. Sweet romance, forgiveness.
You will love this book if you love:
✔️Enemy to lover clean romances
✔️YA fantasy
✔️Christian Fiction
✔️Adventure stories
Story: This is the first of a four book series on Elementals—Earth’s guardians. It is an intriguing, inviting story into the world of two teens: Linc (a Fire Elemental) and Vela (an Earth Elemental). Vela’s worst fear is interacting with Fire Elementals. Yet, to her horror, she finds herself bonded to Linc. As these two navigate life as Elementals they face territory battles, an enemy that wants to put an end to their bond, and a sweet and tender budding romance. The beautifully crafted story world and well developed characters is sure to captivate.
Topic or themes I saw: Freedom, finding the life God created you for.
Read it if you love:
✔️ Spiritual journeys
✔️Intriguing and out of the box plots
✔️Contemporary christian fiction
Story: There are no words adequate to describe how much I loved this book. The book revolves around the question—what if you could see into the rooms of your soul? This is an incredibly intriguing story about Micah Taylor. He is a successful business owner whose world is turned upside down when he inherits a house from his late uncle. It’s a spiritual journey and pursuit of what matters in life. With deep and rich spiritual truths mingled with a fun and original adventure, I would highly recommend this read.
Main takeaway: Seek God. He will lead, and the life he offers us is very full and good.
The Mobsters Daughter by Rachel Scott McDaniel
Topic or themes I saw: Shame, unworthiness, identity, fear of who you truly are.
Read it if you love:
✔️Rich history
✔️The 1920’s, prohibition, and mobster activity
✔️Historical Romance
✔️Pittsburg setting
✔️Hidden identities
Story: I have never read any mobster historical fiction and this was the perfect introduction. I absolutely loved how Rachel wove in so many actual historical happenings. She is an incredible writer, really putting you in the culture and setting of it all. The suspense had me turning pages.
And let’s just take a moment and get all googly-eyed over this quote:
“The ache for him grew within me. I had a heart that’d been built to outlast earthquakes, withstand stormy seas, but to stare into the eyes of a man I could never have? That was pain beyond recovery.”
The Grumble Free Year by Tricia Goyer
Who it may interest:
✔️Those with whiny, grumbly kids
✔️Those who whine and grumble themselves (grumbling can take many different forms)
✔️Those who want a more peaceful relational atmosphere in their home.
✔️Those who want to get to the heart of the issue rather than a quick fix
I really appreciate the way Tricia really gets to the heart of the matter. This isn’t a book of ‘do this and not this’ to produce a grumble free home, it’s a book that helps realign our hearts. One of the things that stood out to me was how Tricia balanced hard things alongside gratitude. It’s not suppressing hard, but it’s seeing the good. Here’s an example and a quote that really sums it up well: “The house is a horrible mess…but I have nothing to grumble about. We have a home. The more I told myself, I have nothing to grumble about, things began to change. Life didn’t get easier, but my heart began to soften. Things that used to bother me didn’t bother me as much.”
This book opened up a lot of thoughts in my mind and heart as well as creating good conversations with my kids around the topic. I appreciate how real she was in the book, not shying away from the hard things, the weariness of difficult circumstances and the struggle to not grumble, but bringing hope with it. The Spirit really used this book to uncover and redeem grumbly areas in my heart.
Main takeaway: We aren’t going to be perfect and never grumble again, but we can have a heart that at its a core is one of joy and thanksgiving. Gratitude makes us strong, grumbling weakens us. I cannot justify grumbling because of hard circumstances. True gratitude shows it’s colors IN hard circumstances, not when they are gone.
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Favorite read of 2022: my fav nonfiction was “Call the midwife” ; fav fiction was “when the day comes” Gabrielle Meyer
Thanks for all your suggestions!!
Thank you for sharing your favorites Amy! Call the Midwife sounds so good. And yes, When the Day Comes SO good!
a favorite book I recently read was nonfiction “She said “Yes” by Misty Bernall……the LA teacher in 8th grade English had our older kids read this book for school. I just now read it and it is a great read! It is the story of a girl who was shot during the first mass school shooting (1999). It clearly shows her prior life and how Jesus changed her. While not a clear conversion, it is clear that she had let Jesus change her and was living a converted life even though imperfect and growing! Can I say “Wow”! and Praise Jesus!
Thanks for sharing Jenni! I read that in middle school and remember being very impacted by it!
I would have to say my favorite book that I’ve read so far this year is Creation to Babel by Ken Ham! I was trying to decide on a fiction book for a favorite but this book has just been so helpful so I decided to pick it!
That sounds like a good one! Ken Ham has great books!