Christian Fiction Devourers discussion

Well, here at midway through the month, I haven't gotten a lot of fun reading done, but what I have read has been awesome:



I've also read these for class:


Currently reading:

I've read:



I'm really enjoying the Baxter family books and have moved onto the second series. I'm currently reading:



I'm actually reading some others too, but I've been reading them over a long period of time.

I'm planning to read more of the Baxter Family books. I'll probably read them until July, when I'll be concentrating on Regency fiction. I have some library books that I don't think I'll get to this month. I doubt I'll finish all the books that I showed above as currently reading. I'll listen to books I haven't yet checked out and didn't list above.

It's so hard to believe we're halfway through the month already!

Plane + bus rides on my recent trip gave me some great time to work through my list! I have finished and and enjoyed them! Of the three, my favorite was The Beautiful Pretender; it was such a sweet story and I loved the protagonists (and how it tied in beloved characters from ).

I am now about to start because my library loan ends in a few days. Then, I'm aiming to read my other library loans: and . I'll pick back up with my last original June selection once I finish the library books :)

Sounds like a great plan, Betsy! All those covers look delightful. Hopefully the stories behind them live up to them for you.

I am hoping to finish Paraclete.

Finished:


Currently reading:

Currently reading Crescent Tides by J. Aaron Gruben. It is sooo awesome! Of course, I love historical fiction, so maybe I'm biased, but he does such a good job inserting historical details and commentary on the political/religious goings on at the time. I wish I had more time to read, I'd finish it today!

Here is what I have accomplished so far..


Also completed a couple previous started books:


and hope to finish;

Has anyone read this book? Ruthie: Retold: The Book of Ruth

It is free on Amazon today and sounds really interesting from the preview. It looks like it is a dramatization of the book of Ruth.

Just finished- - really enjoyed it and looking forward to continuing this series!

Cheryl wrote: "Just finished- - really enjoyed it and looking forward to continuing this series!"

Ooo! Cheryl, It like i have to check this one out!

Chantel and Cheryl, If I Run was excellent!!! Loved it.

I am currently listening to . I am really enjoying. it However, there is some bad language . There are also graphic descriptions of surgeries since he was a veterinarian.

Reading Jodi Thomas's Ransom Canyon series. They are NOT Christian fiction but she is a very fine storyteller with winsome characters. And I have two books (I will pick up used copies tomorrow) to go before I am caught up with the series.

I finally finished . It took me about six weeks to read it since it was boring. I doubt I'll ever read any of Dee Henderson's books published after that book. She was one of my favorite authors, but I don't like her new writing style.

I read , , , , and . I loved Dayne and Katy and the tearjerker ending of the last book. I'm glad I'll be able to learn more about them and the other characters I've grown to love as I read more of the Baxter family series books.

I read and now want to go to the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. I've liked his work since I was a kid.

I listened to and . I'm listening to two other books, which I probably will finish before the end of the month.

I'm still working on some of the books I mentioned in message 52. I've been enjoying the Karen Kingsbury books too much to want to read much of anything else.

Alegna, I'm with you on Ms. Henderson's books. The last one I enjoyed was The Witness. I keep trying her new ones to see if she ever will get back to the amazingness that was the O'Malley books, but I have yet to find one that measures up. Her writing style changed so drastically, it felt like a completely different writer was behind the new stuff.

Chantel wrote: "Cheryl wrote: "Just finished- - really enjoyed it and looking forward to continuing this series!"

Ooo! Cheryl, It like i have to check this one out!"

Chantel- yes for sure- it's a quick read. I really liked it !! I immediately placed a hold at my library for the second one- If I'm Found !

Chantel and Cheryl, I didn't like If I'm Found as much as If I Run, but it was still good.

I was the opposite. I liked If I'm Found best, partly because of seeing more of Casey's character unfold as she begins to open her heart to the possibility of belief in God.

I just finished this week and really enjoyed it, especially with the heavy faith/trusting God emphasis and the scenery of a Gilbert and Sullivan show in 1880s London.

Andrea wrote: "Alegna, I'm with you on Ms. Henderson's books. The last one I enjoyed was The Witness. I keep trying her new ones to see if she ever will get back to the amazingness that was the O'Malley books, bu..."

I'm glad I read the Uncommon Heroes and O'Malley books before I read Full Disclosure, because if I hadn't, I'm not sure I would have tried those series. I just don't understand why DH changed her writing style. The early books have great ratings on here and at Amazon. Unfortunately, her newer books have ratings that are almost as good, so she'll probably stick with the new style.

Alegna, I've heard other readers really love her new stuff, but I just can't get into them. I've got a few left and am hoping to fit at least one in sometime soon. I keep putting it off, though. :)

Hannah, I'm glad to hear The Captain's Daughter ranked so high with you. I'm reading it now. It's got complex, deep, and intriguing characters. I love that the theater is featured. I don't see that very often in novels. Have you read any other good theater-themed novels?

Andrea wrote: "Alegna, I've heard other readers really love her new stuff, but I just can't get into them. I've got a few left and am hoping to fit at least one in sometime soon. I keep putting it off, though. :)..."

Not in awhile. In fact, I'm not sure if I've ever read a Christian fiction set in a theater. Closest was Sandra Byrd's , but that heroine was a seamstress creating the costumes, so there wasn't any of the immersive backstage stuff.

For June
audio

Hannah, it sounds like there's an open spot in writing, if we discover some great stories to take place in the theater. I'm not sure I've got any plans for writing theater stories at this point, but I'll keep it in mind for down the road.

Andrea wrote: "Hannah, it sounds like there's an open spot in writing, if we discover some great stories to take place in the theater. I'm not sure I've got any plans for writing theater stories at this point, bu..."

You never know when those ideas might pop up! I love stories set among fine arts. I have dabbled in some storytelling about opera and classical music in the early 1900s, but that idea is a very long way from completion!

And you've got the background in music to support your story too, which is nice. I've done a couple of musicals and a couple of plays, but they were in my childhood and teen years and were not big productions at all. I wouldn't begin to know how to research something like that at this point, so I'll definitely have to wait for something that large-scale until I'm in a better place to dive into such deep research.

Finished:


Currently reading:

In June I read lots of INSPY nominees plus a few others:



Hidden Gem:

June has been a good reading month for me. I read:


Listened:

Wow! Great job, Caroline.

Mulberry Moon by Catherine Anderson. Published by Jove. A Mystic Creek novel. Pretty funny.

Here's what I read for June! :-)

Here's what I read for June:

In June ~


I read
...plus several others that I started but didn't finish because of blasphemy, telling not showing, and/or high sensuality. However, the good news is that they are no longer taking up room on my Kindle waiting to be read!

My ongoing read
which will carry over into July.

Wendy, I'm proud of you for sticking to those high morals! Continue standing firm, my friend.

I always chuckle at myself because what I forecast that I'm going to read and what I actually read is always a little bit off. This month I was influenced by trying to read the INSPY shortlist nominees :). Anyway here is what I read- and and I should finish by tonight.

First up for July-

Wendy wrote: "In June ~


I read
[bookcover:Undercover..."

Wendy good decisions. I am doing the same thing. I give a book about 2 or 3 chapters and if there is anything that I don't feel appropriate or it's not a good read. I don't bother to finish.

Here's what I tackled for June:
and I'm working on

Read in June:


First up for July

Thanks for the encouragement Andrea & Loraine.

Sadly I'm finding more & more inappropriate words or scenes creeping into Christian stories. This month I had several one after the other & it got tiresome. I had to find a favourite to reread so I could get back my enjoyment of reading as I was losing heart to try another new one, only to have to stop and pick yet another!

Wendy, you and I are so similar! I gave one four-star review in June, one three-star, and all the others were two- and one-star ones. All the negative ones were due to content issues (bad language, innuendo, etc.). When I'm in a slump like that, I usually pull out a favorite to reread as well. This time, however, I kept my favorites stored away... because I've got two Kim Vogel Sawyer books to read this month anyway. She's one of my favorite authors, and to have two new ones waiting for me... well, shucks, I just can't resist snatching those up next.

I hope you find another great new novel soon.

Wendy wrote: "Thanks for the encouragement Andrea & Loraine.

Sadly I'm finding more & more inappropriate words or scenes creeping into Christian stories. This month I had several one after the other & it got ti..."

Wendy, seems I'm noticing tons more inappropriate words/scenes as well. Ugh.

Hannah wrote: "Wendy wrote: "Thanks for the encouragement Andrea & Loraine.

Sadly I'm finding more & more inappropriate words or scenes creeping into Christian stories. This month I had several one after the oth..."

I just removed Becky Wade from my tbr list due to reports that some of her books contain profanity. I haven't read any of her books but figure I don't need to if they might contain profanity.

I was just checking out the INSPY award (didn't know what it was and was checking out the website) and the website says that for a book to qualify "The book must not have excessive profanity or explicit sex scenes." That means it can have some profanity and some sex scenes and still qualify to receive a Christian book award?

Jolyn, it is quite disturbing that a "Christian" book award has such low standards if they are allowing mainstream content to outshine books that hold to a higher set of standards.

I have read several Becky Wade books now (the entire Porter Family series, plus a novella that was unrelated to that series). The only one that didn't have at least one expletive or overly sensual material was The Proposal. It was the only one I liked, yet it was only about 25 pages long. I really had hoped all of her books would be as sweet as that one, but I was sorely disappointed. After finding expletives in at least four out of six books (it's been too long since I read Undeniably Yours to recall), I can no longer continue supporting her work.

Andrea wrote: "Jolyn, it is quite disturbing that a "Christian" book award has such low standards if they are allowing mainstream content to outshine books that hold to a higher set of standards.

I have read sev..."

Andrea, it was your reports that caused me to remove Becky Wade and I am so glad that I saw your comments before I invested my time in reading her books. I had two of her books on my digital stack to read. Fortunately I had gotten both of them for free so I was not out any money when I deleted them. I am not going to tell others that they can not read books if the language or sex does not bother them but for myself, I am choosing to not read books that contain bad language or sensual material and I really appreciate when others warn me that books contain these things before I start reading them.

I am right there with you. I've got friends who really love Ms. Wade's books, and I'm happy that they enjoy them. They just weren't a good fit for me. I like to see content advisories in reviews too, because I can weed out some books from my wish list or to-be-read piles that I know I probably will be disappointed in. Thanks for your feedback! I really appreciate that you found my reviews helpful. Negative ones are so hard for me to write, because I like to be positive and encouraging. It always takes a lot of emotional energy for me to write the difficult reviews.

Wendy wrote: "...Sadly I'm finding more & more inappropriate words or scenes creeping into Christian stories..."

I see that you're in the UK. Do you consider the d-word to be profanity? I just read a "Christian" book by someone in the UK, and some form of the d-word was used eleven times. Of course, the KJV-version of the Bible uses some form of the d-word several times, but the word is used differently in the Bible than the way it was used in the book I just read and the way it's used by most people today. In a British-produced French language program I have, a French word is translated with the d-word in English, but there's a note saying that it's not a curse word.

Jolyn wrote: "Hannah wrote: "Wendy wrote: "Thanks for the encouragement Andrea & Loraine.

Sadly I'm finding more & more inappropriate words or scenes creeping into Christian stories. This month I had several on..."

About INSPY: Jolyn, one of the books in the top five for debut, The Secret to Hummingbird Cake, had quite a bit of profanity and mentions of an affair. Not just expletives, but actual profanity, taking God's name in vain.