“And there was thunder, thunder, over Thunder Road. Thunder was his engine and white lightnin’ was his load…” Robert Mitchum’s voice filled the car as we sped along the highway from Phoenix to California. To Ventura County. The beach. Back then, I never thought much about the bootleggers who Continue Reading
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Can You Think, Pray, and Love in Numbers?
I’ve done it all my life—wondered. About books. Wondered about authors and how their thought processes worked. Did they know they had a great character when she appeared on the page, or did the character surprise them? Was it both? Neither? Once I began writing, I knew the answer. For Continue Reading
What Happens When You Explore the Ugly Side of “Adoption?”
Cars zipped in and out of lanes with not much more than a person’s width to keep them from crunching. It took five minutes to move from the parking structure of Terminal 1 to Terminal 2. And we hadn’t even touched rush hour traffic yet. Yay. She’d flown in from Wisconsin. Or should I say, Continue Reading
What Did I Think of This Second-Chance Novel?
We all know I’m not much of a sappy girl, but there are a few things that are “my jam.” One of those: second-chance romances. I love to see things that didn’t work… work! So, when I had a chance to review the book Restored, by Tonya Eavenson, I jumped at it. Note: Links may be affiliate Continue Reading
Did I Like Michelle Griep’s Latest Regency Novel?
Brown paper bags from Alphabeta Supermarkets—at least two of them. Inside, stacks of thin paperbacks with white covers and women and men in funny-looking historical clothes. The author: Barbara Cartland. I read one and found it interesting in its novelty. Being one of those voracious readers who Continue Reading
Is The Famine of the Human Dream Worth Reading?
My big toe curled around a chunk of carpet. Hands behind my back. I probably rocked a bit. Up on the balls of my feet, back on my heels. “They borrowed a bed to lay His head when Christ the Lord came down.” Dad stopped me right there. I was practicing a poem I’d memorized to recite at Continue Reading
Why This is The Book to Read This Summer
It happens every year. Someone, somewhere asks the question. “Where's your favorite place to read?” The question holds heavy implications, though. It just doesn’t mean “at home” or “on the couch” or “at the beach.” Wrapped up in one six-word question are dozens of interrelated ones. Questions Continue Reading
What’s Going on In the Christian Fiction World Right Now?
In January of 2018, I wrote a blog post about where I thought Christian fiction would be going in the next few years. One of my “predictions” is already becoming obvious—and not in the way I thought. I said: But what is weird is a new (but age-old) attitude of “I’m okay, you’re okay” in it…I Continue Reading
3 Reasons You’ll Love and Hate This Book
How many times have I sat across from one parent or another and tried to explain what I’d done and why. Here’s a hint. I never knew. That’s why I couldn’t explain. When you know something is wrong, you don’t want to do it, and yet you do it anyway—well, Paul isn’t the first to do that. I won’t Continue Reading
What Happens When a Good Book Lies?
Hand-tooled, floppy leather. A bejeweled button closure. If you opened it, hand-sewn blank pages emerged—pages that begged for a story to be written within. It arrived in a Priority mail box—part of a Christmas gift swap. As things often do, it gave me the idea for a story. A man would find Continue Reading
Will I Read the Rest of This Unique New Series?
The argument raged. One woman insisted that if you said you didn’t like something that meant you disliked it. For what it’s worth, she also seemed to imply it wasn’t “nice” not to like everything that isn’t outright evil. The other woman, however, said well what I’ve often thought. “There’s a Continue Reading
This Book Gives New Meaning to “The Romance of the Rails”
When the synopsis for Just a Train Ride appeared, I knew I had to request a review copy of the book. One thing, shallow as it may be, stopped me, however. The cover. As indie covers go, it isn’t bad—not really. I like most of it. The typography didn’t grab me, but it wasn’t horrible. But the Continue Reading
