January Readings

I don’t usually make New Year’s resolutions, but this year I sort of resolved to write a review for every Christian book I read.  Of course, I then spent January dealing with one crisis after another, and of the few reviews that I did write, several were eaten by Amazon.

So for your amusement, here’s a list of the Christian books I’ve read since the beginning of the year… at least, those I can remember.  ;)

The Land Tamers, by Stephen Bly.  This might be his first published novel—and you can definitely tell—but the heart and the joy and the Western dust are already there.

The Marquesa and Miss Fontenot, by Stephen Bly.  Much-desired Christmas presents.  I love the fact that even when he was writing Western romances he never let romance expectations get in the way of the story.  I always finish his books feeling edified and ready for more.

The Last Roundup, by Stephen Bly.  Frank Fortune doesn’t just have cattle rustlers, traitorous employees, and angry neighbors to deal with, he has a vengeance-seeking senorita and a stubborn schoolteacher looking for her runaway students on his hands.  My favorite Christian book this month.

The Pepper in the Gumbo by Mary Jane Hathaway.  Part Pride and Prejudice, part You’ve Got Mail, but with a Creole flair all its own.  I love the fact that the heroine, a bookstore owner, is totally and believably immersed in less-known literature and can quote the Romantic poets at will.

Blizzard at Three Bears Lake, by Rachel Kovaciny.  A short, funny Western retelling of the Three Bears.  It’s free!  Go read it!

Love, Snow, and Mistletoe, an anthology of Christmas-themed romances by Victoria Lieske, Michelle Pennington, Tamie Dearen, and Annie Houston.  I’m not much of a romance reader, so I wouldn’t say that I fell in love with any of these stories… (see what I did there?) but I did enjoy them.  (Three of them use the “good man who loved her when they were younger comes unexpectedly back into her life” trope, so don’t read them back to back.)  My favorite was Michelle’s “Second Chance for Christmas”—the heroine’s daughter and hero’s dog really made me smile.

At Your Request, by Jen Turano.  This novella clearly exists to set up the Apart from the Crowd series.  I enjoyed some of the characters, but the mismatch between the setting and the characters’ speech/behavior really threw me.  Still… I’ll probably read the series.

A Sensible Arrangement, by Tracie Peterson.  A mail-order bride book about two people who misrepresent themselves to one another and stumble into trouble, only to fall in love.  Gotta say, the main characters set themselves up for almost every problem they have in this book.  Was pastoral counseling a thing in the 1800’s?

Gentleman of Her Dreams, by Jen Turano.  I have no memory of what this was about.  (As I said.  It was a hard month.)

Accidental Guardian, by Mary Connealy.  Her books usually make me laugh, and her characters are starting to act more consistently like real people, which is good for my blood pressure.  (Did y’all read the one with the lady spelunker who keeps wandering off to look at fossils while in imminent danger?  She even thinks about getting married so she can keep looking at the fossils.)  And I love the kids in her books.  They always steal the show.

And in my TBR pile:

The Tethered World, by Heather FitzGerald.  An award-winning young adult SF/F book by a very creative writer.  I’m looking forward to it!

The Lovely Deep and A Tree for the Billionaire by Michelle Pennington.  My Spindle sister is an amazing writer… not least because she publishes so quickly that I can’t keep up!

Marthellen and the Major by Stephen Bly.  One of the few in his backlist that I haven’t read yet!

Throw the Devil Off the Train, also by Stephen Bly.  A reread.  I bought this for myself when I was having a bad day; it might be my favorite Bly book.  Or… at least one of my ten favorites.  (They are great books.)  I think it’s the fact that both main characters have long conversations with the hero’s saddle that really gets to me.

The Poet’s Homecoming, by George MacDonald.  I’m part of the way through.  It's probably my fourth time reading this book.  It doesn’t draw the soul quite as much as some of his books—The Curate’s Awakening comes to mind—but the main character’s struggle to learn what it really means to be a writer and reflect the Author of the universe really resonates with me.  (For some reason!)

So that's my reading list.  Have you read any great Christian books in the last month?  Are there any you're really looking forward to reading?