Josie's Bookshelf

5 Favorite Christian Fiction books

I plan to continue to review many books, but today I thought I would give you my top 5 favorites. It is hard to narrow it down, but I chose the books that really made an impression.

Sophie’s Heart by Lori Wick – I have read this one several times. The main character, Sophie, is so appealing and it was easy to connect with her and cheer for everything to work out for her.

Sisterchicks in Gondolas by Robin Jones Gunn – I love all the sisterchick books, but this was is the one I remember best. Jenna is invited to cook for a group of missionaries in a restored palace in Venice. She invites her sister-in-law, Sue, to come along as a helper. Jenna and Sue have a great time and grow closer as they discuss God and the struggles in their lives.

Just Beyond the Clouds by Karen Kingsbury – The first book A Thousand Tomorrows was excellent, but sad, read. This book continues Cody’s story and he finds love. It also tell more about Carl Joseph and his friend Daisy. My favorite character was Elle, and I loved her patience as she works with Carl Joseph and Daisy.

Evidence of Mercy by Terri Blackstock – This is the first book in the Suncoast Chronicles series, and one I’ve read several times. The story starts with a plane accident and the suspense continues throughout the rest of this fast paced story. Lynda is a spunky attorney and a very likeable Christian woman.

A Penny for Your Thoughts by Mindy Starns Clark – I’ve reviewed this one on the blog, and it’s the first book in a great series. Callie’s job is to investigate nonprofit organizations that have applied for grant money & she stumbles accross a murder mystery. This series is very fast paced and easy to read.

Please post your favorite Christian fiction books, and we’ll all have a great list to refer to when looking for a book to read!

Sisterchicks in Wooden Shoes

I love the Sisterchick series, so I read this one as soon as I could after it was published. Robin Jones Gunn does a great job with this series, and she takes me along with her again as she visits a foreign land. This books is about two friends who have been life-long penpals. Noelle now lives in Holland. Summer finds out she has an abnormal medical test and decides to visit Noelle before having to face more testing.

I want to visit the Corrie Ten Boom house and museum, so it was nice to get to visit with Summer and Noelle. They visited so many great places and had such an adventure one afternoon on an unusual boat. Noelle and her husband treated Summer like an honored guest. Summer was refreshed from the visit and from her quiet time with God every morning. I’m looking forward to traveling again with the next set of sisterchicks!

Get Cozy, Josey

I’ve enjoyed reading this series by Susan May Warren and hope she will continue to write about Josey. Get Cozy, Josey is the third book in the series. The first book, Everything is Coming Up Josey, follows Josey as she moves to Russia as a missionary. The second book, Chill out, Josey!, is about her married life as she continues to live and minister to the people in Russia. The third book continues her story as she moves her family to Siberia, mostly to support her husband. She ends up making many friends and reaching out to the women of the village.

I like Josey because I can identify with her. She is insecure about herself, but trusts God to help her. She is braver than I am, though. I don’t think I would be willing to do without indoor plumbing! I admire her dedication to her husband. She moves to Siberia because he’s excited about it, and when his excitement wanes, Josey encourages him. Josey does have to prove to the town and her husband that’s she’s been faithful, but you’ll have to read to find out why.

Inside Story

I found the first book in this series, Frasier Island, at the library and decided to give it a try. I’m so glad I did because I found another talented author. Since then, I have read Finding Marie and now, Inside Story. The characters in these stories are engaging and interesting to follow. I have also read and enjoyed a few other mysteries by Susan Page Davis, but this series is my favorite so far. The third novel, Inside Story, is about Claudia, Marie’s sister. She is a journalist and works for a magazine, Global Impact.

I love this story! The story is fun, suspenseful, and leaves me cheering for the main characters. Lieutenant Bill White is believable and easy to admire for his charitable work and dedication to the navy. Claudia is a risk taker and does whatever it takes to find and tell moving human interest stories. I don’t want to say too much and give away the story, but I think you’ll enjoy this one.

The story does make me wonder whether the U.S. Navy would authorize embedding a magazine correspondent with a secret mission unit after deployment, but this is minor and doesn’t detract from the story. The majority of the story takes place in the Philippine jungle. Marie, Pierre, Rachel, and George (characters from the earlier books) appear in this story to help Claudia, Bill, and Bill’s unit.

My Heart Remembers

This is the first book I’ve read by Kim Vogel Sawyer, and I’m very impressed. My Heart Remembers was an easy, enjoyable read. I would gladly read another book by Kim Vogel Sawyer.

The basic story is Maelle, the oldest child in her family, is asked by her Da to take care of her brother and sister during the fire that burnt down their apartment. Her Da went back in to gather some more belongings and bring his wife out with him, but they never made it. Maelle is alone in New York with her brother Matthew and infant sister, Molly when a policeman finds them and takes them to an orphanage. The lady in charge of the orphange places them on an orphan train bound to Missouri. Here the three children are taken by three different families. Seventeen years later, Maelle is still searching for Matthew and Molly. She heads back to Missouri in the spring of 1903 hoping that she will find them.

Sisterchicks Go Brit!

Well, I’ve taken quite a vacation from this blog. Part of my vacation was time I spent in Prince Edward Island, Canada (2 weeks) and the rest I just haven’t been writing. Speaking of vacations, I did enjoy reading the new Sisterchick novel, Sisterchicks Go Brit! (Sisterchicks Series #7). If you haven’t discovered this series yet, you’re in for a treat. These fun books can be read in any order as each novel has new characters. Robin Jones Gunn is a talented author, and she makes you feel like you are traveling with the sisterchicks (see my Sisterchicks in Gondolas review).

I have been to London, England once, so it was nice to read about some of the places I visited in 2001. Kellie and Liz are given airline tickets to visit England by Opal. Kellie, who is trying to start an interior design business, offers to decorate Opal’s apartment. Liz helps Kellie and mentions that she has always wanted to visit England. Opal wants to return to Olney, England to visit her sister so she gives Kellie and Liz the tickets as payment. Kellie and Liz do spend some time in Olney when they first arrive, but after a few days leave to explore England on their own. Liz just can’t wait to see Big Ben. The plans don’t quite go as expected, but Liz and Kellie see that God has other plans for their vacation. I like the way Kellie and Liz allow events to happen and aren’t too uptight about their vacation plans changing. They explore Oxford and Exeter College as well as London. They were able to see more than they had planned. On the way to Windsor castle, they met a young lady from France, Annette, who was traveling alone. They invited her to join them and immediately connected. After spending the day together, Annette invited them both to visit her in France.

The story flows well and puts you in the mood to have an adventure of your own. I’m glad I read it before going on my trip! We made friends with a couple the first time Sean and I visited Prince Edward Island. It was an instant connection like Robin Jones Gunn described when they met Annette. We have kept in touch over the years. They have discussed coming to visit us sometime, too. I felt like God did guide our trip, too. I was wishing we could see the talented fiddle player that we saw on our first visit to PEI in 1995. He went on to travel and play all over the world. We have been listening to his CDs, but haven’t seen Richard Wood in person since that first island visit. He was going to be playing before we arrived and after we left the island. We were strolling through the Charottetown area with our friends, and a couple of guys were playing music on small stage. One of the gentlemen starts playing on a fiddle and our friend says, “That’s Richard Wood.” I felt so blessed to be able to hear him play again.

I would love to hear about your vacation. Did you feel God directing your vacation? Did you instantly connect and make a new friend or friends?

Deadly Exposure

I read the Steeple Hill Love Inspired series often, and naturally, I like their suspense line of stories. They release four a month. These books are good for a fast, interesting read. I just finished reading one of the books for May 2008. Cara Putnam kindly sent me her book to read and review.

Deadly Exposure (Steeple Hill Love Inspired Suspense #102) starts with a murder at a theater. News reporter Dani Richards happened to be at the theater that night with her aunt. While trying to deal with her distress at finding a college student she knows dead, Dani also finds herself being questioned by her ex-boyfriend and police officer Caleb Jamison. He broke her heart years ago and hadn’t heard from him in ten years. Dani does some investigating of her own against the wishes of Caleb, who is trying his best to protect her from threatening phone calls and damage to her car and home.

Both of the main characters are easy to like. Caleb’s persistence in trying to solve the case and protect Dani shows his true devotion to Dani even though he treated her poorly in the past. Dani struggles with her past and searches for God while she also tries to solve the case. I appreciate the way that Cara Putnam resolves the problems of this frustrated couple.

The Convenient Groom

This week’s post is more light-hearted. I enjoyed this story so much that it only took me 3-4 hours to read it. It’s the story of a relationship adviser that has trouble following her own advice. It does follow Surrender Bay (Nantucket Love Story Series #1), but is a stand-alone story. Denise Hunter’s pleasurable tale, The Convenient Groom (Nantucket Love Story Series #2), gives you a wonderful feeling that stays with you long after you finish reading the book.

Kate Lawrence gives relationship advice and is getting ready to showcase her own wedding to the perfect man. Then, her fiance calls to break up with her a few hours before the wedding. Lucas Wright, who had just put the finishing touches on a gazebo he made for the wedding, overhears the conversation. He offers to marry her to save her from the media disaster of having to announce that the wedding is canceled. Lucas has reasons for offering to marry Kate, one he share with her and one he doesn’t.

Each chapter starts with a quote from Kate’s book. This was a fun book to read. The characters were lovable. Lucas has so much patience with Kate and treats her like a queen. His character moves the story along and makes it so endearing.

Update: This book was made into a Hallmark movie! I thought it was true to the book and enjoyable to watch. Please let me know if you’ve seen it and what you think.

Abomination

If you’ve read the other books in the Rock Harbor series by Colleen Coble, you’ll be glad that this book, Abomination, allows you to once again follow Bree and her dog Samson again in the town of Rock Harbor. Bree is helping a distressed woman who has amnesia try to figure out who she is and who attacked her. She thinks her name is Elena because she is wearing a necklace with that name engraved on the back of it. She has a two year old daughter, Kerri, with her, but she can’t remember giving birth to her. Bree and her husband, Nick, give Elena and Kerri shelter and food as long as they need it.

The police in Rock Harbor start working with the Michigan state police to solve a series of murders. All the murders have the same pattern and the women are found with body parts missing. Elena realizes that she escaped the murderer and that he is still after her.

I enjoyed the story. Colleen Coble is a gifted writer and her stories are usually very interesting. I prefer authors not to tell the story from the criminal’s point of view, but with this story, I can see how it helps. Abomination is not too graphic or gory, but it is disturbing. It’s hard to understand how anyone can kill so many people and feel no remorse.

This is the series that inspired me to visit the Upper Peninsula in Michigan. That and the advice of some of our friends at church. Abomination makes a few references to Lake Superior being the best lake. I quite agree. The water is so blue and there is a nice beach on the grounds of the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum. The grounds also house the Whitefish Point lighthouse. You can enjoy a great tasting pasty like Nick did in this story. Visiting the Shipwreck Museum was so much fun!

If you read this story and like it, check out all the Rock Harbor books!

Without a Trace (Rock Harbor Series #1)
Beyond a Doubt (Rock Harbor Series #2)
Into the Deep (Rock Harbor Series #3)
Abomination