I really enjoy sweet, lighthearted books, but with a good story (Think Janette Oak, Lauraine Snelling, and Lawana Blackwell). I don't like murder mysteries, I'm not into the Celtic historical fiction or Biblical Fiction, and I don't want anything overly tragic or graphic with regard to violence or violent acts. I like stories that sweep me away with great characters, beautiful descriptions of idyllic settings and great dialog, all of this but still on the light side. I know that doesn't seem scholarly or sophisticated by many people's standards, but I like escapism, I confess it. I really like Christian Historical Fiction best and my favorite historical periods are Victorian and Edwardian, but I would enjoy anything before 1920 and I also like Amish fiction. You can check my list if you like to see what if I have read a book you are recommending, but I really could use some good recommendations. Thank you in advance to everyone who helps me out :)

God bless,
Kate

I'm not sure if you have tried Karen Kingsbury, but I love her.

Cassie wrote: "I'm not sure if you have tried Karen Kingsbury, but I love her."


I don't believe I have read any of her books yet. I will definitely take a look at the books she has to offer. I really appreciate the recommendation, thank you! :)

Cassie wrote: "I'm not sure if you have tried Karen Kingsbury, but I love her."

Most of what I saw from Karen Kingsburry wasn't historical (although I may still try one they look so good :). Do you know if she writes any historical fiction, I couldn't find any :( Thanks!

Kate

Kate, I did not look at your lists, before writing out these suggestions. But I hope that I did find some that you have not read yet...

Karen Kingsbury's books are contemporary and a few series are actually based in Hollywood. She is a best seller and loved by American Readers, but not quite my cup of tea.

A good series that is a combination of contemporary and historical is by author Melanie M. Jeschke. It is the "Inklings Series". It is based in Oxford and has to do with C.S. Lewis' original group known as the Inklings including Tolkien. The first book is in Oxford, the second is in France, and the third is actually during WWII in London. It's a great series.

Another great historical author that stays with the sea is M.L. Tyndall. Some of her really good recent books are The Falcon and The Sparrow and The Red Siren Charles Towne Belle Series, Book 1. There is a bit of suspense, but not enough to be uncomfortable. No more than that of when a Janette Oke/Lori Wick character is kidnapped or lost (if you recall what I mean).

Another fairly new book out there (new series really) that is pretty good (I have only read the first book thus far) is fabulous author Tracie Peterson and the book A Lady of High Regard. But then of course, you could read most any of TP's books and enjoy them. There is always a section of suspense, but Tracie's books are pretty good at not "over-doing" the tragedy.

Another good author who has stories along the same lines as MaryLu Tyndall would be Kathleen Y'Barbo. I highly recommend her Fairweather Keys Series. It is fabulous for some escapism to the Florida Keys. Beloved CastawayBeloved Captive Fairweather Keys Series #2

As for some good Amish Fiction, a good fairly new author is Shelley Shepard Gray with her second book in an Amish series just out from Avon Inspire. The first book is fabulous, and I just got my hands on a copy of the second and really look forward to reading it. HiddenWanted (Sisters of the Heart, Book 2)

And speaking of Avon Inspire, another good series and author from there is Tracey Victoria Bateman and her Westward Hearts Series. Defiant HeartDistant HeartDangerous Heart Each book is about different characters (much like Wick and Oke series) and their journey on the Oregon Trail.

Thanks so much Margaret! I appreciate the list and you described well what the setting and feeling of each of the books were like. I think there might be some great choices for my taste there :). I'm eager to look them up today!

Kate

Glad to help. It's what I'm here for. *grin*

Kate, here are a few authors that I like:

Sharlene Maclaren Her Little Hickman series is a nice, light read.

Deeanne Gist

Allison K. Pittman

DiAnn Mills

Cathy Marie Hake


My younger sister, who loves Christian fiction, is a big fan of Karen Kingsbury's. I, however, have not read any of her books because most of them seem very sad, and I don't like to read books that make me cry.

Angie wrote: "Kate, here are a few authors that I like:

Sharlene Maclaren Her Little Hickman series is a nice, light re..."

Thank you so much Angie :) I hadn't heard of Allison K. Pittman, KiAnn Mills, or Sharlene Maclaren, so I am eager to look them up! I do enjoy Cathy Marie Hake and Deeanne Gist, so I know that you get a sense of what kinds of books I like :) I can never get enough recommendations from people as I love to read so much I devour books as some might candy, lol, especially Christian Historical Fiction. I am always looking for a good new book :)

Tracie Peterson has two series out that i absolutely love. Belles of Lowell and Lights of Lowell. There's three books in each series and they are amazing! Some of the girls work in the mills, some fight for emancipation, go through issues in the south, ect... Also, if you've never read Lori Wick or Lori Copeland, then you should try them out. Lori Wick does several series set in different eras. Try her Kensington Chronicles and her English Garden Series. They are my favorites of hers. Lori Copeland did the Brides of the West Series. All of them are about Mail Ordered Brides and you meet them all in her first book.

Jennifer wrote: "Tracie Peterson has two series out that i absolutely love. Belles of Lowell and Lights of Lowell. There's three books in each series and they are amazing! Some of the girls work in the mills, some ..."
Hi Jennifer,

You are so right about the Belles and Lights of Lowell, I LOVED both of those series! I haven't read any of Lori Wicks series, although I did read Sophie's Heart and I enjoyed her writing style. I will be eager to take a look at her Kensington Chronicles and English Garden Series :) I also completely enjoyed Lori Copeland's Brides of the West Series, lol, I kept getting them one after another, they were addictive! :) Thanks so much for your recommendations! :)

If you get a chance, read Lori Copeland's newest book from Avon Inspire. It is Twice Loved. Great read!

Margaret wrote: "If you get a chance, read Lori Copeland's newest book from Avon Inspire. It is [b:Twice Loved|2445572|Twice Loved (Belles of Timber Creek #1)|Lori Copeland|http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/517..."

That sounds like a good one, I will put it on my list :) Thanks Margaret!

All of these sound like great books!! I need to read more so I can get "caught up"!!

Lori Copeland also has her Men of the Saddle Series. It goes after the Brides of the West series if I remember correctly. I believe it uses one of the characters introduced in the last book in Brides of the West Series.

Jennifer wrote: "Lori Copeland also has her Men of the Saddle Series. It goes after the Brides of the West series if I remember correctly. I believe it uses one of the characters introduced in the last book in Brid..."

I loved her Brides series, so I am going to have to look into that series as well, thanks Jennifer! :)

I'm a personal fan of Tamara Alexander (Fountain Creek Chronicles and Timber Ridge Reflections) and Lynn Austin. (Several of my favorties from the latter are The Refiners Fire Trilogy, A Woman's Place and A Proper Pursuit.)

Victorianromantic wrote: "I'm a personal fan of Tamara Alexander (Fountain Creek Chronicles and Timber Ridge Reflections) and Lynn Austin. (Several of my favorties from the latter are The Refiners Fire Trilogy, A Woman's Pl..."

I enjoy Lynn Austin too and loved Hidden Places. I will have to try the ones you mentioned as well. I read Rekindled by Tamara Alexander, but I confess although I liked the book, it wasn't one of my favorites. I just couldn't get into her writing style the way I could Lynn Austin's. Thanks for the recommendations though, I really appreciate it! :)

Coincidentally, I'm in the middle of reading Hidden Places at this moment in fact, and I'm really enjoying it.

They did a movie version of Hidden Places on the Hallmark channel not long ago.

Kate wrote: "Victorianromantic wrote: "I'm a personal fan of Tamara Alexander (Fountain Creek Chronicles and Timber Ridge Reflections) and Lynn Austin. (Several of my favorties from the latter are The Refiners ..."

Glad your enjoying it Victorianromantic, and it only gets better as you read it :). Don't you love her Grandma? Ugh, I forget her name, sorry! I want to say Birdy, but I could be wrong. She has a bigger than life personality and is someone you'd love to be friends with were she a real person :) That's one of the reasons why I love Lynn Austin's as an author, she has such wonderful characters, and they just come to life on the pages of her book :)

Jennifer wrote: "They did a movie version of Hidden Places on the Hallmark channel not long ago. "

I know, and I missed it! :( I sure hope they show it again! Thanks for reminding me of it though; I had forgotten which channel aired it :) I was pretty sure it was Hallmark (I love so many of their movies), but sometimes Lifetime or other ‘women’s’ channels will air these types of movies too :)

Brock & Bodie Thoene are wonderful Christian Fiction writers. They have written The Zion Covenent series and the Zion Chronicle series. THe series involves WWII, musicians, Jews, and more.
They have several other series, but I haven't gotten them yet.

Thanks for the recommendation Gale. They sound like interesting books, but I confess I am partial to the Victorian, Edwardian, Regency, Pioneer and Amish genres for the most part. I tried Biblical fiction and it just didn't grab me the way my favorite genres seem to.

I love reading my Bible, but Biblical fiction was really hard for me to get into. I did read Thorn in my Heart by Liz Curtis Higgs, which was loosely based on the Biblical story of Rachel and Leah. I loved that series, but it wasn't set in Biblical times, it started in Scotland in 1764 and the series progressed from there.

Forgive me if this sounds shallow, but I just love the sweeping grandeur and fantasy elements of Victorian, Edwardian, and the Regency eras. The Pioneer eras I can relate to because so many of them involve going west and I have lived in many different parts of the west. Also I grew up on Little House on the Prairie so it is just close to my heart :) I mostly stick with things from Victorian times to just prior to WWII (I don't care for WWII books as my Grandfather spoke with such horror of storming the beach at Normandy and so it makes me very sad, especially since he passed away a year ago :( . I do read some 'modern' novels though in the form of Amish fiction as the Amish world is very interesting to me and I love the way most of the novels seem to take you to another place in time, but involve characters that are from today. It is such and interesting dichotomy. Also Amish fiction is often set in such peaceful and idyllic settings that it is like an escape as well :)


Please don't think though that I am not grateful for your recommendations, I am! You taking the time to think of books for me is very sweet of you! I just felt I should be honest as to which books I am partial to :). My friend next door however would LOVE your recommendations and I may in fact get her one of the books as a gift as she is quite into Biblical fiction :) So your recommendation did help me in the end, as I wouldn't have known who to look in that genre for good Biblical fiction :) Thanks again!

I believe the Thoenes have also written a poineer Series, I can't remember what it's call, but it was about heading west in America. ALso their son is an excellent author

Happy reading!

A pioneer series sounds right up my alley, thanks Gale! I will definitely look for it :)

I love DeeAnn Gist books, but the best one I think is BRIDE MOST BEGRUDGING. Next to Janette Oke, she is one of my fav authors. I have also enjoyed a book by Cathy Marie Hake called FANCY PANTS and I cant wait to read another book by her. Christian Fiction is my favorite genre along with Historical Fiction. I havent seen your list but do look forward to seeing what you have read.

I loved a Bride Most Begrudging too! She's a good author. I got a couple of her books for Christmas too. Haven't started on them yet, but I will soon.

Southernbelle0326 I love Deeanne Gist too. :) Her writing style is both funny and touching; She really puts you through a full range of emotions in her books. “A Bride Most Begrudging” is my very favorite book of hers by far; it’s good to see others appreciate this novel too :). I think it is often overlooked in when considering one of her books for a good read. I also liked “The Measure of a Lady”, which is a very good book on it’s own but against “A Bride Most Begrudging” I still favor “A Bride Most Begrudging”. However if you haven’t read “The Measure of a Lady” I highly recommend it. I didn’t like “Deep in the Heart of Trouble” I confess and didn’t read it’s prequel (I didn’t know it had one) Courting Trouble. It just didn’t measure up to the other books by her that I’ve mentioned (no offense anyone :). “A Bride in the Bargain” is her newest and comes out in June. It sounds quite good and I look forward to reading it!

The Brides of Culdee Creek, by Kathleen Morgan, are prairie books that are pretty good, in my opinion. They were enjoyable; a pretty easy read, perfect for those awful days with a million and one things going at once, and no time to concentrate. (That's what happened to me, anyhow...;))The English Garden Series fall under the same category, by, if I recall accurately, authored by Lori Wick, except for the setting: England, instead of the Colorado prairie.

Victorianromantic wrote: "The Brides of Culdee Creek, by Kathleen Morgan, are prairie books that are pretty good, in my opinion. They were enjoyable; a pretty easy read, perfect for those awful days with a million and one t..."

Thanks! Light reads in my two favorite eras, perfect! I will look for those books for sure :)

I love Lori Wick! Her English Garden series was so good. I love that era! I sometimes think I was born in the wrong era...lol!

Jennifer wrote: "I love Lori Wick! Her English Garden series was so good. I love that era! I sometimes think I was born in the wrong era...lol!"

You know I've though the very same thing about myself :) lol!

Hahaha! Glad I'm not the only one. ;)

Lets all time travel. Having the symptoms of being in the wrong century is so challenging.
Eloquent speech, masquerade balls, and fashion that would far surpass anything of today's world...
Sigh.
Guess for now, we're all stuck here... I am going to go work on my time travel machine.
:)

When you finish working on it, let us know so we can test it!

Karen Kingsbury is AWESOME!!! One of my favorite authors...it's not historical though


Kate wrote: "Cassie wrote: "I'm not sure if you have tried Karen Kingsbury, but I love her."


I don't believe I have read any of her books yet. I will definitely take a look at the books she has to offer. I r..."

If you look on the Hallmark website, you can click on "Hidden Places" and it will tell you when it is airing. They usually air them a couple of times each month.

Kate wrote: "Jennifer wrote: "They did a movie version of Hidden Places on the Hallmark channel not long ago. "

I know, and I missed it! :( I sure hope they show it again! Thanks for reminding me of it thoug..."

Katie wrote: "If you look on the Hallmark website, you can click on "Hidden Places" and it will tell you when it is airing. They usually air them a couple of times each month.

Kate wrote: "Jennifer wrote: "T..."

Thanks! I can't wait to see it :)

Have you read the Tracie Peterson's Ladies of Liberty Series? I just finished reading all three and they are all fairly good.

Margaret wrote: "Have you read the Tracie Peterson's Ladies of Liberty Series? I just finished reading all three and they are all fairly good. "

I've read "A Lady of Secret Devotion" and "A Lady of High Regard", for some reason the second one, "A Lady of Hidden Intent" just didn't interest me. My favorite of the two I did read though was "A Lady of Secret Devotion", a great read!

I've only read the first book in the Ladies of Liberties series, but I enjoyed it. I'm looking forward to reading the rest in the series. :-)

Coincedentally, I finished reading the Ladies of Liberty series. It is quite good, although "A Lady of High Regard" seemed unrealistic. Don't get me wrong, it was an awesome book, and I enjoyed it immensley, but things just went to well, I think.

Victorianromantic wrote: "Coincedentally, I finished reading the Ladies of Liberty series. It is quite good, although "A Lady of High Regard" seemed unrealistic. Don't get me wrong, it was an awesome book, and I enjoyed it ..."

I know what you mean, but with me, a happy ending and a little less realism is just what I like :) Lol, as I said I am an escapism reader and I like the happy endings. I like to be able to just read along without much serious tragedy, or sorrow (I can handle bad things happening, just in moderation), and enjoy the novel as I would a good fairy tale I guess. It is not "intellectual" reading in most people's minds I know. However for me there is just too much in the real world (in the news and just in life around us) that makes me sad and is very real, and after exposure to all of that daily I just like a mental vacation.

I can appreciate more intellectual reading though; please don't think I am being critical of anyone who likes a more serious read. I know some people can handle much 'deeper' reading and I can as well, I've been exposed to it in my literature classes through the years. I just confess to a love of the lighter stuff ;)

I don't abide by strict rules in my tastes, and I generally assume, for some peculiar reason, that everyone is the same way..... ooops!!!! :)
I'm all for happy endings, and for good prevailing, but too many things went exactly as planned that i couldnt really believe it or get into the story or the peoples lives.
Then again, I might just be over analyzing the situation, and I just didn't care for that particular book.
Has anyone heard anything as to when the Catherine Palmer series with Miss Pickworth hits the shelves? I believe the title is something to do with a cad. The first two books are The Affectionate Adversary and The Batchelors Bargain,the latter of which is debatebly one of the best books I've read in the passing weeks....Though the feet wasn't nearly as good I have high expectations for the third!

Victorianromantic wrote: "I don't abide by strict rules in my tastes, and I generally assume, for some peculiar reason, that everyone is the same way..... ooops!!!! :)
I'm all for happy endings, and for good prevailing, but..."

I LOVED "The Batchelor's Bargain"! I read that book a couple of months ago and can't wait for the third book. You are right about the title of the third book, it does have something to do with a cad :), it's called "The Courteous Cad" and is to be released in the spring of 2010, I wish it were sooner though!

I wish I had read "The Affectionate Adversary" first, but I didn't know there was a book one. I didn't see anything indicating that "The Bachelors Bargain" was a book two when I picked it up. I even asked the bookseller at the bookstore if there was a book one as I have been frustrated by accidentally picking up a book two and reading it first before, and she said, "No, this book is all on its own". It sounds like I didn't miss much though with the first one as the second one sounds like your favorite, so I don't feel so bad now :)

Please don't feel bad for your opinion of the first book in "The Ladies of Liberty Series"; everyone has their favorites and characters that they just can't get into. You will see under the post titled Deeanne Gist here that I didn't like book two by her titled "Deep in the Heart of Trouble" (yet another series where I didn't know that they had a book one :P), in fact it was a book I would put on my least favorites list. However other people loved it and I'm sure they think I am crazy, lol, so it's all just personal taste :). Most of us here don't take it personally when someone disagrees with a particular view on a book and I didn't either, so I hope you didn't think I did :) I was just making my case for happy endings and light literature, which is sort of how this post got its start, me looking for more of that sort of reading :)