Janet Sketchley's Blog: Tenacity, page 10

Review: The Color of Sky and Stone, by Sara Davison

The Color of Sky and Stone, by Sara Davison (Three Dreamers Press, 2023)

Part thriller, part romance, and part Christian women���s fiction, The Color of Sky and Stone is a beautiful story that’s clearly hard for me to categorize. (Although I���ve learned a couple of new terms: this can be called upmarket fiction or book club fiction, since it���s designed to stimulate thought and discussion.)

Thriller: Tane is a secret operative in a Canadian organization tasked with taking down drug ...

Replacing Resolutions (Guest Post)

Photo credit: Steph Beth NickelReplacing Resolutionsby Steph Beth Nickel

We���ve all heard the statistics at how short-lived New Year���s Resolutions are.

This year let���s try something different.

Let���s decide what we want to achieve by this time in 2024. Remember to be kind to yourself and set realistic goals.

Here are six of my goals:

Complete Paralympian Deb Willows���s second memoir.Write and self-publish a novel.Work with my editing clients.Fulfill my ...

Review: Shade Grown, by Heather Day Gilbert

Shade Grown, by Heather Day Gilbert (WoodHaven Press, 2023)

A peaceful garden tour turns to trouble when Macy Hatfield finds the body of a reclusive movie star among the hostas. Warned by her brother Bo, the town���s new mayor, to leave investigating to the police, Macy can���t resist helping the dead man���s sister find answers.

As always, the story includes scenes in the Hatfields��� coffee shop with the rescue dog section as well as the friendly West Virginia small town setting. Th...

Review: Crafting for Murder, by Barbara Emodi

Crafting for Murder, by Barbara Emodi (C & T Publishing, 2023)

Secrets and schemes and small-town murder.

Empty-nester Valerie Rankin has returned to the tight-knit���and tiny���community of Gasper���s Cove on Nova Scotia���s Atlantic coast. She���s housesitting for her vacationing aunt and teaching sewing classes and trying to set up a crafter���s co-op to boost tourism.

But home isn���t the stable, unchanging place she remembers. Suddenly, she���s trying to save the family store ...

New Releases in Christian Fiction (December 2023)

December 2023 New Releases

More in-depth descriptions of these books can be found on the ACFW Fiction Finder website

Contemporary Romance:

Bidding on a Second Chance by Emily Conrad — His bid for a second chance this Christmas might lead to her most disastrous fall yet. Police officer Graham Lockhart���s life is dangerous enough without accident-prone Piper Wells tripping around in it���at least that���s what she claimed when she declined his marriage proposal two years ago. But he can���t help ...

Review: Mistletoe and Murder, by Connie Berry

Mistletoe and Murder, by Connie Berry (Crooked Lane Books, 2023)

Christmas Eve is fast approaching, and the wedding guests are arriving any day. American antiques expert Kate Hamilton is set to marry her British detective fianc��, Tom Mallory, in a carefully-organized wedding in a quaint English village.

What could possibly go wrong?

If you guessed flight delays, wardrobe issues, and last-minute schedule changes, you���d be right. And of course Tom���s mother���s continued disappro...

Less is More? (Guest Post)

Image by Tumisu from PixabayLess is More?by Steph Beth Nickel

I���m writing this at the end of October. I will let you know in the comments how I did with my goals for November.

Prioritize your current WIP (work in progress). Make room on your schedule. Keep your appointments with yourself the way you would with anyone else.

These are all good pieces of advice.

However���

You are a unique individual, a creative.

Sheer willpower and including my two current works in prog...

TWO Christmas Fiction Pre-orders!

For curated buy links, click the image or visit https://books2read.com/deadly-burden.

Pre-order pricing ends on release date, December 6, at which time the paperback version will also be available.

What’s Deadly Burden about? Here’s a teaser:

When a shocking death strikes her close-knit circle, can Landon discover who wanted the town busybody dead? Was the dead woman silenced to protect a secret? Or because of one she wouldn���t tell? And how can a dyslexic trauma survivor find clues th...

Review: Risking Rest, by Carolyn J. Watts

Risking Rest: Embracing God���s Love Through Life���s Uncertainties, by Carolyn J. Watts (hope*books, 2023)

The best memoirs let us experience something of the writer���s world but also invite us to apply some of the life lessons to our own hearts, however different our circumstances.

Risking Rest is a memoir in two parts, linked by the imagery of pregnancy and birth from Dr. Carolyn Watts��� obstetrics training. The first two-thirds of the book revisit her brief years serving in a me...

Review: Outline for Murder, by Karin Kaufman

Outline for Murder, by Karin Kaufman (Winter Tree Books, 2023)

���Meet Kelsie Butler. Coffee addict. Dog lover. Mystery buff.��� She���s also a recent widow in a small Colorado town, with some good friends who���ll help her solve this mystery.

Outline for Murder is a classic locked-room whodunit���or in this case ���locked-store.��� Kelsie has partnered with her friend Gwen to stage a mystery party in Gwen���s caf��. The only problem is, one of the players turns up dead���in a manner ...