Janet Sketchley's Blog: Tenacity, page 46
January 16, 2018
Review: Death of a Scavenger, by Karin Kaufman
Death of a Scavenger, by Karin Kaufman (2017)
Juniper Grove, Colorado, is a small town, but newcomer Rachel Stowe is about to find her second dead body, only a month after the first one turned up in her back yard.
At least this one’s on someone else’s property.
In the middle of the town’s annual Halloween scavenger hunt (complete with fake corpse) a second, real corpse is found – and it’s hard to find anyone other than Rachel who doesn’t have a motive.
Again, Rachel and her friends Julia and...
January 9, 2018
Picks from 2017
Goodreads tells me I’ve read 99 books in 2017. And that’s not counting Bible reading. Here are the books (and new-to-me music) that I’ve most enjoyed this year. Some were produced in 2017, some previously. Pop a note into the comments with your own favourites?
My top picks from 2017:
Christian living: Prayer Warrior and The Power of Praying for Your Adult Children, both by Stormie Omartian
Contemporary novels: Soul’s Gate, by James L. Rubart, and Grace in Strange Disguise, by Christine Dillon...
January 5, 2018
New Releases in Christian Fiction (January 2018)
More in-depth descriptions of these books can be found on the ACFW Fiction Finder website.
Contemporary Romance:
Her Handyman Hero by Lorraine Beatty — Reid Blackthorn arrives in Dover on a personal mission—to make sure his terminally ill brother gets a chance to meet his daughter. Deceiving little Lily’s guardian isn’t his intention. Yet once Tori Montgomery mistakes Reid for her new handyman, he knows it...
December 29, 2017
Resolutions Worth Keeping (Guest Post)
Whether we call them resolutions or goals, this is the time of year many of us consider the 12 months before us and what we want to change.
Instead of trying to change everything at once, why not set monthly goals (aka resolutions)?
Below are six suggestions. I look forward to hearing what goals you plan to achieve in 2018.
January
During December healthy eating habits often get set aside. Various social engagements and family gatherings can mak...
December 22, 2017
Angel Song
Though he was God,
he did not think of equality with God
as something to cling to.
Instead, he gave up his divine privileges;
he took the humble position of a slave
and was born as a human being.
Philippians 2:6-7a, NLT*
No wonder the angels’ announcement split the sky, and the shepherds cowered in fear.
The angels knew what was going on, at least this part of the story. They’d known at least since Gabriel had delivered news to the priest Zechariah that Elizabeth would conceive John the...
December 19, 2017
Review: Christmas With Hot Apple Cider
Christmas With Hot Apple Cider (That’s Life! Communications, 2017)
This anthology of true-life stories, fiction, and poetry from 55 Canadian Christian writers is a strong addition to the Hot Apple Cider series.
Memories from the past include tales of Canadian childhood from those born in Canada and children of immigrants making new homes in sometimes-challenging circumstances. Vignettes from the present include what Christmas might be like for the incarcerated, and Christmas celebrations with...
December 15, 2017
Review: A Halifax Christmas Carol, by Steven Laffoley
A Halifax Christmas Carol, by Steven Laffoley (Pottersfield Press, 2017)
December, 1918. Halifax, Nova Scotia, is a grim place, still shattered by the massive explosion that caused so much death and destruction one year previously.
The Great War is over, and the surviving troops are coming home, those not wounded in body, wounded in mind. News headlines cry worldwide unrest, and fear of the so-called “Spanish Flu” is so high that citizens avoid public trams and walk to their destinations.
To...
December 12, 2017
Review: Guilt by Association, by Heather Day Gilbert
Guilt by Association, by Heather Day Gilbert (WoodHaven Press, 2017)
When Tess Spencer reluctantly goes to help her ex-con mother hunt for a new home and a dead body turns up behind her mother’s trailer, she has no choice but to stay and clear her mother’s name – even though she’s afraid her mom might be involved.
Along with the mystery, this is a novel with layers of heart. It exposes the tragedy of the drugs that really do run rampant in the areas where the novel is set – and in so many oth...
December 8, 2017
Books Make Great Gifts
For those in the Halifax, Nova Scotia, area on December 9, 2017… stop by and say hello!
December 5, 2017
Review: 12 Days at Bleakly Manor, by Michelle Griep
12 Days at Bleakly Manor, by Michelle Griep (Shiloh Run Press, 2017)
England. 1850. On December 24, Clara Chapman receives a mysterious offer: if she spends the next 12 days at a place called Bleakly Manor, she’ll receive enough money to rescue her from the poverty she’s experienced from the loss of her family fortune.
If they’d told her that another of the guests would be the man who stood her up at the altar, she’d have stayed away.
Except her former fiancé, Benjamin Lane, missed the weddin...
