tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57145573849915689042024-03-11T19:59:16.675+13:00Iola's Christian ReadsReviews, commentary and profiles of classic, new and upcoming Christian fiction titles...Iolahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17199141868703826943noreply@blogger.comBlogger1000125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5714557384991568904.post-36302517005959337782017-07-14T08:00:00.000+12:002017-07-14T09:01:47.683+12:001,000 Posts
Today I reach a milestone here at Iola’s Christian Reads. Actually, I reach two. I think.
I started Iola’s Christian Reads in September 2011, after winning an ebook in an online giveaway. I’d just bought a Kobo (Kindles weren’t yet available here in New Zealand), and was keen to build my electronic library.
The book was delivered via NetGalley, and I found that I could get free ebooks fromIolahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17199141868703826943noreply@blogger.com21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5714557384991568904.post-31482423679185614492017-07-13T08:00:00.000+12:002017-07-13T09:23:45.195+12:00Book Review: The Wayward Heart by Nerys Leigh
Fun Mail Order Bride Romance
Lizzy Cotton signs up as a mail order bride to marry a handsome cowboy and fall in love. The adventure starts well, when she arrives at her destination with four other mail order briders. Her husband, Richard Shand, is even more handsome in person than in his photograph. But he doesn’t seem at all interested in being a real husband. Instead, he leaves her alone onIolahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17199141868703826943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5714557384991568904.post-74169567837574803312017-07-11T08:00:00.000+12:002017-07-11T08:00:17.745+12:00I'm Reviewing Beneath Copper Falls by Colleen Coble at Suspense Sisters Reviews!Today I'm reviewing Beneath Copper Falls by Colleen Coble over at Suspense Sisters Reviews. Click here to join me!
Iolahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17199141868703826943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5714557384991568904.post-17339971136844158862017-07-06T08:00:00.000+12:002017-07-06T08:00:25.755+12:00Book Review: Out of the Shadows by Emma Carrie
Exciting Start to Series
Teenager Emily Brelin’s adoptive mother has just died, and now Child Protective Services needs to find her a place to live. At least, that’s what they think. Emily needs to stay off the grid, to make sure her past doesn’t find her. That means staying out of the system.
Detective Victoria Tacket didn’t even know her friend Dr Jennifer Brelin was ill, let alone that Iolahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17199141868703826943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5714557384991568904.post-12633932810486286982017-07-05T08:00:00.000+12:002017-07-05T08:00:06.459+12:00ACRBA Blog Tour: My Brother Tom by Michelle Worthington
3 - 7 July 2017
Australian Christian Readers Blog Alliance
is Introducing
My Brother Tom
(By Wombat Books, 1 April, 2017)
By
Michelle Worthington
About the Book:
Tom was born earlier than expected and had the doctors worried. His big brother wasn't worried though, he saw angels outside his window and knew everything would be okay.
My Iolahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17199141868703826943noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5714557384991568904.post-53229985040859756142017-07-04T08:00:00.000+12:002017-07-04T08:00:04.218+12:00Book Review: Restoring Love by Jennifer Slattery
A Real Story of Messed-Up People
Angela has just moved into the neighbourhood. She’s in her mid-forties, and is just starting to get her life straightened out. She’s graduated college, become a Christian, and is about to start her first job in a new town. Mitch is a house-flipper currently restoring a house across the street. And Bianca is another neighbour—one with no patience for do-gooders—Iolahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17199141868703826943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5714557384991568904.post-25333366257557741092017-06-30T08:00:00.000+12:002017-06-30T08:00:21.559+12:00Friday Fifteen: Carolyn MillerToday I'd like to welcome Carolyn Miller to Iola's Christian Reads. to share her Friday Fifteen: fifteen authors who have influenced her life and writing. Except she's cheated, and given us sixteen!
She is also here to introduce her new release, The Captivating Lady Charlotte, the second book in the A Legacy of Grace series. I read and enjoyed the first book, The Elusive Miss Ellison, and I'm Iolahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17199141868703826943noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5714557384991568904.post-25060117421518742982017-06-29T08:00:00.001+12:002017-06-29T08:00:09.640+12:00Book Review: You'll Think of Me by Robin Lee HatcherA Great Christian Romance
Eighteen-year-old Brooklyn Myers left her home town of Thunder Creek, Idaho, to marry Chad Hallston—who left her just months later, when she announced she was pregnant. She’s spent the last ten years trying to raise Alycia on her own, with the help of the neighbour who introduced her to a loving God:
A God who loved her, a Savior who had willingly died for her, a Iolahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17199141868703826943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5714557384991568904.post-69927117807147631672017-06-28T08:00:00.000+12:002017-06-28T08:00:01.047+12:00I'm Reviewing Grounded Hearts by Jeanne M Dickson at ICFW
Today I'm visiting International Christian Fiction Writers, to review Grounded Hearts by debut author Jeanne M Dickson. Click here to read my review.
You can find out more about Jeanne M Dickson at her website, and you can read the introduction to Grounded Hearts below:
Iolahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17199141868703826943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5714557384991568904.post-29817745873337371662017-06-27T08:00:00.000+12:002017-06-27T08:00:39.275+12:00I'm Reviewing The Priority Unit by Susan Page Davis at Suspense Sisters Reviews!I'm Reviewing The Priority Unit by Susan Page Davis at Suspense Sisters Reviews. Click here to read my review.
You can find out more about Susan Page Davis at her website, and you can read the introduction to The Priority Unit below:
Iolahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17199141868703826943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5714557384991568904.post-9124654319143390642017-06-22T08:00:00.000+12:002017-06-22T08:00:00.180+12:00Book Review: The Evaporation of Sofi Snow by Mary Weber
The Hunger Games meets V Meets …
I don’t read a lot of Christian speculative fiction, because a lot of it is fantasy, a genre I don’t enjoy. I do enjoy science fiction, and I especially enjoy a good dystopian thriller. I picked up The Evaporation of Sofi Snow believing it was Christian dystopian, which was half right. It was dystopian, but it also had an element of science fiction.
What it Iolahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17199141868703826943noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5714557384991568904.post-53841453038074961602017-06-20T08:00:00.000+12:002017-06-20T08:00:03.783+12:00Review: Dark Deception by Nancy Mehl
Playing dead was harder than she ever could have imagined.
Well, the first line certainly drew me in. Unfortunately, the rest of the novel didn’t live up to that early promise. After that gripping first scene, the story jumps forward several years. The first few chapters of the novel were mostly backstory and setup, explaining what happened between the prologue and the present. This meant the Iolahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17199141868703826943noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5714557384991568904.post-47993254755651819292017-06-16T08:00:00.000+12:002017-06-16T16:32:38.562+12:00Book Giveaway: Then There Was You by Kara Isaac
Introducing Then There Was You
Kara Isaac is my favourite Kiwi Christian author … although Kiwi Christian authors is a very short list. So perhaps it’s better to say that she’s one of my favourite authors of contemporary Christian romance, and one of the reasons I love her work is because of the Kiwi angle. But I’m also biased because I edited Then There Was You, which means I got to read it Iolahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17199141868703826943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5714557384991568904.post-21211839050916482012017-06-15T08:00:00.001+12:002017-06-15T08:00:33.744+12:00Book Review: Sweetbriar Cottage by Denise Hunter
Discovering Unconditional Love
Noah Mitchell is less than impressed when he finds his ex-wife is actually still his wife—she forgot to file their divorce papers, so the divorce was never final. Now he has to get those papers filed to get the IRS off his back. But getting them filed means visiting Josephine Dupree Mitchell again—not something he’s looking forward to.
Josie knows how much Nate Iolahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17199141868703826943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5714557384991568904.post-19154255050010101042017-06-13T08:00:00.001+12:002017-06-13T09:41:18.825+12:00I'm Reviewing Enemy Action by Mike Hollow at Suspense Sisters Reviews!Today I'm visiting Suspense Sisters Reviews, to review Enemy Action by Mike Hollow. It's the third book in his Blitz Detective series, and now I want to read the first two. Click here to find out why!
Iolahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17199141868703826943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5714557384991568904.post-6574660281399977132017-06-09T08:00:00.000+12:002017-06-09T12:22:15.582+12:00ACRBA Tour and Review: Unnoticed by Amanda Deed
5 - 9 May 2017
Australian Christian Readers Blog Alliance
is Introducing
Unnoticed
(from Rhiza Press, 1 March, 2017)
By
Amanda Deed
About the Book:
Plain Jane O’Reilly is good at being unnoticed. Detested by her stepmother and teased by her stepsisters, Jane has learned the art of avoiding attention. That is until Price Moreland, an American with Iolahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17199141868703826943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5714557384991568904.post-79781591429640372002017-06-08T08:00:00.000+12:002017-06-08T08:00:02.337+12:00I'm Reviewing Heart on the Line at Australasian Christian Writers!Today I'm visiting Australasian Christian Writers, and reviewing Heart on the Line by Karen Witemeyer. Click here to join me!
Iolahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17199141868703826943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5714557384991568904.post-27788962196902576002017-06-06T08:00:00.001+12:002017-06-06T08:00:55.259+12:00Book Review: Fatal Mistake by Susan Sleeman
He was coming for her, and he was close.
Great opening line. Tara Parrish is visiting her aunt, and checks the outbuilding Aunt June rents to Oren Keeler, Tara’s childhood friend. Only the building is full of bomb-making materials and plans. Oren is the Lone Wolf Bomber the FBI are chasing. And she’s just heard his car pull up …
The front of the book had glowing endorsements from several of Iolahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17199141868703826943noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5714557384991568904.post-62911349214043861762017-06-01T08:00:00.000+12:002017-06-01T09:14:23.554+12:00Book Review: Time Sniffers by CS Lakin
A YA Sci-Fi Adventure Romp that Delivers
A great first line. The first-person narrator is Bria, a science geek who is the daughter of two scientists—Dad designs parts for the Mars Rover (they’re up to the 2055 model), and Mum is a Nobel Prize-winning scientist who works at the Greenfield National Laboratory undertaking laser experiments for the Department of Energy.
And one of those Iolahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17199141868703826943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5714557384991568904.post-65795067388389142802017-05-30T08:00:00.000+12:002017-05-30T08:00:43.069+12:00I'm Reviewing Weaver's Needle at Suspense Sisters Reviews!I'm reviewing Weaver's Needle by Robin Carrol at Suspense Sisters Reviews. Click here to join me!
Iolahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17199141868703826943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5714557384991568904.post-67301826139289889692017-05-25T08:00:00.000+12:002017-05-25T08:00:33.650+12:00Book Review: All of You by Sarah Monzon
Great Dual-Timeline Story!
All of You is book two in Sarah Monzon’s Carrington Family series, following Finders Keepers. I haven’t read the first book, but it didn’t matter—this worked well as a standalone novel.
It’s set in two separate timelines. In the present day, ex-Navy pilot Michael Carrington is trying to rebuild his life after losing two limbs in a freak accident. He’s promised to Iolahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17199141868703826943noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5714557384991568904.post-49545111886921295182017-05-23T08:00:00.000+12:002017-05-23T11:34:40.201+12:00Book Review: Swazi Sunrise by Donna Chapman Gilbert
Amazing True-Life Story
Swazi Sunrise is the story of missionaries Lula Glatzel and Harmon Schmelzenbach. They left America in 1907, bound for southern Africa on what must have felt like a one-way trip into the great unknown. But they both believed God had called them to minister to the African people, despite the distance and the likely hardships.
The first quarter of the story follows theirIolahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17199141868703826943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5714557384991568904.post-41367007228058467112017-05-18T08:00:00.000+12:002017-05-18T08:00:17.986+12:00Book Review: A Love So True by Melissa Jagears
A Historical Romance with an Edge
If David Kingsman had any chance of making his father proud, this next decision would be it.
David Kingsman is in Teaville, Kansas, to sell the A. K. Glass factory on behalf of his father. But he soon decides the business has more potential than his father realises, and that it would be better for them to build the business up before selling. Meeting Evelyn Iolahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17199141868703826943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5714557384991568904.post-5816254978062474042017-05-16T08:00:00.000+12:002017-05-16T08:00:23.091+12:00I'm Reviewing A Lady in Disguise by Sandra Byrd at Suspense Sisters Reviews
I'm Reviewing A Lady in Disguise by Sandra Byrd at Suspense Sisters Reviews. Click here to read my review.
Iolahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17199141868703826943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5714557384991568904.post-66378519433078929432017-05-11T08:00:00.000+12:002018-03-07T09:33:32.997+13:00Book Review: The Long Highway Home by Elizabeth Musser An Outstanding Story of Christian Faith
The Long Highway Home is the story of Bobbie, an ex-missionary who has been diagnosed with inoperable cancer at the age of 39. It’s the story of Tracie, Bobbie’s niece, who accompanies her to Europe, to visit the missionaries she used to serve with before tragedy sent her back to the US. It’s the story of Hamid, a devout Muslim who is forced to flee Iran Iolahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17199141868703826943noreply@blogger.com4