Authentically, Izzy is absolutely, positively, unequivocally delightful. Another five-star read from Pepper Basham that’s going straight to my top ten list for the year. A partially epistolary tale, featuring both a library and a bookshop. What could be more perfect?!
The Extraordinary Deaths of Mrs. Kip is a book about dying that inspires you to live.
This debut novel from Sara Brunsvold, published by Revell, won’t leave you the same after you’ve read it. A unique split-time approach, with the modern timeline covering the space of just a few weeks, the reader walks through intense emotions with Kansas City Star cub reporter Aidyn Kelley.
“Mom, I want to pre-order this so I have my own copy!” It’s the highest praise that my daughter can give a book. That and reading it over and over again. Ruth Anne has been raving about The Star That Always Stays since the first time she read it. So I decided to find out…
When Stone Wings Fly by Karen Barnett is an enthralling Smoky Mountains split-time that will tug at your heartstrings! “Her mama’s mountain rose in the distance, the forest clinging to its crumbling slopes in much the same way Rosie held fast to this house–with deep roots.” (When Stone Wings Fly) It’s 1931 and Rosie McCauley…
Snow is drifting down outside. A warm fire is burning in our woodstove. Christmas music is streaming through our speakers. It’s the time of year when I want to spend all my time curled up under a fuzzy blanket, with a mug of hot tea in one hand and a Christmas book in the other….
When I got married, my aunt Margie gave me an aloe vera and four cactus starts–two Thanksgiving cactus, a Christmas cactus, and a traditional prickly cactus. The Thanksgiving cactuses were cuttings from a plant that belonged to Mrs. Maysel Lyon, my dad’s and my aunt’s beloved first grade teacher. (We heard many stories about this…
When I’m not writing or reading, I’m pondering a plot line, developing a character, dreaming up a new idea, or wondering what happens next in the book I’m reading. With an allegory, I know what happens next. I know that the Greatest Author of All Time will write the character’s story, redeem their brokenness, and let in the…
Someday we should open a bookstore… We’ve said it to each other for years, from our first dates (siblings in tow!) at The Book Bin, to our honeymoon when we found every used bookstore in each town we visited (and came home with a stack of children’s books). We repeat it when we leave the…
I may have spent the better part of my childhood pretending I was Queen Lucy, but the Chronicles of Narnia and George MacDonald’s Scottish tales were as close as I got to Medieval fiction. Until our pastor’s wife offered me a copy of her book, Sirocco Wind from the East. And as I delved into…
Herbert and Alma were married on September 26, 1929. Just over one month later, the stock market crashed. By the time the effects of the Great Depression were felt in Ohio, Herbert was out of work and he and his new bride had to move in with his parents, Marion and May. They hadn’t fared…
An unopened letter. A childhood friend. A bootlegger “cousin.” It’s 1922 in the town of Emmett, Washington. Fluffy biscuits fresh from the oven to feed to paying boarders. The love of a precocious 4-year-old girl and the friendship of a maiden sister. The white three-story boarding house should be a domestic delight to 24-year-old Grace…
The Printed Letter Bookshop–a bookshop, not a bookstore, mind you–is where Aunt Maddie invested everything, including the money from Uncle Pete’s life insurance. And while it may not have shown great monetary profits, the close-knit community of friends she’d made is priceless.
The End.
The End.