Christian Fiction Favorites of 2020!

Christian Fiction Favorites of 2020!


    

Vying for the Viscount by Kristi Ann Hunter (Bethany House); Hearts on the Heath, book 1

To Steal a Heart by Jen Turano (Bethany House); Bleeker Street Inquiry Agency, book 1

A Gilded Lady by Elizabeth Camden (Bethany House); Hope and Glory, book 2

On Wings of Devotion by Roseanna M White (Bethany House); Codebreakers, book 2

 

A Portrait of Loyalty by Roseanna M White (Bethany House); Codebreakers, book 3

The Haunting at Bonaventure Circus by Jamie Jo Wright (Bethany House)

Stay With Me by Becky Wade (Bethany House); Misty River Romance, book 1

"Some Bright Someday" by Melissa Tagg - Maple Valley Romance, book 2

Lucas Danby has always regretted the decisions that caused his dishonorable discharge from the military—and he’s never stopped trying to redeem his honor. He's spent the past decade as an elite private soldier, but the high-risk work never cures his shame. Now he’s stuck mentoring a new recruit, and he's sick of lying to the people he cares about most—including the woman he’s secretly loved for years. Jenessa Belville is the last Belville left—and if she had her way, she'd leave the name and all its painful memories behind, which is exactly what she hopes to do once she sells the family estate. But on the same day she puts up the “For Sale” sign, she discovers three children hiding in the caretaker's cottage, thrusting her into the unexpected role of temporary guardian. Lucas offers to help Jenessa restore the Belville grounds. Though drawn together by a trio of kids who tug on their hearts and the sparks they can’t deny, past secrets and current sorrows threaten to pull them apart. Only the brightest love and hardest sacrifice can turn the house Jenessa never wanted into the home she and Lucas have always longed for.

I'm generally a historical fiction person rather than contemporary, but Melissa Tagg is an author I make an exception for every time. No traditional meet-cute for long-time friends Jenessa and Luke, but there are plenty of fun moments along the way, as well as heart-wrenching moments, anxiety-inducing moments, and supremely romantic moments guaranteed to satisfy. Jenessa is easy to like, but Luke is the one that just breaks the heart--the PTSD he still suffers, the unspoken love for Jenessa, his feelings of unworthiness. 

Kids are hard to portray realistically in books (they tend to be adorable or terrible, or worse, a plot device), but I think Tagg does a good job, especially with the eldest, Colie; I could picture pretty much every one of Colie's lines coming out of the mouth of a certain 12-year-old I know, including (or especially) the lines laden with Attitude. All three kids are great.

I'm really looking forward to Sam's story (assuming it's in the works?)--he's been on the periphery for so many books, and you can tell he's just miserable and in need of his own happy ending.

Maple Valley Romance
1. Now and Then and Always
2. Some Bright Someday

Related stories:

Walker Family
0.5: Three Little Words (novella)
1. From the Start
2. Like Never Before
3. Keep Holding On
4. All This Time

"A Maple Valley Romance" (published in Right Where We Belong collection of small-town novellas)

Enchanted Christmas Collection (now together in the omnibus Enchanted)
1. One Enchanted Christmas
2. One Enchanted Eve
3. One Enchanted Noel

"The Dress Shop on King Street" by Ashley Clark - Heirloom Secrets, book 1

Harper Albright has pinned all her hopes on a future in fashion design. But when it comes crashing down around her, she returns home to Fairhope, Alabama, and to Millie, the woman who first taught her to sew. As she rethinks her own future, secrets long hidden about Millie's past are brought to light. In 1946, Millie Middleton boarded a train and left Charleston to keep half of her heritage hidden. She carried with her two heirloom buttons and the dream of owning a dress store. She never expected to meet a charming train jumper who changed her life forever . . . and led her yet again to a heartbreaking choice about which heritage would define her future. Now, together, Harper and Millie return to Charleston and the man who may hold the answers they seek . . . and a chance at the dress shop they've both dreamed of. But it's not until all appears lost that they see the unexpected ways to mend what frayed between the seams.

This was so much more than a story about shared dreams of a dress shop. It's well-written, focusing on a period and place in history that I rarely see in novels--the Deep South in the late 1940's-60's.

Millie's story was not at all what I was expecting--she is a woman of mixed race in a time where races did not mix, and for safety has to hide her heritage (and make decisions that could break a weaker person). The intellectual part of me realizes that stories like hers were not uncommon, but as I've grown up so far removed from the culture of that time, it's hard to accept the reality of it. Her story is poignant and heart-breaking, yet not without joy and hope. 

I do think Harper has a tendency to give up too easily--my first thought was that she should have defended her dress to her professor; how can you succeed in the cutthroat world of fashion if you can't stand up for yourself? Though truthfully I saw some of my worse flaws in her, and could see myself making the same mistakes (not a pleasant self-revelation). Like her, I love sewing vintage-style dresses, and I don't take criticism well, though when dreams are crushed and life falls apart, I hope I wouldn't go quite so far off the deep end as she does. 

Thank you Bethany House and NetGalley for the complimentary e-book. I was not required to write a positive review, and all opinions are my own.

Heirloom Secrets
1. The Dress Shop on King Street
2. Paint and Nectar

"A Castaway in Cornwall" by Julie Klassen

Now living with her parson uncle and his parsimonious wife in North Cornwall, Laura Callaway is viewed as an outsider even as she yearns to belong somewhere again. When ships sink, wreckers scour the shore for valuables, while Laura searches for clues to the lives lost. She has written letters to loved ones and returned keepsakes to rightful owners. When a man is washed ashore, she collects him too. As Laura and a neighbor care for the castaway, the mystery surrounding him grows. He has abrasions and a deep cut that looks suspiciously like a knife wound, and he speaks in careful, educated English, yet his accent seems odd. Other clues wash ashore, and Laura soon realizes he is not who he seems to be. Their attraction grows, and while she longs to return the man to his rightful home, evidence against him mounts. With danger pursuing them from every side, will Laura ever find the answers and love she seeks?

Wreckers. smugglers, spies--this book was full of clandestine pursuits, much of which just being the way of life in Regency-era Cornwall (though less the spies, and more the wreckers and smugglers). I loved the setting and the look at such a different way of life--maybe not one I'd want to live, but one that was fascinating to read about. The brief look at the isle of Jersey was something completely new for me--I'd known only about its existence, not that it had a role in the Napoleonic wars. For once, there wasn't a clear delineation that British are good and French are bad; it was much murkier. The French showed divided ideologies, as they themselves had experienced several regime changes, and loyalties didn't necessarily transfer. And in the more remote parts of England, patriotism couldn't compete with full bellies, not when full bellies were anything but guaranteed, so people looked aside from things that could be construed as treason or aiding the enemy.

This was a story that didn't follow an expected formula; I didn't foresee Alexander's identity, nor Laura's actions following his reveal. It's a pleasure to read a book in which I have no idea where it's going, other than hopefully a happy ending (and don't worry, it does make it there!). 

Thank you Bethany House and NetGalley for the complimentary e-book. I was not required to write a positive review, and all opinions are my own.