The first Wednesday of each month, Carolyn Astfalk hosts #OpenBook, where bloggers link posts about books they’ve read recently. Here’s a taste of what I’ve been reading:

Christmas (which deserves its own category at this time of year)

A Very Chapel Falls Christmas

by Amanda Lauer

This brand-new Christmas novel has it all: a couple who broke up but never fell out of love, a beautiful and talented villain who wants to break them up for good, and a small town with enough Christmas festivals on the calendar to leave Santa too tired to make his Christmas-Eve rounds. And it’s all tied up in a ribbon of faith. This short, sweet romance is the perfect accompaniment to fireside cookies and hot chocolate. (Advance copy provided for review)

 

Christmas with a Crank

by Courtney Walsh

Set on a Christmas tree farm, this grumpy/sunshine novel brings together childhood crushes Liam and Olive, who were separated in middle school when Liam’s family moved to the tree farm. Now the farm is to be sold, and Olive’s been hired to help make the last Christmas at the farm a magical one — but Liam has never felt the magic and definitely doesn’t want to. Instead, he focuses on the beautiful artwork Olive had created but hadn’t been able to sell when she opened a small business.

 

An Evergreen Christmas (The Christmas Lights Collection)

by Jaycee Weaver, Cathe Swanson, Chautona Hauvig, and Teresa Tisinger

So far I’ve only read the first book in this box set, and I don’t believe the novellas are connected. Cooking up Christmas by Jaycee Weaver. I lost track of the number of coincidences in this story, but that was part of its charm rather than being an annoyance. This delightful novella features an overwhelmed restauranteur and a young woman who’d left town years before after failing to live up to her parents’ high expectations. The two fall for each other but try to keep it platonic while planning an anniversary party for a couple who owns a tree farm and do everything Christmas-related in the most over-the-top way possible. I look forward to the other stories in this set. (UPDATED to add: these are Christian novellas, and I’m up to the fourth one now. One of the stories had an unnecessary slam on Catholics, which was not appreciated.)

 

The Christmas Cookie Wars

by Eliza Evans

This story was extra fun because it includes hilarious 12-year-old twins. Their single mom, Melody has a crush on Jonathan, the school principal, and even though she can’t cook a thing and doesn’t have the time for this, she takes over a series of baking-themed events as a school fundraiser after the local Queen Bee Mom bails out. This soon becomes a bake-off between Melody and Jonathan, even as events are sabotaged and it looks like one of Melody’s sons is involved. I got a big kick out of the kids.

 

A Wood-Fired Christmas (A Mistletoe Kisses Romance)

by Maddie Evans

I don’t think I’d every read a book set in a pizza shop before. Ezra has been running a pizza shop for years, but the absentee owner has just delegated his niece to take over … and that doesn’t sit well with someone who’s happy keeping things just the way they are. As Lacey seeks to innovate to improve business at Loveless Pizza, Ezra digs in his heels because he’s afraid of hurting the business. Maddie Evans writes some of the best banter out there, and this story is no exception. Warning: you will want pizza while reading this book.

Fiction

Misshelved Magic (The Liminal Library Book 1)

by S.R. Crickard

I don’t usually read speculative fiction, but how could I resist a novel set in one of my favorite kinds of places: a library? This is a beautifully written book that immediately drew me in despite my hesitancy about the genre. Adelina and Leon live in a world of magic, but not everyone in that world has magical gifts. Adelina does not, but she works in a library that houses all the spells in the world. Leon is a student at the university and must come up with an original final project that incorporates his magical gifts. When Adelina steps into the forbidden magical section of the library to return a misshelved spell, she encounters mysterious creatures who seek to protect the library and its visitors from dangerous magic. Leon begins to act as a go-between to keep a power-hungry king and his followers from accessing magic that could imperil the whole nation. If you’ve never read a novel in this genre before, don’t let that stop you! (Advance review copy provided by the publisher)

 

Library Lovebirds

by Katie Fitzgerald

There’s nothing I enjoy more than a nice 350-page novel, but Katie Fitzgerald has a real way with short stories, including really short stories, and I admire her ability to set a scene in a small space. There are six short stories in this collection, all library themed. Grab this one for your Kindle, and enjoy these fun episodes when you have only a few free moments to read.

 

Thanksgiving on Johnson Creek

by Hillary Ibarra

(Full disclosure: I edited this book, as well as two others in the series.) Hillary Ibarra is an exceptional storyteller and makes the reader feel as if they’re right there with the family of six in 1970s rural Tennessee. As autumn comes to Johnson Creek, the family prepares for winter and hardworking parents Jack and Karen agree to help a neighbor and find themselves trying to broker a reunion among estranged members of the neighbor’s family, unwittingly becoming separated from their own children as a storm threatens to keep them apart for Thanksgiving.  This book is the last in a series, but you can read it as a standalone.

 

YA/Children’s

The Devil’s Ransom (Harwood Mysteries Book 6)

by Antony Barone Kolenc

The stakes couldn’t get higher in The Devil’s Ransom, the final book in the Harwood Mysteries series by Antony Barone Kolenc: Xan is now a married man, on a dangerous journey and responsible for not only his wife, but his friend Lucy and her hapless brother. His objective is to rescue his uncle, who’s been captured by the Moors, and return to England to reboot his uncle’s merchant trade. This time, he’s not going to be rescued by his uncle, Lucy’s father, or one of the monks who raised him after he was orphaned. This time, he’s on his own. (Advance review copy received from author.) Read my full review.

Links to books in this post are Amazon affiliate links. Your purchases made through these links support Franciscanmom.com. Thank you!

Where noted, books are review copies. If that is not indicated, I either purchased the book myself or borrowed it from the library.

Visit today’s #OpenBook post to join the linkup or just get some great ideas about what to read! You’ll find it at Carolyn Astfalk’s A Scribbler’s Heart and at CatholicMom.com!

 

---

Copyright 2024 Barb Szyszkiewicz
Images copyright 2023 Carolyn Astfalk, all rights reserved, used with permission