Tag Archives: Christian fiction

Review: Consider the Sunflowers, by Elma Schemenauer

Consider the Sunflowers, by Elma Schemenauer (Borealis Press, 2014)

In 1940s Saskatchewan, Tina Janz schemes to win the man who fascinates her, instead of the rich-but-boring man who impresses her Mennonite parents. Tina and Frank marry for love—or at least fascination—but it’s a rocky trail. They each have insecurities, attitudes and suspicions, and Tina is keeping a secret that may come back to hurt them both.

Consider the Sunflowers is a skillfully crafted literary novel that opens a window onto small-town life in World War Two-era western Canada. Little snippets of news and daily life help us understand the times, while Tina’s and Frank’s efforts to save their marriage will resonate with readers today.

Readers learn about Mennonite culture and prairie life, and about feeling like an outsider. There is a spiritual thread that’s organic to the novel, but it’s not about preaching. It’s about how the believers live their lives. Frank is honest about his inability to believe.

We also see the effects of self-pity, complaining, self-exclusion and manipulation, and in the seeing we may gain insight into our own lives. There’s a point in the story where Tina sees an amplified negative trait in another character and realizes she needs to change herself. As we watch her begin to change, it might inspire us to do the same.

My favourite lines:

Now she [Tina] was clinging to faith by her fingertips. One gust of wind and she’d reel off into some howling void of—what? She didn’t know; she’d never not believed before. [Kindle location 1408]

Adeline. The woman was like a poisoned well. She claimed Jesus poured springs of living water into her heart. Maybe he did, but Adeline poisoned them with her rudeness as fast as he poured them in. [Kindle location 1462]

He [Frank’s father] always shouted during long-distance phone conversations because they cost so much. [Kindle location 2184]

Do you remember old people shouting on long-distance calls? I do. I always thought they shouted because the sound had to travel so far.

Canadian author Elma Schemenauer is the author of 75 books and the editor of many more. Consider the Sunflowers is her first novel for adults. For more about the author and her novel, please visit her website. Or check out my interview with Frank Warkentin.

Paperback 299 pages $19.95, ISBN 978-0-88887-575-4, AVAILABLE FROM THE PUBLISHER, Borealis Press. Also available online at Chapters Indigo by about November 15. E-book coming in 2015.

[Review copy provided by the publisher.]

Review: Blind Trust, by Sandra Orchard

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Blind Trust, by Sandra Orchard (Revell Publishing, 2014)

This is not a book to read at bedtime, because Sandra Orchard is too good at motivating readers to turn “just one more page.” The tension is high, in part due to Kate’s tendencies to seize whatever opportunity she sees to get to the bottom of the mystery.

Blind Trust is book 2 in the Port Aster Secrets series, and if you jump in here you’ll understand all you need to know, but I highly recommend starting at the beginning with Deadly Devotion (read my review here).

Kate Adams is still grieving for her friend, Daisy, who died in the previous book, and she’s afraid the killer may yet duck justice. Suddenly someone’s out to sabotage Kate’s reputation, and she’s acquired a stalker.

In the middle of looking after herself, she also dives into protecting her elderly neighbour from being forced into long-term care.

That’s the thing about Kate: she has a big heart, and she acts before she thinks. Which is why Detective Tom Parker has such a hard time keeping her safe. He doesn’t dare act on his feelings for her – emotion clouded his judgement in the past, and cost his partner’s life.

The irony of this story is, as Kate finally learns to trust a cop – Tom – even to trust him blindly, he has to deceive her in order to save her life.

Favourite line:

The softly spoken word flitted around her chest, touching here and there like a tiny bird looking for the perfect place to nest. [page 76, Kindle version]

Canadian author Sandra Orchard has delivered another compelling read, blending a solid plot with complex characters, and leaving readers waiting for the next book in the series. Deadly Devotion won in the suspense category in The Word Awards this year, and I won’t be surprised if Blind Trust does the same next year. For more about the author and her books, visit sandraorchard.com. Be sure to check out the bonus features on the Blind Trust page.

[Review copy from my personal library.]

New Release and Giveaways

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Secrets and Lies released Nov. 5, and a huge thank you to everyone who bought a copy or spread the word. Because of you, the novel hit a few of Amazon’s “hot new release” lists, which helped more people find it.

Two giveaways are happening now:

at author Deborah M. Piccurelli’s site
at author Emilie Hendryx’s site

Print copies are available through Amazon and Barnes & Noble (for Halifax-area readers: Miracles Christian Store will also be carrying them). Canadians, Amazon.ca says the book “usually ships in 1-3 months” — when ordered, a copy will be printed in the US, shipped to the Canadian distribution site, and then sent to the customer. I don’t suspect it’ll really take even one month. They just want you to know it’s not sitting in their warehouse ready to go.

Tomorrow (Nov. 8) is my local book launch, thanks to UPS’s super-fast delivery of my books. (I’d originally set the launch for the end of the month, to allow time for shipping and for delays at customs.) If you’re in the Halifax area, stop and say hello, and maybe grab a cookie or two. We’ll have a brief reading, some door prizes, snacks, and oh yes, books for sale!

tags: giveaway, Secrets and Lies, Redemption’s Edge, romantic suspense, Christian fiction, book reviews, giveaway, book launch, Janet Sketchley,

Review: Sweetened with Honey, by Valerie Comer

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Sweetened With Honey, by Valerie Comer (GreenWords Media, 2014)

Of the three friends who set out to demonstrate sustainable living on Green Acres farm, Sierra Riehl is the only one who’s still single. She’s glad Jo and Claire found such loving husbands, and she appreciates the skills the men have brought to the farm, but sometimes she feels like the odd woman out. And she’s pushing thirty.

Sierra wants to be in love, wants to get married and have children, but if she’s not careful she’ll settle for the only guy in town who’s taken an interest – even though her friends all think he’s selfish and arrogant. Then Gabe Rubachuk (from Raspberries and Vinegar) returns to town. Despite the past, Gabe is the one Sierra has been wishing for. Except he’s still grieving and doesn’t know how to move forward.

Gabe and Sierra do a lot of angsting over one another, especially at first. I confess to a bit of trouble relating to Sierra, likely because she keeps thinking of Tyrell as a viable option for a life partner. (As an action reader, I kind of hoped someone would deck him before the novel ended, but author Valerie Comer demonstrates a more mature Christian attitude toward him. I suspect he may grow up and be someone’s love interest in a later story.)

It’s always fun to take another virtual visit to the farm, and to see how the project is growing. Sweetened With Honey takes place three years after Raspberries and Vinegar, and although the farm hasn’t become the event destination its founders had hoped, they’ve added beekeeping and guided hiking. I learned a bit about bees!

I enjoy the rural and environmentally-conscious atmosphere of this series, and watching how the characters’ ideals are affected by the realities of life – and by their Christian values. It’s good to spend time with realistic characters (flaws and all) as they work through their issues. Sierra’s dealing with the biological clock and her health, and Gabe with grief. If we haven’t been there, we will – or our friends will. Fiction lets us explore common struggles so we’re better prepared to face them in reality.

Sweetened With Honey is book 3 in the Farm Fresh Romance series, with three more to follow. Book 1, Raspberries and Vinegar, won a 2014 Word Award in the Romance category. Author Valerie Comer is a Canadian local-food advocate. Visit her website for tips and recipes: valeriecomer.com.

[Review copy from my personal library.]

Secrets and Lies: preorder special

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I’m very excited to announce that Secrets and Lies is available to pre-order in ebook format. Print copies are in the works, too. Click the image or click the following link to visit the Secrets and Lies book page, complete with more information (including a sample chapter) and purchase links. If you’re planning to read it as an ebook, grab it now for 99 cents (slightly higher outside the US).

Review: Veiled at Midnight, by Christine Lindsay

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Veiled at Midnight, by Christine Lindsay (WhiteFire Publishing, 2014)

Veiled at Midnight is a strong conclusion to Christine Lindsay’s Twilight of the British Raj series. If you haven’t read the previous two books, you can jump in here and understand everything, but Cam’s and Miriam’s back-stories do contain spoilers for the other books. And it’s a series well worth reading in its entirety.

Cam was a young child in book 1, Shadowed in Silk, and Miriam is his younger sister. Now adults, he’s in the army and she’s a teacher. The year is 1946; the place, India. These are the final days of British rule, but instead of happiness over the coming independence, the country is fracturing from within.

Because Cam and Miriam grew up in India, very involved in the work of a local mission for orphans, they feel more Indian than British. The idea of repatriating to England unsettles them. Cam’s war experiences add to his struggle, which he tries to drown in alcohol.

In a time of strict views on social status, dare Cam marry his childhood sweetheart, Dassah – an Indian? Can he live without her? And will Miriam be able to choose between a dashing British soldier and her career? Or can she hold onto both?

The siblings’ personal lives play out against the exotic background of India, during an increasingly turbulent time.

In some ways this was a difficult book to read. Author Christine Lindsay does a very good job of conveying the horror of the riots and fighting without becoming too graphic. With the current behaviour of ISIS and other religious terrorist groups, this historical novel feels uncomfortably current.

Yet against a background laced with tragedy, the novel weaves stories of hope. Another contemporary issue addressed in its pages is alcoholism. This is a Christian novel, and the author is clear in her message that only God can break the grip of this addiction. As we see, that doesn’t mean it’s easy for Cam. What it means is that it’s too hard for Cam – without God.

Favourite lines:

She’d been a striking woman, but it seemed as if someone had taken a charcoal drawing of her face and smudged it downward. [Kindle location 1716]

The rails leading out of the Amritsar station caught the last vestiges of setting sun and quivered in two molten lines of steel. [Kindle location 2110]

How could one’s heart sing and crack at the same time? [Kindle location 2252]

Eshana’s rebuke left welts on the raw patch that used to be Cam’s self-respect. [Kindle location 2326]

Christine Lindsay writes novels to give hope and to strengthen faith. As such, she doesn’t shy away from difficult issues but allows readers to walk through those places with her characters. As well as the Twilight of the British Raj series, Christine has written a contemporary romance, Londonderry Dreaming.

[Review copy provided by the author.]

Meet Patrick Stairs

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At 35 years of age, Patrick Stairs has a good life, carefully built. He has a rewarding and prestigious position as a senior investment consultant, and office gossip pegs him as the VP’s replacement within the next year.

He works long hours, plays racquetball at his club three times a week, and is a regular at business and social functions. A man with many acquaintances, but no close friends.

Patrick’s been walking empty for three years now, since his wife, Rita, lost their fight with the brain tumour. He tried every kind of treatment, to save her. When the expenses grew too extreme, Patrick began handling certain discreet deliveries. Amazing, how many executives in the city spice up their lives with drugs.

Now the boss – Lear – has tagged him with a new assignment. Carol Daniels. Pretty. Blond. With no idea Lear has her in his sights. She’ll know soon enough. Patrick pities anyone who had to deal with the drug lord. Including himself.

It’s not a hard assignment. Take a few meals at the café where Carol works, feed information back to Lear. She’s attractive enough. Patrick can feign interest for the time it takes to gain her trust.

Success could mean release from Lear’s clutches. Or so the drug lord promised. But the only promises Lear keeps are threats.

"Curse Lear and his string pulling. Someday the drug lord would get what was coming. Patrick just hoped he'd be there to see it."

Meet Joey Hill

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Joey Hill is an ordinary-looking guy with a wispy moustache and a wide smile. He jokes that people expect him to be bigger, to fit his nose.

Joey was a popular radio personality on Canada’s West Coast until a very public disgrace cost him his job, his relationships and his freedom. He’d tell you the one good thing about losing everything is that he found Jesus. Or Jesus found him.

Now he’s starting over in a new city, hosting a late-night all-request oldies radio show. And lucky to have a job in the field he loves. The hours are terrible, the pay is worse.

Next to the music, his callers are the best part of the job. Mostly they chat about sports scores, movies, singers and songs. But something about the faceless contact with a friendly voice lets some of the regulars open up to him. That’s when Joey feels they cross the divide from acquaintances to friends—even if he’d never recognize them on the sidewalk.

Those calls are where he tries to make a difference, by his words or with a listening ear, and with a little prayer after he says goodbye.

He’s never felt driven to actually meet a radio friend before, but there’s this one woman, Carol. Joey can’t get her out of his mind. From the little she’s shared, he knows there’s a lot of pain in her past.

She sounds like she could use a friend. Carol’s very private, though, almost paranoid. She’d never agree to meet him in person.

When an opportunity to meet her drops into Joey’s lap, he takes it. Just to be a friend. Until he figures out how to do life as a man of faith, he doesn’t dare complicate it with a relationship. The protective surge he gets when he’s talking to her? Friends are protective. That’s all it is. Really.

Ron stretched out his palm for the car keys. "Do yourself a favour, Joe, don't do anything stupid." Joey snorted. "That's my new motto for life."

Meet Paul Daniels

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Keeping secrets? Just a few.

Paul Daniels is sixteen years old and living a double life. If his mother knew he was playing in a band, she’d freak. So she won’t find out.

Paul needs the music like he needs to breathe. It’s something he inherited from his father. The only plus about Mom dragging him half-way across the country to start a new life is the chance to take guitar lessons from Mr. Morelli. Paul works after school at the music store to pay for lessons. And he’s in a new band with some friends.

It’s hard fitting school work into his schedule, so Paul asked one of the class brains to help with his math. Bonus for him, she’s kind of cute. But he wouldn’t dare try adding a relationship into his jam-packed life.

He could never make it with Tara-Lynn anyway. He’s hiding too much. She’d be sympathetic about how his younger brother died of a drug overdose, but the anonymous caller who’s threatening his mom would scare her away. If that didn’t do it, hearing about his convict uncle would.

Is a sixteen-year-old even allowed to exchange letters with a dangerous offender? But Paul wants to know if his Uncle Harry has really changed. Now it sounds like Mom may have to write to the man, and Harry knows about the band. It all comes down to whether a convicted killer can keep a secret.

Sex and drugs and rock-n-roll--playing in a band is the least dangerous of the three. It's all Paul Daniels needs, but if his mom finds out, he's toast.

Meet Carol Daniels

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If you’ve read Heaven’s Prey, you may remember that Harry Silver has a sister, Carol Silver Daniels. Secrets and Lies is Carol’s story, and it takes place chronologically between the final chapter of Heaven’s Prey and the epilogue.

Heaven’s Prey is psychological suspense, and pretty intense in places. Secrets and Lies has a lighter tone, and it’s romantic suspense. I hope you’ll enjoy it.

With Secrets and Lies releasing next month, I want to introduce some of my fictional friends. So… meet Carol Daniels.

Carol is a 30-something single mom, starting over in Toronto after an anonymous creep threatened her son, Paul. She didn’t tell Paul that’s why they left Calgary—why she dyed her dark hair honey ash and cut it short, why she started wearing glasses with non-corrective lenses. Why she’s so “controlling,” to use her son’s word for it.

Paul is sixteen and pushing the limits she sets. He’s a good kid, does well enough in school, but she can’t stop worrying that he’ll end up like his father: a loser musician who loved the spotlight—and the female fans—more than he loved his wife and sons.

I say “sons” because Carol and Skip had two, both from teen pregnancy. Carol would tell you life got easier once Skip died in a car wreck, but losing her other son nearly killed her. Keith was only twelve when he died of a drug overdose. If she hadn’t still had Paul to care for, and Keith’s dog, she’d never have kept her sanity.

No wonder a threat on Paul’s life sent her fleeing half-way across the country.

Why would someone threaten an innocent teen? Technically, the guy threatened them both, but he did suggest that her son was an easier target. As for why? Carol’s estranged brother is a dangerous offender: Harry Silver. You may have read about him in Heaven’s Prey. Harry’s enemies can’t touch him directly, but his family are walking around unprotected.

That’s what the note said, and that’s why Carol and Paul relocated with no forwarding address.

These days Carol works at the Sticky Fingers Café, baking desserts and waiting tables. She’s trying to keep anonymous in this new city, and outside of work she hasn’t met many people. Is it sad that speed dial #1 on her phone is the late-night deejay on the local oldies station? And #2 is a friend in Calgary?

Carol loves to bake, especially with chocolate. When the nightmares wake her, she’ll often whip up a pan of brownies or a batch of cookies. She’ll make herself a cup of tea—peppermint is her favourite—and ask for a Billy Joel song on the all-request oldies show. The deejay, Joey, is easy to talk to. And he doesn’t know who—or where—she is, so she’s safe.

What else do I need to tell you about Carol? She’s not as safe as she thinks she is. What’s coming is more than she can handle on her own. And she won’t pray for help, not after what happened the last time she tried prayer.

Carol quote

You can meet Carol, Paul, Joey and a few others this November in Secrets and Lies, Redemption’s Edge Book 2.