Scattered: an impressive debut novel

Scattered, by Nola Lorraine is a fabulous debut inspirational historical fiction novel. Set in Victorian-era Nova Scotia, the novel employs quite a few genre elements such as historical, mystery, and romance–something for every reader. Maggie is on a quest. Her siblings have been sent from England to Canada as part of the Home Children Migrant …

Fiction Friday | The Woman in the Green Dress by Tea Cooper

The Woman in the Green Dress was initially published in Australia and has now been republished by Thomas Nelson, an imprint of HarperCollins Christian Publishing. I can’t say there was anything overtly Christian about the novel—there was definitely no clear faith element. There was no bad language, sex, or violence, and there was a disgust …

Book Review | Write Better by Andrew T LePeau

Write Better had some ideas I disliked or disagreed with. Le Peau even appeared to contradict himself on a couple of points. But it’s definitely a book worth reading, because the good far outweighs the less good. I found three main faults with the book. First, Le Peau points out the importance of a great …

Throwback Thursday | Write Smart, Write Happy by Cheryl St. John

It’s Throwback Thursday, and today I’m resharing my review of Write Smart, Write Happy by Cheryl St. John, an inspiring book about the writer mindset. I thought this was going to be a book about writing—and it is. And it isn’t. It isn’t what I was expecting (which was something about how to write better). …

Book Review | A Girl’s Guide to the Outback by Jessica Kate

A Girl’s Guide to the Outback takes Kimberly and Sam from Jessica Kate’s debut, Love and Other Mistakes, and transplants them to Sam’s family farm in the Australian Outback. Sam is convinced he’s a failure, so quits Wildfire, the youth mission he founded. When he gets home, he finds his sister Jules with a broken …

Book Review | The Camera Never Lies by David Rawlings

Australian author David Rawlings has just won a 2019 Christy Award for his debut novel, The Baggage Handler. Congratulations, David! But how does his second novel, The Camera Never Lies, fare in comparison? Personally, I think it’s even better. Now, not everyone will agree with me. One of the strengths of The Baggage Handler was …

Fiction Friday | Carry Me Away by Dorothy Adamek

Miss Ada Carmichael and her family are immigrating to Australia on the Black Swallow. Tom Darley is a member of the crew. They are about to become the only two survivors of a tragic shipwreck, and turns them into national darlings. But Ada doesn’t want to be a national darling. She wants to escape, hide, …

Fiction Friday – ‘Out of the Cages’ by Penny Jaye

About the Book Fifteen-year-old Meena has given up all hope of ever escaping the brothel.For three years she’s locked away her memories – of home, of her childhood friend, of what it means to hope. But when a botched police raid offers her a chance at freedom, Meena must face the truth about her past. …

HIDDEN THORNS – A True Story by Marie-Rose Fox

About the book No one ever fully recovers from the death of a child. Marie-Rose Fox wanted to be someone who was happy—not hiding from the world, or bitter and angry. She knew that forgiveness was the way to peace, but how could she ever forgive her daughter’s murderer? Though the murder was violent and …

Book Recommendation – Across the Blue by Carrie Turansky

Today I’m sharing a book recommendation from our ACW archives. Last weekend Carrie Turansky’s historical romance novel Across the Blue was announced as a finalist in the 2019 ACFW Carol Award. Congratulations Carrie! From the publisher: Isabella Grayson, the eldest daughter of a wealthy, English newspaper magnate, longs to become a journalist, but her parents …