Top Ten Tuesday - Featuring Books With Water

Happy Tuesday!!! We're just about out of summer so today's topic for Top Ten Tuesday is books with water on the cover, in the book, etc. I chose books with some form of water on the cover. I actually have a mixture of new releases and older books.

 What are the books you'd add that have to do with water? 

Top Ten Tuesday - Character's I'd Love To Have As A Best Friend

Happy Tuesday and welcome to another edition of Top Ten Tuesday! I'm doing a past topic instead of today's topic. There are so many character's I'd love to have as a best friend. Here's a just a few of them . . .

ONE - Mia from Breach of Trust by Rachel Dylan. Mia is smart and fearless which is something I highly admire! Plus, it never hurts to have a lawyer for a best friend. 😉😉

TWO- Liberty from For the Love of Liberty by Julie Lessman. Liberty is a firecracker and both snarky and sassy. I'm very snarky and sassy so it would be tons of fun to see how much trouble the two of us could get into.

THREE- Aven from Sons of Blackbird Mountain by Joanne Bischof. Aven is creative, kind and dedicated. She's the kind of person that would be able to provide a positive outlook on a personal struggle. A true friend!

FOUR- Melody from Brunch at Bittersweet Cafe' by Carla Laureano. Melody can cook and having a friend is always a great thing. She would be able to teach me how to make macrons!

FIVE - Cadie from Wooing Cadie McCaffrey by Bethany Turner. Cadie is a pop culture wiz, and is just plain fun. My kinda best friend!

SIX - Laurel from My Heart Belongs in the Blue Ridge by Pepper Basham. Laurel reminds me a lot of my oldest daughter, Stefani, who is one of my best friends. Laurel is protective, helpful, and caring.

SEVEN - Temperance Flowerdew from Caught by Surprise by Jen Turano. Temperance speaks her mind, and is very snarky. I love those characteristics.

EIGHT - Leigh Ann Blackburn from Sister's by Kellie Coates Gilbert. Leigh Ann doesn't give up, she has a determined personality which is something I desire within myself and having a best friend with that quality would be a great encouragement.

NINE - Alexandra from To Wager Her Heart by Tamera Alexander. Alexandra is a survivor and doesn't complain. Something I strive for.

TEN - Tempe from A Moonbow Night by Laura Frantz. Tempe is a frontier tracker, can shoot, and is an all around perfect woman for the frontier life. I just think all of that stuff is cool and the stories she could tell you would be fun.


Now, it's your turn! Tell me the character(s), you'd love to be best friends with in the comments!

The Good, and The Bad, It's All Relative

Today's Top Ten Tuesday is platonic relationships in books. It seems appropriate that since we just finished our first family overload holiday of the season with another one right around the corner to share some books featuring family that won't argue or fight with you.


Most of these books feature sisters, and since I didn't grow up with one and always wanted one, stories featuring big families and sisters are some of my most favorite stories.

 Julie Lessman's Daughter's of Boston series introduced me to not only Julie but a large family with three sisters that will drive you crazy!

Laura Frantz's Ballantyne Legacy is such a fabulous sisterly saga.

Beth K. Vogt explores sister bonds in this drama filled book.

Joanne Bischof's book has brothers in it. Not that the others don't have brother siblings but this one is all about brothers and their bonds.

This is book one of Jody Hedlund's Orphan Train series.

Becky Wade writes wonderful family dramas. This is book two of her Bradford Sister's series.

Debby Mayne has started quite the family drama saga in her new series The Bucklin Family Reunion series.

Lindsay Harrel creates a sister drama with travel in this book. If you're an armchair traveler like me don't miss this book.

Kellie Coates Gilbert's website says it best . . . stories for mothers, sisters, and daughters.












What are some of your favorite family saga books? Have you read any of my favorites?

Hope By the Book . . . Bookish Fun Magazine

A few months ago I was asked by the amazing Meez Carrie of Reading is My SuperPower if I'd be interested in being a reviewer for a new book magazine. I didn't even think about it I said YES, ABSOLUTELY!!! Little did I know when I said yes, I couldn't say anything until the magazine launched which is November 2018. If you know me even a tiny bit, I am not good at keeping secrets.

I have been set free!!!! I can say that I am a contributing reviewer and this was what I was talking about in my September Wrap Up post.

Our website is live and you can now order a subscription. My followers can get their subscription for a year at the price of $16.95 using the code BOOKISH at check-out.


And one of my reviews is live there. I just found it. You can read my review of A Secret to Die For by Lisa Harris here.


Since today is technically Top Ten Tuesday which the topic is author's you want to meet. Well, the list is very, very long. But, I have pictures of me with three authors I've had the pleasure of meeting.

I will tell you that Julie Lessman, Laura Frantz, Becky Wade, Katie Ganshert, Courtney Walsh, Jen Turano, Sandra Byrd, Pepper Basham, Rachel Hauck, Tosca Lee, and James Rubart are on the short list.

 Kellie Coates Gilbert and I at her book signing here in Boise, Idaho. She's from Carey, Idaho which is near Sun Valley. She lives in Texas now, and I've gotten to see her twice. We connected  when I reviewed her debut novel A Mother of Pearl.

Mesu Andrews is one of my favorite biblical fiction authors. So, when her and her husband Roy were moving from the west to the east they stayed overnight here in Boise where my husband and I met them at the hotel they were staying.

Her new book Of Fire and Lions is up for pre-order click the cover, which by the way is absolutely gorgeous, to order.




















Angela Ruth Strong and I met by complete accident when I was at Barnes and Noble catching up with Kellie Coates Gilbert. Kellie actually thought we already knew each other. Through a few misses Angela and I actually were able to set up a date for coffee, which was more like lunch. Angela lives here in Boise just about twenty minutes from me here in Nampa.

Books are Read, Paper is White, Don't Be Blue, Find a New Summer Read Tonight

In honor of Fourth of July tomorrow, the Top Ten Tuesday's topic is red, white and blue covers. Look for my A Few Good Men post tomorrow spotlighting swoony men in both military and first responder books.

RED

Kimberley Woodhouse

Brandilyn Collins

Kellie Coates Gilbert

James L. Rubart

WHITE

Patricia Beal

Rachel Hauck

Beth White

Janice Thompson

AND

BLUE

Rachel Hauck
James L Rubart
Laura Frantz
Susan Meissner
Sarah Sundin
Susan Ann Mason


Here are books that have all 
 RED, WHITE 
AND, BLUE

on their covers.

Candace Calvert

Melody Carlson

Jen Turano

Becky Wade

Julie Lessman

Top Ten Tuesday - Favorite Troublemakers

This week's Top Ten Tuesday topic is characters I loved that were in Non favored/disliked books. Fair to say but if I didn't like the book then I probably didn't like any of the characters. Plus, I can't think of one book that I didn't care for but loved the character. So, I'm going rogue this week and posting my favorite troublemakers. I was going to do villains but most of the books I read have a character or two that just cause trouble.
You'll probably recognize some of these characters as the books have been featured on my blog over the years.

Tuck the father from A Woman of Fortune. . . he makes a mess of things causing a nightmare for his family to clean up.

Tara from Deliver Us From Darkness

Aunt Andra from Love's Fortune . . . she's not very nice to Wren which made me want to sock her!

Ben . . . from Unfailing Love (Isle of Hope #1) . . . Lacey's surgeon father who kicked her out years ago and is still kind of a putz when Lacey returns.

Stella from Love Arrives in Pieces . . . while she's the heroine she sort of gets in her own way.

Captain Luke Whitfield from Mist of Midnight . . . even though he's the hero, the heroine finds him in her family's home which he's claimed as his. Might make romance a little hard.

Sweetness from Fetching Sweetness . . . A lovable dog is the troublemaker in this cute canine book, and she gives the heroine a run for her money, literally.

Prince Nikola from Firstborn  . . . He's determined to kill the heroine over a secret she now remembers.

Charity from A Passion Denied . . . you knew one of the O'Connor girls would be apart of this list, huh?! Charity is a troublemaker with a capital T!

Jack from A Hope Undaunted . . . Katie's boyfriend who is determined to "encourage" her to do things that get her in trouble with her father, Patrick.

And there you have it! My favorite troublemakers! Looking at your current read or the one you just finished who's the troublemaker? Let me know in the comments!

Radiant Light's Spring Break Reading Suggestions

I am unveiling a new blog feature today. My reading suggestions based on time, holiday, genre. . . whatever sounds like a fun category. I'm not sure how often I will do this, but I will feature some of my favorite books.

Here on the West Coast, Spring Break begins this weekend I thought it was the perfect time to unveil my new feature and give you some great reading suggestions for your Spring Break.

My review link will give you both the synopsis and links to purchase the book.

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Here's a few novella's that are usually very quick reads, just in case you want to read but may not have as much time.

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I hope you have a great Spring Break and let me know in the comments what you'd like to see in this new feature.