The Long List of Top Books and Authors of 2019 (Lizzie)

I'm not finished reading for the year yet, but since this is my last post of the year, I decided to dedicate it to my favorite books and authors of the year so far. I actually, for the first time, keep a list of the books I read. It's been really fun to see how many I actually read (or started previously and finished). The total for full-length books (fiction and non-fiction) is 37! I also read 7 novella-length books! I read fewer non-fiction books this year (and only finished one writing book), so I will have to work on that in 2020, but I "discovered" novellas this year, which was a pleasant surprise. As for favorite books this year, I couldn't do a Top 3 Books because I loved so many of them, so I'm breaking them down into categories. :)

Top 3 Most Read Authors of 2019

There were many authors this year (some new to me) who convinced me to read a second book, or third, or more. One stands out a little more than the rest...

1. WR Gingell with 8 novels and 2 novellas (Lady of Dreams, Lady of Weeds, Spindle, and the addicting City Between series currently consisting of 5 novels and 2 novellas)

2. Christopher Healy with his three delightful and hilarious The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom middle grade stories.

3. H.L. Burke with Nyssa Glass House of Mirrors, To Court a Queen, and Spellsmith and Carver Magician's Rivarly (I may need to move her up before the end of the year since I have at least one other book currently on my Kindle app).

For authors who I read two books of (and have read or likely will read more by), the list is long (which is exciting): Lea Doue,  Patrick Carr, Nadine Brandes, JF Rogers, RC Sproul, Morgan Busse.

Top 3 Fantasy Romance Novellas

(You can find more information about these on my post here.)

1. Nyssa Glass: House of Mirrors by H.L. Burke
2. Mirrors and Pearls by Lea Doue
3. Curse and Consequence by Savannah Jezowski

Top Fantasy Novels with Romance

1. Lady of Weeds by W.R. Gingell
2. Lady of Dreams by W.R. Gingell
3. The Lord of Dreams by C.J. Brightley

4. Firethorn Crown by Lea Doue
5. Identity by Camille Peters

6. Fawkes and Romanov by Nadine Brandes

7. Mark of the Raven and Flight of the Raven (Ravenwood Chronicles) by Morgan Busse

Top Short Stories

I have to brag on my friends and I for all the fantastic short fairytale retellings in our anthology Encircled.

Deep Magic Winter edition is also a winner just based on the two short stories I've read so far.

Top Non-Fantasy Books

Non-fiction

1. Star Struck: Seeing the Creator in the Wonders of Our Cosmos by David Bradstreet and Steve Rabey

2. The Holiness of God by R.C. Sproul

3. Fight Write by Carla Hoch (Okay, I've only read a few chapters of this, but it already deserves a place here.)

Historical Fiction

1. The End of the Magic by Patrick Carr

2. More Than Words Can Say by Karen Witemyer

3. The Silent Songbird by Melanie Dickerson

Top Series to Read More of in 2020

1. City Between by WR Gingell

2. The Firebrand Chronicles by JM Hackman

3. Ravenwood Chronicles by Morgan Busse

I enjoyed that. :) So many great reads this year! And so many books on my TBR pile for Christmas break and next year. What are your favorites reads of 2019 so far? Which books are you looking forward to in 2020?

Top 3 Books with Maps and New Book Map Reveal (Lizzie)

Maps are fun. I still look at them when going on road trips and look for them at the beginning of books. I've seen books with treasure maps, maps of houses, maps of villages, and maps of a large part of the story world.

I can't talk about books with maps and not talk about Tolkien's The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings, or Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island, but I want to mention other books as well, so I'll just say these are the top books with maps after the classics.

Books with Maps

1) The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom by Christopher Healy

 2) The Dreamhouse Kings series by Robert Liparulo

This is a fun map because it is of a house instead of a continent, but if you know the story (which I review here) you'll understand how important a map of this particular house is. I also got to meet Robert Liparulo recently at the Realm Makers conference in St. Louis!

 

3) The Sword of Lyric series by Sharon Hinck

There are a lot of other great books with maps, but these are three that came to mind. Do you have a favorite map or favorite book with a map? 

I am a part of author Patrick Carr's street team and just saw the map to go with his upcoming release The End of the Magi and am excited to share it! I never thought much about the magi beyond Christmas songs until seeing a magus return to look for Jesus in the story of Ben Hur. I'm curious as to what Patrick Carr, a fantastic world builder and character writer, will do with the story of the magi. You can check out the book (available for pre-order) here.

Top 3 Summer Reads (Lizzie)

Ever since the days when we had summers off, the summer reading list has been an important part of every reader's literary life. So today, I'm sharing some of my summer reads. I've discovered that reading is essential if I want to be able to write, so I've had to become very serious about taking the time to read, even though I'm not "out of school" for the summer. Not that I mind have a valid excuse to read. :)

I'm attacking my TBR pile as well as a new release and and re-read. So here are so my summer reads from the spec fiction section of my shelves.

1) Mark of the Raven by Morgan Busse

I've been looking forward to reading this fantasy adventure, and it's next on my TBR pile. You can check out Lauricia's review of it here.

2) The Hero's Guide to Saving the Kingdom (and Storming the Castle and Being an Outlaw) by Christopher Healy

I recently finished this hilarious middle grade series telling the true story of the the Princes Charming and their adventures and romances. A fun, clever series. You can read Julie's review of it here.

3) Spark by J.M. Hackman

This book by J.M. Hackman has been on my TBR pile a while. I've read and loved her short stories, so I'm excited to read her full-length story. You can read about it from the author herself here.

Also being a lover of historical fiction, I have a few of those on my summer list as well. I just finished and loved (as I expected I would) Karen Witemeyer's More Than Words Can Say  and look forward to Tessa Afshar's Thief of Corinth. Karen Witemeyer's books have wonderful, deep characters, great examples of healthy relationships (something too often difficult to find in romance novels), a beautiful romance, and humor. I've only read Tessa Afshar's Pearl in the Sand, but if this new one is like her debut, then it will also have deep characters, important life lessons portrayed in a way that touches you without being preachy, and wonderful Biblical history brought to life.

I also would like to re-read C.J. Brightley's The Lord of Dreams, which Laurie reviewed here and Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility, because one should always have a Jane Austen novel open.

What are you summer reads? Have you read any of these?

Top 3 Reasons To Read The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom (Julie)

While I was in the states over the summer, I went to a book store to browse around for some interesting looking fantasy books to bring back with me. One I chose was The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom. It promised action, adventure, comedy, and a slightly different version of the fairy tales we all know and love.

I've thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and look forward to continuing the adventure with the characters in their next two books.

So here's my top 3 guide as to why you should read this book:

1) Expect the unexpected. We have four Princes Charming and the four princesses that go with those stories: Cinderella, Rapunzel, Snow White, and Sleeping Beauty. No one is truly who you imagine from the stories/Disney versions. Which gives a fresh slant. The one thing I didn't like about these characters was Sleeping Beauty's portrayal. She's one of my favorites, but here she is a spoiled BRAT. However, having read book one, I'm of the opinion that she may go through a personality change as the series continues.

2) Only one of the four princes is an actual hero. Rapunzel ended up saving her "hero" after he got tossed out of the tower by the witch. Cinderella's "hero" never even left the castle to find her, just sent his servants. Snow White's "hero" had gotten lost in the woods when he came upon the dwarves who insisted he kiss Snow White. Then there's Sleeping Beauty's hero. He did battle the witch and save the day, only to discover Sleeping Beauty wasn't the charming princess he thought she'd be.

3) Improbability at its finest. This is truly a fairy tale, by which I mean, it in no way resembles real life. For example, Gustav, one of the princes, gets in the way of a fire-breathing dragon. Does he get burned to a crisp? Nope. He just loses his hair. Another is a ten year-old bandit king who is the terror of the kingdoms. His favorite punishment is his spitball wars, which his men are deathly afraid of. All these improbabilities add to the charm and humor of

the story.

Lastly, being an incurable romantic, I'm curious to see how the romance plays out among the princes and princesses. It's possible that all the princesses get a Prince Charming, but which one?