Faith 'n Fiction Saturday

My Friend Amy, who brought us Book Blogger Appreciation Week has a new carnival in the works, the Faith 'n Fiction Saturday.

Each week she will post a blogging prompt, which participating bloggers will answer on their own blogs. Then they head back to the original post and sign Mister Linky! This way we can all come to know each other more closely.

Today's Question: There are a lot of great new books being published in 2009! But which ones are you the most excited about? Please pick some Christian fiction books you are excited to read this year and tell us all about them! But just to give this a little twist...be sure to visit everyone else's posts and find some books you might be interested in reading as well that are different from your picks! It will come in handy for a fun bonus question next week!

Only some? Right...there's probably at least a 100 I'm looking forward to this year! And I bet there are some that haven't even had covers much less titles released yet that I know I'm going to look forward to! But I suppose I can choose a few I know I'll be wanting to read and are already on my wish list. (I know some of you will be saying that you've never heard of these authors or books. My advice, put them on your wish list :)

Ok, there's like a billion more, but then this post will go on forever. This aren't necessary my top 5 pics (more like the first 5 I clicked on from my wishlist) just know that I will be reading A LOT in 2009.


Sometime's a Light Surprises by Jamie Langston Turner

Though it was years ago, Ben Buckley has never gotten over the loss of his wife. But even more than the mystery surrounding her death is the radical change that occurred in her life shortly beforehand. Their marriage was unusually happy--until she met a woman who "turned her on to religion." Baffled, angry, and still feeling guilty for the way he treated Chloe those final weeks, Ben now lives behind the protective walls of severed relationships and a rigid work routine.

When two unlikely people enter his narrow world, Ben's view of his life begins to change, and gradually the barriers he's erected around himself come tumbling down.

She's In a Better Place by Angela Hunt,
Book 3 in the Fairlawn series

Jennifer Graham is struggling to make ends meet while running the Fairlawn Funeral Home, raising two children, and studying for her national board exam. Her work takes on a new dimension when Gerald Huffman, her assistant and mentor, reveals that he has a serious illness. When she learns that he and his daughter haven’t spoken in years, Jen decides to help them reconcile . . . but things don’t go exactly as she planned. Jennifer is longing for stability in her life . . . but she soon discovers that life isn’t stagnant; it’s always changing. Once again, the mortuary is a setting for lessons of laughter, love, and life.



Play It Again Sahm by Meredith Efken

After years of friendship, the women of the SAHM I Am email loop are finally meeting in person. But with two new moms trying to blend in with Dulcie and the gang, there's bound to be trouble! Earth mother Iona and young mom Hannah are thrilled to join the weekend getaway sans hubbies and kids. But sparks fly when Hannah's know-it-all attitude clashes with "Queen of Ego" Rosalyn. When things go from bad to worse, one mom must step in to save the weekend from total disaster!






Paying Piper by Tamara Leigh

Piper Wick left her hometown of Pickwick, North Carolina, twelve years ago, shook the dust off her feet, ditched her drawl and her family name, and made a new life for herself as a high-powered public relations consultant in LA. She's even "engaged to be engaged" to the picture-perfect U.S. Congressman Grant Spangler.

Now all of Piper's hard-won happiness is threatened by a reclusive uncle's bout of conscience. In the wake of a health scare, Uncle Obadiah Pickwick has decided to change his will, leaving money to make amends for four generations' worth of family misdeeds. But that will reveal all the Pickwicks' secrets, including Piper's. Though Piper arrives in Pickwick primed for battle, she is unprepared for Uncle Obe's rugged, blue-eyed gardener. So just who is Axel Smith? Why does he think making amends is more than just making restitution? And why, oh why, can't she stay on task? With the Lord's help, Piper is about to discover that although good PR might smooth things over, only the truth will set her free.

Sisterchicks in Wooden Shoes by Robin Jones Gunn,
the last book in the Sisterchicks series

A multi-tasking mama, Summer Finley has found ways to handle whatever life throws at her with grace and a grin. Until now, that is. An "abnormal" medical test result sends Summer into an emotional tailspin and prompts her to fulfill a life-long dream of meeting her best friend and pen pal since fourth grade, Noelle Van Zandt, face-to-face.

Their blissful week together in the Netherlands finds Summer and Noelle floating down a canal in Amsterdam, visiting Corrie Ten Boom's Hiding Place, sipping decadent Dutch cocoa in Delft, and bobbing merrily along through a sea of brilliant, spring-fresh tulips. Each day takes them further from midlife anxiety and closer to trusting God in deeper ways.

When Summer finally confides in Noelle about the abnormal test results, Summer's honesty prompts Noelle to share a long-held heartache. The two friends find they both needed to be together more than either of them realized. Could it be this adventure was tucked away in God's imagination long before Summer bought her ticket to fly to the land of merry tulips and kalomping wooden shoes?