2024 Carol Award Finalists – Romance + Giveaway

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First off — what exactly are the Carol Awards?

They are awards given out by American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) in recognition of outstanding Christian fiction in the previous calendar year. So these 2024 finalists are books published in 2023. You might have read them already, you might not. I’ll include links to books I’ve read and reviewed.

Carol Award Winners will be announced on September 7 2024 at the ACFW Gala in New Orleans, Louisiana (wouldn’t you love to be there?!)

How does this giveaway work?

You select which of the Carol Award finalists 2024 —Romance Category you would like to receive. Mention the title in your comment (or an email if you’re entering that way) and if you win, that’s the book that will be sent to you. Easy Peasy. 

IMPORTANT TO NOTE:

Giveaway details may vary with each book (print, ebook only or winner’s choice of either, plus audible options for Canadians.) Edition availability will be noted in bold after the title/author/publisher of each entry. ALSO NOTE: Giveaway is for US and Canada OR ebook international if you have US Kindle account.

Romance Finalists

The Words We Lost by Nicole Reese — Bethany House — Editors: Sarah Long and Jessica Sharpe — Winner’s Choice of paperback or ebook (also audible in Canada)

Three friends. Two broken promises. One missing manuscript.

As a senior acquisitions editor for Fog Harbor Books in San Francisco, Ingrid Erikson has rejected many a manuscript for lack of defined conflict and dramatic irony—two elements her current life possesses in spades. In the months following the death of her childhood best friend and international bestselling author Cecelia Campbell, Ingrid has not only lost her ability to escape into fiction due to a rare trauma response, but she’s also desperate to find the closure she’s convinced will come with Cecelia’s missing final manuscript.

After Ingrid jeopardizes her career, she fears her future will remain irrevocably broken. But then Joel Campbell—the man who shattered her belief in happily-ever-afters—offers her a sealed envelope from his late cousin, Cecelia, asking Joel and Ingrid to put their differences aside and retrieve a mysterious package in their coastal Washington hometown.

Honoring Cecelia’s last request will challenge their convictions and test their loyalties, but through it all, will Ingrid and Joel be brave enough to uncover a twice-in-a-lifetime love?

Wedding at Sea by Melissa Tagg — Indie — Editor: Charlene Patterson — Winner’s Choice of paperback or ebook

Lilian doesn’t remember anything about her life before the day Maggie Muir found her on her front porch—a toddler, abandoned and alone. And maybe that’s okay. She has a beautiful life at Muir Farm, including an adopted family she adores and a successful career as a lawyer. But she also has a secret . . . one that raises just as many questions about her future as it does her unknown past.

And, of course, it would be private investigator Wilder Monroe, her brother’s best friend and the bane of her existence, who sniffs out her secret before anyone else.

Wilder has spent the past three years trying to close the one case his father couldn’t—the mystery of Maggie Muir’s long-lost granddaughter. But the decades-long search has become more tangled than ever. It’s become more personal, too. Not only are the Muirs the closest thing to family he has left, but if he can solve this mystery, maybe he’ll keep himself from drowning in the one he can’t . . . the truth about his father’s death.

In the midst of secrets and swirling questions, Maggie asks a favor of both Lilian and put aside their bickering and work together to plan her summer wedding. It’s a big ask, made all the more difficult when danger comes calling at Muir Farm. But if the two enemies can stand each other long enough to pull off the event of the year, they just might solve a mystery in the process.

And the biggest discovery of all? That sometimes the one your heart longs for is the last person you ever would’ve expected.

Memory Lane by Becky Wade — Indie — Editor: Charlene Patterson –winner’s choice of paperback or ebook (or audible in Canada)

After surviving a trauma several years back, Remy Reed relocated to a cottage on one of Maine’s most remote islands. She’s arranged her life just the way she wants it, spending her time working on her wood sculptures and soaking in the beauty of nature. It’s quiet and solitary—until the day she spots something bobbing in the ocean.

Her binoculars reveal the “something” to be a man, and he’s struggling to keep his head above water. She races out to save him and brings him into her home. He’s injured, which doesn’t detract from his handsomeness nor make him any easier to bear. He acts like a duke who’s misplaced his dukedom…expensive tastes, lazy charm, bossy ideas.

Remy would love nothing more than to return him to his people, but he has no recollection of his life prior to the moment she rescued him. Though she’s not interested in relationships other than the safe ones she’s already established, she begins to realize that he’s coming to depend on her. 

Who is he? What happened that landed him in the Atlantic Ocean? And why is she drawn to him more and more as time goes by? 

There’s no way to discover those answers except to walk beside him down memory lane.

My Review: https://kavsbestreads.ca/2023/05/04/memory-lane-giveaway/

Draw will be held and winner announced on Saturday July 20 2024. REMEMBER TO CHECK GIVEAWAY EDITION AVAILABILITY FOR EACH TITLE!

45 thoughts on “2024 Carol Award Finalists – Romance + Giveaway”

  2. I have two and I want to read Wedding at Sea so I choose that one. I loved her Christmas novella series! Thanks!

    tam – appletamo at Yahoo dot ca

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  3. This is usually my favorite category so not surprisingly I’ve read all three. If I was actually voting for the Carol award, I’d be hard pressed to decide who to vote for, but I think I’d end up voting for Memory Lane because it’s just so unique and funny. Becky Wade’s first indie was quite the success. Now if we can just get that third Sons of Scandal book I’d be super happy 🙂

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    1. I loved Memory Lane as well. Have Wedding at Sea on my TBR and The Words We Lost on hold at the library so I’m getting there. Hopefully I’ll have them all read by the time the Carol Awards are announced. 🙂

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      1. I loved Melissa Tagg’s book too. As much as I love most all Nicole Deese books, I found The Words We Lost to be a hard read. I did so love the next one though, The Roads We Follow was fantastic. I’m not really sure why they even call these 2 a series as there is only one thing tying them together and it hardly appears in book 2.

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      2. Oohhh, that’s interesting! I also have The Roads We Follow on hold at my library and it will come up before The Words We Lost so it’s sounding like I can go ahead a read it without worrying about spoilers. Cool beans!:-)

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  7. Well, like Tracey, no surprise that I’ve read all of the books in my favorite category😊, and they’re already on my keeper shelf. They are all so good it’s impossible to pick my favorite! I’ve already read the next books in the series by Nicole Deese and Becky Wade and they are both excellent too. Sandy

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  8. After a fabulous Kav review that left me oh so wanting to read this book, my choice if I were so fortunate to be selected would be 1000% MEMORY LANE by Becky Wade. On my TBR list and would love the opportunity to read and review it. Thank you for the chance to win a paperback copy!

    2clowns at arkansas dot net

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  10. I absolutely loved The Words We Lost by Nicole Deese. I have my own copy but would love to win one to donate to my church or public library. Thanks, Kav!

    ckbarker at gmail dot com

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  11. Memory Lane by Becky Wade. I’ve read the other two books. These are 3 of my favorite authors.

    whthomas13 at yahoo dot com

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  13. I would love to try Melissa Tagg’s book, Wedding at Sea. Although, I still haven’t read the first two, but I have been bingeing series…so it’s a great way to do it, LOL! cilydav at hotmail dot com

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  15. Since I’ve already read “The Words We Lost” and own “Memory Lane” it makes my choice easy 😁

    Wedding at Sea by Melissa Tagg

    Can you believe I haven’t read anything by her yet?? 😲

    teamob4 (at) gmail (com)

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  16. The Words We Lost by Nicole Deese! I started that book but didn’t get to finish it and it was so good! Thnx Kav! sarahdar0801ATgmailDOTcom

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  19. Since I’ve been fortunate enough to read all but Memory lane, that will be my choice. It will be interesting to read her first indie!

    Thank you for doing this fun giveaway!

    perrianne (DOT) askew (AT) me (DOT) com

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