Christy Awards Finalists 2024 – Speculative & Young Adult

This is the week the Christy Winners are announced so I had to squeeze in the last two categories together today. You’ll have to choose just one title between both Speculative and YA. Sorry about that.

What are the Christy Awards?

The Christy Award is destined to nurture creativity and quality in the writing and publishing of fiction written from a Christian worldview and showcase the diversity of genres. These 2024 finalists are books published in 2023. 

How does this giveaway work?

You select ONE of the Speculative or YA finalists you would like to receive if your name is drawn. Mention the title in a comment. If you win that’s the book that will be sent to you. Easy Peasy. Here are the finalists. (I have provided links to my reviews of the books I have read.)

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.

Speculative

Estuary by Lisa T. Bergen – Enclave, a division of Oasis Family Media – EBOOK copy giveaway – Can a family bond stand the test of time?

Lady Tiliani Forelli is the epitome of the She-Wolves who raised her, an adept archer with a mind of her own. It is long past time for her to wed, but she deems each young lord who comes to bid for her hand lacking. With battles upon their border, and rumors of war growing louder on every front, Lady Forelli’s decision could secure her kingdom’s peace…or bring about its destruction.

Centuries later, history major Luciana Bettarini takes a summer job alongside her twin, Domenico, as a period actor at Castello Forelli in Italy. As incoming college seniors, this might be their last chance to spend meaningful time together, so she’s soaking up every minute. But when Dom’s theory that their lost Bettarrini relatives have traveled through time becomes potentially real—and they might be able to follow—Luci fears they’ll be forever divided.

In This Moment by Gabrielle Meyer – Bethany House, Baker Publishing Group – Winner’s Choice of paperback or ebook copy – Maggie inherited a gift from her time-crossing parents that allows her to live three separate lives in 1861, 1941, and 2001. Each night she goes to sleep in one time period and wakes up in another. Until, that is, she turns twenty-one, when she will have to forfeit two of those lives–and everyone she knows in them–forever. 

In 1861, Maggie is the daughter of an influential senator at the outbreak of the Civil War, navigating a capital full of Southern spies and wounded soldiers. In 1941, she is a Navy nurse, grappling with her knowledge of the future when she’s asked to join a hospital ship being sent to Pearl Harbor. And in 2001, she’s a brilliant young medical student, fulfilling her dream of becoming a surgeon, yet unable to use her modern skills in her other paths. 

While Maggie has sworn off romance until she makes her final choice, an intriguing man tugs at her heart in each era. The mysterious British gentleman. The prickly, demanding doctor. The charming young congressman. She’s drawn to each man in different ways, only complicating the impossible decision she must make, which looms ever closer. 

With so much on the line, how can Maggie choose just one life to keep and the rest to lose?

Lumen by J J Fischer – Enclave, a division of Oasis Family Media – Winner’s choice of paperback or ebook – What if erasing the past cost more than you were willing to pay?
 
Having narrowly escaped their enemies, Sephone, Dorian, and Cass continue their search for the elusive Silvertongue, the only one with knowledge of the Reliquary’s whereabouts. But time is running out for Sephone, and with Dorian accused of high treason, the quest takes on a new urgency.
 
As secrets from each of their pasts drive a wedge between them, Sephone invests all her hopes in finding her homeland, Lethe—where her family may yet be alive. But nothing about Lethe is as she expects, and disappointment, betrayal, and danger await her at every turn.
 
As the truth about the Reliquary’s curse comes to light, the fragile bonds between the unlikely companions are tested like never before. Meanwhile, Dorian faces a terrible choice: to save the life of one who is beginning to mean more to him than the past he’s so desperate to forget, or to save his beloved Caldera from dangers outside and within.

Shadowcast by Crystal D. Grant – Quill & Flame Publishing House – EBOOK copy giveaway – He has known nothing but darkness for years. Now it’s time to let it consume him.
After witnessing the brutal death of his brother at the hands of the Steward Knights, Mason Grey turns to vengeance. Using his Gifts to read and control the minds of others, he climbs the ranks of the Dark Army, determined to earn the coveted Shadowstone—a powerful tool against the light-wielding Stewards. But when he is wounded in battle, he finds himself recovering in the home of a chatty peasant girl…without the use of his Gifts. Even worse, the girl mistakes him for one of the Stewards he despises.

Seria Gayle longs to be seen as more than the town washerwoman. When she finds an injured Steward in the woods, she welcomes the chance to use her healing skills and hopes it will earn her some respect. But as she nurses the sullen stranger back to health, she discovers he is nothing like the knights she has long admired.

When Mason’s true identity is revealed, Seria is devastated and humiliated. But she is offered a chance at redemption by the very prince that Mason hates. Now Mason struggles between two choices: accept the Shadowstone to avenge his brother or pursue this newfound light in the form of a peasant girl. With time running out and war looming, will Mason and Seria defy their own convictions for a chance at love or stand against one another like they’ve sworn to do?

Young Adult

The Looking Glass Illusion by Sara Ella, Enclave Escape, a division of Oasis Family Media – EBOOK copy giveaway – Step through the looking glass. Slay the Jabberwock. Seek the King.
 
Alice is not prepared to face what awaits beyond the Tulgey Wood. When she and the rest of Team Heart enter the fourth and final Wonderland Trial, it’s up to her to lead them to victory. But this Trial is more than a game. If Alice and the others fail to defeat the Jabberwock and reveal the truth about Wonderland, more than points and fame will be lost.
 
Chess Shire never believed he’d make it this far. Now he’s stuck navigating a Trial he’s seen but doesn’t remember, all while searching for the brother he left behind. Not everything is as black and white as the game that shares his name. And if Alice discovers his deepest regret? Chess might just lose her too.
 
Apart, Chess and Alice scour the eight squares of the Heart Trial in search of memories, truth, and an Ivory King who seems more illusion than reality. Will they learn to lead together to face their greatest fears? Or will they remain pawns in a queen’s game, never truly seeing the Wonderland they’ve come to believe in?

Offsides by Lori Z. Scott – End Game Press – Winner’s Choice of paperback or ebook – Dani Stevens knew senior year was going to be something else-with her last season on the soccer team, the possible strain of losing a friendship, and crushes? All the crushes . But she didn’t expect to be on the lookout for a sex trafficking ring in her town. When a young girl in her neighborhood seems to be in trouble with a pimp, Dani will do whatever she can to find out what she can and get the girl safely back home. Unbeknownst to Dani, there could be another predator on the loose. And if she doesn’t watch her back, she could just end up being his next victim.

Once a Queen by Sarah Arthur – Waterbrook, an imprint of Penguin Random House – Winner’s Choice of paperback or ebook – An American teenager discovers that her estranged English grandmother was once a queen in another world in the debut novel from bestselling author and speaker Sarah Arthur.

When fourteen-year-old Eva Joyce unexpectedly finds herself spending the summer at the mysterious manor house of the English grandmother she’s never met, troubling questions arise. Why the estrangement? What’s with the house’s employees and their guarded secrets? Why must Eva never mention trains, her father, or her favorite childhood fairy tales?

After strange things start happening in the gardens at night, Eva turns to the elderly housekeeper, gardener, and the gardener’s great-grandson, Frankie, for answers. Astonishingly, they all seem to believe the fairy tales are true–that portals to other worlds still exist, though hidden and steadily disappearing. They suspect that Eva’s grandmother was once a queen in one of those worlds.

But Eva’s grandmother denies it all. After a horrific family tragedy when she was young, her heart is closed to the beauty and pain of her past. It’s up to Eva, with Frankie’s help, to discover what really happened, whether family relationships can be restored, and if the portals are closed forever. As she unravels generational secrets, Eva wrestles with the grief of a vanishing childhood–and the fear that growing up means giving up fairy tales forever.

Sky of Seven Colors by Rachelle Nelson – Enclave Escape, a division of Oasis Family Media –EBOOK copy giveaway – n a strange part of the forest, the divide between worlds grows thin.

After the accident, Meg would do anything to wake her best friend from his deadly coma. At least, that’s what she whispered into the woodland shadows. She never imagined her wish would trap her in a gray other-earth, void of any color.

Meg’s vibrant humanity is a priceless artifact in the gray kingdom, coveted by the royal court. All she wants to do is find a way back home. Until she discovers the other-earth contains healing powers that can save her friend. But only if Meg becomes what the gray people need—a human bride for Kalmus, the powerful king of the capital city.

With her heart torn between earths, Meg’s choices may cost more than she knows.

Draw will be held and winner announced on Saturday November 16 2024 (after 12 pm)  REMEMBER TO CHECK GIVEAWAY EDITION AVAILABILITY FOR EACH TITLE!