Reader’s Choice Week Winners – Summer 2024 Edition

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Well, that’s another Reader’s Choice Week wrapped up. And don’t we have a ton of fresh new reads ahead of us?  The perfection distraction for the hot, sticky days in our future!I always like to welcome in a new season with new books so I am grateful for all the input you had in making up my Summer TBR!

And now it’s time to move into the part of this post you will be most interested in (and I thank you for indulging in my bibliophile nerdiness.)

READER’S CHOICE WEEK SUMMER EDITION 2024 WINNERS!

But wait, it’s not over yet. The Vanity category has become a blog tradition. It’s where a book is actually judged by its cover and I choose my favourite cover art per genre and then draw from a pool of readers who requested that title. Here are my COVER LOVE winners!!

WAIT! Don’t go away ’cause we’re not through. We have another Reader’s Choice tradition of picking a random number which becomes a ‘just because giveaway’ on the genre specific days. If that doesn’t make sense, all you need to know is that it means more book giveaways. Woohoo! This time the number is: 30

That’s another RC wrap up. I’ll send winners an email stating their book win, publication date and requesting contact info so that I’ll have everything ready for release day. Then I’ll email you once again once the book has been ordered. Oh — and if you didn’t include your email in your comment it’s up to you to contact me.

Reader’s Choice Goal Review Giveaway

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Another Best Reads Blog tradition is quarterly reading goal reviews. I’ll share my progress (or not!) here just for some fun, book nerdy stats and, if you’re so inclined you can share a goal or two in the comments. But no pressure – a goal can be as simple as ‘read a book.’

So, to enter this giveaway, just share anything goal related in the comments. Then, in the same comment, list a book that will help you reach your goal. So it looks like this:

“I want to catch up on some suspense series. Night Prey by Susan Sleeman.”

NOTE: BOOKS MUST BE CHRISTIAN FICTION

You can enter up to three times in three separate comments — and you can use the same goal or a different one each time, but a different title for each entry.

Books can be published any time up through to September 2024. Currently published books will be ordered this coming week for winners, otherwise it will be an IOU for a title releasing later in July, August or September 2024.

See? Easy Peasy. But if you’re still not clear, don’t be shy about asking questions.

Books Read: 232

‘Other’ is a mix of YA, Middle Grade, Fantasy, Novellas & Fairytale Retellings.

Shout out to Perrianne for putting me onto Chirp and I’m so blessed to have Net Galley audio books to review now (thank you, Tracey for giving me the nudge to check them out) — I’m averaging 4 or 5 NG audio books a month so that’s fantastic!

My first five goals centre around authors and I’m sad to say, I’ve let the indie and debut goals slide a wee bit. I plan on paying special attention to them this next quarter.

‘Serious About Series’ is popular on Book Tube and Bookstagram and I tweaked the 2024 challenge a bit to suit my goals. (The original challenge was to target 24 series you want to make progress on over the year.) I’ve found it really helpful to refer to my lists, particularly when I’m searching for books at my library and I’m pleased with my progress so far. (Though I will confess to starting way more than 24 series — and most of them NOT on my list. 🙂

Okay, that’s enough nerdy stats stuff. Let’s get on with the giveaway!

Share below and remember to include a book title that will help you achieve any kind of reading goal. You can enter three times in three separate comments using the same goal or different ones. What ever strikes your fancy. Just make sure each entry is for a different title.

DRAW WILL BE HELD AND WINNER ANNOUNCED ON 

SATURDAY JULY 6 2024.

OFFER OPEN TO ANY READER WHO HAS A US KINDLE .COM ACCOUNT FOR EBOOKS. OTHERWISE IT’S WINNER’S CHOICE OF PAPERBACK OR EBOOK FOR US AND CANADIAN ENTRIES.

Reader’s Choice Giveaway – Summer 2024 Edition – Christian Fiction

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  1. Publication date must be July, August or September 2024
  2. Each day is genre specific, so so nly submit titles from that genre
  3. Christian Fiction books only please!
  4. You can offer up to three suggestions per genre day BUT they need to be made in 3 separate comments (easier for me to keep track of)
  5. No email entries this time since comments are working on WP (OF SPECIAL NOTE: IF YOU HAVEN’T COMMENTED ON THIS BLOG BEFORE, YOUR FIRST COMMENT WON’T APPEAR UNTIL I APPROVE IT. AFTER THAT YOUR COMMENTS WILL POSST AUTOMATICALLY. I’LL TRY TO KEEP ON TOP OF THINGS, BUT PLEASE BE PATIENT.)
  6. Entrants must submit their own selections (no piggybacking on someone else’s log in)
  7. It’s helpful to include your email (using AT and DOT instead of @ and . to protect yourself from spammers) but you only need to add it to one of your comments per day. If you choose not to include your email, then it’s up to you to contact me if you are a winner.

Draw will be held and winner announced on

Saturday July 6 2024

(you have until noon of that day to enter any of the Reader’s Choice Giveaways)

Reader’s Choice Giveaway – Summer 2024 Edition – Amish Fiction

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  1. Publication date must be July, August or September 2024
  2. Each day is genre specific, so so nly submit titles from that genre
  3. Christian Fiction books only please!
  4. You can offer up to three suggestions per genre day BUT they need to be made in 3 separate comments (easier for me to keep track of)
  5. No email entries this time since comments are working on WP (OF SPECIAL NOTE: IF YOU HAVEN’T COMMENTED ON THIS BLOG BEFORE, YOUR FIRST COMMENT WON’T APPEAR UNTIL I APPROVE IT. AFTER THAT YOUR COMMENTS WILL POSST AUTOMATICALLY. I’LL TRY TO KEEP ON TOP OF THINGS, BUT PLEASE BE PATIENT.)
  6. Entrants must submit their own selections (no piggybacking on someone else’s log in)
  7. It’s helpful to include your email (using AT and DOT instead of @ and . to protect yourself from spammers) but you only need to add it to one of your comments per day. If you choose not to include your email, then it’s up to you to contact me if you are a winner.

Draw will be held and winner announced on

Saturday July 6 2024

(you have until noon of that day to enter any of the Reader’s Choice Giveaways)

Reader’s Choice Giveaway – Summer 2024 Edition – Mystery/Suspense/Thriller

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  1. Publication date must be July, August or September 2024
  2. Each day is genre specific, so so nly submit titles from that genre
  3. Christian Fiction books only please!
  4. You can offer up to three suggestions per genre day BUT they need to be made in 3 separate comments (easier for me to keep track of)
  5. No email entries this time since comments are working on WP (OF SPECIAL NOTE: IF YOU HAVEN’T COMMENTED ON THIS BLOG BEFORE, YOUR FIRST COMMENT WON’T APPEAR UNTIL I APPROVE IT. AFTER THAT YOUR COMMENTS WILL POSST AUTOMATICALLY. I’LL TRY TO KEEP ON TOP OF THINGS, BUT PLEASE BE PATIENT.)
  6. Entrants must submit their own selections (no piggybacking on someone else’s log in)
  7. It’s helpful to include your email (using AT and DOT instead of @ and . to protect yourself from spammers) but you only need to add it to one of your comments per day. If you choose not to include your email, then it’s up to you to contact me if you are a winner.

Draw will be held and winner announced on

Saturday July 6 2024

(you have until noon of that day to enter any of the Reader’s Choice Giveaways)

Reader’s Choice Giveaway – Summer 2024 Edition – Contemporary Fiction

Photo by u00c1nh u0110u1eb7ng on Pexels.com
  1. Publication date must be July, August or September 2024
  2. Each day is genre specific, so so nly submit titles from that genre
  3. Christian Fiction books only please!
  4. You can offer up to three suggestions per genre day BUT they need to be made in 3 separate comments (easier for me to keep track of)
  5. No email entries this time since comments are working on WP (OF SPECIAL NOTE: IF YOU HAVEN’T COMMENTED ON THIS BLOG BEFORE, YOUR FIRST COMMENT WON’T APPEAR UNTIL I APPROVE IT. AFTER THAT YOUR COMMENTS WILL POSST AUTOMATICALLY. I’LL TRY TO KEEP ON TOP OF THINGS, BUT PLEASE BE PATIENT.)
  6. Entrants must submit their own selections (no piggybacking on someone else’s log in)
  7. It’s helpful to include your email (using AT and DOT instead of @ and . to protect yourself from spammers) but you only need to add it to one of your comments per day. If you choose not to include your email, then it’s up to you to contact me if you are a winner.

Draw will be held and winner announced on

Saturday July 6 2024

(you have until noon of that day to enter any of the Reader’s Choice Giveaways.Winners will be announced later that afternoon.)

Reader’s Choice Giveaway – Summer 2024 Edition – Historical Fiction

Photo by u00c1nh u0110u1eb7ng on Pexels.com
  1. Publication date must be July, August or September 2024
  2. Each day is genre specific, so so nly submit titles from that genre
  3. Christian Fiction books only please!
  4. You can offer up to three suggestions per genre day BUT they need to be made in 3 separate comments (easier for me to keep track of)
  5. No email entries this time since comments are working on WP (OF SPECIAL NOTE: IF YOU HAVEN’T COMMENTED ON THIS BLOG BEFORE, YOUR FIRST COMMENT WON’T APPEAR UNTIL I APPROVE IT. AFTER THAT YOUR COMMENTS WILL POSST AUTOMATICALLY. I’LL TRY TO KEEP ON TOP OF THINGS, BUT PLEASE BE PATIENT.)
  6. Entrants must submit their own selections (no piggybacking on someone else’s log in)
  7. It’s helpful to include your email (using AT and DOT instead of @ and . to protect yourself from spammers) but you only need to add it to one of your comments per day. If you choose not to include your email, then it’s up to you to contact me if you are a winner.

Draw will be held and winner announced on

Saturday July 6 2024

(you have until noon of that day to enter any of the Reader’s Choice Giveaways.Winners will be announced later that afternoon.)

June Giveaway – Week Four

He’s So Not My Valentine

Valentine’s Day should be outlawed. 

Here are a few fun facts about 
1. I do not love Valentine’s Day.
2. I love coffee.
3. I’ve never left the state of North Carolina.

I’m not complaining. I grew up in the quaint town of Harvest Hollow, met my charming husband, and had our amazing son here … That was before my “charming” ex-husband decided he needed to expand his horizons.

Since that time, I’ve been raising Nate alone, with the support of my family, and running Cataloochee Coffee like it’s my own business.

I’m not looking for romance–especially not at this time of year when everyone couples up in the name of a dead saint who happens to be the patron of lovers, epileptics and beekeepers.

When Rene Dubois comes from France to visit my sister and her husband, I obviously keep my distance. I don’t need his kisses to my cheeks, his flirty banter, or the way his bright green eyes make me feel flutters in my belly and tingles across my skin. I don’t do flutters or tingles. 

My sister keeps assuring me Rene is amazing and harmless. But she’s the dreamer in the family. Rene may be gorgeous, have a buttery French accent, and a charismatic personality. All I know is He’s so not my Valentine

My Review:

Fun and flirty and swoonable!

“Read Savannah Scott,” they said. “You’ll love her books,” they said. “They are so good,” they said…. And they weren’t wrong! This is my first Savannah Scott book, but it won’t be my last. I’d been hearing the chatter on instagram and book tube for a while and added the author’s name to my loooonnnnngggg ‘authors to try’ list and now, here I am, a puddle of melted goo because…

‘He’s So Not My Valentine’ is pure romance. Delectably delightful. Fainting couch necessary because Rene is……thud! Swoon! And repeat all the way through. 🙂 Now, there are kissing books and then there are KISSING books and this definitely fits into the latter category. Definitely a clean, sweet read but, oh la la, the romantic tension is divine!

Loved the banter and the heart to heart’s and the comedic moments that had me giggling until I dove back into a swan-dive swoon again because that Rene is such a charmer!

I enjoyed listening to the audio book narrated by Amanda Friday and Tyler Hyrchuk — great voice actors who delivered solid performances, breathing life into these fun, endearing characters.

My thanks to Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op and the author for providing me with an audio copy of this book.

Refuge on Crescent Hill + Giveaway

Moving home after a recent job loss was supposed to reassure Camden Bristow and give her time to decide what to do next. But when she arrives in Etherton, Ohio, she discovers that her grandmother, who she hasn’t talked to in years, has passed away and “home” is an empty mansion 150 years old. Not exactly the comfort Camden was looking for. What happened to the house she played in as a child, the bedtime stories that told of secret passageways and runaway slaves, and all those family memories?

When antiques start disappearing and footsteps are heard, some of those memories start to creep back and Camden wonders if her grandmother’s bedtime stories might actually be true. What really happened here . . . at Crescent Hill? How was her grandmother involved? Who still has access to the house? And for what purpose? As she works to uncover the past and present mysteries harbored in her home, Camden also uncovers secrets about her family that could change the town―and her life―forever. 

My Review:

published in 2010

If you like the hint of a Gothic vibe (aka classic Phyllis A. Whitney) then ‘Refuge on Crescent Hill’ is the read for you. So atmospheric right from the opening page with Camden in desperate straits, heading to her childhood haven and the warmth of her grandmother’s arms. Only her grandmother is dead and the ‘home’ she remembers is a decaying mansion as broken as she feels.

And the house is either haunted or invaded by someone other than herself though no one takes her seriously. And there are so many secrets! Decades of them, all surrounding Camden’s family. And strangers eager to buy the house and the land…some for altruistic reasons, some for nefarious ones. And the town watching every move Camden makes. Sooooooooo scrumptiously mysterious. Layers of villainy to unmask and family history to uncover. Plus a light romance to swoon over. The perfect escape read.