Kav's Best Reads

Reader’s Choice Giveaway – Christmas Edition – Contemporary Fiction

Really, what would Christmas be without the anticipatory thrill of looking ahead at potential new reads in the New Year?!

Can you believe that the time for the last Reader’s Choice Week of 2023 has actually arrived? Where did the time go? In a flurry of reading and book browsing no doubt. So, time to once again display your ninja librarian-type skills and uncover the literary gems on the horizon because it’s…

READER’S CHOICE WEEK!

Here’s how this week’s giveaways work. You recommend CHRISTIAN FICTION genre specific titles with release dates in January, February or March 2024 (up to three suggestions per genre day) and you have a chance to win one of your recommendations! BUT it’a a little more complicated than that so be sure to read ALL the details before entering.

IMPORTANT TO NOTE: These giveaways are available in paperback or ebook format to US and Canadian readers. Ebooks available internationally if you have a .com kindle account (US Amazon.)

IT’S CONTEMPORARY FICTION DAY!

To be entered in the draw just leave a comment (or 3) below, including the title(s) of the book(s) in the Contemporary Fiction genre you would like to win.

Contemporary Fiction – a full length story or novella or collection of novellas set in any time period after 1980. May cross genres such as YA, Suspense, Amish etc and may include dual timelines.

How does it work?

Easy peasy! Make recommendations in the comment section and if you win, you win the book you suggested.

BUT YOU GOTTA FOLLOW THE RULES!

Publication date must be January, February or March 2024

Each day is genre specific, so only submit titles from that genre

Christian Fiction only please!

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)

No email entries this time round 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 POST AUTOMATICALLY.

Entrants must submit their own selections (no piggybacking on someone else’s log in)

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 December 30 2023

(you can enter any of the giveaways up until noon on December 30. Winners will be announced later that afternoon.)

Reader’s Choice Giveaway – Christmas Edition – Historical Fiction

Really, what would Christmas be without the anticipatory thrill of looking ahead at potential new reads in the New Year?!

READERS CHOICE WEEK

Here’s how this week’s giveaways works: You recommend CHRISTIAN FICTION genre specific titles with release dates in January, February or March 2024 (up to three suggestions per genre day) and you have a chance to win one of your recommendations! BUT it’s a little more complicated than that so be sure to read ALL the details before entering.

IMPORTANT TO NOTE: These giveaways are available in paperback or ebook format to US and Canadian readers. Ebooks available internationally if you have a .com kindle account (US Amazon)

IT’S HISTORICAL ROMANCE / FICTION GIVEAWAY DAY!

To be entered in the draw just leave a comment (or 3) below, including the title(s) of the book(s) in the Historical Romance / Fiction genre you would like to win.

Historical Romance / Fiction — a full length story or novella or collection of novellas set in any time period before 1980. May cross genres such as YA, Suspense, Amish etc and may include dual timelines.

How does it work?

Easy peasy! Make recommendations in the comment section and if you win, you win the book you suggested.

BUT YOU GOTTA FOLLOW THE RULES!

Publication date must be January, February or March 2024

Each day is genre specific, so only submit titles from that genre

Christian Fiction books only please!

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.)

No email entries this time round 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 POST AUTOMATICALLY.

Entrants must submit their own selections (no piggybacking on someone else’s log in.)

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 December 30 , 2023

(You can enter any of the giveaways up until noon on December 30. Winners will be announced later that afternoon.)

December Giveaway — Week Three

Winners will be contacted if they left their email address, otherwise it’s up to the winner to contact me at kavluvstoread AT yahoo DOT ca (please note it’s ca as in Canada, not com.) From time to time a winner and I do not connect so I have a one month time frame on giveaway wins. If I haven’t been able to reach you within 30 days of your win, it will be forfeited. This has happened a few times now, so please, DON’T BE SHY — CONTACT ME IF YOU DIDN’T LEAVE AN EMAIL OR IF I HAVEN’T BEEN SUCCESSFUL IN REACHING YOU!

LOOKING AHEAD TO NEXT WEEK’S GIVEAWAYS:

‘Tis the season to start looking ahead to our New Year reading options and that means it’s time for another READER’S CHOICE WEEK…only in this case, it will be weeks as I stagger the days over two weeks in order to give us lots of time for festive frivolity. 🙂 So, it will look like this:

Monday December 18 – Historical Fiction

Tuesday, December 19 – Contemporary Fiction

Wednesday, December 20 – Suspense/Mystery Fiction

Wednesday December 27 – Amish Fiction

Thursday December 28 – General Christian Fiction

For those who are new to the blog — Reader’s Choice Weeks are when we come together to anticipate upcoming new releases. This time round we’ll be looking at publication dates from January – March 2024. You get to submit up to three titles you’d be interested in winning per genre day and if your number is chosen, you get an IOU for that book. It’s lots of fun and a nifty way to fill up your TBR wish lists. More details will be posted on each giveaway day.

The winners will be announced on Saturday December 30, so you’ll have up until noon that day to get your entries in.

Christmas Vendetta + Giveaway

RANDOM RETRO READ

Is she a mistaken target…or next on an enemy’s hit list?

Sandy Lynn Forrester’s Christmas holiday takes a terrifying turn when someone breaks into her home and attacks her roommate…thinking it’s her. But no one believes that an imprisoned man from Sandy Lynn’s past is behind the attacks—except for her high school heartbreak, ex-cop Clay Danforth. Can she trust Clay to keep her safe in the Ozark wilderness long enough to stop a ruthless criminal’s vengeance?

My Review:

published in 2021

I somehow missed this book when it first came out, though I’ve read the rest of the series, so I was thrilled to discover it in audiobook format! Loved the narration — Romy Nordlinger did justice to the tense, action filled plot.

So, reunion romance amidst the chaos of vengeance and danger made for a thrilling read. Clay’s life is already complicated when he runs into (literally) Sandy Lynn again. Loved the pacing in their ‘reluctant return to love’ story, though survival takes the front seat in this taut romantic suspense.

Desperation. Revenge. Betrayal. Corruption. All play a part in this complex plot to create a spine-tingling, edge-of-your-seat thrill of a read.

GIVEAWAY OPPORTUNITY:

ebook available to anyone, anywhere who has a .com (US) Kindle account

US — paperback or ebook — winner’s choice

Canada — paperback or ebook (via a gift card to Canadian Amazon) or audible book if you have audible.ca

If you would like a chance to win a copy of Christmas Vendetta, leave a comment below or email me at kavluvstoread AT yahoo DOT ca. If you add an email to your comment, remember to use AT and DOT instead of @ and . in order to protect yourself from spammers. If you enter the draw via email, please add the title to the subject line so it’s easy to spot your entry. Draw will be held and winner announced on Saturday December 16, 2023

The Lost Boys of Barlowe Theater + Giveaway

Barlowe Theater stole the life of Greta Mercy’s brother during its construction. Now in 1915, the completed theater appears every bit as deadly. When Greta’s younger brother goes missing after breaking into the building, Greta engages the assistance of a local police officer to help her uncover the already ghostly secrets of the theater. But when help comes from an unlikely source, Greta decides that to save her family she must put the threat of the phantoms to rest.

Decades later, Kit Boyd’s best friend vanishes during a ghost walk at the Barlowe Theater, and old stories of mysterious disappearances and ghoulish happenings are revived. When television ghost-hunting host and skeptic Evan Fisher engages Kit in the quest to identify the truth behind the theater’s history, Kit reluctantly agrees to work with him in hopes of also finding out what happened to her friend. As the theater’s curse begins to unravel Kit’s own life, she sets out not only to save the historical building and her friend, but to end the pattern of evil that has marked their hometown for a century.

In this atmospheric dual-time tale, two women–separated by a century yet bound by the ghosts of the past–pursue light in the face of darkness.

My Review:

Epic Jaime Jo Wright! A bit of woo woo mystery with lots of eerie ambiance that you know has a sensible explanation but you just can’t figure it out. I was hooked from the opening line: “Sometimes death comes quietly.” Uh, yeah, I needed to read on!

Dual timelines — both with their own mystery — and I was invested in both equally. There’s also very light romance for both Greta and Kit…emphasis on the light though, but I liked the way it brings hope to the reader without shadowing the already murky waters of the mysteries.

And, oh, those mysteries! Blended to perfection by the end but made for a rabid read until then. I couldn’t put this book down though my poor eyes were screaming, “Rest! Rest! We need rest!” Huh, as if! And I was gobsmacked more than a few times — in both timelines.

Love the way the author wove in some humour amidst all the angst — especially in the current timeline. Kit is my kind of heroine. Impatient. Prickly. Stubborn.:

“Even now she could see Mom’s cautionary look that told Kit to breathe deep and let God be God.

“Maybe God wanted to work through her to slap Evan Fischer silly?” (p 55)

Bwahaha! Haven’t we all been there a time or two? But, whoa, this was also such an emotional read! I felt for both heroines and the complicated emotions churning within and around them. And the way they faced adversity with grit and courage and loyalty to those they loved. Made for such an intense read.

To sum up in one word: Unputdownable!

Book provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications Inc.

GIVEAWAY OPPORTUNITY:

This giveaway is for a gently read paperback and is available to any reader, any where — so, yay, another International Giveaway!

If you would like a chance to win a copy of The Lost Boys of Barlowe Theater, leave a comment below or email me at kavluvstoread AT yahoo DOT ca. If you add an email to your comment, remember to use AT and DOT instead of @ and . in order to protect yourself from spammers. If you enter the draw via email, please add the title to the subject line so it’s easy to spot your entry. Draw will be held and winner announced on Saturday December 16, 2023.

Surviving the Storm + Giveaway

High-stakes reunion

After witnessing her boss’s murder, Aria Zimmerman isn’t sure she’ll make it to safety. She would already be dead if it weren’t for her ex-boyfriend David McGuire. Now she and David are in a race for their lives on the rugged Oregon coast. If their enemies don’t get them, the elements will. With a lethal tsunami bearing down on them, Aria has no time for regrets and little hope of reconciliation with her former love. Her only wish is that they live long enough to avenge an innocent man’s death…

My Review:

originally published in 2015 with Love Inspired Suspense. This edition is independently published.

I picked up the audio to this book on Chirp before I realized I had read the book when it first released eight years ago. I listened to it anyway and enjoyed the story just as much, if not more, as an audio book. Breathtaking and spellbinding!

—–

A *MacGyverish flare brings an extra zest to this page-turning romantic suspense. Fraught with danger, each page brings a new surprise. There’s action aplenty, a rekindled romance and subtle hints of humour. All conspire to make this gripping story and unforgettable read.

*For those of you who aren’t familiar with the MacGyver reference — it’s from a series by the same name which aired in the late eighties, early nineties about a special agent who had an uncanny knowledge of the physical sciences which he used to create devices out of ordinary items to help him get out of dangerous situations.

GIVEAWAY OPPORTUNITY:

ebook available to anyone, anywhere who has a .com (US) Kindle account

US — paperback or ebook — winner’s choice

Canada — paperback or ebook (via a gift card to Canadian Amazon) or audible.ca edition

If you would like an opportunity to win a copy of Surviving the Storm please leave a comment below or email me at kavluvstoreadATyahooDOTca. If you post a comment and add your email address, please use AT and DOT instead of @ and . in the address to protect yourself from spammers. If you enter the draw via email please remember to put the title in the subject line so that it’s easy for me to spot your entry. Draw will be held and winner announced on Sunday December 16 2023. Offer open to international readers. Good luck!

The Warsaw Sisters + Giveaway

On a golden August morning in 1939, sisters Antonina and Helena Dąbrowska send their father off to defend Poland against the looming threat of German invasion. The next day, the first bombs fall on Warsaw, decimating their beloved city and shattering the world of their youth.

When Antonina’s beloved Marek is forced behind ghetto walls along with the rest of Warsaw’s Jewish population, Antonina turns her worry into action and becomes a key figure in a daring network of women risking their lives to shelter Jewish children. Helena finds herself drawn into the ranks of Poland’s secret army, joining the fight to free her homeland from occupation. But the secrets both are forced to keep threaten to tear the sisters apart–and the cost of resistance proves greater than either ever imagined.

Shining a light on the oft-forgotten history of Poland during WWII and inspired by true stories of ordinary individuals who fought to preserve freedom and humanity in the darkest of times, The Warsaw Sisters is a richly rendered portrait of courage, sacrifice, and the resilience of our deepest ties.

My Review:

Phew! This book left me gutted and bruised, experiencing an emotional aftershock that still lingers. Barratt is an incredibly gifted writer — both in the mechanics of the art and in her ability to make her reader’s feel. And think. Honestly, you can’t come away from this book without thoughts and opinions and a heart hurting for these characters – especially when you are reminded that they represent millions of real people throughout this earth’s messy history.

I think what really upped the emotional angst for me is that I read ‘The Warsaw Sisters ‘in a world that is very nearly at the brink of what Hitler started back in the 1930s. The categorizing groups of people as evil, the heavy-handed use of propaganda, the racial slurs, intolerance of those classified as ‘other’…and so many other things that make up global politics these days. Barratt shows how all of that swayed ‘decent’ people and contributed to the persecution of the Jews, the Warsaw Ghetto, the death camps. And it breaks my heart, because I really don’t see that we have learned very much from the past.

So, is this a heavy book? Yes. Did it emotionally wreck me? Yes (and I’d be worried if it didn’t.) But does it also offer a thread of hope — slim though it may be, but strong nevertheless? Yes! But it’s also left me with the conviction that heroines like Antonia and Helena aren’t just part of our distant past; they are alive and fighting the good fight all around the world. And that has left me humbled.

I haven’t said anything about the plot — it reads as you might expect a WWII novel to — hardship and suffering buoyed up by brief flashes of joy. And that all important flicker of hope that keeps the characters moving forward during impossible times.

A stunning page-turner.

Book provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications Inc.

GIVEAWAY OPPORTUNITY:

This giveaway is for a gently read paperback and is available to any reader, any where — so, yay, another International Giveaway!

If you would like a chance to win a copy of The Warsaw Sisters , leave a comment below or email me at kavluvstoread AT yahoo DOT ca. If you add an email to your comment, remember to use AT and DOT instead of @ and . in order to protect yourself from spammers. If you enter the draw via email, please add the title to the subject line so it’s easy to spot your entry. Draw will be held and winner announced on Saturday December 16, 2023.

Pixels and Paint + Giveaway

For Emma Trinket, life is a delicate balancing act between loving her family and pursuing interests they don’t understand. When the opportunity arises to finally impress them with her job as a computer programmer, she jumps at it even if it means immersing herself in a world she’s despised since childhood. Unfortunately the one man who could crush her prospects is also the best person to help her navigate the lessons she needs to be a success.

Artistic expression is both Carter Anderson’s safe space and his livelihood, but his fading inspiration has him worried about his place in life. His encounters with Emma spark a passion to create that he hasn’t felt in years and he isn’t ready to let go of his new muse even if she’s threatening the sanctity of his art world with her digital technologies.

As each tries to gain an advantage from the other, Emma and Carter discover they actually might be more compatible than they thought. Will that be enough to unify their opposing missions or will the real differences between pixels and paint tear them apart?

My Review:

Eeeeeppp!!! I’m happy to report that Kristi Ann Hunter’s knack for Regency banter translates well to a 21st century rom/com. Love the wit and wisdom and heart-rending angst that flows around all that entertaining dialogue. I’d be snort laughing one minute and choking up the next.

And Emma!!! I just wanted to smoosh her up in a hug and carry her away from her totally annoying and unsympathetic family who just didn’t get her because she was different. Gah! Why do parents what to create mini-mes? And her sister is just as bad! Nothing Emma does has any value if it isn’t orchestrated by them – from her clothes to her decor to the way she makes small talk at a party (that she totally doesn’t want to attend) – they are all for improving Emma.

So Emma lives in two worlds; her personal/work life and her family one. And she acts out roles in both, hiding her true self from everyone, including herself sometimes. Until Carter.

Cue the toe-curls and fainting couch, but keep a stash of comfort chocolate handy too because this is an impossible attraction between two polar opposites. What follows is funny and poignant and tumultuous…and achingly beautiful.

I listened to the audible edition of ‘Pixels and Paint‘ and really enjoyed the way the dual narrators (Julie Rogers and Christopher Ragland) brought these characters to life.

GIVEAWAY OPPORTUNITY:

ebook available to anyone, anywhere who has a .com (US) Kindle account

US — paperback or ebook — winner’s choice

Canada — paperback or ebook (via a gift card to Canadian Amazon) or audible book if you have audible.ca

If you would like a chance to win a copy of Pixels and Paint, leave a comment below or email me at kavluvstoread AT yahoo DOT ca. If you add an email to your comment, remember to use AT and DOT instead of @ and . in order to protect yourself from spammers. If you enter the draw via email, please add the title to the subject line so it’s easy to spot your entry. Draw will be held and winner announced on Saturday December 16, 2023.

December Giveaway – Week Two

LOOKING AHEAD TO NEXT WEEK’S GIVEAWAYS:

The Messenger + Giveaway

Random Retro Read

Walter was eighty-two when he died–the first time. His visit to Heaven was glorious as he reunited with his wife, daughter, and other family and friends, relationships that a full life had nourished. But God tells Walter that he can’t stay in Heaven, that Walter has more to do on Earth before he returns Home for good. Leaving those he loves, as well as the love of God, seems unbearable.

The Lord tells Walter that he will return to his earthly existence right away with renewed health and pain-free. God explains to Walter that He will relay messages to him, words that he might not understand but that are intended for the betterment of the recipient.

Walter awakens in his hospital bed feeling like a man of twenty but wondering if he’d dreamed the entire ordeal. When he begins to hear God’s messages for others, he follows through, although his own doubts and fears lead him to worry whether he is handling the callings correctly. As a series of events unfold, Walter is happy when things come together for the strangers he seems to have helped, but he starts to become bitter. The two most important people in his life are hurting, and God isn’t helping either one of them.

As Walter’s faith is tested, will his own bitterness block the voice of God that carries with it a special message for Walter’s loved ones?

My Review:

published in 2022

A hidden gem. And really hard to review because it’s a novella and I don’t want to give anything away. What I can say is that The Messenger is very different from Beth Wiseman’s typical stories and, truthfully, I wasn’t sure if it would appeal to me. Not the kind of read I gravitate too but, we’re talking Beth Wiseman here and I was intrigued enough to venture out of my comfort zone. Am I ever glad I did!

Inspiring and goosebumping — I devoured this little beauty in one sitting because I became so wrapped up in Walter’s story, I just couldn’t put it down. And what I’m taking away is a renewed testimony of the way God works in our lives through messengers here on earth. Everyday, ordinary people who tune into the Spirit and follow His promptings. And how He can weave the most disparate situations into a cohesive whole that is beyond our imagining.

Short and simple, yet powerfully uplifting.

GIVEAWAY OPPORTUNITY:

This giveaway is for a gently read paperback and is available to any reader, any where — so, yay, another International Giveaway!

If you would like a chance to win a copy of Texas Ranch Target, leave a comment below or email me at kavluvstoread AT yahoo DOT ca. If you add an email to your comment, remember to use AT and DOT instead of @ and . in order to protect yourself from spammers. If you enter the draw via email, please add the title to the subject line so it’s easy to spot your entry. Draw will be held and winner announced on Saturday December 9, 2023.