Welcome back! I’m so glad you’ve returned for another fun day at the Literary Lodge! It looks like the weather has warmed up a bit. Perhaps we won’t need quite so many blankets, or the bonfires to keep us warm. There are still bushels of apples waiting to be made into something, so if you get tired of looking at books, you can munch a few apples while you relax on the benches and chat with some friends.
It looks like we have a fun list for today. I’m sure you’ve been waiting for Romance and Historical Fiction. Haven’t you? I thought so.
Don’t forget to go visit the other Party Rooms and see what books they have on their lists for today’s genres. And there’s a new door prize being given away on the Books room! So don’t forget to enter that.
But before you run off, here are my Top 5 books for today’s genres.
Romance
The quick definition of a “Romance” book is this: If you can take the romance out of the book and still have a story left, it’s not a romance.
I don’t read the typical romance books. I just don’t. (I’ll try to write a post on that some day.) But these are about as close as I get to actual “Romance” books. Enjoy!
- The Light in My Window (A story about finding Christ’s redemptive love even for the deep hurts of the heart.)
- Eighty-Seven (This story is about the beginning of Chautauqua. The very start of it. It follows the life of one orphan boy and his journey to Christ and eventually . . . Well, I don’t want to give it away. 🙂 )
- The Lamplighter (A story of pain, love, joy, sorrow. It is a long story, with plot twists that you didn’t see coming, others that you wondered about, and an ending that leaves you satisfied.)
- Rose in Bloom (Of course you have to read “Eight Cousins” first if you want to really enjoy this book. Oh, this book. I laugh, and cry, I grow so frustrated at some people that I really would like to shake them, or at least tell them what I think of their actions! Yet, I love the characters so much that I can’t stay mad forever.)
- Freckles (I love Freckles, and Angel, and the Bird Woman, and Mr. McLean. This story is full of nature, passion, a fight for right and a willingness to die for that right. Just a note of caution, there are a few words we have marked out in our copies.)
Historical Fiction
I love history, and I love fiction. When I put them together . . . I really love it!
- To Him that Hath (A look at life in Canada after the Great War and the plight of the returned soldiers. I really enjoyed this book.)
- Toward Morning (If you like reading books about WWII, you should read this one. It is a story about the Hungarian freedom fighters. Told by a wonderful author in a way that many ages will enjoy! I think I want to go read it again. Please excuse me . . .)
- Iron Scouts (“It has a delicious nutty flavor.” Yes, I’ve read this book so many times that I can quote parts of it. It’s the story of the Iron Scouts serving under John Mosby. Ride with young Ben Fane as a scout for the Confederate army.)
- Ivanhoe (I first read this book many years ago. It was the first time I’d read anything this long and complex. But I was hooked. Since that time I’ve listened to the audio several more times and have enjoyed it each time.)
- How Sleep the Brave (It’s a mixture of Robin Hood, the Scarlet Pimpernel and Zorro all combined together with swards and Scotland! It’s the unknown rescuer of the Protestants who won’t change their beliefs because some king or queen said to.)
Here are the entry ways for the other Party Rooms. They are just a click away and one of them is holding a Door Prize today! Find out who it is, leave a comment, and visit a while.
Grand Prize
This giveaway is open to both US readers and International readers. The prizes will be different, however. Sorry. We just can’t afford to ship internationally.
A US winner will get a “bright ideas” jar full of story prompts, plus four paperback books.
If we have an International winner instead, they will receive a $20.00 Amazon gift card and three kindle books.
I hope you enjoyed the second day of our Five Fall Favorites! What are your Top 5 books in today’s genres? I’d love to know! Don’t forget to invite your friends. We are always wanting new faces, and new book suggestions!
Romance and Historical fiction are definitely my favorite genres! It would be impossible to narrow them down to five favorites. Some recent romances that I read, From this Day Forward by Margaret Daley, and The Governess at Highland Hall, by Carrie Turansky, were lovely, and I totally recommend them. Also, any Janette Oke book that I’ve read I’ve enjoyed.
As for historical fiction, my favorite has got to be the novel I’m working on publishing right now. 😉 Other than that, I really enjoyed (an am enjoying- it’s a long series!) the House of Winslow series.
CutePolarBear
I imagine these are popular genres. 🙂 Thanks for sharing, CutePolarBear. 😉 I don’t think I’ve read any of the books you’ve mentioned.
CutePolarBear: What is your book about? Do you have a blog?
My book is a historical fiction novel based on my great-grandmother’s life in 1930. It’s called ‘The New Diary’, and it’s the first book in the series ‘The Heritage Diaries’. I don’t have a blog yet, because it would put stress on me and I don’t feel like I should. I hope to have one eventually, though. 🙂
CutePolarBear
You’ve read Freckles? YOU’VE READ FRECKLES?! *does the happy dance* NO WAY. You’re kidding me! That is so awesome!!! AHHHHH….. again, you are the only person I know who’s read that book! And it’s amazing too!! Love it so much! 😀
Oh yes, and Rose in Bloom! I think I prefer Eight Cousins to the sequel, but they’re both pretty good. Rose in Bloom was kinda sad, I cried once. But there were lots of funny scenes too that made me laugh so hard 😉
And haha, the definition of a romance book’s so funny – and true too 😛
How Sleep the Brave sounds really interesting! You got me hooked at The Scarlet Pimpernel part 😉
Oh, and I saw the progress report on TCR-6. IT’S DONE IT’S DONE IT’S DONE I’M SO HAPPYYYY!!!!! (sorry, I’m using way too many caps, aren’t I? But it’s so exciting!!!! xD)
Wow! Someone is excited! 😉
Yes, TCR-6 is done! Well, it hasn’t been edited and the illustrations haven’t been started, but it’s written. 🙂
Oh yes, you should read “How Sleep the Brave”! I think you’d really like it. 🙂
You must admit that with the given definition of a “romance” book, it certainly changes what genre you might put things in.
And yes, I have read “Freckles” several times. 🙂 And now I want to go read it again. (I actually did get distracted and read parts of it when I was getting this post ready.)
Thanks for commenting, Blessing!
I LOVE Rose in Bloom, and we enjoyed Iron Scouts quite a bit. (Was that part you quoted when the officer was eating the ants?) I am going to look up How Sleep the Brave too!!! It sounds reeeaaaallly good! 😉
Yep, only he didn’t know it. 😉 Yes, you should go find “How Sleep the Brave.”
I love “The Lamplighter” and “Rose in Bloom” too! And I’ll have to check out some of these others that I haven’t read yet. 😉
I really should go read “The Lamplighter” again. And if you read any of the others, I’d love to know what you think of them! Thanks for commenting, Emily!
I recently read and love the book Freckles! (There’s Kellyn at Reveries and her obsession with Gene Stratton Porter to thank for that. 😉 ) I’ll have to look into some of your other books!
So I had a question: yesterday I did the entries for commenting on the blogs (among other things) and today their back up again (because I can enter daily for those entries if I comment more, right?) it might just be my imagination, but at the top it says I have 17 entries out of 43 when yesterday I’m almost positive I was somewhere in the low 20’s. Do my entries from yesterday still count? Thanks! It doesn’t matter that much, I suppose, I’m just wondering.
Yes, you get more entries if you comment each day. Not sure why your count is different, but sometimes rafflecopter doesn’t know how to count. 😛 Right now I have you listed for 23 entries and that was about 30 minutes ago.
I have read some, but not a lot of Gene Stratton Porter. I love the descriptions. 🙂
Okay, thanks so much! Sorry for making you check. 🙂
I’ve only read “A Girl of the Limberlost” and “Freckles”. The descriptions are really lovely. 🙂
Of the books you listed I have only read Rose in Bloom and Ivanhoe, but Toward Morning sounds interesting. 🙂 I am a big fan of historical fiction!! 🙂
“Towards Morning” is really good. I think your brothers would enjoy it too. 🙂
Thanks for commenting!
I love “Seasons of The Heart by Janette Oke. Thanks for the giveaway.
Mariyn
Glad you could come to the party! I haven’t read any Janette Oke’s books. I’ll have to look into that one.
Have you ever read the Edge of Freedom series by Elizabeth Ludwig? It ties historical fiction, romance, and suspense all together into one! Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to read book 2, but reading books 1 and 3 worked okay for me. It’s neat because even though each book is about a different character, they are all “related” somehow, and there is an underlying mystery throughout the entire series.
No, I haven’t. I don’t know if I’ve ever heard of them. Thanks for sharing, I’ll have to check them out. 🙂
I Think I’ve read Lamplighters … but that’s the only one on your list. Must to check some of the others out!
Name my favorite 5 historical fiction?! AUGH! This I cannot do. But I can name my top two current favorites. after that I have dozens tied for 2nd place. 😉 ‘Resist” by Emily Ann Putzke and “Brothers-In-Arms” by Jack Lewis Bailott. OH I LOVE “Brother in Arms” SO MUCH! I got it at our library, and now I MUST have my own copy. It’s sooo good!
I don’t read a ton of romance, and I don’t like most of the ones I read, sooo . . . not sure what my 5 favorite would be. ;P
Yeah, it was really hard to choose just 5 Historical Fiction books, Jesseca! I guess I need to add those two books to my list to check out. 🙂 Too many books. Too little time. 😛
I know what you mean about romance books. That’s why I don’t really read them. Some books might have romance in them, but that’s not usually the focus of the story.
Ah, I must read those first two histocial fiction books. They are set in some very interesting times.
Those are great books, Cari! I hope you can find them and enjoy them.
Thanks for coming over!
I’m thoroughly enjoying the party! Finding lots of great books!!!
That’s great to hear, Bethany! Have you “filled” a “book bag” yet with books you want to read? 🙂
Oh YES! I have a feeling I had better start earning some more money for all these books. 🙂 I’m really looking forward to finding more books. It is impossible to have too many books to read! (And this is coming from a girl with over 100 books on her “to-read” list. :))
I wish I could sell you some extra reading time, but I can’t seem to find enough of it myself. 🙂
Hehe, if you ever find any to sell, let me know! ;P
Oh and I meant to ask you, how many books do you have published? Are you self-published?
I’ll be sure to let you know. 😉
Yes, I am self-published. I have 11 novels, two books of short stories, a children’s picture book, and two short stories that are only available in kindle format. I’m also working on getting another novel (#6 in my Triple Creek Ranch series) and another short story finished up and published.
Oh, and I was wondering . . . if I did a post about my five favorite books in a certain category, dos it have to be in the category you guys are all doing that day?
Nope, not at all. You could even pick a genre that we aren’t doing and make us all wonder why on earth we didn’t think of picking that one! 😉
Hmm.. I’ve heard of Ivanhoe, but wasn’t sure if it was something I would like to read. Seeing how you it’s one of your favorites, I’ll have to look into it! Thanks for sharing, Rebekah!
There are some really tense scenes and some guys I really don’t like, but it all ends well. 🙂
Okay, I’ll keep that in mind!
And I might add that it may take some thought to get the characters and setting fixed in your mind, but once you do, . . . I found it hard to put down and was reading it at my grandma’s which I couldn’t always do because it was hard to focus.
Thanks for the list today! I went to Gutenberg.org and downloaded ‘To Him That Hath’. I’ve read ‘Black Rock’ by the same author and enjoyed it; I look forward to reading this one too. ‘The Lamplighter’—aaaaah, it forever secured the name ‘Willie’ in my favorites. And Gertrude was so–so good! If you don’t have time to read it, the reader on Librivox does a good job, and it’s free. 😉 ‘Rose in Bloom’–Charlie, oh, Charlie. He made quite an impression on me at a young age. I’ll have to look at that book again and see what makes it so very readable, for all ages! My favorite ‘Romance’–The Redemption of Henry Myers!!! Wait… That’s a movie… Well, I keep thinking it would make a great book, better than most ‘Romances’ I’ve read. =P Okay, a real book. “The Lost Clue” by Mrs. O.F. Walton. =) Sweet, Christian, and free occasionally on Amazon. =) “The Carved Cupboard”, by Amy Le Feuvre, is another captivating one, especially the dramatic version on Librivox. =)
A Historical Fiction I really enjoyed growing up was ‘Scout: Secret of the Swamp’ by Piet Prins. The rest of the series wasn’t as good as the first one, but the first one was worth reading many times for me. It’s about a Christian boy in Occupied Holland during WWII and his German Shepherd dog. 2. Twice Bought (R.M. Ballantyne) 3. Charlie to the Rescue (R.M. Ballantyne) 4. The Madman and the Pirate (R. M. Ballantyne) Most of the Ballantyne books are free on Amazon for the Kindle version. Ballantyne was a Christian writer in the 1800s who wrote books for boys with Christian heroes. 5. ‘The Apprentices” by Sarah Brazytis–a delightful peep into the life of footmen! Thanks for giving us an opportunity to share!
Great! So glad you could get “To Him That Hath”! I hope you enjoy it.
Ah yes, Librivox! I really like that place. 🙂 It’s so nice to be able to enjoy audio books for free.
I’ve read “The Apprentices” and enjoyed it. But most of the other books you mentioned I haven’t read. Thanks for sharing.