Ashlee Cowles's Blog

THE POPPY & THE ROSE will be released in one week, on October 6, 2020! If you like stories about the TITANIC, then add to your To-Read shelf today!

Perhaps it’s winter where you are. Perhaps you are wishing you could flee the cold, the snow, and the already-annoying renditions of “Jingle Bells.” I can’t give you an all-expenses-paid vacation (sadly), but I can help you escape to exotic lands and the open road with these contemporary YA novels, all of which have international settings or road trip plots. Read more and WIN at http://ashleecowles.com/2017/11/25/ya...

Life of a Literary Nerd

Today, I’m excited to talk about Ashlee Cowles’ Below Northern Lights, a companion novel to her 2016 release, Beneath Wandering Stars. I really enjoyed Beneath Wandering Stars – it was such a heart-warming story of family and finding yourself, with an adorable romance too! I’m excited to see what’s happening to Seth and Gabi, and to really get to know Lucas more!

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Veterans on the Camino

Beginning in December, we will be looking for candidates to participate in the Spring Camino.  We will be actively looking for Veterans (American and Coalition Countries) who will be able to take a 40 day walk starting in early April 2018.

If you know of a Veteran who is struggling, please encourage them to apply for this trip.  Only a limited number of spots will be available so we will focus our efforts on seeking the Veterans who stand to benefit from this ancient P...

In college I studied abroad in Madrid, Spain and often took the Metro to get to class (going so far as to adopt the urban practice of wearing running shoes with my skirts while commuting, and then changing into leather boots once I got to school — college students in fashionable Spain don’t do sweatpants). Inside a particularly crowded Metro train one morning, I wondered how so many people could find the concentration to read despite the commotion and lack of personal space. Across from me,...

My midnight cat, Emerson, knows how to curl up with a good book on a snowy morning.

I don’t write book reviews often, and when I do, they’re usually of fiction titles. The review that follows is an exception, and it’s an exception for two reasons. First, because Between Midnight and Dawn is an imaginative collection of poetry and prose that reveals what great literature is at its core: a psalm, a cry against the darkness, a prayer. And second, because I am privileged to know the talented comp...

As a kid, cross-country moves were one of the few times I woke up early enough to see the sun rise. My parents used to load me and my sisters—still blurry-eyed and pajama-clad—into the minivan before dawn, that way we’d (hopefully) fall back asleep and they could have a few hours of peaceful driving without sibling bickering. I remember opening my eyes as the dusky night sky melted into rainbow Sherbet streaks, relieved to know that the darkness was almost over. The sunrise on a long drive fr...

“You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me.” ~C.S. Lewis

If you’ve spent any time in the United Kingdom (or watched a Masterpiece Theater TV show, or read any novel set in Britain), then you probably know that most Brits love a good cup of tea. I picked up the craving for a pot of Early Grey and a dense, buttery scone while spending a summer in Northern Ireland and a year in Scotland as a student, and the afternoon tradition has followed me back to the U....

Writing is a craft that requires solitude, but the life of a writer doesn’t have to be completely solitary. If you’re interested in the ways writers can work together to form creative communities, check out a preview of my review of Bandersnatch: C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and the Creative Collaboration of the Inklings below and read the rest over at the The University Bookman:

There is no shortage of books on the authors who made up the best known writing group of the twentieth century—the...

The holidays are a time when internal aches of longing are especially acute. Nostalgia runs rampant, but as adults it’s impossible to recreate the magic of childhood, despite our best efforts. What is this rare, elusive treasure we’re searching for during a season of abundance and even excess? I have a theory…

I think we’re looking for home.

I’m not sure what it is about our modern age, but for some reason this “place” seems to be harder and harder to find…and not only for lifelong nomads li...