Christian Fiction Devourers discussion

It's time to nominate your pick for the March Group Read! Please nominate just one book. It can be one to mark off a reading challenge, one you really enjoyed and want others to read, or one that you have been really wanting to read. Nominations will be accepted until February 18th. I'm ending this one a bit earlier so that readers have more time to locate the book since February is a short month :)

The "winning" book will be selected by random.org.

**Please try to nominate a book that will be more accessible. Six months or older is probably good, rather than a new release that may not be as circulated.

Nominations as of February 16th:

1. The Meeting Place by Janette Oke
2. Not a Sparrow Falls by Linda Nichols
3. Leota's Garden by Francine Rivers
4. Unveiled: Tamar: by Francine Rivers
5. A Cowboy's Touch by Denise Hunter

This one is kind of old, so maybe a lot of people have all ready read it. But, it's on my shelf waiting to be read and I'm really looking forward to it.

I've never read that one :)

Beth wrote: "I've never read that one :)"

It's been pretty popular at my churches Mom Time group, I have high hopes for it :)

What about Not a Sparrow Falls by Linda Nichols- it's a kindle freebie right now.

Cheryl wrote: "What about Not a Sparrow Falls by Linda Nichols- it's a kindle freebie right now."

(Ps- This cover is different from the one that you will see for the kindle freebie)

Ooo, thanks, Cheryl! I grabbed it :)

I vote for Not a Sparrow also, I just got it free!!!

Yes, I got Not a Sparrow free also

I've had Gone on my to-read list for a while. It's by a Christian author and I've read some cozy mysteries of hers so thought this might be fun to check out.

How about Leota's Garden ? I'm rather new to Francine Rivers but love her. Perhaps most of you have already read this one?

Jess, it looks like Gone is only available in Kindle edition. I don't know if that would be a good pick since we like our reads to be accessible to those that don't use an ereader. It does sound very interesting though!

oh, okay, it will be out in print sometime soon. I'll suggest it again another month when it is :)

Sorry about that! We just want to be as accessible as possible. Obviously we can't be accessible to everyone all of the time, but we try our best. So long as a book is available in print & is not brand new, the nomination is welcome. This gives folks a better change of finding it at either a cheaper price or possibly at the library :)

cool, that makes sense. I'm so used to having my kindle sometimes I forget other formats are important too :)

Um, how about The Wedding Dress. I have it but haven't started it yet. Looks good though.

I nominate . It is a cozy mystery and I have read another by this author that I really liked.

I've read foreclosed and can recommend it. It's the same author as the book I was suggesting above.

Loraine, I'll have to check on that one when I get home from work this evening. I'm not sure if it's one that a lot of people would be able to find.

Ginny wrote: "Um, how about The Wedding Dress. I have it but haven't started it yet. Looks good though."

Ginny, we read The Wedding Dress last year for an Additional Read :) It's a little too soon to do a repeat. Nominate another if you'd like!

Gotcha...I'm pretty new to the group, so I didn't know that. How about Secretly Smitten?

That's ok! You wouldn't have any way of knowing. I have to refer back to our shelves a lot, so no worries.

When did Secretly Smitten release? We try to do books that have been released at least 6 months for this read so as to make it accessible for most readers.

Oh, well it's only been out for about a month. I will eventually get the hang of this ;)

No worries! Goodreads in and of itself is overwhelming when first started, at least it was for me. The groups were really a bit step, haha. I think next month, since we have so many new members, I'll list some "rules" although I hate to call them that...let's call them guidelines :)

Ginny, the additional group read is designed to feature newer books so I will make a note of Secretly Smitten and add it to my list. I try and go a month out to try and give the libraries a chance to get them in. ;) like Beth said, No worries!

That's a great idea, Cheryl! Thanks :)

Has the group done Lineage of Grace by Francine Rivers? I have not participated in a group read with this group yet, but I have this one on my to-read shelf.

No, we haven't done that one Samantha. One question I have is, would we want to do the whole series, or start with the first book, Unveiled: Tamar? Just a thought to toss out there.

Cheryl wrote: "No, we haven't done that one Samantha. One question I have is, would we want to do the whole series, or start with the first book, Unveiled: Tamar? Just a thought to toss out there."

has all 5 books in the series. :}

Right. Would that be too long is what I am getting at ;)

I feel like it would be best to start with Book 1 - the one with them all together is 542 pages. Not that I don't love long books, but that might not be everyone's preference :)

I think I'll nominate by Denise Hunter

I vote for

Nancy, I'll have to look into that one. it looks like a Createspace book, and while I've read several published that way, they are not often as accessible as traditional publishers.

Not sure what that means Beth, but it is listed as a paperback on Amazon. I just happen to have a Kindle edition.

Createspace is when an author self-publishes the book. It's not going to be sold in a lot of bookstores or found in a lot of libraries.

I am voting for Not A Sparrow Falls b/c I already have it, it was a kindle freebe :) It also looks very good.

Thanks for the explanation Beth!

Amy wrote: "I am voting for Not A Sparrow Falls b/c I already have it, it was a kindle freebe :) It also looks very good."

LOL I think I voted twice :)

That's ok! You don't have to "vote" since we choose the read by random.org...however, if one gets overwhelming interest, I would definitely take that into account :)

Oh, lol.

Without further ado, the March Read will be....

Not a Sparrow Falls by Linda Nichols!!!

Those that nominated, thank you so much, and feel free to nominate your pick again for April's group read. I would like to read all of them :)

Looks good and a free Kindle download as well!

I agree! It sounds different too from what I normally read, so I like that :)

Beth wrote: "Without further ado, the March Read will be....

Not a Sparrow Falls by Linda Nichols!!!"

Looks like it's received a lot of 4 and 5 star reviews from other Goodreads users. I'll add it to my list and see if I get around to it in March. I just now started Short-Straw Bride from January! I also have To Whisper Her Name and Double Blind in my pile of books to read :p

Oh I just went to Amazon to look at it and it turns out I downloaded it to my Kindle for iPhone already, lol!

Yay, Amanda! Hope you can find the time to join in :)

I just downloaded the free version to my Kindle Paperwhite (which I am LOVING). I just posted this elsewhere, but I probably should've posted it here. What does a group monthly read entail? Do we read together or at our own pace? Use a reading guide? Answer questions? Just discuss what we've read and how we feel about it? Sorry for so many questions...this is the first time that I'm participating!

That's okay, Nancy! :) We are pretty informal here because we don't want anyone to feel obligated--we want our group reads to be fun and relaxed because, well, we all need something easy, right?

So once March rolls around, a new discussion for this particular book will be started. Typically people just say they are joing in, etc. and then once we get into the month, some "intro" questions might pop up. As the month progresses, people pop in with their thoughts. You can feel free to share as much or as little as you want. You don't have to answer any questions, and you can even ask any question that you might think of.