For Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, today is a Holiday/Seasonal topic featuring snowy, wintery, cozy cover scenes. I scanned the backlist of several authors we’ve featured here on Diversity Between the Pages to bring you a Wintery Cover Collage.
Don’t those covers make you want to curl up with a good book? Do you have a book with a favorite winter/Christmas scene? Visit That Artsy Reader Girl to join the conversation!
Happy New Year, Reader Friends!
I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year! We at diversity are looking forward to expanding your TBR pile for 2019! So we’re starting with a book spotlight featuring The More the Merrier by Liwen Y. Ho!
I know Christmas is over, but you can still continue to read the stories since it is winter. 😉
About the Book
Fed up with a string of bad blind dates, health blogger Alyssa Wu just wants to drown her sorrows in ice cream. But there’s one more evening she must endure – a fake date with her best friend Barry Chang. They must convince her family they are in love, an act which may (or may not) be easy to pull off, thanks to the magic of some mistletoe.
This 10,000 word short story is perfect for your lunch break, workout or while you wait in line at the mall. Read it today to get in the Christmas spirit any time of the year!
About the Author
Liwen Y. Ho works as a chauffeur and referee by day (AKA being a stay at home mom) and an author by night. She writes sweet and inspirational contemporary romance infused with heart, humor, and a taste of home (her Asian roots).
In her pre-author life, she received a Master’s degree in Marriage and Family Therapy from Western Seminary, and she loves makeovers of all kinds, especially those of the heart and mind. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her techie husband and their two children, and blogs about her adventures as a recovering perfectionist at www.2square2behip.com.
Happy Saturday, Reader Friends!
I love learning about how different cultures celebrate holidays. I think it show how much creativity and wonder there is in the world. I love when I’m in a good book, and I get wrapped up into the story so much that I want to be sitting next to the main character, experiencing the music, tasting the food, smelling the aromas.
This recently happened to me when I was reading Cynthia Marcano’s story (“Have Yourself a Merry Little Cocoa”) in our new boxed set, A Merry Navidad. I was really getting into the pastelitos de guayaba and the pernil, so I decided to badger her to add the recipes at the end of her story. Now I have a great recipe for pernil! And reading the whole set, reeeeeeally got me in the mood to make tamales this Christmas.
I love how books can transport us and how we take feelings and ideas back home with us. I’d like to hear what Christmas books filled you with the Christmas spirit and led you to do something.
I grew up in NJ with an Italian background, so we have often had lasagna or stuffed shells for Christmas Eve and usually a ham for Christmas day. In Mexico, where my husband’s from, some traditional foods at Christmas are: tamales, romeritos, champarrado, buñuelos, ponche, pozole. The list goes on. Also in Mexico, they do Las Posadas, where they parade around town as pregnant Mary and Joseph, knocking on neighbor’s doors, until they find their manger. They also have fireworks and celebrating January 6th (Three Kings’ Day) is a big deal, even bigger than Christmas.
Also what are your family’s and your culture’s Christmas traditions? Please tell us in the comments below about.
*Post written by Allison K García, contributor
Happy Friday, Reader Friends!
We’re bringing you another book review here on Diversity Between the Pages. This day Toni is sharing her thoughts on Jaycee Weaver’s Love, Laughter, and Luminarias. Have you had a chance to read it yet? If not, add it to your TBR pile!
About the Book
The Blurb: “Surprisingly successful action-suspense author Garrett Wilson is struggling to write a summer novel in December. That is, until he witnesses his best friend, Nina, chase down a shoplifter and realizes that maybe his tough, attractive heroine might not be based solely in fiction.
Geeky-chic Nina Trujillo finds herself contemplating a God she’s never believed in after her brush with danger taking down a thief. That one decision could change the whole course of her life, and quite possibly, her feelings for the one guy she’s never considered more than a friend.
When Nina dives head-first into a series of Christmas projects and ideas for new traditions, she drags Garrett along for the ride. Will her newfound courage and all the extra time together bring their feelings out into the open, or will Nina escape back into the comfort of her fandoms and lose him forever?”
My Thoughts
Y’all Jaycee Weaver is quickly becoming one of my must-read authors. I quickly jumped at the opportunity to read Love, Laughter, and Luminarias. First of all, the cover is gorgeous and inviting. Second of all the hero, Garrett, is a writer!
Y’all, I can’t remember how many books I’ve read where the hero is the writer but when it happens, I love the book. Every. Single. Time!
But besides the awesome aspect as a hero writer is the heroine. Nino Trujillo is fierce and I so want her to be my friend. We could talk comic books together and dreamy writer friends.
I loved how Ms. Weaver weaved the Christmas spirit through the book, Latino culture, and a swoony romance that will have your cheeks splitting with happiness. Be sure to pick this read up soon!
*I received a complimentary copy from the publisher. My review was not required not influenced.
About the Author
Jaycee Weaver lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico, with her amazing husband, three daughters, a crazy shih-tzu, and a dwarf rabbit. When she’s not writing, she’s probably in hot pursuit of her 90 million other hobbies or shuttling the kids around. Jaycee loves to read books in multiple genres, drink too much coffee (honestly, when are they going to make the coffee IV a real thing?!), sing, take landscape and floral photos, sew, cook, bake, and craft nearly anything. She considers herself a recovering perfectionist and sometimes hot mess. She does her best to live her faith in action, being open, honest, and real; letting God be Lord over the good, the bad, and the ugly even when it’s hard.
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Happy Wednesday, Reader Friends!
We have a new book spotlight for you here at Diversity Between the Pages. We’re spotlighting Toni Shiloh’s Deck the Shelves which can be found in the boxset collection, Comfort & Joy.
Happy Reading!
About the Book
Kendall Jackson is the proud owner of Heartfalls’ bookstore, The Cozy Shelf. Her life is one straight out of the pages, except she’s missing that leading man. Although she has a crush on the handsome auto mechanic, Quinton Hendricks, Kendall wants an old-fashioned type of romance—the stuff swoon-worthy romance books are made of. But Quinton seems to need a little prodding.
Something about Kendall sparks hope in Quinton Hendricks that love could be his again. Only being abandoned by his ex-wife has made him cautious to the point of non-moving.
Can two people hesitant on second chances find love as they Deck the Shelves?
Links: Amazon, Goodreads novella, Goodreads collection
About the Author
Toni Shiloh is a wife, mom, and Christian contemporary romance author. Once she understood the powerful saving grace, thanks to the love of Christ, she was moved to honor her Savior. She writes to bring Him glory and to learn more about His goodness. You can find her at http://tonishiloh.wordpress.com.
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Posted by contributor Toni Shiloh
Happy Wednesday, Reader Friends!
If you’re traveling for Thanksgiving we at Diversity Between the Pages are praying safe travels for you! If you need a book to read while on holiday, check out today’s newest book spotlight: A Sidelined Christmas by Toni Shiloh.
About the Book
The Blurb: Part of the Making Spirits Bright boxset collection.
“Sidelined with a career-ending injury, wide receiver Jahleel Walker is forced to return to his hometown of Peachwood Bay, Georgia to heal. Nothing shocks him more than running into his high-school sweetheart, Lucille “Bebe” Gordon.
Bebe Gordon returned to Peachwood Bay three years ago with a divorce certificate and her daughter, Hope. When Jahleel returns, all the memories of the past come rushing back. She can’t decide if he’s changed or if her heart is holding onto past hurts.
Will Jahleel and Bebe take a chance on love or let life sidelined them at Christmas?”
About the Author
Toni Shiloh is a wife, mom, and Christian fiction writer. Once she understood the powerful saving grace thanks to the love of Christ, she was moved to honor her Savior. She writes to bring Him glory and to learn more about His goodness.
She spends her days hanging out with her husband and their two boys. She is a member of the American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) and president of the Virginia Chapter.
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