Friday, March 27, 2009

Faith 'n Fiction Saturday: The Christy Nominees!!




Welcome to Faith 'n Fiction Saturday. If this is your first participating, please read this post. It will tell you everything you need to know!

Did you know that Christian fiction has their own award? It's called the Christy Award. Here's some information about The Christy Award from the website:

The Christy Award is designed to:

* Nurture and encourage creativity and quality in the writing and publishing of fiction written from a Christian worldview.
* Bring a new awareness of the breadth and depth of fiction choices available, helping to broaden the readership.
* Provide opportunity to recognize novelists whose work may not have reached bestseller status


The 2009 Christy Award Nominees were recently announced. Today's assignment is to look at the list of nominees and share with us whether or not you have read any of them. If you haven't read that particular novel, have you read anything by that author? Have you read all of the books in any category? What are your favorite books on the list? Are there any books you haven't heard of?

And, I'm just throwing this out there, but I think one year there was a Christy challenge. A reading challenge is basically when you choose books off a pre-set list or around a theme to read within a certain time frame. Does anyone know if this is still going on? If it's not, would anyone be interested in joining in on one? I'd be willing to host it. And lastly, I'm working on Faith 'n Fiction Saturday having our own awards for books!

The Christy Nominees:
CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE
Beyond the Night by Marlo Schalesky • WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group
Finding Stefanie by Susan May Warren • Tyndale House Publishers
Zora and Nicky: A Novel in Black and White by Claudia Mair Burney • David C. Cook

CONTEMPORARY SERIES, SEQUELS, AND NOVELLAS
Sisterchicks Go Brit! by Robin Jones Gunn • WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group
Summer Snow by Nicole Baart • Tyndale House Publishers
You Had Me at Good-bye by Tracey Bateman • FaithWords

CONTEMPORARY STANDALONE
Dogwood by Chris Fabry • Tyndale House Publishers
Embrace Me by Lisa Samson • Thomas Nelson
Tuesday Night at the Blue Moon by Debbie Fuller Thomas • Moody Publishers

FIRST NOVEL
Blue Hole Back Home by Joy Jordan-Lake • David C. Cook
Rain Song by Alice J. Wisler • Bethany House Publishers
Safe at Home by Richard Doster • David C. Cook

HISTORICAL
Shadow of Colossus by T.L. Higley • B&H Publishing Group
Until We Reach Home by Lynn Austin • Bethany House Publishers
Washington’s Lady by Nancy Moser • Bethany House Publishers

HISTORICAL ROMANCE
Calico Canyon by Mary Connealy • Barbour Publishers
From a Distance by Tamera Alexander • Bethany House Publishers
The Moon in the Mango Tree by Pamela Binnings Ewen • B&H Publishing Group

SUSPENSE
By Reason of Insanity by Randy Singer • Tyndale House Publishers
The Rook by Steven James • Revell
Winter Haven by Athol Dickson • Bethany House Publishers

VISIONARY
The Battle for Vast Dominion by George Bryan Polivka • Harvest House Publishers
Shade by John B. Olson • B&H Publishing Group
Vanish by Tom Pawlik • Tyndale House Publishers

YOUNG ADULT
The Fruit of My Lipstick by Shelley Adina • FaithWords
I Have Seen Him in the Watchfires by Cathy Gohlke • Moody Publishers
On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness by Andrew Peterson • WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group

My Answer:
In the contemporary romance category, I've only read Finding Stefanie. It was fantastic. I love everything Susan writes, though! In the contemporary series category, I've only Sisterchicks Go Brit! I liked it, but am interested in reading the others. In the contemporary stand-alone I read Embrace Me. I liked Embrace Me, but I think Lisa has written better books. For first novels, I've read Rain Song, but didn't really like it. In the historical category, I read Washington's Lady by Nancy Moser. Good book, but I' not sure if it's award worthy. Finally, in the historical romance category, I've read two books! And I loved both of them with all of my heart, but if I had to choose a winner, it would be The Moon in the Mango Tree by Pamela Binnings Ewen. From a Distance is also excellent. I've read both By Reason of Insanity and Winter Haven in the suspense category. That's a tough call. This is going to sound funny, but Winter Haven is more of an award type book. By Reason of Insanity is one hundred percent enjoyable. Haven't read any of the Visionary books. (what's visionary mean????) I am THRILLED beyond words to say I've read On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness and want it to win!!!

I am absolutely stunned and dismayed that Julie Lessman's books didn't make the list. But I really hope that both Andrew Peterson and Pamela Binnings Ewen win!!!

Your Turn

Just write your answers on your blog and link up!

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

I too was hoping to see Julie and was disappointed when I did not...I have read a few on the list but not many....

Interesting question Amy :)

Anonymous said...

By the way LOVE the FnFS awards idea :)

Monica (aka monnibo) said...

Just a note: I've fixed the button issue on the Declutter Challenge Blog & extended the challenge to June 1st - http://declutterchallenge.wordpress.com/

SmilingSally said...

This took awhile to answer, but I think that it was time well spent. Thank you for a good question.

Amee said...

I see lots of books I want to read that are on my wish list but none I have yet! I just finished A Bride Most Begrudging which received the Christy award in 2006. I loved it. :)

Lynn Squire said...

I haven't read any of these books. However, I don't know how you could go wrong with a Tracey Bateman novel, and John Olson's work is always very original and creative - though I doubt I'll read this one.

Shauna said...

I hosted the Christy Challenge last year and the year before. I hadn't planned on doing it again because no one seemed interested in participating, but I might do it again this year.

Robin M said...

I haven't read a single one, but I do have John b. Olson on my wish list. I'd be up for a Christy Challenge - it would be the excuse I need to buy more books. :)

Alyce said...

I'm just dropping by to let you know that I've given you an award:
http://athomewithbooks.blogspot.com/2009/03/awards-roundup_28.html

Unknown said...

I'm just getting established on Blogger, but I love the idea of Faith 'n Fiction Saturday. I'm going to try to start participating soon!

Unknown said...

I have only read You Had Me at Goodbye by Tracey Bateman, and I absolutely loved it! I'm definitely rooting for her. :o)

Jenny said...

I've read all three of the suspense books, and I totally agree with you that it will be a tough call. All were very good - just in different ways.

Having "F 'n F Awards" sounds awesome. *thumbs up*

Rel said...

Hey - I have linked a post I had already done so not an official F'n'F post but I was too lazy to do another one!! Hope that is okay :)

Kristi said...

Hi Amy,

I would probably join a Christy challenge if someone hosted it!

Thanks!
kristi

Carole said...

My two favorite ways to find great books are 1) the Christy nominee list and 2) CBD's New & Recommended page in their fiction catalogue. And I usually run a year behind so I can get them from my library.

As for this year's list, I've read Reclaiming Nick (loved it), but haven't made it to Finding Stefanie yet. The only other book I've read is Tuesday Night at the Blue Moon. Excelent book!

cjarvis [at] bellsouth [dot] net

Mimi N said...

Hi Amy. I've been checking out the Visionary list on Amazon and have found some interesting facts of the 3 books. "The Battle for Vast Dominion" is the last book in a series. The first I read 1/2 way and really enjoyed but had to return to the library. It's a pirate type of book.

"Shade" is a book I figured you might enjoy. It's about "a goth-vampire–infused mind-bending race through the streets and underworld of San Francisco". Seeing as you like vampires I figured you might enjoy this one.

"Vanish" is along the vein of the "Left Behind" series, but with a Ted Dekker twist!

~Mimi

Sunny said...

Amy, fun post...it was interesting to see what everyone has read!

Krista said...

I have the winners from last year on my "want to read" list, but I'm surprised at how many on the list from this year I've already read! Yeah for free review copies!

I liked You Had Me at Good-bye much better than Sisterchicks go Brit.

Embrace Me was the first Lisa Sampson book I'd read and I really liked it. It's the only one from this category I've read.

I thought Rain Song was interesting, but the whole, "I live in the contemporary world and am a young single yet don't know much about the internet" thing didn't really make the book work. Again, only one I've read in this category.

I read both Until We Reach Home and Washington's Lady and liked them both mainly because I hadn't read books that gave me as much insight into those time periods in history like these did. I really liked Washington's Lady because it reminded me that they didn't know the outcome of the war. I think Until We Reach Home was better though.

And the last category I'd read any out of was historical romance. I have a copy of From a Distance, but haven't read it yet. I need to since I've heard so many good things about it! I was NOT impressed with Calico Canyon. It seemed too scripted to me.

Sorry for the long comment, but I felt like sharing! ;)

Post a Comment

Thank you for taking the time to comment! I appreciate hearing your thoughts.