Tag: five fall favorites

Top 5 Indie Discoveries (FFF Day 4)

If yesterday’s Five Fall Favorites category was my favorite, today’s category was the hardest for me to initially narrow down. I know of sooooo many good independently published books and I’m always finding more and more as so many excellent Christian writers are publishing independently rather than pursuing traditional publishing.

I tried to mostly focus on indie books that aren’t especially always “out there” and around or the most popular but are some of my favorite books I’ve ever read. Hopefully, you might find something new or new-ish that you’d enjoy.

1. A Sidekick’s Tale Elisabeth Grace Foley

I’d seen a few of Elisabeth Grace Foley’s other books around and glazed over them a little bit, but a friend told me I especially needed to read this one…and I’m glad I did.

This book…was so delightfully random while being Western at the same time. It had a similar initial feel to some of the Triple Creek Ranch books from Rebekah Morris but it was also so different. I was literally laughing out loud at several points during this book and I totally had no idea what to expect with each plot twist. It was so hilarious and fun to read, I was grinning the whole time. XD If you need a laugh or something that keeps you guessing and takes you on a wild ride…read this.

2. Freedom by Faith Potts

Ack, I know I say this about a lot of books, but I love this book. It’s probably also just a special book to me…highly recommend. Think I found Faith Potts just around on the blogosphere and I remember when she released this one together with Kaitlyn Krispense who was releasing Beloved (also a super good book).

This book deals with a pretty heavy subject…suicide, specifically relating to veterans. But it was such a well-done, powerful, and sweet book. It was…such a good book and I’m so glad I found it.

3. The Worth of a King by Kendra E. Ardnek

So…I love Kenda E. Ardnek’s books in general. I read Water Princess, Fire Prince by her and the rest of that series and it kicked off my love for her books, and every time a book of hers would go on sale, I would get it. Suffice to say, I had accumulated a number of her books that I had not actually read…and this was one of them.

As soon as I read it I was like WHERE HAS THIS BOOK BEEN THIS WHOLE DID I LITERALLY HAVE IT ON MY KINDLE THIS WHOLE TIME? Cuz y’all, this is just as good if not better than Water Princess, Fire Prince the one you see and hear about everywhere it feels like. Also…stiiill waiting for the sequel, but apparently, we’ll get one eventually. Such an epic fantasy book. I…looooved the plot and characters and everything for this one. Yep, I loved Water Princess, Fire Prince, but I loved this one waaay more. It was…just such a satisfying read and I was so surprised I hadn’t actually heard anything about it other than it being a Kendra E. Ardnek book and all this time I had owned it and had no idea what a good book it was…anyway, semi-rant over.

4. Should We Tell Her? by Lillian Keith

This one. This one. Don’t know that I’ve ever read a book with quite a style like this one. I wasn’t even sure where exactly it was going…but I knew I couldn’t stop reading because it felt so real and it was so sweet and I mean the characters were real, weren’t they? I really had no idea what to expect, because I had just sort of heard of this author once or twice in small circles and then saw this book was on sale and then picked it up and read it. Just…it’s so sweet and you’ve just gotta read it.

5. The Minstrel: A Legend’s Redemption by Malachi Cyr

Of redemption stories and medieval fiction…I am so surprised this one isn’t more well-known, because it was an awesome read. Plus it was the kind of good that I think readers of a lot of genres would really enjoy. All the adventure themes of Beyond the Mask, The Redemption of Henry Meyers, Ranger’s Apprentice, Robin Hood, or even some of The Wingfeather Saga, woven into a powerful redemptive story of light with zero questionable content. It drew me in, it was suspenseful, I needed to know how it would end, there were times I wanted to cry, there were times I wanted to laugh, and I enjoyed every minute of it.

This is up there with one of my favorite books I’ve ever read. It’s also due for a reread, cuz it was soo good.

And there ya have it!

Make sure to check out the blog party host blog @ onceuponanordinary.wordpress.com/blog/ to read what Kate’s favorite indie finds are and hear the latest on the rest of the Five Fall Favorites blog party!!

What are your favorite indie books? Did you know what indie books were (when I first started blogging I wasn’t sure)? Have you heard of or read any of these books?

Top 5 Buddy-Read Books (FFF Day 3)

Hello!!

Welcome to what I think is my favorite day of Five Fall Favorites this year…buddy-reads! I’ve basically been waiting for this one ever since I saw it as a category. 🤭 I don’t know that I had really heard of, thought about, or even done a buddy read two and a half to three years ago, but ever since I realized they were a thing, I’ve loved the idea of them and doing them! 🤩

I’ve also sorta included sibling read-a-louds in this, as they definitely count as buddy-reads. 😁

Behold, my top 5 buddy-reads!!

1. Sherlock Holmes Series by Arthur Conan Doyle

My Sherlock Holmes buddy-read has been pretty much the most epic and fun buddy-read I have ever done. I started reading the complete Sherlock Holmes series with a friend sometime in the beginning of the summer of last year. A few of the stories or chapters we’ve read around the same day or just waited for each other to read, but mostly we’ve read the whole series chapter by chapter, story by story, at the same time as each other. We’re aaaalllmost done with the very last one (His Last Bow) and I’m super excited to finally mark off that I’ve read all the canonized so to speak Sherlock Holmes. It’s been…seriously such a fun ride. *grins* So many good memories made from this buddy-read!!

2. The Kitten Files Series by Perry Elisabeth Kirkpatrick

I think I picked this one up and just started randomly reading out loud in front of my younger brother, and he loved it tons right from the beginning and begged me to keep reading. My younger sister joined in and loved it too. We have yet to finish actually reading this series…but looking forward to reading it aloud some more whenever we have a chance. XD

3. On The Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness (Wingfeather Saga) By Andrew Peterson

This one has got to be the most buddy-read of any book I’ve ever read.

It started with my younger sister. I had gotten it from the library as an interlibrary loan back when it had a dark blue cover and was loving it and mentioned to my sister I thought she would love it. She gave the cover a look, looked at me, and shook her head. She was fully convinced that nothing with a title like “On The Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness” could possibly be a good book and that I must be reading a pretty bad book. I finally convinced her to just let me read the first chapter out loud to her, and when we got to the end she reluctantly agreed she kinda needed to know what was next, and then by the second chapter she was begging me to continue reading.

In the middle of the second book, my older sister happened to be in the room when we were reading it out loud, so we figured we might as well start at the beginning.

Then…my brother wanted to read it too, so we figured we might as well all start over from the beginning, and my sisters didn’t mind hearing it again.

A few times one of the three siblings missed out when we read a chapter or section, and I had to read aloud that portion for them to catch up.

All in all, I read the first two books probably around 4-5 times, book 3 around 3 times, and book 4 only 2 times.

Basically, we love this series, and it was super fun that even one of my older siblings liked me reading it out loud enough to want to follow along. Who knows, maybe we’re due for another buddy read of this and I can read book 1 out loud for a 6th time! 😆

4. The Green Ember by S.D. Smith

I distinctly remember starting this one. We were all (most of my siblings and my mom) in the garage applying the last few coats of finish to the wooden bunkbed we were going to put in my room and didn’t feel particularly like music but were getting fairly bored. I had seen The Green Ember series around on a few blogs (I think maybe it was Once Upon An Ordinary, actually) and I noticed the library actually had it available to borrow as an online audiobook so I just started playing it. Mostly at first the reaction was, what a cute bunny story…but gradually everyone got quieter and was listening more intently.

Every chance we could get afterward, in the car, working on something together, etc., or just my sister and I sitting in the garage early before it was time to work on school listening, we devoured this book.

It’s such an epic, darkness-versus-light story. Somehow at a certain point, you almost forget it’s about rabbits. Also, this is probably the only book I’ve ever read, and determined not only that the audiobook is tolerable…but that the audiobook is the most superior format to enjoy the book. Seriously, the audiobook for this series is the best.

5. Nicholas Bishop by P.D. Atkerson

This one is a tiny bit of a side note since I don’t think I actually finished buddy-reading this one with anyone. I originally read this book on my own, but when I heard two friends of mine were in the middle of buddy-reading it and I had a moment to spare, I had read the book so many times that I just jumped in and buddy-read where they were. This is one of my favorite P.D. Atkerson books ever and just randomly jumping in and buddy reading it with some friends is a super fun memory. 🙂

And look, we’re halfway through, only three more days of book recs to go! Hope you’ve been enjoying some of the stories behind these books as well as finding some new-to-you, awesome books to read in the future!

Thanks to my ultimate buddy reader who I know is reading this post…thanks for reading basically all of SH with me (we’ll finish soon I know, no hurry) as well as being an altogether splendi-iron friend and my go-to friend to provide sometimes-semi-obligatory continual book updates, narration, rants, gushing, eye rolls/facepalms, honest thoughts, etc. as well as giving me all of the above (well, maybe not the eye rolls/facepalms) in return. This post is dedicated to you.

Plus, I did kinda consult you on some of those tough calls for which books to do for the other categories and you’re the one who told me I should do Five Fall Favorites this year in the first place. 😉 *hugs* ❤

Make sure to check out the blog party host blog @ onceuponanordinary.wordpress.com/blog/ to hear about Kate’s favorite buddy-reads and keep up on all the rest of the Five Fall Favorite blog posts!

What’s one of your favorite buddy-reads ever? Have you ever read a book chapter-by-chapter at the same time as someone else or just been reading the same book around the same time as a friend?

Life Update Summer 2023 + Five Fall Favorites

Hello.

I’ve had some recent posts, but it’s been a long while since I gave a real life update. Namely about The Thing that has occupied a very large portion of my life the last few years.

To start off, it would probably be good to give some kind of reintroduction to the person who’s been behind this blog for a good five and a half years.

Hi. I’m Faith. Y’all know me as a Christian farmgirl who tends to write posts surrounding either life on the farm, photography, or random musings on living life as a Christian. What y’all might not know is…I recently became a nurse.

I still love sunsets and photography. Mabel is still my sweet (but slightly older) bluetick coonhound. I’ve also got three cats now, one of which “runs” her own YouTube channel.

Farm life has for sure taken a backseat to nursing school and the rest of life the last few years, but it’s still a very large part of me.

So, hello. I’m Faith, a Christ-loving farmgirl, nurse, and blogger. I’m currently spending my life mostly regaining some much-needed balance and rest to my life, which feels really, really weird.

It’s…yeah, very strange (but kinda nice?) to actually have plenty of time to eat, sleep, read my Bible, exercise, and even have some kind of fun(?) almost every single day. At least without the threat of the summer, winter, or spring break coming crashing to an end at any moment. 😉

It’s been a hard few years getting here and I’m still trying to take in the fact that I actually have my RN now. It really, really wasn’t easy, but God has seriously carried me through this journey and given me the strength and encouragement I needed at every turn to make it through. I’m so thankful for all the friends (“real-life” and online), all my family, and every other random person who’s been there for me these last years, in all the lows and highs.

You can mostly expect to find my same mix of rambling thoughts and musings on life, farm life updates, and random bookish posts.

While I do tend to frequently find myself being consulted for all kinds of medical-related questions by writers for their characters and I’ve contemplated expanding into medical-accuracy-based beta reading/editing, I find myself sorely lacking in the experience, as yet, to really properly advise authors in that way. So while I may consider posting an occasional pointer on writing medical scenes accurately on my Instagram and may expand that realm as my experience as a nurse grows, I don’t know that it will affect this blog to any great extent for a bit, at any rate.

In other news, I’m very excited to be participating in Five Fall Favorites this year!

The last few years I’ve watched this super fun book/blog party from a slight distance (being somewhat submersed in nursing school and everything else), but I’ve always wanted to take part someday. I figured this year I would just participate more closely and then actually take part as a blog another year, but a friend encouraged me to dive in and take advantage of my current free time, so I went ahead and decided to join! The categories are super fun this year, so I’m really glad I did.

If you’ve never heard of the Five Fall Favorites Blog Party, it goes like so.

September 25th-30th

Daily book categories. Daily posts where I (and the other bloggers) choose five of our favorite books from the category for the day.

Hosted by the lovely Kate (Willis) Hoppman at onceuponanordinary.wordpress.com

Fall-themed, lots and lots of fun, and will leave you with tons of book recs.

Thou art invited! Follow along here and I’ll link back to the host’s blog every day, or just follow along straight from Once Upon an Ordinary.

I thiiink that’s all. Feel free to share the fun about the Five Fall Favorites on your own blog or social media.

I’ll be back on the 25th-30th for book stuff and more later whenever I’ve got thoughts to share.

“Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.”

-Jude 24-25 (ESV)