Friday, December 29, 2017

Coffee Shop Christmas | First Line Friday, Book Review

Happy Friday-after-Christmas! How many of you got new books this month? I know that I added several nice books to my shelves and added yet more book to my towering TBR pile!

I know it's technically past Christmas, but I'll still feature a Christmas book today by one of my author friends, Ryana. It was a good-hearted Christmas book.



The jingling of keys reached the ears of Deputy Ellis Wright.


How many Christmas books did you read this year? Any favorites?
Feel free to share a first line from your current read!
Connecting with Hoarding Books for First Line Friday! Hop over and connect with your first line!



My Review

I loved the premise of this novella: the widow of a police officer who has opened a coffee shop. And in that coffee shop, she has a solid platform on which to reach all sorts of people who need the love of Jesus Christ shown to them.

Katherine Shannon is a very likeable character—a strong Christian, a woman who refuses to hold onto bitterness. The other characters were also neat to meet as well. I really did like Sgt. Piper. I also appreciate the realistic view into a police officer’s life in a real world.

There was a lot of Scriptural content in this. At least twice the Gospel was shared, church was mentioned. It definitely had a strong spiritual thread.

Definitely no romance. Which I liked (I mean, more than just because romance isn’t my strong favorite), because it explored different problems that people have apart from relationship issues.

There did seem to be a ton of characters, situations, problems, and solutions presented for just a novella. The author in me thinks this would have seemed more believable had it been written as a novel, and the characters had more time to ponder the way their beliefs and lives were challenged. Because it was a novella, the characters made rush-choices in about an 8-hour span that took the “real-life” aspect out for me. But, just as a story, it was a pleasant read.

*I received this book from the author and happily provided my honest review*

Purchase here.
Add to your Goodreads here.

15 comments:

Ryana Lynn said...

Ohhh! You have no idea how happy I am right now! This is the very first review I've ever gotten! Thank you so much! :) And yes, character quantity is an issue I am working on, haha! Thank you for your honest and kind review!

Rebekah said...

Oh, that sounds interesting.
I don't know how many Christmas stories I read this year. At least 24. :) And I don't know if I could pick a favorite of the "New" Christmas stories I read.
Right now I'm currently not reading a book. I haven't decided what to read. I have plenty of choices, but I just can't decide.

Amanda Tero said...

@ Ryana- aw, I'm so glad it made you happy! Characters are something I struggle with too. :P

@ Rebekah - wow, you've definitely read-up on Christmas books this year. :) How fun!

Becky said...

Happy Friday! My first line is from Would-be Mistletoe Wife by Christine Johnson.

“Louise Smythe spotted her quarry and motioned her students to follow her across the sand dune.”

This is a fun & interesting read about lighthouses and the Chicago Fire! Happy New Year!!!!

Trisha said...

This sounds like an interesting story. Thank you for sharing it! Without checking my goodreads list to be sure, I'm going to say that I read 8 Christmas books. If I had to pick a favorite, I'd go with Michelle Griep's 12 Days at Bleakly Manor.
Over on my blog today I’m sharing the first line from My Heart Belongs in Niagara Falls, New York by Amanda Barratt. It is scheduled to release on Jan. 1st! I’ll share with you here a book I’m currently reading – Across the Blue by Carrie Turansky
“Isabella Grayson’s shoes sank into the plush red carpet of Broadlands’ south hall, and she released a soft sigh. What luxury!”

Happy New Year!

Amanda Tero said...

@ Becky - that does sound interesting! Thanks for sharing!

@ Trisha - you're welcome. Eight is a nice number. Oh, and I still need to read Bleakly Manor. Maybe I can get to that today (I'm down sick, so am not doing much besides reading). I've just recently listened to my first Turansky book, and enjoyed it. That one sounds lovely!

SusanLovesBooks said...

Happy Friday!

My First Line Friday comes from a book I will be reading and reviewing soon, A Courtship on Huckleberry Hill by Jennifer Beckstrand.

Elsie Stutzman forced a smile and took the last bite of asparagus potato raisin casserole on her plate. She swallowed decisively, and it slid down her throat like a cup of wet cement.

Have a great weekend and stay warm!

Caryl Kane said...

THE BEGINNING

"WHO ARE YOU?" I asked. - The Book of Mysteries by Jonathan Cahn

Happy New Year!

Phyllis - Among the Reads said...

I read a ton of Christmas books this year. :-) I'm not positive I'm done for the year yet, either. They are such fun to read.

My first line comes from Courtney Walsh’s Hometown Girl:
Beth Whitaker hated flowers.

Sarah @ All The Book Blog Names Are Taken said...

Happy New Year Amanda!

Anneliese Dalaba said...

The book I'm featuring this week is A Cowboy Unmatched by Karen Witemeyer, who I always enjoy. This is part of an enjoyable Archer Brothers series. Happy New Year!

englishmysteriesblog said...

Happy New Year friend! :)

Unknown said...

Happy Friday!!!

I'm sharing the first line from Nicole Deese's novel, A Season to Love, on my blog. I'm just starting chapter 23, so I will share the first line from this chapter here:

"I dreamed of coffee: dark and rich and boldly brewed."

A great dream to me!!! Hope you have a great weekend, and a happy New Year. 😊

Anonymous said...

Here's the first paragraph of a book I was rereading awhile ago: “The Railway Children”, by Edith Nesbit. You should totally read this, and your younger sibs should love it. My mother read this aloud to us, about a chapter a week, and we all loved it. I strongly reccomend spinning it out like that. Then you get to know and *love* the characters. <3

“They were not railway children to begin with. I don’t suppose they had ever thought about railways except as a means of getting to Maskelyne and Cook’s, the Pantomime, Zoological Gardens, and Madame Tussaud’s. They were just ordinary suburban children, and they lived with their Father and Mother in an ordinary red-brick-fronted villa, with coloured glass in the front door, a tiled passage that was called a hall, a bath-room with hot and cold water, electric bells, French windows, and a good deal of white paint, and ‘every modern convenience’, as the house- agents say.”

It's so sweet and cute and funny!!!!! Here are a few quotes ’cause I can't help it. :)

“Mother smiled, but she sighed, too. It is nice that your children should believe you willing to open house and heart to any and every one who needs help. But it is rather embarrassing sometimes, too, when they act on their belief. “Oh, well,” said Mother, “we must make the best of it.”

“Oh, I BEG your pardon, Peter,” said Bobbie, “I AM so sorry.”
“Don’t mention it,” said Peter, grandly, “I knew you would be.”

~Katja L.

Amanda Tero said...

@ Susan – ew… that is a very interesting dish featured! Thanks for sharing, and yeah, it’s been super cold for us! Things have warmed up now. :)

@ Caryl – ooh, I like! Thanks for sharing.

@ Phyllis – haha! I did read one Christmas book so far this month (“12 Days at Bleakly Manor”).

@ Sarah – thanks! Same to you!

@ Anneliese – I would like to read more Witemeyer. I enjoyed the one of hers that I did read. I’ve heard a lot about the Archer brothers.

@ English Mysteries – Happy New Year to you as well! :)

@ Nicole – haha! Yes, lovely dream! ;)

@ Katja – you know, I picked that book up in a thrift store sometime in the last couple of years. I’ve not read it yet though. I’ve watched a movie rendition. :) Those are great quotes, though!

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