As we close out another year of the Unlocking the Past Reading Challenge, I’m looking forward to a new year with new challenges. After taking suggestions from my Facebook Group, I’ve settled on the theme:
Unlocking the Past: Ecclesiastes 3
Just as Ecclesiastes has two opposites in each verse, most months will leave you with two options to choose from.
January Verse: A time to be born and a time to die.
Challenge Theme: A book with a Baby or End of Life character
February Verse: A time to plant and a time to harvest.
Challenge Theme: A book with a Rural Setting OR a Major Move/Life Change
March Verse: A time to kill and a time to heal.
Challenge Theme: A book with a serial killer or a character in the medical profession.
April Verse: A time to tear down and a time to build up.
Challenge Theme: A book with characters or plots related to construction, remodeling, demolition, or architecture.
May Verse: A time to cry and a time to laugh.
Challenge Theme: A RomCom or a book that makes you cry
June Verse: A time to grieve and a time to dance.
Challenge Theme: A book with a funeral or with a character who is a dancer.
July Verse: A time to embrace and a time to turn away.
Challenge Theme: Second Chance Romance or Family/Friend Reconciliation
August Verse: A time to search and a time to quit searching.
Challenge Theme: A mystery or a theme of someone searching for family
September Verse: A time to tear and a time to mend.
Challenge Theme: A Tailor/Seamstress character
October Verse: A time to be quiet and a time to speak.
Challenge Theme: A mute/deaf character or a character who advocates for others
November Verse: A time to love and a time to hate.
Challenge Theme: An enemies-to-lovers book
December Verse: A time for war and a time for peace.
Challenge Theme: A book set at the end of a war
Just as this year there was a monthly prize, there will continue to be a monthly prize with this reading challenge. You don’t have to participate every month to qualify. Participate in what months you can and skip the months where life gets in the way.
Now I need YOUR help. I want to create a page, as well as posts, with recommended reads for each month. So help me out and tell me what books you’d recommend. (Be sure to say which month 1, 2, 3, etc your recommendation goes with.)
Everyone who comments will be entered for a chance to win either a signed copy of one of my books (your choice) are a book off my prize shelf. (The winner will be randomly selected on December 19 and emailed.)
For January:
End of life: The Extraordinary Deaths of Mrs Kip by Sara Brunsvold.
For June:
A time to Dance: A Midnight Dance by Joanna Politano
September:
A Seamstress: The Seamstress of Acadie by Laura Frantz
Thanks! I’ve got those added!
Are you compiling a list of books that fit the themes? Where can I see the list?
I’m looking for January’s book.
Lyndi
I just hit publish on this. I only have the January list right now: https://crystalcaudill.com/reading-challenge-recommendations/
THanks! I’ve got them added!
For January, end of life character: Where the Blue Sky Begins by Katie Powner
Thanks! I’ve added it!
Thanks! I’ve got it added!
My book, Something I Haven’t Told You, goes with your January theme of a child being born. Here’s the link: Something I Haven’t Told You https://a.co/d/e4fIMUv.
Thanks! I’ve added it!
Thanks for adding my book to your list for January.
The Extraordinary Deaths of Mrs. Kip by Sara Brunsvold could work for January, for end of life characters. A RomCom for May could be The Happy Life of Isadora Bentley.
Great recommendations! I’ve added them!
Thanks! I’ve got it added to the page!
For September – A Tailor-Made Bride by Karen Witemeyer
For May – Husband Auditions or Hero Debut by Angela Ruth Strong
THank you! I’ve got them added to my recommendations page
January:
• “Love Finds You in Golden, New Mexico” by Lena Nelson Dooley – The baby is a part of the books overall storyline
February:
• “Forsaken Dreams” by MaryLu Tyndall -The characters moved from America to Brazil after the Civil War
March: (apparently my most read topic 😜😂)
• “The White City” by Grace Hitchcock – Has a serial killer
• “The Doctor’s Lady” by Jody Hedlund – Hero is a doctor
• “Lost in Darkness” by Michelle Griep – Hero is a surgeon
• “Within My Heart” by Tamera Alexander – Hero is a doctor
• “A Lady in Attendance” by Rachel Fordham – Hero is a dentist
• “At Love’s Command” by Karen Witemeyer – Heroine is a doctor
April:
• “Engaging Deception” by Regina Jennings – I haven’t read this one yet, but it’s on my ‘to-be-read’ list📚
July:
• “A Life Once Dreamed” by Rachel Fordham – Second chance romance. (Technically could work for March as well because the hero is a doctor.😜)
• “The Lady of Bolton Hill” by Elizabeth Camden – It’s been a while since I read this one, but I think it falls under second chance romance.
• “Remembered” by Tamera Alexander – Heroine travels from France to the Colorado Territories in search of her father whom she hasn’t seen in 25 years.
August:
• “Blue Moon Promise” by Colleen Coble – Has a mystery woven throughout.
September:
• ”A Tailor-Made Bride” by Karen Witemeyer – Heroine is a seamstress
• “A Heart Most Worthy” by Siri Mitchell – This story follows three Italian immigrant women who work in a dress shop
December:
“Traces of Mercy” by Michael Landon, Jr. & Cindy Kelley – this book is set at the end of the Civil War (“Finding Mercy” is the next book, and is a continuation, I’d recommend that one, too😊) These books could probably fit in August as well.
Thank you! I’ve got them added to the recommendations page.
January:
•“In Harm’s Way” by Irene Hannon (A baby was kidnapped which in turn creates the basis for the story)
February:
•“When Valleys Bloom Again” by Pat Jeanne Davis (Moved from England to America during WWII)
March:
•“Hope’s Highest Mountain” by Misty M. Beller (The hero is a former doctor, whose doctoring skill is needed throughout the book.)
•“Wedded to War” by Jocelyn Green (The two main characters are a nurse and a doctor)
•“A Memory Between Us” by Sarah Sundin (The heroine is a nurse)
• Sarah Sundin’s 3 Books in the “Wings of the Nightingale” series all include the heroine as a flight nurse “With Every Letter” ,“On Distant Shores” and “In Perfect Time
June:
•“Until Leaves Fall In Paris” by Sarah Sundin (Heroine is a dancer)
July:
•“A Flood of Love” by Tracie Peterson – It’s also the first book in the 4 in 1 book “Serving Up Love: A Harvey House Brides Collection” (Second chance Romance)
August:
•“Trapped” by Irene Hannon (She searches for her missing sister with the help of a Private Investigator)
• “The Land Beneath Us” by Sarah Sundin (Has a reoccurring plot of the heroine trying to find her twin sisters who were adopted after the loss of their parents)
• Sara Mills’s 2 Book mystery series “Allie Fortune Mystery” “Miss Fortune” and “Miss Match” – it does end in a cliffhanger though and the third book has never been published
September:
•”A Tailor-Made Bride” by Karen Witemeyer (Heroine is a dressmaker)
December:
•“Springtime of the Spirit” by Maureen Lang (This book is set at the end of the Great War [WWI] in Germany)
Thanks! I’ve got those added to my recommendations page!
I probably forgot a few, but this is the list I made last night. Several of these can apply to multiple prompts. And they might not all be the best fit for the prompts.
January:
The Noble Guardian, Michelle Griep (has a baby)
February:
The Keeper of the Bees, Gene Stratton-Porter (wounded ww1 vet searches for a place to spend the rest of his life. When he saves the life of a beekeeper, he’s offered a job. Rural + life change. (Stratton-Porter is so underrated))
Mark of the King, Jocelyn Green (rural + major move)
March:
With Every Breath, Elizabeth Camden (doctor, TB, mystery)
While Love Stirs, Lorna Seilstad (light/sweet romance, doctor)
White City, Grace Hitchcock (historical serial killer HH Holmes, who posed as a doctor for one of his fake identities)
April:
Daughtry House series, Beth White (sisters remodel their plantation home into a hotel, post civil war)
Lost Castle series, Kristy Cambron (multiple stories tied together by castle ruins)
May:
Playing the Part, Jen Turano (this was the first Turano novel I read, and one of my favorite comedies)
Worthy Pursuit, Karen Witemeyer (funny and sweet)
June:
Until the Leaves Fall in Paris, Sarah Sundin (ballerina)
The Italian Ballerina, Kristy Cambron (ballerina)
(I haven’t read either of these, but both are favorite authors)
July:
Curse of Misty Wayfair, Jaime Jo Wright (family reconciliation, Gothic mystery)
Flight of Fancy, Laurie Alice Eakes (second chance romance)
Butterfly Palace, Colleen Coble (second chance romance)
August:
Mark of the King, Jocelyn Green (again? Yes. Mystery + searching for family)
Before We Were Yours, Lisa Wingate (mystery + searching for family. Georgia Tann’s adoption scam during the great depression, and the long ranging problems)
September:
After a Fashion, Jen Turano (not a dressmaker, but fashion is pretty central to the story)
Paris Dressmaker, Kristy Cambron (haven’t read, basing my recommendation on the title/description, and Cambron is one of my favorite authors)
October:
Saving Amelie, Cathy Gohlke (deaf/mute character during nazi eugenics)
Deadly Pursuit, Irene Hannon (main character is a social worker)
November:
Red Siren, MaryLu Tyndall (lady pirate, and the man who’s supposed to catch her)
Dauntless, Dina L Sleiman (female Robin Hood, and man who’s supposed to catch her)
(Not sure if either of these is exactly enemies-to-lovers, but they’re both great!)
December:
Escape to Paradise trilogy, MaryLu Tyndall (Confederates immigrate to Brazil post civile war)
Daisies Are Forever, Liz Tolsma (American-German and pow at end of ww2)
I’m moving, so almost all of my books are in one house, while I’m currently in another. So I did the best I could.
Thanks! I’ve got them added to my recommended page!
For January’s end of life recommendation, “Gone” by L. N. Cronk is an excellent book.
Another for January is The Year of Goodbyes and Hellos by Kelly Irvin. End of life and a baby is born.
Serial killer March: Cold Threat by Nancy Mehl
April:Construction , rehab: The Divine Proverb of Streusel by Sara Brunsvold
May Rom Com: Loyally Luke by Pepper Basham – comes out in May
September: The Seamstress of Acadie by Laura Frantz
I’m not sure if this is where to put the looks I have finished for the reading challenge, but I just finished the Amish midwife by Misty Starns Clark and Leslie Gould.
It was a really awesome book. The characters were very well developed, the plot kept me engaged, and the authors had clearly done their homework. They were very knowledgeable about childbirth. I have lived in Pennsylvania and the authors are spot on about the crazy bureaucracy of the various governments – including Harrisburg. I would recommend this book to those who live with adoption in their immediate family.
Those posts go up the last day of the month. Here is the post for February’s Challenge: RCR: The Captive Heart by Michelle Griep