Skip to main content

The Christy Award winners

Captain's Log, Stardate 07.14.2008

Here are the Christy winners! The finalists are all listed, as well.


CONTEMPORARY (Stand Alone)

Winner:
Chasing Fireflies by Charles Martin (Thomas Nelson)

Finalists:

In High Places by Tom Morrisey (Bethany House, a division of Baker Publishing Group)

Quaker Summer by Lisa Samson (Thomas Nelson)



CONTEMPORARY (Series, Sequels and Novellas)

Winner:
Home to Holly Springs by Jan Karon (Viking Penguin)

Finalists:

A Time to Mend by Sally John and Gary Smalley (Thomas Nelson)

What Lies Within by Karen Ball (WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group)



HISTORICAL

Winner:
A Proper Pursuit by Lynn Austin (Bethany House, a division of Baker Publishing Group)

Finalists:

Lady of Milkweed Manor by Julie Klassen (Bethany House, a division of Baker Publishing Group)

A Tendering in the Storm by Jane Kirkpatrick (WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group)



LITS (tie)

Winner:
Hallie's Heart by Shelly Beach (Kregel Publications)

Finalists:

Doesn't She Look Natural by Angela Hunt (Tyndale House Publishers)

Let Them Eat Cake by Sandra Byrd (WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group)

Trophy Wives Club by Kristin Billerbeck (Avon Inspire, a division of HarperCollins Publishers)



ROMANCE

Winner:
Remembered by Tamera Alexander (Bethany House, a division of Baker Publishing Group)

Finalists:

Lightning and Lace by DiAnn Mills (Barbour Publishing)

Remember to Forget by Deborah Raney (Howard Books, a division of Simon and Schuster)



SUSPENSE

Winner:
The Cure by Athol Dickson (Bethany House, a division of Baker Publishing Group)

Finalists:

My Hands Came Away Red by Lisa McKay (Moody Publishers)

The Pawn by Steven James (Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group)



VISIONARY

Winner:
Scarlet by Stephen R. Lawhead (Thomas Nelson)

Finalists:

Auralia's Colors by Jeffrey Overstreet (WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group)

The Restorer by Sharon Hinck (NavPress Publishing Group)



FIRST NOVEL

Winner:
The Stones Cry Out by Sibella Giorello (Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group)

Finalists:

Auralia's Colors by Jeffrey Overstreet (WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group)

Demon: A Memoir by Tosca Lee (NavPress Publishing Group)



YOUNG ADULT

Winner:
Hollywood Nobody by Lisa Samson (NavPress Publishing Group)

Finalists:

Maggie Come Lately by Michelle Buckman (NavPress Publishing Group)

In Between by Jenny B. Jones (NavPress Publishing Group)


Camy here: I am rather embarrassed to confess I have not read many of these books, although several are on my TBR pile (including Demon by Tosca Lee and In Between by Jenny Jones).

In fact, I think the only ones I’ve read are Auralia’s Colors and The Restorer. Personally, I liked The Restorer better because Auralia’s Colors, while beautifully written, was a bit boring until about halfway through the book. Nothing really happened until then.

To remedy my Neanderthal-ish ignorance of these award winners, I think I will try to read these by the end of the year. Anyone else with me?

Anyone else read these books? What did you think?

Comments

Out of the 27 books, I've read 8, and plan to read four more. See which ones on my blog!
luv2read said…
HEy Camy,
I know I was surprised to see how little of these books I had read also. I have read Quaker Summer and The Pawn. I did read Tamara Alexndra Revealed which comes before Remembered.
The Pawn was very good and scary. I was very impressed with it and he now has out the sequel.
I went through the list of winners Saturday and reviewed the previous years winners. I wrote authors names down I saw had won or been nominated over the last 3 years and know I definetly want to read them.
Charles Martin, and Athol Dickson, Lisa Samson have had their names on the list several times so my goal is to read at list theirs off the list. Come visit me at my blog page http://luv2read-luv2read.blogspot.com
It is a page I have just for fun and also use it for my bookclub I have started. SHellie
Gracie said…
I haven't read that many from the list (mostly because right now I'm trying to finish my own list). But I have read The Restorer (and loved it!), Auralia's Colors, and The Trophy Wives Club. I haven't been able to get In Between, although I read the sequel, On the Loose. Either way I'm glad that some of my favorite authors were finalists in the Christys!
Amy said…
Of the winners the only I've read is Hollywood Nobody.

I actually didn't like the Restorer as much as everyone else.
Unknown said…
I'm even worse than all the previous commenters. lol. I've only read ONE! I have four more on my to read list, but still, that's pathetic! lol.
Crystal Laine said…
When I was publishing book reviews for the magazines I wrote for, I usually had read almost all of the finalists. This year I find that the romance category is one I can be sure to cover, but the rest is spotty.

I will say that I read The Restorer's Son recently for a contest and it was so well done! So now I'm going back to pick up book one (The Restorer) and Book 3.

I also read Lady of the Milkweed Manor and was blown away (so good.)I have the others in the historical category, so now I have time to catch up on those. Other than those, I am not sure I even want to read the rest.

I've found that now that I don't have to read everything (grin,) I just read the genres I like.

Now, if I became a judge for the Christys, that might change things. (Something I've always been interested in doing.ha)

I say--read what you want!

Popular Posts

Michael’s Scarf knitting pattern

Michael’s Gray and Brown Scarf I had just written a scene in Lady Wynwood’s Spies, volume 5: Prisoner where my character Michael gives the heroine a very significant scarf. When looking for a stitch pattern, I found the one used in “#31 Comfort either for a Lady or Gentleman” in The Lady's Assistant , volume 2 , published in 1842 by Mrs. Jane Gaugain, pages 125-126 (click on the link to view and/or download the free PDF of the digitally scanned book). When I did test swatches, it turned out to be a pretty eyelet pattern that looks like branches or vines winding upward. I tried the pattern as a parallelogram scarf and discovered that the pattern has a changeable orientation, looking vertical or diagonal depending on how you looked at it. So I decided to use this pattern, knitted as a parallelogram, as Michael’s scarf. I decided to use a smaller needle and add a slip stitch in the pattern to make the eyelets a bit more close and less lacy. When paired with a brown an

September and October Christian Fiction new releases

The Lone Rice Ball releases next month in a Christian Contemporary Romance multi-author box set, Once Upon a Starry Night: A Very Merry Christmas Romance Collection . It's included in this promo with other Christian Fiction new releases for September and October. You can preorder it for only $2.99, and the price will go up on the release date in October. If you prefer to read it on Kindle Unlimited, sign up for my newsletter so you can hear when it’s available to read in KU. Check out the Sept/Oct Christian Fiction new releases

CWO – Girly girls

Captain’s Log, Stardate 09.12.2006 Blog book giveaway: My Thursday book giveaway is A FAMILY FOREVER by Brenda Coulter . My Monday book giveaway is JADE by Marilynn Griffith . You can still enter both giveaways. Just post a comment on each of those blog posts. On Thursday, I'll draw the winner for A FAMILY FOREVER and post the title for another book I'm giving away. Check out Christian Women Online (click on the button above) to see what other women are blogging about this quote. "Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another, 'What! You too? I thought I was the only one!'" ~ C.S. Lewis ~ I am NOT a girly-girl. I prefer jeans and pants over skirts (a remnant of having my skirt lifted in middle school—traumatic, I tell you). I rarely wear makeup. I prefer sports bras over the lacy ones, or the underwire ones, or even the “boost your bust a cup size” wonder ones. I was also never a jock in school (think pudgy and slow). I was a brainiac, with

No Cold Bums toilet seat cover

Captain's Log, Stardate 08.22.2008 I actually wrote out my pattern! I was getting a lot of hits on my infamous toilet seat cover , and I wanted to make a new one with “improvements,” so I paid attention and wrote things down as I made the new one. This was originally based off the Potty Mouth toilet cover , but I altered it to fit over the seat instead of the lid. Yarn: any worsted weight yarn, about 120 yards (this is a really tight number, I used exactly 118 yards. My suggestion is to make sure you have about 130 yards.) I suggest using acrylic yarn because you’re going to be washing this often. Needle: I used US 8, but you can use whatever needle size is recommended by the yarn you’re using. Gauge: Not that important. Mine was 4 sts/1 inch in garter stitch. 6 buttons (I used some leftover shell buttons I had in my stash) tapestry needle Crochet hook (optional) Cover: Using a provisional cast on, cast on 12 stitches. Work in garter st until liner measures

Keriah's Narrow Crescent Scarf

In my series Lady Wynwood’s Spies, my character Keriah is more emotional than her friend Phoebe, and so when writing about her in Lady Wynwood’s Spies, volume 6: Martyr , naturally I described her scarf as having more lively colors than the greens and blues that Phoebe favors. I didn’t really have a particular yarn colorway in mind when I wrote the scene, but when looking through my stash to knit her scarf, I found the Carnival colorway in Knit Picks Chroma Twist Fingering, and it was absolutely perfect for her. Chroma Twist Fingering is discontinued, but you could knit this in Chroma Fingering or any other color-transitional yarn. In the Regency era, a tri-color 3-ply yarn like Chroma Twist Fingering would probably not have been sold in shops, but it also may not have been completely unheard of. It is made by simply dying the wool rather than the finished yarn, and then the dyed wool would be split into 3 parts and each part spun into a single ply, before all three plies

We Is Friends

Captain’s Log, Supplemental Blog book giveaway: To enter, go to the blog links below and post a comment there. My Monday book giveaway is Heart of the Amazon by Margaret Daley My Thursday book giveaway is She’s All That by Kristin Billerbeck . You can still enter both giveaways. On Monday, I'll draw the winner for the Heart of the Amazon and post the title for another book I'm giving away. Win an iPod Nano! Exclusively for my newsletter YahooGroup subscribers, I have a huge contest running until January 31st! Get more info on my contest page ! I got this hilarious picture from my good friend Pamela James . This made me crack up, maybe because I’m not terribly fuzzy and warm and this is as close as I’ll get. TMI: Bible in 90 Days: day 41. Okay, you can shoot me if you want, but I think Proverbs is a lot of repetition. It’s not bad repetition. I mean, it’s all valuable wisdom and all. And I’m sure the deliberate change in wording of the same concepts has some deep theolog

Fall Into Sweet Clean Christian Romance Bookfunnel promo

Volumes 1, 2, and 3 in my Lady Wynwood’s Spies series are in this promo featuring Christian romance novels! Check out the promo and all the great Christian romance ebooks! You might find a new favorite author!

Grace Livingston Hill romances free on Google Books

I wanted to update my old post on Grace Livingston Hill romances because now there are tons more options for you to be able to read her books for free online! I’m a huge Grace Livingston Hill fan. Granted, not all her books resonate with me, but there are a few that I absolutely love, like The Enchanted Barn and Crimson Roses . And the best part is that she wrote over 100 books and I haven’t yet read them all! When I have time, I like to dive into a new GLH novel. I like the fact that most of them are romances, and I especially appreciate that they all have strong Christian themes. Occasionally the Christian content is a little heavy-handed for my taste, but it’s so interesting to see what the Christian faith was like in the early part of the 20th century. These books are often Cinderella-type stories or A Little Princess (Frances Hodgson Burnett) type stories, which I love. And the best part is that they’re all set in the early 1900s, so the time period is absolutely fasci

September newsletter and new novel title

Captain's Log, Stardate 09.02.2008 I just sent out my September newsletter , which is chock full of new news about my Sushi series and info about my huge website contest ! If you haven’t entered yet, what are you waiting for? In addition, I have a newsletter giveaway where I’m giving away two full sets of my Sushi series! You’ll need to read my September newsletter to find out how to enter. (I explained the differences between my website contests, my newsletter contests, and my blog contests here.) Another big piece of news is that I now have a title for my romantic suspense novel coming out next year from Steeple Hill: Deadly Intent Doesn’t it sound deliciously sinister?

Marketing Information Form, part two

Captain’s Log, Stardate 05.26.2006 Blog book giveaway: My Monday book giveaway is A GIRL’S BEST FRIEND by Kristin Billerbeck . My Thursday book giveaway is LIFE INTERRUPTED by Tricia Goyer . You can still enter both giveaways. Just post a comment on each of those blog posts. On Monday, I'll draw the winner for A GIRL’S BEST FRIEND and post the title for another book I'm giving away. Stay tuned. Continued from Marketing Information Form, part one : More stuff they want to know about my book: Other covers: What styles, fonts, colors? This is one area I didn’t really think about, but I listed the few covers that I thought conveyed the sort of atmosphere I wanted for my book: WHAT A GIRL WANTS by Kristin Billerbeck . The cartoon design is fresh, cute, clean. SASSY CINDERELLA AND THE VALIANT VIGILANTE by Sharon Dunn . This book, more than the other Ruby Taylor books, conveyed Ruby’s character—her vibrant red hair, bohemian dress, sassy post-modern attitude. THE TROUBLE WITH LACY B