What We're Reading Wednesday: All the Blue of Heaven (with a Review)

It wasn't until Finding Grace was published that I realized how important it is for authors to have reviews of their work posted by readers--whether on Amazon, on Goodreads, or on readers' personal blogs.  My novel, a labor of love that I'd dreamed of writing since I was a schoolgirl, was released a little over a year ago by a small Catholic publishing house called Bezalel Books--which is doing wonderful work, but is hardly a household name; yet even the larger houses rarely have big budgets for marketing and promoting their authors' works, so the burden of that responsibility falls mostly on the shoulders of the authors themselves.  (Ironic, too, because most of us bookish types are much happier quietly typing away on a laptop rather then standing before a group of people and saying, "Gee, you really should read my novel!")

Over the past year, I have had some incredible on-line conversations with a whole bunch of amazing Catholic writers--some of whom I'd heard of before, some of whom were new to me.  Getting to know them, and being on the receiving end of their encouragement and support, was truly one of the best off-shoots of having my book published.  When I got to meet several of them in the flesh at the Catholic Writers Guild conference held in early August in NJ, that was extremely special.

Catholic writers are fighting a cultural war, trying to spread the Faith through their words, and they need the support of their fellow soldiers in the trenches (not to put too dramatic a spin on it).  Most of the authors I've been fortunate enough to meet, whether on-line or in person, are more than willing to put in a good word for one of their fellow "evangelizers," knowing what a difficult task it can be to get good Christian literature into the hands of those who might be inspired or edified by it.  As blogger and writer Sarah Reinhard explained to me, after I thanked her for posting a positive review on my book's Amazon page, "Well, I'm an author, too.  I'm all about helping the peeps.  :)"

I want to help my peeps as well, so I've started writing book reviews for CatholicFiction.net.  I've also written a few for Amazon, and just last night I set up a Goodreads account.  One of the books I've recently read and reviewed for these sites is Virginia Carmichael's All the Blue of Heaven.  (I mentioned I'd started it in this previous WWRW post.)   I thought I'd share the review with you today, while linking up with Jessica for an installment of

Just me with my nose in a book.  What's new?

Carmichael is a good writer.  In this work of Christian romance fiction, her characters are well-developed and their conversations sound like real ones.  I like the "will they end up together, or won't they?" tension she created between the heroine and her love interest.  My only beef with the book was that it was rather poorly edited, but otherwise I really did enjoy it.  Here's a link to my Goodreads review of All the Blue of Heaven.  (The same one will appear on CatholicFiction.net and Amazon..) Now head on over to Housewifespice to see what Jessica and her peeps are reading this Wednesday.