Lauren Bailey is tired of waiting for The One to magically appear in her life before she can make her dream of becoming a mother a reality. Only her very closest friends know that the 31-year-old first grade teacher has applied to adopt a child from China; in fact, she's been waiting to be matched with one for over a year. Since the rules dictate that she can only adopt as a single woman or as a wife of more than two years, Lauren has stopped looking for Mr. Right altogether.

Enter Joshua Avery, a goofy tech developer who's stepped in as a short-term sub for the other first grade teacher at Lauren's school. He's cheerful, funny, compassionate, successful, and...interested. As much as Lauren tries to convince herself she doesn't feel the sparks between them, she can't deny that a certain dinosaur-obsessed creator of educational apps is constantly on her mind. When she finally receives an email matching her with a child, Lauren is torn. The timing couldn't be worse. If she proceeds with the adoption, will she lose Joshua? If she prioritizes her new relationship, will her dream—what she feels is a God-given calling—of being an adoptive mother ever come true? She's having a difficult enough time getting her family onboard with the idea, let alone the new man in her life. Will she have to sacrifice her dream of adopting for her dream of finding the perfect partner? Is there some way to have both, even when it's looking like she'll get neither? 

Christy Award-winning author Nicole Deese and her husband adopted their daughter from China. That experience inspired her to write Before I Called You Mine, a novel that's not just about adoption, but also about the choices we make in life, the anxieties we feel, and the ability we have to conquer them through faith in God. (It's Christian fiction, natch.) Although my experience with adoption differed greatly from Lauren's fictional journey (my husband and I had been married for over a decade and had three biological children when we adopted our newborn daughter here in the U.S.), I could definitely empathize with a lot of her feelings and frustrations. Her decisions and thought patterns didn't always seem logical to me, but I still felt a connection with her character. She's sympathetic and likable, although—not gonna lie—she got irritating and self-centered at times. Joshua, on the other hand, is completely charming, likely because he has no actual flaws except for being a little too silly. He could have used some rounding out to make him more realistic. I especially dug Lauren's kind, supportive circle of friends; their presence adds a nice found-family aspect to the novel that gives it another layer of heartwarming appeal.

Deese has a warm, engaging writing style that makes Before I Called You Mine both compelling and enjoyable. The story is predictable, sure, but it's got enough conflict going on to keep it interesting. Lauren's romance with Joshua develops over time, her adoption journey is realistically bumpy, and her dealings with her parents and sister bring up some important issues about family, adoption, and decision making. This might be spoiler-y, but I would have liked more in the story about Lauren's actual experience as a single, working mother of an older child who has been plopped into a completely foreign living situation without being able to understand more than a few words of English. That whole experience—which could be incredibly rocky—feels glossed over in the novel. 

I know a lot of readers shy away from Christian novels because they often get too preachy, cheesy, or just over-the-top Jesus-y. Before I Called You Mine does have a stronger religious vibe than other Christian books I've read, but it's handled in a way that feels mostly natural and balanced. To be fair, I'm a religious person and I often have discussions with family and friends about church, scriptures, spiritual promptings, how God works in my life, etc. I like the way Deese deals with the religious aspects of the story, and I am definitely one who puts down a book if it's too preachy! This one isn't (at least not for me). 

Overall, I quite enjoyed Before I Called You Mine. It's clean, heartwarming, uplifting, and faith-promoting. I cared about the characters and felt invested in their plights. There was enough going on in the story to keep me reading. Its themes resonated with me as a mother, an adoptive parent, and a Christian woman. Deese's writing style appeals to me so I will definitely be reading more from her. 

(Readalikes: Reminds me of other books about adoption, although no particular one is coming to mind. Help!)

To the FTC, with love: I received a finished copy of Before I Called You Mine from the generous folks at Bethany House in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!

I always love it when we do seasonal book lists for TTT, so I'm excited for today's topic—Top Ten Books On My Fall TBR List. I was so eager for it, in fact, that I started it last week, posting the first part of my list here. (Or just scroll down since I only seem to be able to manage one post a week these days!) Today, you get the second half of my list of books I still need to read to fulfill prompts for my 2023 reading challenges. I can't wait to see what you all will be reading this Fall!

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by the lovely Jana over at That Artsy Reader Girl. Click on over there and give her some love, won't you? While you're there, add a link to your own TTT list of Fall reads so I can check it out.

1. Scene of the Climb by Kate Dyer-Seeley—This cozy mystery is set in the beautiful Columbia River Gorge, a lush scenic area in Oregon and Washington. It's a region I know well since that's where I grew up. I've been meaning to read this series opener for awhile now since (1) I enjoy a good cozy, (2) it's by one of my favorite cozy writers (Kate Dyer-Seeley is Ellie Alexander's real name), and (3) it's set in a place I love. 

The story revolves around an out-of-work journalist who bluffs her way into writing for an extreme sports magazine (even though she's anything but athletic). Pretending to be a seasoned mountain climber for a story is difficult enough, but when the reporter witnesses a suspicious death, she finds herself impersonating Nancy Drew as well.

Literary Escapes Reading Challenge—Oregon AND the Craving For Cozies Reading Challenge AND the Pick Your Poison Reading Challenge—Two Books By the Same Author Using Different Names AND the Medical Examiner's Mystery Reading Challenge

2. Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree—Even though this is not at all the type of book I usually read, it is so universally loved that not reading it is giving me a serious case of FOMO! For the few of you who haven't read it, it's about an orc who's tired of doing battle for her daily bread. She decides to retire her sword and open the first coffee shop ever seen in her city (where, by the way, no one even knows what coffee is). Abundant obstacles stand in the way of her business plan's success, but that doesn't stop her from working tirelessly to make her dreams come true. 

PopSugar Reading Challenge—A Book Written During NaNoWriMo AND the Craving For Cozies Reading Challenge (Is Legends & Lattes a cozy mystery? Someone said it was...)

3. Famous in a Small Town by Viola Shipman—Eighty-year-old Mary Jackson has run the Very Cherry General Store in quaint Good Hart, Michigan, for most of her life. As the last of the Jackson women, she's afraid she might have to do the unthinkable and turn the place over to (gulp!) a man. Then, Becky Thatcher comes to town. Becky never expected to start over at age 40, but it's beginning to look as if fate has other plans for her...

The Pick Your Poison Reading Challenge—A Book By An Author Using a Pseudonym of the Opposite Gender

4. The Honey Bus: A Memoir of Loss, Courage and a Girl Saved by Bees by Meredith May—This non-fiction title is about a girl who is left lonely and adrift by a chaotic home life. She is taken in by her grandfather, an eccentric beekeeper, who helps her find herself and her "people" by teaching her the art of beekeeping and honey-making.

The Pick Your Poison Reading Challenge—A Memoir or Biography About Someone With an Unusual Hobby

5. A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Mass—High fantasy is not a genre you see featured much here at BBB because it's just not my thing. One great feature of reading challenges is that they force me out of my reading comfort zones. So, I'm going to finally read a Maas book. She's such a popular author that it will be fun for me to give her a go. I think. 

Wait! Does Legends & Lattes count as a high fantasy? I'm a little confused by what is and what is not a high fantasy...anyone know??

Anyway, this popular novel is the first in a YA romantasy series about a huntress who is dragged into the vicious faerie underworld after killing a wolf in the woods. As she comes to know the beast who has captured her, she realizes that neither he nor his world is quite what they seem. Something is not quite right in faerie land and she might be the only one who can save it...

The 52 Club Reading Challenge—High Fantasy AND the Pick Your Poison Reading Challenge—A Book About Fairies 

6. Off the Grid by Tess Sharpe—This middle-grade adventure is the first installment in a series starring Maisie Lockwood, a young character from the Jurassic Park movies. I'm not sure what the plot of this novel is, but I know it's exciting and features dinosaurs. Again, not my usual thing, but it fulfills several of my reading challenge prompts, so I'm in.

PopSugar Reading Challenge—A Book Based on a Popular Movie AND the Pick Your Poison Reading Challenge—A Book With Dinosaurs in It 

7. Solito by Javier Zamora—I've been meaning to read this immigration memoir ever since it came out last year. It's the author's story about the harrowing 3,000-mile journey he made from his small hometown in El Salvador through Guatemala and Mexico, into the United States where he planned to reunite with the parents he hardly remembered. Traveling with a group of strangers with only a paid coyote to guide them, the 9-year-old experienced every kind of terror on his long, perilous journey.

Booklist Queen Reading Challenge—Read With Jenna Book Club Pick

8. Hour Glass by Michelle Rene—This western is set in the lawless town of Deadwood, South Dakota, where two orphaned children find a collection of colorful individuals who unexpectedly become family.

Literary Escapes Reading Challenge—South Dakota AND the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge

9. All the Small Poems and Fourteen More by Valerie Worth—Poetry is another genre I tend to avoid. In general, I find poems too abstract and confusing to really enjoy. I figure poetry written for children should be short and easy to understand, right?

Build Your Library Challenge—Read a Book of Nature Poetry AND the Pick Your Poison Reading Challenge

10. The Sewing Machine by Natalie Fergie—This is a novel about family secrets. It's told over several generations, all of which are connected through an heirloom sewing machine. 

The Pick Your Poison Reading Challenge—A Book With the Word "Machine" or "Mechanic" in the Title AND the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge

There you go, ten more books on my Fall TBR list. It's an eclectic list for me! What do you think? Have you read any of these? Which titles are you planning to read during this season? I'd truly love to know. Leave me a comment on this post and I will gladly return the favor on your blog. I also reply to comments left here.

It's TTT time and once again we've got a great topic—Top Ten Favorite Character Relationships—that I'm just not feeling. Since next week is all about our Fall TBR lists, I'm going to get that party started early with part one of my list. It's hard to believe, but we only have 110 days left in 2023 (not counting today). That's a little over three months to cram in all the reading I still want to accomplish this year. I've read 141 books so far, so I should have no trouble hitting my yearly goal of 200. I'm also doing well on all of my reading challenges, so I'm hoping to complete them by December 31 as well. To that end, the majority of the books on my Fall TBR are titles that I'm reading for reading challenges. 

Before we get to that, though, be sure to click on over to That Artsy Reader Girl and give our Top Ten Tuesday hostess with the mostest, Jana, some love!

1. Girlchild by Tupelo Hassman—This YA novel tells the story of Rory Hendrix, a smart, savvy girl who's desperate to prove she's not the future-less trailer trash everyone thinks she is. Told through a series of social workers' reports, arrest records, diary entries, letters, etc., it's an original coming-of-age story.

2. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid—When reclusive Evelyn Hugo, an aging Hollywood actress, finally decides to tell her life story to the press, she chooses an obscure reporter named Monique Grant. A shocked Monique listens in fascination as Evelyn reveals her incredible tale, one that—shockingly—intersects with Monique's own.

PopSugar Reading Challenge—A Book About Divorce AND the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge

3. War Girls by Tochi Onyebuchi—Set in 2172 Nigeria, this YA novel features two sisters who are determined to fight for their future on a climate-changed, war-ravaged, abandoned-for-space Earth. 

4. Last Call at the Nightingale by Katherine Schellman—The first installment in a historical mystery series, this novel features a Prohibition-era seamstress who's desperate to escape her tedious, poverty-stricken life. She finds freedom and escape at a secret dance hall where anything goes. When she discovers a dead body behind the club, she becomes embroiled in a dangerous murder investigation.

5. Sun Storm by Asa Larsson—This is the first book in a Swedish mystery series starring Stockholm lawyer Rebecka Martinsson. Our heroine returns to her hometown in spite of the disgrace she suffered there years before. Only an emergency would take her back and that's exactly what this is: her friend's brother has been viciously murdered. Rebecka will stop at nothing to find his killer.

Pick Your Poison Reading Challenge—A "Noir" Book AND the 52 Club Reading Challenge—Nordic Noir

6. The Matzah Ball by Jean Meltzer—Rachel Rubenstein-Goldblatt is a good Jewish girl. She's also secretly a best-selling author of Christmas romances. She just can't get enough of the Christian holiday with all of its magic and merriment. Hanukkah pales in comparison. When Rachel's editor insists she write a "diverse" holiday story, she turns to an upcoming Hanukkah celebration for inspiration. Working with her archenemy isn't part of the plan. Neither is falling for him...

7. Before I Called You Mine by Nicole Deese—Tired of trying to find The One so she can start a family, first grade teacher Lauren Bailey decides to pursue international adoption on her own. The adoption agency requires her to remain single for the time being, which becomes a challenge when Lauren finds herself falling for a charming substitute teacher. Does she have to sacrifice one thing her heart desires in order to get another? Or can she figure out a way to get everything she wants?

8. 1984 by George Orwell—This classic sci-fi novel features a young man who works for the Ministry of Truth in a dystopian London. When Julia and O'Brien come into his life unexpectedly, his existence is transformed forever. 

Booklist Queen Reading Challenge—Famous Author You've Avoided AND Build Your Library Reading Challenge—A Book That Is Classic Science Fiction AND Pick Your Poison Reading Challenge—An Author You Have Always Wanted to Read

9. River Sing Me Home by Eleanor Shearer—Set in Barbados in 1834, this novel is about a enslaved woman who learns that in spite of a government act declaring an end to slavery, her "owner" refuses to let any of his slaves go. She runs, driven to find her five children, all of whom have been sold by the plantation owner. No matter what she finds, she can't rest until she knows what has happened to her beloved offspring.

10. Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly—This popular non-fiction title tells the fascinating story of the African-American female mathematicians who played a crucial role in America's space program by working as "human computers" at NASA. These brilliant, intrepid women were invaluable assets in spite of all the prejudice they faced because of both their ethnicity and their gender.

There you go, ten books I'm planning to read this Fall. What are you planning to read in the next few months? If you did today's topic, what are some of your favorite fictional relationships? I'd truly love to know. Leave me a comment on this post and I will gladly return the favor on your blog.

Happy TTT!   

Today's TTT prompt—Top Ten Books That Defied My Expectations (books you thought you wouldn't like but ended up loving, books you thought you'd love but didn't, etc.)— is a good one, but I'm just not feeling it. Even though it's early September and it's still a million degrees outside, I'm gearing up for some cozy Fall reading. To me, that means mysteries, mysteries, and more mysteries! Yes, I read this genre throughout the year, but it just seems especially suited for the cozy/spooky season. Maybe that's why there are so many intriguing-sounding ones still to be published this year. I'm going to highlight ten up-and-coming mystery/thrillers that I want to read.

First, though, be sure to click on over to That Artsy Reader Girl and give our host, Jana, some love. If you want to join in the TTT fun (and you do!), all the details are there.

1. The Darkness Surrounds Us by Gail Lukasik (releases today!)—With the Spanish flu wreaking havoc on her Chicago home, nurse Nellie Lester needs to get out of town. She takes a job at a crumbling mansion on an isolated island in Michigan, hoping for a new start and to find answers to her mother's mysterious past. Not only does the place feel haunted by her mother's presence, but the discovery of the previous nurse's dead body proves there's something very sinister going on. Can Nellie figure out the island's deadly secrets before it's too late?

2. The Wings of Poppy Pendleton by Melanie Dobson (available September 19)—During a Gilded Age party at her family's castle in New York's Thousand Islands area, a young girl goes missing while her father lies dead in the smoking room. Seventy-five years later, a mysterious girl arrives on the island, prompting the owner of the island to look into the old mystery. What really happened to Poppy Pendleton?

3. Death and the Sisters by Heather Redmond (available September 26)—This opener begins a new historical mystery series starring a teenaged Mary Shelley, her stepsister, and Mary's future husband, Percy Bysshe Shelley. When Mary discovers a man—who happens to be Percy's classmate and rival— dead in her home after a party, she and her cohorts use their collective smarts to solve the murder. 

4. The Leftover Woman by Jean Kwok (available October 10)—Because of China's One Child Policy, Jasmine Yang's infant daughter was snatched away from her. Now in New York City without a penny to her name and on the run from her controlling husband, Jasmine is on a desperate hunt to find her stolen child. A wealthy publishing executive, Rebecca Whitney has the perfect life—including an adopted Chinese daughter. When the lives of these two very different women collide, it causes both to question everything they both know about identity, motherhood, and the true meaning of family.

5. What We Kept to Ourselves by Nancy Jooyoun Kim (available October 10)—A year later, the Kim Family is still baffled and devastated by their matriarch's mysterious disappearance. When they find the dead body of a stranger in their backyard, they're even more shocked, especially since he's carrying a letter addressed to the missing woman. Who is the unknown man? And what does he have to do with Sunny Kim? Where is Sunny and why did she vanish?

6. Murder by Degrees by Ritu Mukerji (available October 17)—It's 1875 and Lydia Weston is a professor and anatomist at the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania. When the body of a dead chambermaid is found in a Philadelphia river, a supposed suicide, Lydia becomes suspicious. Following clues on the corpse and in the dead woman's diary, she sets out to discover how the young woman really died.  

7. People to Follow by Olivia Worley (available October 31)—"In Real Life" is a hot new reality show that takes ten well-known teen influencers to a Caribbean island where they will completely unplug for three weeks of televised, non-filtered living. When the production crew fails to show and one of the influencers dies violently, the remaining nine find themselves stranded in a remote paradise with a killer. 

8. Last Night at the Hollywood Canteen by Sarah James (available November 7)—The Hollywood Canteen, a club for servicemen staffed by volunteers who are also Tinseltown stars, is the place to be in 1943. Aspiring playwright Annie Laurence hopes to make enough of a splash there to get the murder mystery film she's written produced. When a hated film critic is killed at the Canteen, Annie joins a group of amateur sleuths to figure out who murdered her.

9. The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon (available November 14)—When a man's dead body is found in the iced-over Kennebec River in 1789, the local midwife and healer is called upon to examine the corpse. A keeper of her town's secrets, Martha knows the dead man is one of the possible perpetrators of an alleged rape that happened several months ago. As both crimes are investigated, her small town is torn apart by scandal and prejudice. What will the truth do to Martha, her family, and her community?

10. The Weekend Retreat by Tara Laskowski (available December 26)—As the heirs to a copper fortune, the Van Ness siblings are constantly in the spotlight. They gather yearly at a luxury winery for the R&R they all desperately need. This year, their vacation is beset with the usual family drama as well as a torrential rainstorm and a shocking murder. Whodunit?

There you are, ten upcoming mystery/thriller novels I want to read. Which Fall releases are you excited about? If you did today's prompt, which books defied your expectations? I'd truly love to know. Leve me a comment on this post and I will gladly return the favor on your blog.

How is it September already? Wow, this year just continues to fly by! August was a good month for me and bookish books. I read six (my Goodreads ratings are in parentheses):

What Happened to Rachel Riley by Claire Swinarski (5 stars)

The Fiction Writer by Jillian Cantor (3 stars)

Fat Chance, Charlie Vega by Crystal Maldonado (4 stars)

The Unbearable Book Club for Unsinkable Girls by Julie Schumacher (3 stars)

The Red Blazer Girls: The Ring of Rocamadour by Michael D. Beil (4 stars)

The Bones of the Story by Carol Goodman (4 stars)

Not too shabby, overall.

I'm not sure what bookish books I'm going to try to read in September. Since there are only four months left in the year, I'm working on completing all my reading challenges. I do still need a book set in Utah, so I'll probably read at least this one in the next few weeks:

It's the story of a Salt Lake City librarian who struggled to control the tics he experienced because of Tourette Syndrome. A strongman suggested weightlifting as a way to wrangle them. The practice has since become a practical, successful way to manage his symptoms. In this memoir, Josh Hanagarne tells his own story about Tourette's, books, and more. 

Which bookish books are you planning to read this month?

While I've been rocking my reading challenges this year, I didn't quite complete this one, the 20 Books of Summer challenge hosted annually by Cathy over at 746 Books. To be fair, I started late. Also to be fair, I changed out several books over the course of the challenge so I could complete more of them. The rules of the challenge are very flexible, which is nice. Here's what I ended up reading:

1. Prairie Fires by Caroline Fraser—This is my current physical book. I've read about 1/3 so far. finished 06.22.23