Dear Blue Ridge Reader Connections—thank you for having me!

I believe this is the third time I’ve done this blog topic, but that’s okay—I read a lot! I’m on Book 126 for my GoodReads Challenge and I don’t count my Bible reading. How about you—do you post reviews on GoodReads so you can keep up with what you’ve read this year?

In the Beginning

So, my reading life started in third grade. I grew up in the mountains of Virginia so there wasn’t any kindergarten and there wasn’t any such thing as school readiness. You showed up at first grade and the teachers taught you what you needed to know. So, third grade was as early as I could have read—or write. I started writing poetry then.

Eagle Rock Elementary school had a library where we could pop in between classes or during recess and I plowed through those shelves. There was Aladdin and the Forty Thieves and Twins Around the World. My mother would order us books—and she and I would fight over them. One classic, I can’t remember the title now, she grabbed when I brought it home and I never did get a chance to read it because it was due back at the library.

In middle school, the library was on the way to homeroom. I’d check out a book, read it that day (I was largely able to do this because of the hour-long bus ride home), and return it the next only to start the process over again. A book a day.

I discovered romance novels in middle school. These were not in the library, but I grabbed them at yard sales or the town library—which we only visited a few times in my life because it was so far away. One of my friends and I swapped them—she and I are still friends today!

All Grown Up

In adulthood, I’ve switched back and forth reading fantasy—I’m rereading the Dragonriders of Pern series right now—and romance. I didn’t really discover Christian romance until the last decade or so. I wish I had. I’m also listening to Francie Rivers’ The Last Sin Eater. Finally, I’m also reading our LowCountry Chapter of ACFW anthology titled, A Holy City Christmas. While I wrote one of the stories, I didn’t write them all and I’m enjoying starting to think of the holidays.  Anyone else read multiple books at a time?

There is something so uplifting and powerful about bringing faith into a story. Our personal stories, the stories of our characters, and the stories of our community are made stronger when God is the foundation. “A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.” (Ecclesiastes 4:12).

I also wish I could have steered my daughter toward Christian fiction more as a child. So many adolescent stories today are dystopian—don’t worry, she’s fine. There was just a time when the world felt bleak to her.

So, as St. Paul in Philipians 4:8, “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”

Yes, life is hard and gritty. Yes, we want to escape in a fantasy world, but maybe we should focus on the beautiful and hope when we can. What are you reading?

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Meet Christina

Christina Sinisi is a member of the American Christian Fiction Writers and a charter member of the Lowcountry South Carolina chapter of ACFW. Christina Sinisi writes stories about families, both the broken and blessed. Her works include a semi-finalist in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award Contest and the American Title IV Contest in which she appeared in the top ten in the Romantic Times magazine. Her published books include The Christmas Confusion and the upcoming Sweet Summer, the first two books in the Summer Creek Series, as well as Christmas On Ocracoke. By day, she is a psychology professor and lives in the Lowcountry of South Carolina with her husband and two children and cat Chessie Mae.

Learn more at Christina’s website or her profile page at BRRC…