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The #CatholicFictionChallenge took place on Instagram (and to lesser degrees on Facebook and Twitter) during February 2020. With more than 150 posts, Catholic readers and authors shared their favorite selections from 29 categories. If your to-be-read pile wasn’t teetering before, it was after!

I’ve gathered up all the posts that I could! I’m sure I missed a few that weren’t tagged, but I did my best. You can check out the hashtagged posts directly on Instagram (#CatholicFictionChallenge) or in the video below.

I’ve also collected the titles from each category. Some were mentioned by two, three, or more posters in the same day (though I listed them only once), and you’ll notice that several were tagged for multiple categories.

Would you participate in a #CatholicFictionChallenge in 2021?

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[I’d eventually like to add buy links to all of the books below. It’s a lot of books, and it will be a slow process. I’m also thinking that differentiating books by text color will be helpful, a feature I’m anticipating with the WordPress upgrade later this month.]

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Contemporary: Our Lady of the Roses by Janice Lane Palko, The Birdface series by Cynthia T. Toney, Earthquake Weather by Kevin Rush, All in Good Time by Carolyn Astfalk, Under the Watchful Sky by Roger Thomas, Dying for Revenge by Barbara Golder

Teen/YA novel: The Perfect Blindside by Leslea Wahl, 7 Riddles to Nowhere by A.J. Cattapan, Spokes by Deanna K. Klingel, eXtreme Blindside by Leslea Wahl, Awakening by Claudia Cangilla McAdam, Beneath Wandering Stars by Ashlee Cowles, Angelhood by A.J. Cattapan, Sunflowers in a Hurricane by Anne Faye

Picture book: I Am God’s Storyteller by Lisa Hendey, Woman of Faith: Saints and Martyrs of the Christian Faith by Calee M. Lee, The Weight of a Mass: A Tale of Faith by Josephine Nobisso, Finding Patience by Virginia Lieto, Molly McBride and the Party Invitation by Jean Schoonover-Egolf, The Attic Saint by Tim Drake, The Seed Who Was Afraid to Be Planted by Anthony DeStefano, Simon of Cyrene and the Legend of the Easter Egg by Terri Degazelle, There Once Was a Penny by Mark Restaino

Science fiction: Discovery by Karina Fabian, The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell

Audiobook: The End of the Affair by Graham Greene, Ornamental Graces by Carolyn Astfalk, The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis, Angelhood by A.J. Cattapan, Battle for His Soul by Theresa Linden, Saint Magnus: The Last Viking by Susan Peek, A Soldier Surrenders by Susan Peek, Rightfully Ours by Carolyn Astfalk, The Light by Jacqueline Brown

Catholic classic: Silence by Shusaku Endo, The Complete Father Brown Mysteries by G.K. Chesterton, Mr. Blue by Myles Connolly, A Good Man is Hard to Find and Other Stories by Flannery O’Connor, The Complete Stories of Flannery O’Connor, In This House of Brede by Rumer Godden, Dracula by Bram Stoker

Mystery: 7 Riddles to Nowhere by A.J. Cattapan, Don’t You Forget About Me by Erin McCole Cupp, Murder in the Vatican by Ann Margaret Lewis, Relic of His Heart by Jane Lebak, Dying for Compassion by Barbara Golder, The Perfect Blindside by Leslea Wahl

Short Story: The Underappreciated Virtues of Rusty Old Bicycles by Corinna Turner, Breach! by Corinna Turner, Gifts: Visible & Invisible by Catholic Teen Books authors, The Complete Stories of Flannery O’Connor, The Monks’ Castle by A.J. Cattapan, Secrets: Visible & Invisible by Catholic Teen Books authors, Unlikely Witnesses by Leslea Wahl

Horror: Jennifer the Damned by Karen Ullo, Hell Spawn by Declan Finn, No Moon to Pray To by Jerry Guern

Saint story: Saint Magnus: The Last Viking by Susan Peek, Treachery and Truth by Katy Huth Jones, Bahkita: A Novel of the Saint of Sudan by Veronique Olmi, The King’s Prey by Susan Peek, Martyrs by Kathryn Swegart, Daughter of Light: St. Philomena by Corwyn Alvarez

Male author: The Book of Jotham by Arthur Powers, From Afar by Roger Thomas, A Hero for the People: Stories of the Brazilian Backlands by Arthur Powers, The Pope’s Cat by Jon M. Sweeney

Suspense: Stealing Jenny by Ellen Gable, Frozen Footprints by Therese Heckenkamp, Past Suspicion by Therese Heckenkamp, The Shadow of the Bear: A Fairy Tale Retold by Regina Doman, Bleeder by John Desjarlais, Rachel’s Contrition by Michelle Buckman

Dystopian: The Light by Jacqueline Brown, Ashes by Jacqueline Brown, Out of the Darkness by Jacqueline Brown, The Three Most Wanted by Corinna Turner, I Am Margaret by Corinna Turner, Death Panels by Michelle Buckman

Romance: Come Back to Me by Carolyn Astfalk, At Home in Persimmon Hollow by Gerri Bauer, Stitching a Life in Persimmon Hollow by Gerri Bauer, Trust in Love by Gerri Bauer, The Grace Crasher by Mara Faro, All in Good Time by Carolyn Astfalk, Younger Than Springtime by Andrew M. Greeley, Christmas Wedding by Andrew M. Greeley, Rightfully Ours by Carolyn Astfalk, Ornamental Graces by Carolyn Astfalk, A World Such as Heaven Intended by Amanda Lauer

Female author: The Other Side of Freedom by Cynthia T. Toney, Rachel’s Contrition by Michelle Buckman, A World Such as Heaven Intended by Amanda Lauer, Mission Libertad by Lizette Lantigua, A Single Bead by Stephanie Engelman, Prisoners of War by Sarah Gracia

Historical fiction: Perilous Days by Kathryn Swegart, A World Such as Heaven Intended by Amanda Lauer, A Life Such as Heaven Intended by Amanda Lauer, A Rich Young Man: A Novel Based on the Life of Saint Anthony of Padua by John Edward Beahn, Playing by Heart by Carmela Martino, The Other Side of Freedom by Cynthia T. Toney, Mission Libertad by Lizette Lantigua, By Violence Unavenged by Anette Young

Supernatural elements: The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley, Tortured Soul, by Theresa Linden, Angelhood by A.J. Cattapan, The Gargoyle Code by Dwight Longenecker, Saint Michael: Above the 38th Parallel by Shanti Guy

Prolife themes: For Eden’s Sake by T.M. Gaouette, Bound by Vijaya Bodach, Life-Changing Love by Theresa Linden, Stealing Jenny by Ellen Gable, Sons of Cain by Val Bianco

Debut novel: Marcus’ Last Stand by Brianna Zonneveld, The Moviegoer by Walker Percy, The Well by Stephanie Landsem, The Father’s Son by Jim Sano, Bloody Habit by Eleanor Bourg Nicholson, A Single Bead by Stephanie Engelman, The Grace Crasher by Mara Faro

Theology of the Body: Image and Likeness edited by Ellen Gable and Erin McCole Cupp, Stealing Jenny by Ellen Gable, Unclaimed by Erin McCole Cupp, Don’t You Forget About Me by Erin McCole Cupp,

Priest/religious character: Father Brown Ten Commandments by G.K. Chesterton, Bleeder by John Desjarlais, Bulletproof Vestments by Jane Lebak, Elmer by Deanna K. Klingel, Treachery and Truth by Katy Huth Jones, Father Elijah: An Apocalypse by Michael O’Brien, The Edge of Sadness by Edwin O’Connor

2019 release: Ella’s Promise by Ellen Gable, I Am God’s Storyteller by Lisa Hendey, The Attic Saint by Tim Drake, Molly McBride and the Christmas Pageant by Jean Schnoover-Egolf, eXtreme Blindside by Leslea Wahl

Fantasy: A Hidden Miracle by Gerilyn Herold, The Mermaid and the Unicorn by Elizabeth Amy Hajek, Vigil by Russell Newquist, The Lucifer Ego by T.M. Doran, Fyrian’s Fire by Emily H. Jeffries, Cinder Alia by Karen Ullo

Kids’ chapter book: Philip Rivers: Passion and Purpose by Joan Rivers and Patrice Lappert, Saving Mount Rushmore by Andrea Jo Rodgers, Sisters of the Last Straw: The Case of the Christmas Tree Capers by Karen Kelly Boyce, The Adventures of Loupio by Jean-Francois Kieffer, Discovery at Dawn by Maria Grace Dateno, The Secret of the Shamrock by Lisa Hendey, Sisters of the Last Straw: The Case of the Haunted Chapel by Karen Kelly Boyce

Award-winner: The Other Side of Freedom by Cynthia T. Toney, Playing by Heart by Carmela Martino

Thriller: The Bishop of 12th Avenue by Ray Lucit, Frozen Footprints by Therese Heckenkamp, Tortured Soul by Theresa Linden

Middle grade book: 7 Riddles to Nowhere by A.J. Cattapan, a.k.a. Genius by Marilee Haynes, Unlikely Witnesses by Leslea Wahl

2020 release: Come Back to Me by Carolyn Astfalk, A Channel of Your Peace by Veronica Smallhorn, The Rum Runner by Christine Marciniak

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