Skip to content

Author: CAstfalk

Carolyn Astfalk is a wife, mother, and author of contemporary Catholic romances, including her latest, All in Good Time. She formerly worked as a communications director and now works just to keep her head above water. Find her books on Amazon and her other words scattered around the blogosphere and social media.

My Summer 2022 Reading List

Published by CAstfalk on 07/04/2022

Being that I, uh, only recently completed my summer 2021 reading list, I’m keeping this list short. Find below: the book, the blurb, and why I want to read it.

Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

Blurb: Gone with the Wind, novel by Margaret Mitchell, published in 1936. It won a Pulitzer Prize in 1937. Gone with the Wind is a sweeping romantic story about the American Civil War from the point of view of the Confederacy. In particular it is the story of Scarlett O’Hara, a headstrong Southern belle who survives the hardships of the war and afterward manages to establish a successful business by capitalizing on the struggle to rebuild the South. Throughout the book she is motivated by her unfulfilled love for Ashley Wilkes, an honorable man who is happily married. After a series of marriages and failed relationships with other men, notably the dashing Rhett Butler, she has a change of heart and determines to win Rhett back.

Why I want to [re-]read it: This classic is probably, next to The Outsiders, the book I’ve re-read most. And guess what? I picked it up because of the The Outsiders. It’s long been a favorite, but I haven’t re-read it in a very long time, and I’m curious what impression it will make at this point in my life.

Continue readingMy Summer 2022 Reading List
4 Comments

Miracle at the Mission Blog Tour

Published by CAstfalk on 06/30/2022

About the Book:

After recovering from their daring exploits in the exciting first book, The Ghosts of Westthorpe Academy, high school best friends Joe Pryce and Pete Figueroa return for another thrilling, action-adventure in Miracle at the Mission.

When one of them wins a St. Junipero Serra essay writing contest and is rewarded with a summer trip to California, they both embark on an adventure they will never forget. While visiting one of the historic Spanish missions founded by Father Serra, the boys meet a holy but mysterious old Franciscan monk who warns them of the dangers they would soon encounter.

It isn’t long before the boys are drawn into a series of events filled with suspense, intrigue, a high-speed car chase along the precipitous Pacific Coast Highway, and the schemes of foreign operatives seeking to bring harm to the President of the United States.

Caught up in the pursuit of the bad guys, the boys discover they have become suspects in the investigation by the FBI. Desperate to prove their innocence, they must rely on the guidance and wisdom of the old padre, who just happens to bear a strange resemblance to St. Junipero Serra himself.

With the world teetering on the brink of an international crisis, the story reaches its climax at another mission––Mission San Carlos Borromeo in Carmel––where the boys and a large gathering of people witness an incredible miracle that changes their lives forever. 

Continue readingMiracle at the Mission Blog Tour
2 Comments

5 Summer Reading Recommendations for Catholic Women

Published by CAstfalk on 06/28/2022

These are five of the best books I’ve read so far this year, and I highly recommend each.

For the lover of romances:

The Mistletoe Countess by Pepper Basham

Fun, sweet, romantic, and mysterious with a splash of Christmas to cool off on a hot summer day.

My daughter and I listened to the audiobook version together over a long period of time. The narration was well done and well-suited to the story.

This novel has so much to offer: history, a marriage-of-convenience romance, mystery, faith, humor, Christmas, and a plethora of literary references. All this in an engaging story of a wonderfully original, genuine heroine with bookish tendencies and a reformed hero who is as loyal as he is dashing.

I loved how Grace’s innocence and enthusiasm shined throughout. The mystery was compelling and kept the story moving. A fun romance for Christmas or any time of year.

Continue reading5 Summer Reading Recommendations for Catholic Women
2 Comments

Stock the Shelves for Summer

Published by CAstfalk on 05/23/2022

I didn’t always love libraries. Shocker, isn’t it? Wouldn’t an avid reader and writer have fond memories of library visits, snuggled against mom during story times and carrying out as many books as her little arms could hold?

That would be closer to my own children’s memories. No, my memories are of a dark, dank, old place. Dull, musty, stern, and lifeless. It gave me the heebie-jeebies. In elementary school, I won a writing award sponsored by the library. Somewhere I have a newspaper clipping of me, sitting alongside the other winners, on the steps outside of the library. Some enormous trees grew outside the library, maybe sycamores. The steps and those trees were about as close as I liked to get to the place.

Continue readingStock the Shelves for Summer
Leave a Comment