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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.

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.

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An Attitude of Gratitude and the Miracle of the Chocolate Milk

Published by CAstfalk on 03/30/2022

Something about me changed when I started making an effort to be more grateful. It didn’t happen overnight. It happened over the course of years. But it started with a conscious effort to name the many things I’m grateful for.

We have a habit of listing the things we are grateful for each day during bedtime prayers with our children. There’s a round of thanking Jesus by each of us. One kid repeats a boilerplate list of family members’ name and animals, specifically puppies. One is grateful for “getting through the day.” Another makes an exhaustive list of every detail (and is sometimes encouraged to take some of that list to private prayer). One takes it as an occasional opportunity to grumble–but, hey, we’re to be grateful for those things too, according to Saint Paul.

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Relevant Fiction Reviews: I Want to Suck Your Blood!

Published by CAstfalk on 03/21/2022
Relevant Fiction Reviews

Vampire novels aren’t necessarily my thing, but I do enjoy a good one from time to time. Here are some that either feature or include vampire characters and are written from a Catholic worldview. (There are a couple of outdated book covers here, but that is how they appear on Goodreads.)

Jennifer the DamnedJennifer the Damned by Karen Ullo

Part angsty teen vampire story with requisite immature romance, part existential examination, and subtle part Catholic theology of the Eucharist, Jennifer the Damned is a novel in a class of its own.

Jennifer, an orphaned vampire under the guardianship of a Catholic religious order of sisters, matures into her soulless fate, her craving for human blood destroying her relationships with the beloved sisters, classmates, and her newly acquired boyfriend.

Running from both her past and her future, Jennifer longs to love and be loved, despite being condemned to soulless immortality.

There is a lot in Jennifer the Damned to chew on (pun intended), from the meaning of love to culpability to the capacity for change and conversion.

Due to content and language, I recommend it for mature readers only, but beyond the superficial vampire trappings (and some well-placed humor), there is a lot of depth ripe for discussion in Jennifer the Damned. Relevant Fiction Reviews: I Want to Suck Your Blood! Vampire novels from a Catholic world view. Share on X
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5 Titles to Download for St. Patrick’s Day

Published by CAstfalk on 03/14/2022
Treasures
Treasures: Visible & Invisible by Catholic Teen Books authors

Treasures: Visible and Invisible is a collection of short stories by eight CatholicTeenBooks.com authors.

A teen boy sets out to save a friend from pagan druids, but maybe he’s the one who needs saving.

A young girl seeks a mysterious treasure that holds the key to granting a nun’s dying wish.

Honora is desperate—then a peculiar clover and a mysterious young man change everything.

William’s weekend job is a little gift from heaven, but now his family needs a real miracle.

When threatened by mobsters, Grace receives help from a surprising source.

Alone and afraid, a young girl finds friendship in a stranger. But could this boy be trouble?

Kyle was determined to save the precious relic–but now his whole family is in danger.

(Also, some of these authors have now indecently published the individual short stories included in this anthology , so check for those releases as well.)

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5 Resources for Lent

Published by CAstfalk on 02/28/2022

Lent’s almost here. Again. Yikes.

I’m becoming more of a minimalist when it comes to Lent. Less is more, no? One resource or one thing to concentrate on. After numerous Lents in which God delivered a more suitable, fruitful penance than I’d ever dream up, I’m learning to better accept God’s gifts, even those I’d just as soon re-gift.

Here are five resources to accompany you on your Lenten journey. Maybe one here will suit you this year. Or ready you to accept God’s plan for these forty days.

5 Resources for Lent: Books, Downloads, Support & More #Lent Share on X
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