Author: CAstfalk

Welcome to the February 2026 edition of An Open Book, hosted both at My Scribbler’s Heart and CatholicMom.com!

Treason by Dena Hunt sat on my to-be-read list for too long. Treason personalizes the persecution of Catholics in Elizabethan England, giving readers a glimpse of all those affected, from priests to secret Catholics and recusants as well as religious and nonreligious non-Catholics whose friends and neighbors were among those cited for treason and summarily executed. I highly enjoyed this short novel, which takes place over the course of a week.

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Welcome to the January 2026 edition of An Open Book, hosted both at My Scribbler’s Heart and CatholicMom.com!

I fully admit that my last reading selection of 2025 was chosen as a measure of expediency. I was one book away from completing my annual reading goal, and I spotted a glowing review of a short Christmas romance in my Goodreads feed. Enter ‘Tis the Season to Get Married by J.P. Sterling, a friends-to-more clean, Christmasy romance between Nick and Charlotte, two longtime friends who (somewhat jokingly) make a pact to marry in a year if they haven’t found a significant other. When they wake up in wedding attire the morning after their planned marriage unable to recall the evening’s events, they must piece together what happened and reconcile the events with their feelings.

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Welcome to the December 2025 edition of An Open Book, hosted both at My Scribbler’s Heart and CatholicMom.com!

My husband is seemingly unable to pass the book kiosk in the narthex of our church without taking a book. That’s how he came home with The Roots of Violence by Vincent P. Miceli, S.J. These first sentences from the Introduction made me pause: “We are living in an era whose atmosphere is saturated with the flames of hatred. It is an age of violence whose tempo of disruption is so rapidly escalating that there is scarcely a city anywhere in the world where humans can be assured of normal, physical security.” Sounds accurate. What made me pause was that this book was first published in 1989. How very far we’ve fallen since then! The book examines the roots of violence, the nature of violence, and more, using examples from ancient to modern times.

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Welcome to the November 2025 edition of An Open Book, hosted both at My Scribbler’s Heart and CatholicMom.com!

The busyness of fall activities and sports won’t let up, so I’ve not been reading as much as I’d like. I did, however, continue reading the next book in Crystal Walton’s Love in Willow Creek series, The Notebook. These are sweet, small-town romances, but this series is set apart by a couple of arcs running throughout involving the mystery love interest discovered in the journal of a deceased older character and ongoing crimes affecting Willow Creek residents and businesses. This book is a second chance for writer/editor Avery and her childhood sweetheart, musician Jax. They must wrangle with the challenges of their chosen careers and estrangements from family members before they can work out a future together.

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Welcome to the October 2025 edition of An Open Book, hosted both at My Scribbler’s Heart and CatholicMom.com!

Library Lovebirds by Katie Fitzgerald provided a nice break from reading longer works. This collection of library-centered sweet romances is charming. What impressed me most is how the author helped me to identify with and care about the characters in so few words.

If you like well-written Hallmark-esque sweet romances set in quaint towns with cozy feels, you’ll probably enjoy Crystal Walton’s latest series, Love in Willow Creek. The Corner Bookshop is the second book in the series. Maddy Ellis, who’s struggling to keep her little bookshop in business, makes a bet with stranger Nate O’Connor that she can make him fall in love with smalltown life. Nate’s reason for being in town is destined to put he and Maddy at odds, but it all works out in the end.

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Welcome to the September 2025 edition of An Open Book, hosted both at My Scribbler’s Heart and CatholicMom.com!

For varied reasons, our summer reading took a turn in August, and, collectively, we read far fewer books than last month (my oldest son excepting).

The description for The Year of My Humiliation by C.J. Sursum didn’t appeal to me, but I’m so glad I read this excellent psychological drama tracing the developing psychosis of a cold and arrogant surgeon following the death of his young daughter. Through roughly a year’s worth of the surgeon’s, Michael’s, journal entries, the author deftly shares stories and assumptions, leaving them like breadcrumbs for the reader to uncover the truth of Michael’s mental state, character, and the details surrounding his daughter’s death. Well-written, complex, insightful spiritual observations, and difficult to put down.

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