Favorite Reads – Christine Smith

Fantasy Month // Favorite Fantasy Reads

Post published:February 5, 2024
Post category:Reading
Post comments:9 Comments

February is Fantasy Month! Happy February, friends! I know February often brings on some lingering winter blues. It's situated in that awkward space where the newness and excitement of winter have long since worn off and yet spring still feels far too distant. Poor February gets a bad rep. That's why the most illustrious Jenelle Schmidt started February is Fantasy Month! Because not only ~alliteration~ but what better way to add some life in February than celebrating one of the greatest genres out there? (I'm not biased or anything.) Over on her blog, Jenelle is posting all sorts of fantasy-themed…

Five Book Series That Shaped My Growing Up Years

Post published:May 3, 2021
Post category:Reading
Post comments:49 Comments

All us bookworms have them—those particular books that changed us, helped us grow, swept us away to a whole new world that shifted our perspective or simply introduced us to a genre that quickly became the One True Favorite. Those special few that became our stories. I definitely have those stories. Some of them may not even be my top favorite books anymore; there are plenty of other novels that I find more engaging and suit my tastes far more these days. But these are the stories that shaped the Christine you know today, and no other tales can replace…

{Update} 🌱🪻🌱🪻🌱🪻🌱 Happy Sept

A Season of Rest 💛🌱💛🌱💛🌱💛 He

How is the writing going? 🖋️☀️🖋️☀

{Break the Beast}

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This story.

Break the Beast by @allisonteboauthor is a retelling of Beowulf with a delightful twist of telling the story through the point-of-view of a female Grendel.
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I barely even know where to begin. It's one of those stories you have to experience, and what an experience it is. It starts off with a bang and carries you through heartache and action and disaster and healing. The allegorical threads of our beastly nature being stripped away so we may be made a new creature by our Savior are impacting and flow so naturally throughout the story.

Every page, every beautiful, sharp word, cuts straight to the heart, making the reader bleed, only for the story to pour salve into the wound.
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Grendel herself is such a relatable character as she wrestles with her beastly nature and takes the hard path of redemption, failing and rising again in turn.

Then we have dear Beowulf. Brave, hopeful, and full of light, he is a hero of the ages, and it was so refreshing to have a story portraying true heroism, as modern fiction is often so lacking in truly inspiring heroes. I also appreciated the deep bond formed that stayed wholly platonic. We need more stories about love that are not romantic. This is a love story, but not in the way you might expect. And goodness was it beautiful.
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From exciting battles to heart-wrenching losses to great beams of hope shooting through the darkness, this story broke me and put me back together again, and it will stay with me for a long, long time.

If you love adventure, redemption stories, true heroes, or simply good old-fashioned fantasy tales, this one is for you! I cannot recommend it enough. 💛

Have you read this one? What's a favorite story of yours that portrays true heroism?
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How was your first half of 2024, friends?

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SOMEHOW 2024 has deemed itself halfway over. It's so easy to look back and worry that we haven't done enough and 2024 is slipping through our fingers. But I like to live that glass-half-full life. It's all about the mindset, right? Instead of looking at it like a whole half year is gone, what if we shift the mindset and say we still have a WHOLE half year ahead of us.

That's a pretty exciting thought.

It also helps me to reflect back and add up what HAS been done--the goals I've met, the growth I've experienced, the memories I've made. It's easy to let the mundane and busyness of the days steal away our awareness of how meaningful each day really is.

So before we dive headfirst into this second half of the year, I thought it'd be fun to do a little half-year check-in and take some time to reflect on the first half of 2024.
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✨ 2024 THUS FAR ✨

I always choose a word to live by at the start of a new year, and for 2024 my word is BOLD.

That word can mean so many things, and it's been interesting the ways in which God has been nudging me to embrace it.

I've talked a lot recently about how, due to health issues, 2024 has had to be a quieter year. It seems like BOLD would be an odd word for a year of rest. But that's the thing. It often TAKES boldness to be content in a quiet life and season of rest.

In this workaholic, rushing world, taking things slow is often looked down upon. And I'm hard on myself over it.

We so often have to be bold in our choices in life when they bend away from social norms or even our own desires.

But as the year has progressed, I've seen how God has used that word to help me embrace the season I'm in and be more confident in all He made me. And as I face a lot of hard things and unknowns and changes, it's exactly the word I've needed for this year.
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From writing the first rough draft of a Regency novel with my co-writers, to stepping out of my comfort zone to DM a homebrew roleplaying game, to making more time with friends and family, I have found countless blessings amidst the hardships, and SO much growth along the way.

Nothing is wasted, friends. 💛

{The Freedom of Storytelling}

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Happy Independence Day!! I hope my fellow Americans are having a good day celebrating, and I hope everyone is having a most lovely Thursday.

As we're celebrating freedom here in America today, I couldn't help but use that as a jumping off point to discuss one of my favorite things--stories! (Lol that's all I talk about. I make no apologies.)
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One of my favorite things about telling and experiencing stories is the FREEDOM in it all.

As readers, there are countless sources of worlds and adventures and people and experiences to be explored merely by opening the pages of a book.

As writers, we get to offer that to others and ourselves.

We spend a lot of time groaning about the trials and exhaustion of being a writer. And yes, it's HARD. There is no getting around that.

But it's also MAGICAL.

Is it not the greatest privilege to have the freedom to explore anything our imaginations can conjure? Create entire worlds form our own minds? Form countless types of people and creatures? Explore anything at all from the mundane to the extraordinary, and use it all to make sense of this messy life we live in?

GAH. It gets me all abuzz with excitement.

We can do anything with our pens and imaginations, friends. ANYTHING. ✨
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With that freedom, of course, comes responsibility. Stories are powerful things and can change and shape minds. And that's why it's a privilege to have the freedom to do so, and a responsibility to use it wisely.

This passion we have to tell stories is a GIFT. Stories themselves are a gift. And just as we should not take our freedom for granted or use it wrongly, we should not with storytelling either.

Stories are powerful, wonderful, magical things, and the ability to consume and create them can be the greatest privilege, gift, and blessing.

So as I celebrate freedom today, I can't help but also be so grateful for the freedom found in storytelling. It is one of my favorite things about being a writer, and I do not ever want to take it lightly.
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What is one of your favorite things about stories? 📚

{Hello July} 🌱🌼🌱🌼🌱🌼🌱 Halfwa

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