Book Reviews
I'll be posting my reviews on these pages. Click the page twice to view the entire piece. If you leave comments, I will get back to you. Or find me on Facebook.
Latest and Greatest in Christian fiction Newsletter/ May 2026
Featured Title: Emerald Windows by Terri Blackstock
Spoiler: this is another golden oldie, the characters are still using phones connected to wires. But I found the subject matter quite timely: gossip in the church. Veteran romance writer, Blackstock, weaves a memorable tale about the harm this sin can cause. The apostle included it on the same list as adultery and unfortunately, slander continues to ruin lives.
The accusations here are aimed at a high school senior and her art teacher. The source is a woman of influence in the community. The novel begins seven years after the scandal when one of the victims of the returns home to take a job designing stained glass windows for the church.
What I loved about the book: The two main characters are artists, for some reason this is unusual in Christian fiction. And each of them comes to a moment of spiritual revelation and willingness to sacrifice for the sake of love. Finally, the stained glass windows the two of them design depict four Biblical covenants, cool in itself, but a detail which richly expands on the story’s theme.
Hopefully, we don’t see ourselves in the cast members here but I am reminded that even listening to talk motivated by jealousy or spite, makes me a party to it.
I have written another article making the case for Christian fiction. If you’re interested, click the link below for a comparison of two short novels written by women tops in their field: Terri Blackstock and Patricia Cornwall.
This month remember that the joy of the Lord is our strength!
Pat Mooney Sweet
