Friday Fun - December 5, 2025 (a couple of days late)

Welcome to my Friday Fun post. This is where I share with three different book parties that post on Fridays: Book Beginnings on Fridays, the Friday 56, and First Line Friday.

This week I have two books (but three stories) to share with you.

I'm starting an eARC of A Christmas to Remember by Penny Zeller. This book releases December 9th.

I am currently reading the novella collection titled Every Voice Heard, featuring three novellas about church hurt and abuse by N.Y. Dunlap, D.T. Powell, and Sarah Hanks. 

        Book Beginnings on Friday     

(Please join Gilion Dumas for Book Beginnings every Friday to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires. Please remember to include the title of the book and the author's name.)

and

First Line Friday

(Please join Carrie for First Line Friday.)

Here are my Book Beginnings/First Line Friday selections:

 A Christmas to Remember by Penny Zeller:

"Sometimes God's tug on a man's heart was mighty strong."

This is a good thing. Though I wondered if this meant this particular man was being pulled by God because he wasn't following him. Or what exactly was going on.

Rapha by D.T. Powell, the second story in Every Voice Heard:

"Rebecca hurried toward the unmistakeable shrill of an irate customer."

Well Rebecca sounded like she could be having a better day.

For the Love of Truth by Sarah Hanks, the third story in Every Voice Heard:

"Candi shifted in her rolling office chair as she fumbled for an answer to the staff members' questions."

I wondered what kind of questions were being asked as she was fumbling and shifting. To me, it made it sound like she was agitated. 

Now for:

The Friday 56 

The Friday 56 is normally hosted over at Freda's Voice. But Anne from My Head is Full of Books is taking over for a while. 

Rules:

*Grab a book, any book.
*Turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader
(If you have to improvise, that's ok.)
 *Find any sentence, (or few, just don't spoil it) that grab you.
*Post it.
*Add your (url) post below in Linky. Add the post url, not your blog url. It's that simple.

Here are my Friday 56 selections:

A Christmas to Remember by Penny Zeller:

"She willed  herself to trudge to the door. She unlocked it, turned the knob, and opened it, not sure what to expect. While she may have imagined just about anybody to be standing on the porch, she hadn't anticipated Otis MaCallum. 'Otis,' she gasped. 'Is everything all right?'
'Hello, Belinda. Yes, everything is fine.' Snow crystals clung to his chin, and prominent dark circles shone beneath his eyes. He held Cow in his arms."

Rapha by D.T. Powell, the second story in Every Voice Heard:

"Gaps between several seated family members meant people were still missing. 

Rebecca opened a hymnal and held it up so Essie could share with her. 

The first three verses passed quickly. When they started the fourth, the door to the Sunday School wing swung open, and Josiah stepped through. Alone."

For the Love of Truth by Sarah Hanks, the third story in Every Voice Heard:

"Justice wavered, hand on the key in his car's ignition. His insides squirmed at the thought of walking through the doors of Impact Church again. He'd prefer to stay as far from that no-good pastor as possible. How could he stand to listen to the man preach the Word, knowing his life didn't align with the words spewing from his mouth? Attending service seemed like stamping the evil man with his approval. But he had to see Candi.

Reviews:

Last week I shared two books in my Friday Fun post. I finished both of them, but I haven't had the chance to write my review for one of them. Here's my review for the one:

Risking His Heart by Emily Conrad

As for the books I shared a couple of weeks ago, I'm still reading the one (Every Voice Heard which I shared above). I finished the other, but haven't gotten a chance to write my review because my computer is old and tempermental. 

I hope to have all these revews ready to share the links next week.