Why am I passionate about this?

Having moved almost twenty times in my life, I have a passion for home – finding home, creating home, and enjoying home no matter where you land. My personal space is filled with books, my favorites being about homecomings and safe places of peace and restoration. Home fills me with joy and is a theme in each of the historical novels I write. Everyone should have the haven of a home, both here and now and eternally. 


I wrote

Book cover of A Heart Adrift

What is my book about?

A Virginia chocolatier and a privateering sea captain collide once more after a failed love affair a decade before. Will…

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of The Blue Castle

Laura Frantz Why did I love this book?

Anne of Green Gables, step aside! The Blue Castle, a lesser-known work for adults from author Lucy Maud Montgomery, features a laugh-out-loud heroine that goes from spineless to sassy in a mere 310 pages. Set during the 1920s in the Muskoka region of Ontario, Canada, the heroine Valancy Stirling, escapes to Mistawis Island, the home of her heart with her very unlikely hero. Descriptions of the natural world are spellbinding as is the shimmering romance. A book to reread over and over again, something I rarely do.

By L.M. Montgomery,

Why should I read it?

4 authors picked The Blue Castle as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

From L.M. Montgomery, author of Anne of Green Gables, comes another beloved classic and an unforgettable story of courage and romance.

Valancy Stirling is 29 and has never been in love. She's spent her entire life on a quiet little street in an ugly little house and never dared to contradict her domineering mother and her unforgiving aunt. But one day she receives a shocking, life-altering letter―and decides then and there that everything needs to change. For the first time in her life, she does exactly what she wants to and says exactly what she feels.

At first her family…


Book cover of A Song of Years

Laura Frantz Why did I love this book?

Song of Years captures all of the struggle and angst of carving out a home from pure, unspoiled Iowa prairie by those bold pioneers who risked everything to do so. While reading, I became the heroine, Abby Deal, as she sacrificed and struggled to wrest a life and create a home from the frontier that challenged her and her family at every turn. Realistic, even epic, this 1939 novel is on my keeper shelf. 

By Bess Streeter Aldrich, Anne Reeve Aldrich,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked A Song of Years as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The state of Iowa was still young and wild when Wayne Lockwood came to it from New England in 1851. He claimed a quarter-section about a hundred miles west of Dubuque and quickly came to appreciate widely scattered neighbors like Jeremiah Martin, whose seven daughters would have chased the gloom from any bachelor's heart. Sabina, Emily, Celia, Melinda, Phoebe Lou, Jeanie, and Suzanne are timeless in their appeal-too spirited to be preoccupied with sermons, sickness, and sudden death. However, the feasts, weddings, and holiday celebrations in Song of Years are shadowed by all the rigors and perils of frontier living.…


Book cover of At Home in Mitford

Laura Frantz Why did I love this book?

Such a charming, colorful smorgasbord of characters in one tiny North Carolina town that leaves a lasting impression. At Home in Mitford is just that, an open door to a world where everyone is at home, the reader included. First in a series of fourteen, each novel is unique and centers around home and those who inhabit it with all their commonalities and quirks, concluding with Somewhere Safe With Somebody Good, published in 2014. The Mitford Museum is now open in Hudson, North Carolina along with Happy Ending Bookstore, a beloved, must-visit site. 

By Jan Karon,

Why should I read it?

5 authors picked At Home in Mitford as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The first novel in #1 New York Times bestselling author Jan Karon's beloved series set in America's favorite small town: Mitford.

It's easy to feel at home in Mitford. In these high, green hills, the air is pure, the village is charming, and the people are generally lovable. Yet, Father Tim, the bachelor rector, wants something more. Enter a dog the size of a sofa who moves in and won't go away. Add an attractive neighbor who begins wearing a path through the hedge. Now, stir in a lovable but unloved boy, a mystifying jewel theft, and a secret that's…


Book cover of Jane Austen at Home: A Biography

Laura Frantz Why did I love this book?

Written by one of my favorite historians, this novel explores the rooms and homes that shaped Jane Austen and her timeless literary career. Home indeed shapes us, defines us, and even imbues our work as Lucy Worsley shows. A unique look into the life of a beloved novelist that adds rich layers to the fictional world of Austen and fleshes out her settings of Longbourn, Netherfield, Barton Cottage, etc. 

By Lucy Worsley,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Jane Austen at Home as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

'This is my kind of history: carefully researched but so vivid that you are convinced Lucy Worsley was actually there at the party - or the parsonage.' Antonia Fraser

'A refreshingly unique perspective on Austen and her work and a beautifully nuanced exploration of gender, creativity, and domesticity.' Amanda Foreman

Lucy Worsley 'is a great scene-setter for this tale of triumph and heartbreak.' Sunday Times

On the 200th anniversary of Jane Austen's death, historian Lucy Worsley leads us into the rooms from which our best-loved novelist quietly changed the world.

This new telling of the story…


Book cover of The Light Between Oceans

Laura Frantz Why did I love this book?

Imagine living in a lighthouse and calling it home! Yet lightkeeper, Tom Sherbourne and wife Isabel create an unforgettable refuge atop the rocks of Janus in Australia at the end of WW2. When a baby washes ashore in a boat after a storm, their lives change forever and the definition of home is redefined. Riveting and emotional, this novel is based on a true story you won’t soon forget. Now a major motion picture. 

By M.L. Stedman,

Why should I read it?

7 authors picked The Light Between Oceans as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The years-long New York Times bestseller and Goodreads Best Historical Novel that is “irresistible…seductive…with a high concept plot that keeps you riveted from the first page” (O, The Oprah Magazine)—soon to be a major motion picture from Spielberg’s Dreamworks starring Michael Fassbender, Rachel Weisz, and Alicia Vikander, and directed by Derek Cianfrance.

After four harrowing years on the Western Front, Tom Sherbourne returns to Australia and takes a job as the lighthouse keeper on Janus Rock, nearly half a day’s journey from the coast. To this isolated island, where the supply boat comes once a season, Tom brings a young,…


Explore my book 😀

Book cover of A Heart Adrift

What is my book about?

A Virginia chocolatier and a privateering sea captain collide once more after a failed love affair a decade before. Will war and a cache of regrets keep them apart? Or will a new shared vision reunite them?

It's 1755, and the threat of war with France looms over colonial York, Virginia. Chocolatier Esmée Shaw is fighting her own battle of the heart. Having reached her twenty-eighth birthday, she is reconciled to life alone after a decade-old failed love affair. Captain Henri Lennox has returned to port after a lengthy absence, intent on completing the lighthouse in the dangerous Chesapeake Bay, a dream he once shared with Esmée. But when the colonial government asks him to lead a secret naval expedition against the French, his future is plunged into uncertainty.

Book cover of The Blue Castle
Book cover of A Song of Years
Book cover of At Home in Mitford

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In Human Shadow

By Gregory J. Glanz,

Book cover of In Human Shadow

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Why am I passionate about this?

It seems that all of the fictional main characters I create have anti-hero tendencies. There is always some voice in their head telling them to do right when they are expected to do wrong, or to do wrong when it is supposed they will do right. I find this flaw very compelling, and universal for those of us of flesh and blood. Do sneering, evil characters exist? Well, maybe, but they aren’t very interesting, and I think a weak trope.

Gregory's book list on anti-heroes of fantasy fiction

What is my book about?

Born the half-breed, bastard son of an orc chieftain, Wrank tries to survive life in OrcHome among ignorance and spite aimed at his human heritage even as he develops a Talent for folding shadow. When life is no longer viable among the clans, he escapes into the world of humans where he once again encounters intolerance from thieves, wizards, priests, and assassins.

With the eyes of imps, demons, miscreant gods, and a changeling upon him, can he survive In Human Shadow even though his future is foretold, his death foreseen?

In Human Shadow

By Gregory J. Glanz,

What is this book about?

Born the half-breed, bastard son of an orc chieftain, Wrank tries to survive life in OrcHome among ignorance and spite aimed at his human heritage even as he develops a Talent for folding shadow. When life is no longer viable among the clans, he escapes into the world of humans where he once again encounters intolerance from thieves, wizards, priests and assassins. With the eyes of imps, demons, miscreant gods, and a changeling upon him, can he survive In Human Shadow even though his future is foretold, his death foreseen?


5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in Iowa, Canada, and community?

Iowa 35 books
Canada 451 books
Community 16 books