I have a few different methods of how I decide to read a book. Depending on whether I’m looking at a physical book on a shelf, an online book, or, honestly, all the unread books on my kindle, I have various approaches to selecting which book will be “the one.”
But for today’s purposes I’m going to give you my “at the library” approach. If a book piques my interest with these simple rules, it’s a winner and gets carried to the checkout counter.
A Time of Proving isn’t in any library at the moment. There are a limited number of paperbacks in the world, period. That will change soon as more readers order the book (starting next week on launch day, hooray!), but for now, come alongside me virtually and we’ll see if “the library test” would make you pick up A Time of Proving.
[Fine print: I may be slightly . . . um, quite biased about this book. I’d like to think I’m being honest in this assessment, but I guess you’ll have to be the true decider . . ]
Step #1
After arriving at the library, I start wandering the Christian fiction section. I look at my favorite authors to see if anything is new. If an interesting spine catches my eye, I’ll stop for a better look.
Step #2
I’ll take the book off the shelf and flip it over to read a line from the back, usually that nice heading at the top of the description.
“She lost her family to tragedy. He lost his when he ran away. What will second chances cost them?”
Hmm. I see the words family, ran away, and second chances. Those are words I like. So on to the next step.
Step #3
I open up to the first page of the book and see how the story gets started.
Looks like we’ve got some action. I like that, but I’m not convinced yet. Does the book maintain that action? I want to know.
Step #4
So now I flip the book open to a random page around the one-fourths mark. That spot is fairly safe from any big plot reveals, but still a good indicator on where the story is going.
Well, now I want to know more. Yes, I’ve read this scene more than half a dozen times, but I still love it. 🙂
To avoid spoilers, I would now snap the book shut and make my way to the checkout counter. After all, the faster I hand the book over to the librarian, the quicker I’ll be able to hold it in my own hands once more and get busy reading.
Did we have the same conclusion? Hopefully you’re excited to get started reading A Time of Proving! Only four more days until release day.
On another note, it’s a frigid winter week here in Nebraska with the temperatures hovering below zero. This seemed like the perfect time to be indoors reading, so my sister invited me onto her YouTube channel to talk about books.
We’re sharing some specific recommendations for clean Christian fiction with strong faith content. And look! Do you recognize that book my sister is holding?
Take a look at the interview here.
