Kathy Carlton Willis shines the light through her communications firm as writer, publicist, coach, editor, speaker, and more. She’s built a network of industry connections and is affiliated with Advanced Writers and Speakers Association as well as American Christian Fiction Writers. Her columns and book reviews have appeared online and in print. She served as grammar guru for three publications—red ink is her friend! Kathy is a contributing author for The Reason We Speak, It Happened By Design: A Series of God-Incidence Stories, and Groovy Chicks’ Road Trip to Peace. She has a background in newspaper journalism as copyeditor and feature writer. She is editor and writer for The Christian Pulse devotions. She’s enjoyed stocking empty church library bookshelves to equip readers with tall “to be read” stacks, and is always on the hunt for her next favorite read. Check out her professional blog at http://kcwcomm.blogspot.com and her Website at http://www.kathycarltonwillis.com/. Be on the lookout for an exciting announcement next month.

The Internet is a great go-to resource for readers looking to add a new dimension to their hobby. I’ve collected a few of the best sites to share with you—maybe you will find some to add to your own favorites.

Reading Group Guides

This site has sections for starting reading groups and for existing groups, librarians, booksellers, authors, publishers, and more. If you scroll down, there’s even a section for Christian readers to find discussion guides of Christian fiction. As of this writing, they are featuring Crossing Oceans by Gina Holmes, It Had to Be You: Weddings by Bella, Book 3 by Janice Thompson, and This Fine Life by Eva Marie Everson. Another great feature are suggestions for what to do when your book club wants to read a book that doesn’t include a discussion guide. Very handy site!

All Readers

All Readers has this to say about their site: “There are a zillion book review sites out there, but ours is different! For starters, we classify books based on plot, setting, character, and writing style. Therefore, if you know what kind of book you like, you can find other authors who write similar kind of stories.”

This site has received rave reviews from: Wired Online, USA Today Online, The New York Times, and more.

Find out about a title before you buy the book, and branch out to new authors by using their creative search engine. Keep in mind, this is a general book-lovers site, so it will also feature books you’d rather not read. For any general site, use discretion and discernment.

Book Page

Book Page has a catchy tagline: Discover your next great book. You can sign up for their e-newsletters, such as BookPageXTRA, Book of the Day, and Reading Corner. This site has helpful book reviews, as well as additional reader resources.

BookPage is a monthly book review publication distributed to more than 450,000 avid readers through subscribing bookstores and public libraries. It serves as a broad-based selection guide with an upbeat tone.

Their mission statement is “Our goal is to recommend the best books for readers of all types, whether you’re interested in literary fiction or romance, history or science fiction, cookbooks or children’s books. We focus on new releases and tailor our reviews for the general reader the true booklover always on the lookout for the next great read.”

Midwest Book Review

The Midwest Book Review publishes nine monthly book publications specifically designed for librarians, booksellers, and the general reading public. Their reviews are posted on a variety of sites, including their own. These are archived for a minimum of five years. Cengage Learning makes these reviews available to library systems nationwide.

The Midwest Book Review is a compilation of volunteers committed to promoting literacy, library usage, and small press

publishing. They avoid conflict of interest by not accepting any financial contributions in exchange for reviews.

The Christian Suspense Zone

The Christian Suspense Zone is a one-stop site to preview Christian suspense. It features over eight hundred novels, author interviews, author bios, reviews, and contests. Join the mailing list to get updates. The contests are especially fun, and the book cover photos are eye-catching. Get to know suspense authors better by reading their feature articles.

This site is hosted by Susan Sleeman. She is passionate about Christian suspense as both a reader and an author. Susan’s tagline is Christian Suspense to Die For.

Fiction Finder

Fiction Finder is perfect for any lover of inspirational fiction (mystery, suspense, romance, women's fiction, sci-fi, fantasy, historicals, chick lit, etc.). This easy-access resource aids in the search of the most current releases, as well as classics from the past. There is a wide range of search options to customize the hunt for your next good read.

You can learn of new releases from your favorite authors, and pick up new favorites by entering a few key search words. The search engine is sensitive enough to help readers find novels when you remember only a detail or two about the story and have forgotten the title.

With free registration, the site will remember your settings to make return visits convenient and simple to use. Fiction Finder is a project of American Christian Fiction Writers.