Romantic Times Magazine (scroll to the bottom, to page 9) posts reviews of various books each month in a number of different categories. “Inspirational” fiction is classified as “Books that incorporate Christian beliefs and values into the plot with various degrees of religious content. Published in both contemporary and/or historical settings.”

Their rating system is as follows:

4 1/2 Gold: Phenomenal. In a class by itself.
4 1/2: Fantastic. A keeper.
4: Compelling. A page-turner.
3: Enjoyable. A pleasant read.
2: Problematic. May struggle to finish.
1: Severely Flawed. Pass on this one

Only 20 books in the Inspirational category releasing in March 2009 were picked for review. As far as I know, publishers don’t have any control over which of their books get picked. We didn’t know in advance if Michal would even rate a review, and then I wondered what the reviewer would think of it. I’m still not used to the idea of hearing positive things about my work – well, unless it is accompanied by a “but…”

But the review didn’t have anything negative in it and the reviewer gave Michal 4 stars! Compelling. A page-turner. Wow! Cool!

I hope I don’t sound like I’m bragging. I promise I won’t share every review Michal receives. But the first one – well, it’s nice to know that the first one was a positive one. The really fun part was that two of my crit partners were reviewed with me – Tammy Alexander got 4 stars for The Inheritance, and Meredith Efken got 4 1/2 stars for Play It Again, SAHM!!! Other friends – B.J. Hoff got 4 stars for American Anthem, Robin Lee Hatcher got 4 stars for When Love Blooms, DiAnn Mills got 4 1/2 stars for Breach of Trust.

And Angela Hunt got TOP PICK for She’s In A Better Place. I feel lost in all of the great company! (There are more, so check out the page with the complete list.)

Whether an author gets a 3 or 4 or 4 1/2 or even a 2 isn’t what counts though, as much fun as it is to share such news. As Angie Hunt once said, “There will always be authors better than you and always be authors worse than you. You will be somewhere in the middle.” Middle is nice. Compelling is nice. (Chocolate is better.) :)

Mostly, I’m just plain honored that they picked to read Michal at all! I am fairly certain I owe that to my publisher for designing such a fabulous cover! I cannot wait for the UPS man to stop at my door with my copies of the book – to hold it between the fingers that rewrote it so many times – to read the pages that are pretty much already memorized, emblazoned on my heart. I wonder if that will feel as surreal as this review does today.

In any case, I hope you all get a chance to read the book and if you like it, I hope you’ll let me know. I love to hear from my readers. And I hope Michal’s story touches your heart.

Shalom~