of blades and thorns

the official blog of author grace a. johnson

review: the sound of light by sarah sundin

Grace A. Johnson

Feb 27
3 min

review: the sound of light by sarah sundin

⭐⭐⭐⭐💫 Let’s face it, I’ve never read a Sarah Sundin novel I didn’t like—and I’m sure the same goes for most of y’all too! There’s something about how she weaves war and intrigue with romance and faith, with a dash of delicious mystery and suspense, that makes for an altogether amazing and adventure page-turner. The Sound of Light is no different! I loved how we got to see the war from Denmark’s perspective (something that’s becoming a wee bit more common after all these year

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review: all the lost places by amanda dykes

Grace A. Johnson

Feb 24
4 min

review: all the lost places by amanda dykes

⭐⭐⭐⭐💫 I’ve been hearing absolutely amazing things about Amanda Dykes for years, but when I first read one of her novellas in The Kissing Tree collection, I wasn’t impressed. The “pizzazz” in her writing that everyone lauded never caught my eye. Then came December. I received an ARC of All the Lost Places in the mail, which I’d requested to read because I am a sucker for anything set in Italy and because I was determined to ferret out what made Dykes so beloved. (Before I got

65 views14 comments

enemies-to-lovers: the beauty of the trope

Grace A. Johnson

Feb 16
3 min

enemies-to-lovers: the beauty of the trope

In honor of Valentine's Day, R.M. Archer, Kellyn Roth, and I have joined up to bring you three fantastic posts about some the top romance tropes! Y'all be sure to check out R.M. and Kellyn's posts here and here! If you’ve hung around the romance reader community long enough, you’ve probably seen/heard all the opinions out there on enemies-to-lovers (also known as hate-to-love) romance. Personally, I hang around the anti-TikTokxic community, where tropes like enemies-to-lovers

60 views7 comments

Grace A. Johnson

Feb 14
2 min

tell me you love me is here!

HAPPY RELEASE DAYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh, and happy Valentine's Day too. 😉 To show our love for readers and our appreciation for the beautiful love of Christ, twelve authors and I (alongside the lovely Issabelle Perry) spent the past year crafting a collection of love stories that are sure to inspire and entertain...and now the day has arrived that this amazing anthology makes its debut into the world! To celebrate, I have a very special giveaway for just for y'all! (Because

128 views28 comments

Grace A. Johnson

Feb 10
8 min

enemies-to-lovers: how to do it right

This romance trope everyone calls toxic is actually supposed to be one of the strongest and most beautiful relationships out there. Why? Because, to get to a place of unconditional love, the hero and heroine have to go through a lot of conflict. They have to learn honesty, communication, forgiveness, and more before their romance can blossom—unlike other relationships, in which these traits aren’t cultivated until after the romance starts. So how you do accurately and authent

136 views16 comments

enter to win the anthologies (tmylm & stl blog tour)

Grace A. Johnson

Feb 8
3 min

enter to win the anthologies (tmylm & stl blog tour)

God bless H.S. Kylian. I have been so off my game this year, but this girl has kept me straight and reminded me that I yet again forgot to post. *facepalm* Thank y'all for putting up with my forgetfulness and incompetence. Y'all are the best. ANYWAY. I have a special giveaway for y'all, but to enter, y'all must first read the blurbs about the two amazing anthologies we're releasing and answer a couple questions! about tell me you love me Tell Me You Love Me – a timeless colle

91 views11 comments

welcome to the tour! (tmylm & stl blog tour)

Grace A. Johnson

Feb 7
2 min

welcome to the tour! (tmylm & stl blog tour)

Here I go again, forgetting to write my kickoff post. *glares at self* ANYWAY, today begins the epic, giveaway-filled, love-centered tour for not one but TWO beautiful, God-honoring romance anthologies! Most of y'all know about Tell Me You Love Me, but it's not the only Christian romance anthology releasing on Valentine's Day! Allow me to introduce y'all to Seize the Love! about seize the love Honoring the Love of the Savior Agape. Eros. Philia. Storge All forms of love… Seiz

98 views14 comments

welcome to february! (january wrapup & february goals)

Grace A. Johnson

Feb 4
3 min

welcome to february! (january wrapup & february goals)

No way is it February already. I refuse to believe it. *crosses arms* Anyway, welcome one and all to the month of love and romance, for which I only have one romance-themed post planned (as of yet!), which makes me feel like a fraud. *pouts* I feel like I’ve exhausted the subject of romance with my Q&A posts (which y’all can read here), but if you have any post suggestions or romance-related questions, feel free to drop them below! I’d love to share about love during February

58 views16 comments

Grace A. Johnson

Feb 3
9 min

3 tricks to writing vivid fight scenes

Admit it, fight scenes are difficult. Even the veteran writers who have watched their favorite movie fight scenes hundreds of times, scribbled notebooks full of details, and choreographed fights with their brothers have a hard time putting the action on paper. You can have a vivid picture of the fight in your head, but no matter how hard or often you try, you can’t seem to write it out. You’ve done everything you know to, like picking an epic location, ensuring everything is

46 views16 comments

review: yesterday's tides by roseanna m. white

Grace A. Johnson

Feb 2
5 min

review: yesterday's tides by roseanna m. white

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Y’all, I have been waiting for this novel for years. When I first began reading Roseanna M. White’s books back in 2016-2017, I found her blog and scoured her archives, digging up details about old stories she’d been working on. One of those was Yesterday’s Tides, a contemporary about Remington and Louisa and an inn on an island. Suffice to say I immediately fell in love, but this story never came into fruition...until The Codebreakers series released, and one of the cry

34 views6 comments

guest post: insight on strong heroines by rina blackstone bennet

Grace A. Johnson

Feb 1
11 min

guest post: insight on strong heroines by rina blackstone bennet

I don’t usually do these things, you know. Write articles, I mean. Oh, wait. I’m supposed to introduce myself? I told you blighters I’m under-qualified for this position. Well, hullo, mates. My name is Captain Rina Blackstone Bennet—you may have briefly heard of me; my author is known to brag about me around this lovely blog (that is what you call it, aye?)—but I insist you call me Rina. All my friends do. For that matter, so do a great portion of my enemies…but that’s incons

53 views18 comments

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