The 2018 INSPYs Longlists are Announced!!


Hello, friends and authors. Today, the Advisory Board announces the 2018 INSPYs longlists.

To learn more about the process of the INSPY Awards, you can visit our website. Below, you’ll see the top 15 nominated books from across seven categories. Our task now is to narrow down – *bites nails* – these lists to five books per category which will then constitute our 2018 short lists. Ultimately, it will be our panels of judges who will decide which of those five books (per category) will go on to win the best of their respective category.

Thank you to each and every reader who nominated a book. We appreciate the support of this program and are extremely grateful to anyone who also shared about the nominations on social media – thank you. The next phase will involve recruiting judges, a process that will open March 1st! So keep an eye out for more information on this. Until then, we invite you to take a look at our 2018 long lists.

Congrats to all of the nominated authors.

Find our official announcement post below. Here we go…

Presenting the 2018 INSPYs Longlists

Hello fellow readers, bloggers and authors. First, we’d like to say a big thank you to every reader and author who nominated their favorite reads of 2017, and likewise to those who shared about the opportunity to nominate on social media. The Advisory Board is again so grateful for the support and interest in this program. Like the last two years, the following nomination process applied to each of our seven categories.

To help simplify our nomination process, we made some adjustments to our awards program. To that end, instead of publicizing our long list of nominations as they poured in, the Advisory Board kept the list private since the method of nomination involved a process of popular vote. The number of books that received the most nominations (the top 15 from each category) came out as the winners, which then determined the long lists.

The 2018 INSPYs Longlists are Announced!! Walking through the new year's longlist nominations. #INSPYs #fromtheArchives Share on X

Due to insufficient nominations or ineligibility, some categories fall short of the requisite 15 novels. From the lists below, the Advisory Board will be narrowing these respective lists down to five books per category which will become our 2018 short lists. From there, the same judging process and practices will follow.

Grab your favorite beverage, and enjoy browsing through the books that YOU nominated, propelling them into “phase two.”

Contemporary Romance / Romantic Suspense

Charming the Troublemaker (Bling! Romance) by Pepper Basham
Just the Way You Are (Woven Words) by Pepper Basham
A New Shade of Summer (Waterfall Press) by Nicole Deese
Chasing Secrets (Revell) by Lynette Eason
Moving Target (Revell) by Lynette Eason
Then There Was You (Bellbird Press) by Kara Isaac
The Writing Desk(Zondervan) by Rachel Hauck
Jane of Austin (Waterbrook) by Hillary Manton Lodge
Blind Spot (Bethany House) by Dani Pettrey
All This Time (Larkspur Press) by Melissa Tagg
The Secret Life of Sarah Hollenbeck (Revell) by Bethany Turner
True to You (Bethany House) by Becky Wade
Just Look Up (Tyndale) by Courtney Walsh
Begin Again (Impact Editions) by Crystal Walton
Just Maybe (Impact Editions) by Crystal Walton

Debut Novel

A Season to Dance (Bling! Romance) by Patricia Beal
Still Waters (Firefly Southern Fiction) by Lindsey P. Brackett
Freedom’s Ring (Tyndale) by Heidi Chiavaroli
Count Me In (I21 Publishing House) by Mikal Dawn
Grace in Strange Disguise (Indie) by Christine Dillon
The Elusive Miss Ellison (Kregel) by Carolyn Miller
Waiting for Butterflies (Walrus Publishing) by Karen Sargent
Stars in the Grass (Shiloh Run Press) by Ann Marie Stewart
Lady Jayne Disappears (Bethany House) by Joanna Davidson Politano

General Fiction

In the Light of the Garden (Lake Union Publishing) by Heather Burch
Perennials (Thomas Nelson) by Julie Cantrell
Looking Glass Lies (Waterfall Press) by Varina Denman
Catching the Wind (Tyndale) by Melanie Dobson
A Song of Home: A Novel of the Swing Era (Kregel) by Susie Finkbeiner
A Trail of Crumbs: A Novel of the Great Depression (Kregel) by Susie Finkbeiner
Life After (Waterbrook) by Katie Ganshert
The Mark of the King (Bethany House) by Jocelyn Green
The Esther Paradigm (Radiant Publications) by Sarah Monzon
The Space Between Words (Thomas Nelson) by Michele Phoenix
The Austen Escape (Thomas Nelson) by Katherine Reay
Bringing Maggie Home (Waterbrook) by Kim Vogl Sawyer
The Memory of You (Thomas Nelson) by Catherine West
Before We Were Yours (Ballantine Books) by Lisa Wingate
Home (Shiloh Run Press) by Ginny L. Yttrup

Historical Romance

A Note Yet Unsung (Bethany House) by Tamera Alexander
To Wager Her Heart (Zondervan) by Tamera Alexander
The Road to Paradise (Waterbrook) by Karen Barnett
Many Sparrows (Waterbrook) by Lori Benton
A Lady in Disguise (Howard) by Sandra Byrd
Wings of the Wind (Bethany House) by Connilyn Cosette
Havencross (Covenant Communications) by Julie Daines
A Moonbow Night (Revell) by Laura Frantz
An Inconvenient Beauty (Bethany House) by Kristi Ann Hunter
An Uncommon Courtship (Bethany House) by Kristi Ann Hunter
The Dishonorable Miss DeLancy (Kregel) by Carolyn Miller
Lady Jayne Disappears (Bethany House) by Joanna Davidson Politano
Once an Heiress (Waterfall Press) by Renee Ryan
The Sound of Rain (Bethany House) by Sarah Loudin Thomas
A Name Unknown (Bethany House) by Roseanna M. White

Literature for Young Adults

The Messengers: Concealed (Concordia Publishing House) by Lisa M. Clark
– The Returning (Tyndale) by Rachelle Dekker
Unraveling (Thomas Nelson) by Sara Ella
Spark (Love2readlove2write Publishing, LLC) by J.M. Hackman
For Love and Honor (Zondervan) by Jody Hedlund
Playing by Heart (Vinspire) by Carmela A. Martino
The Lost Girl of Astor Street (Blink) by Stephanie Morrill
The Evaporation of Sofi Snow (Thomas Nelson) by Mary Weber

Mystery/Thriller

– The Enoch Effect (Waterfall Press) by Rick Acker
If I’m Found (Zondervan) by Terri Blackstock
Death at Thorburn Hall (Bethany House) by Julianna Deering
Crown of Souls (Bethany House) by Ronie Kendig
A Portrait of Vengeance (Thomas Nelson) by Carrie Stuart Parks
Imperfect Justice (Thomas Nelson) by Cara Putman
Without Warning (Tyndale) by Joel Rosenberg
Fatal Mistake (FaithWords) by Susan Sleeman
The House on Foster Hill (Bethany House) by Jaime Jo Wright

Speculative Fiction

Raging Storm (Harvest House) by Vannetta Chapman
The Beast of Talesend (Indie) by Kyle Robert Schultz
The Divide (Tyndale) by Jolina Petersheim
The Girl Who Could See (Indie) by Kara Swanson
King’s Blood (Bethany House) by Jill Williamson


We’d like to congratulate all of the nominated authors and thank all of the bloggers and readers who put forth their favorite reads of 2017.

We’re ready to get to work and find the top five in each of these categories.

About Rissi JC

amateur graphic designer. confirmed bookaholic. bubbl’r enthusiast. critical thinker. miswesterner. social media coordinator. writer.

Similar Posts

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

(Enter your URL then click here to include a link to one of your blog posts.)