Contemporary Fiction

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Bella tells the story of a single waitress in New York City who becomes pregnant and is conflicted over her predicament. Her distress is exacerbated when she loses her job, only to meet a mysterious Latino chef, whose warm, caring heart helps her see her way clearly.

Lisa Samson

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Allison Troyer is of marriageable age and needs to learn how to manage an Amish household. Can a girl who feels as faceless, purposeless, and neglected as her tattered Amish doll, find her way among strangers? James Esh likes what he sees when Allison Troyer walks into the barn. Will anything keep this brash young Amish man from stealing her affections? Aaron Zook has vowed never to lose his heart to another. Yet when James makes advances on Allison, Aaron can't help but intercede. Can threads of faith and love unite tattered hearts?

Brides of Webster County Series

Wanda Brunstetter

When Rachel Donovan, a strong-willed chiropractor with a past, meets Jack Westwood, a bull-headed cowboy looking for a future, it looks like hate at first fight. But when the dust settles, it may be love. Can the chiropractor and the cowboy bridle their growing attraction, or will love ultimately have free reign?

Christine Lynxwiler

Interview, Excerpt

Kendall’s managed to wrangle her grandmother’s house—free and clear—except for the rules. No male roommates. But that’s ok, with the right ad she’ll pull in some girls, their rent and if she’s lucky, she won’t have to go to work any time soon.

For their part, Anna, Lelani, and Megan all have their reasons for wanting to move in: Anna has got to get out from under her overprotective parents; Lelani can’t take another day in her aunt’s tiny crackerbox house overflowing with toddlers and Megan needs a place free of her current roommate from Hades. Though they come with assorted extra baggage filled with broken hearts and dreams, they will discover they also have a vast array of hidden strengths.

As they struggle to become the women they want to be, they’ll find new hope and maybe even Kendall will learn a thing or two about life, love and the true meaning of friendship.

Melody Carlson

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Nellie, too, is torn. She longs to marry her Old Order beau but cannot ignore the gentle pull she feels toward the faith of her new Order family. Still struggling to come to terms with the death of her beloved sister, Nellie visits the Mennonite friends who were with Suzy on the day she drowned. Will Nellie find the missing pieces of her sister's life-and her own future as well?
     

She's the last of six Lowcountry sisters to tie the knot, so when Elle Garvey's quarterback-turned-minister boyfriend Jeremiah pops the question, the family resolves to give them the send off of the century.

But as Jeremiah leaves Elle to plan the wedding and moves ahead to Houston for a large pastorate there, Elle listens for her own call to the ministry-but none seems forthcoming. And with the influx of new residents in coastal Beaufort, South Carolina, Elle's art gallery business has never been more fruitful. She's even begun to successfully show her own paintings-paintings she created after Jeremiah left town.

Soon Elle's widowed tenant, Frank, arrives, throwing a real wrench in the works, and offering a new kind of love that soon takes hold…and blossoms.

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Set in the South Carolina Sea Islands, Nicole Seitz's second novel follows the stories of two sisters. One is seeking to recreate her life yet again and learns to truly live from a group of Gullah nannies she meets on the island. The other thinks she's got it all together until her sister's imminent death from cancer causes her to re-examine her own life and seek the healing and rebirth her troubled sister managed to find on St. Anne's Island.

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Daughter of the town drunk, Vienne Kenney has escaped Clayburn for law school in California. But after failing the bar exam-twice-she is back home with her tail between her legs, managing Latte-dah, the Clayburn cafe turned upscale coffee shop. Jackson Linder runs the art gallery across the street and Vienne has had her eye on him since she was a skinny seventh grader and he was the hunky high school lifeguard who did not know she existed. Now it is his turn to fall for her and suddenly Clayburn seems like a pretty nice place to be...until Vienne discovers that Jack is fresh out of rehab and still struggling with the same addiction that ultimately killed her father.

Clayburn Series

Deborah Raney

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Two sisters are forced to take a break from their hectic lives when one breaks her foot and the other sees a way to make fast cash from the sale of a vacation cottage. In doing so they find the younger sister whom their father had taken away from them thirty years earlier and have to cope with their mother and her senior citizens' brigade who want to run every body's lives. Learning to kick off their shoes and walk with the Lord becomes a lesson well learned.

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The summer of 1979 was heavy not only with the Appalachian humid air, but with the raw emotion of a stranger in their midst. The New Girl. The New Girl with the deeply colored skin and the straight shiny ebony hair and the father who prayed on a rug facing East each morning. The New Girl who changed hearts, minds and the lives of everyone in the small, provincial mountain town, merely by accepting a ride on a hot summer day to the local swimming hole.

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Mayla Strong’s life is finally starting to seem normal. She has been working at the same job for four years, living with a good friend, and enjoying a deep relationship with God. But when Mayla is suddenly laid off, the placid surface of her life is shattered. In this touching sequel to Just As I Am, Mayla comes face-to-face with the responsibilities and joys of friends and family. As Mayla tries to help her friends, she realizes that God has all the answers—the trick is letting go long enough to let Him prove it.

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In the third book in series, teacher and coach Britte Olafsson finds herself drawn to the new principal who’s an ex–Marine. His discipline toward life and in teaching matches her own, and when coaching dilemmas erupt, he strongly moves to support her. Despite past hurts and disappointments, Britte tentatively begins to open her heart to him.

Coach Anne Sutton and Alec, her husband of 17 years, lose sight of their love. Alec tries to find a way to win back the love and faith of Anne.

Just to See You Smile is a tender story about faithfulness, hope, the unconditional love of Jesus, and the true meaning and beauty of semper fidelis (always faithful).

Tiffany LeBoeuf recently lost her mother to cancer. Still grieving, Tiffany seeks rest for her body and soul at a cozy beach house in San Diego. A scheduling mix–up causes a double booking, and Tiffany ends up sharing the house with a woman named Eve. When Eve’s boyfriend, Jeremy, arrives to surprise Eve, he’s surprised to see Tiffany as well. He settles in at the beach house next door, and what happens after that surprises them all.

A fun, contemporary romance about how God uses even our mistakes to bring about His divine purposes. Beach Dreams is the perfect get–away read.

Interview