Contemporary Fiction

Excerpt

As John Baxter makes plans to marry Elaine, one of the Baxters enters into the most trying season of all. During a time of renewed love and hope for the future, the Baxters try to come together to establish the sacred ground of marriage and to chart a course for the future. Memories of times gone by meet with the changes of today in a story that proves only the support of faith and family can take a person into the sunset years of life.

Sunrise Series  |  Karen Kingsbury

Excerpt

Excerpt

Well into her senior year of college, Katie thinks she's ready for her relationship with Rick to become more serious. Rick makes it clear he's ready to step up their relationship and goes out of his way to prove his intentions. When his schedule at work suddenly takes a turn, Katie doesn't mind having a chance to step back a little and take things more slowly. Rick's new roommate, Eli, complicates things by showing Katie a view of the universe on a midnight jaunt to see a meteor shower. Eli also shows Katie a view of the world she never saw before when he tells her how his father is in Nairobi, providing practical assistance in obtaining clean water in Africa. Thoughts of what to do with her future take on a broader view than when she was entirely focused on Rick. An unexpected call from her mother, a girls night out with Christy and a pizza making event with her fellow RA, Nicole are all intensified when her beloved car, Baby Hummer, takes its last wheeze. Will Katie be able to navigate her way through the remainder of her college career with no money, no transportation and no idea of what the future holds?

Katie Weldon Series  |  Robin Jones Gunn

The first has two children--twins, a boy and girl, who are seniors in high school. She wants their last Christmas as a family living in the same home to be perfect, but her husband is delayed returning from a business trip abroad. And then there's an accident--a fatal one involving a drunk driver.

Meanwhile, the other mother has a daughter who needs a new heart, and so the loss of one woman becomes the miracle the other has desperately prayed for. While one mother grieves, and pulls away from her family, the other finds that even miracles aren't always easy to receive.
     

Excerpt

Lucia Coffey longs to feel good about herself and her body . . . but she can't get the negative voices out of her head.

Lucia has always lived in the shadow of her sister Sophia, a charismatic ministry leader with a huge following. She doesn't feel worthy of her sister or her husband, and her own dreams of being a dancer have long since gone by the wayside. As her self-esteem and self-worth plummet, her struggle to keep her weight under control soars.

But then she meets Sullivan Crisp, the decidedly unorthodox psychologist who is well-known for his quirky sense of humor and incorporation of "game show" theology into his counseling sessions. He sees the beauty hidden in Lucia and sets about trying to help her find it for herself.

Lucia longs for the faith to walk on water. And with the endlessly creative ways God uses our meager efforts to bring hope and new life, she just might find the path that leads her there.

Excerpt

 Recently widowed, Roman Paulson's life revolves around his son, Billy, a college football hero with a promising future. Maya Morano desperately wants a child and is willing to risk her ethics to get one. Peter McLean is set to take over the family farm until temptation lures him away. And Velvet Cotton approaches middle age with the attitude that this all there is—such as it is. All four find themselves on a journey that will open their hearts to a "John 3:16" sign held up at a football game. This simple act of faith intersects and changes their lives—forever.

Nancy Moser

Excerpt

Daughter Lexi Beaumont garnered local noteriety when she saved her family from wildfire--a fame rivaled only by that of her celebrity newscaster brother, Eric. But the attention sheds light on darker places she'd rather keep hidden. As Lexi tries to settle quietly back into life After the Fire, romantic troubles plague her. Then Eric's always erratic behavior begins to spriral out of control. His drinking has reached a new height--and only a headstrong policewoman seems to make any headway with him. It'll take a miracle of grace to bring these two hurting souls to a place of recovery and healing.

Safe Harbor Series  |  Sally John

Excerpt

Excerpt

If only her husband, Rick, understood that. He's exasperated about the money Ruth keeps spending for the church and school. Doesn't he see that these are their best defenses in shielding their children from the dangers of the world?

But the forces that threaten Ruth's faith, her family-her very life-are not the ones she expects. Ruth doesn't realize that her heartfelt desire to obey God is mingled with dangerous currents of OCD-Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Her own strategies for protecting her family may be the very thing that tears them apart.
     

Excerpt

Interview, Excerpt

Maizy Grace Stewart dreams of a career as an investigative journalist, but her last job ended in disaster when her compassion cost her employer a juicy headline. A part-time gig at a Nashville newspaper might be her big break.

A second job at Steeple Side Christian Resources could help pay the bills, but Steeple Side only hires committed Christians. Maizy is sure she can fake it with her Five-Step Program to Authentic Christian Faith–a plan of action that includes changing her first name to Grace, buying Jesus-themed accessories, and learning “Christian Speak.” If only Jack Prentiss, Steeple Side’s managing editor and two-day-stubbled, blue-jean-wearing British hottie wasn’t determined to prove her a fraud.

Tamara Leigh

Excerpt

After experiencing a devastating period in her Amish life, where she was effecitvely shunned by her father and  rejected by her fiance,' Hannah Lapp chose to board a train for Chicago, leaving her family, friends and life as she knew it behind.  After several months, Hannah finally established herself and begun her life with the help of Martin and his adpopted niece and nephew.  It wasn't long before Hannah enrolled in nursing school, her passion throughout her life. 

However, her past was not forgotten, so when she received a phone call  from her friend who desperately needed her help at home. Her memories pulled her Amish heart back to her former life an she headed back to Pennsylvania to familiar roads of her youth.  Some embraced her with open arms, but others...

Sisters of the Quilt Series | Cindy Woodsmall | Discussion Questions | Audio Interview

Excerpt

Sheltered in her childhood years by family wealth, Lauren Durough is just beginning to grasp how people judge others by what they want to believe about them; how the poor mistakenly view the wealthy and vice-versa. Lauren decides to take on a job as a literary assistant to Abigail Boyles, an eighty year-old reclusive, retired librarian, so she can fit in with her other college peers.   Abigail tasks Lauren with transcribing the 400 year old, fragile diary of Abigail's ancestral cousin, Mercy Hayworth--a woman hanged for witchcraft in seventeenth century Salem, Mass.   Through this journey of transcribing, both Abigail and Lauren go through their own journey of self discovery that will forever change their lives.

Susan Meissner  |  Discussion Questions

Although she still prays for Caleb, Nellie Mae Fisher has broken up with her beau. Now, her heart's greatest longing is for more knowledge of the Lord. Caleb yearns for freedom, as his plans to leave Honeybrook have been thwarted. He must stay on as caretaker for his father, who was crippled in a wintertime accident. He also longs for Nellie Mae, still hoping that she will return to the Old Order...and to him.

Excerpt

Hannah Williams couldn't get out of her small town fast enough, preferring the faster pace, trendy lifestyle and beauty of California's Pacific Ocean coast. Only when her younger sister Dilly, makes a desperate choice and commits the unthinkable, does Hannah realize she never should have left her behind in rural Illinois. Hannah returns home to make up for letting Dilly down, leaving the one man she's ever loved in California. But Dilly is a changed woman, and when Hannah's plans don't go as expected, the bonds of sisterhood are tested like never before.

Maureen Lang

Interview, Excerpt

Penny Sullivan is ready to face the challenge of a cross-country move and caring for her energetic seven-year-old son while her husband leaves on his first deployment as a Navy chaplain. But after she witnesses a shocking crime, her world tips sideways.Hiding in her closet isn't an option when her husband and son depend on her, so she fights to recover. But even simple tasks such as filling her car with gas, buying groceries, and returning phone calls are suddenly more than she can handle.

Help comes in funny packages--a temperamental DVD, a man who hoards gum wrappers, a meddlesome neighbor, and a small yellow notebook in which Penny scribbles down her recovery plan: Do one kind thing for another person every day. The results are sometimes beautiful, sometimes heartbreaking, and often lead to more than she ever could have imagined.  A story for every woman who has wondered where God is when life hurts.

Sharon Hinck

When Lexi leaves everything and everyone she knows behind in Seattle in order to move to France to study baking, she has no one to lean on but herself and her God. After overcoming an initial bout of homesickness, Lexi grows to love France, the French, and the village which is now her home. She finds a church, explores Versailles and Paris, and perfects her pastry skills in her baking class and the bakeries in which she works. She also discovers the difference between false friends--faux amis--and true ones. But things really get interesting when she makes the acquaintance of a little girl named Celine and finds she enjoys the company of Celine's attractive widowed father, too. Then the man she was dating in Seattle shows up in Paris, and Lexi is surprised how strong her feelings for him still are. Quelle probleme! The more time Lexi spends in France, the more torn she feels between her homeland and her new, adopted home. In the end, she will have to choose between two countries, two jobs - and perhaps even two loves.

Sandra Byrd | Audio Interview | Discussion Questions

Excerpt

It's the holiday season and all the roomates are a little blue: Megan's dealing with a ridiculous boss,and now her mom is leaving her alone for Christmas. Lelani can't afford to fly home and isn't sure she'd be welcomed. Anna's old boyfriend has sailed back into her life, just when she's met the for-real "nice guy" she's keeping away from her crazy Latino family. And Kendall's got a crush on a famous actor, who might be the answer to her money woes--if she could only convince him she's the love of his life. Thank goodness God's around to listen!

86 Bloomberg Place Series   |  Melody Carlson

Excerpt

Nicole Michelin avoids airplanes, motorcycles, and most of all, Japan, where her parents once were missionaries. Something happened in Japan. Something that sent Nicole and her father back to America alone. Something of which Nicole knows only bits and pieces. But she is content with life in little Mount Olive, North Carolina, with her quirky relatives, tank of lively fish, and plenty of homemade pineapple chutney.

Through her online column for the Pretty Fishy website, Nicole meets Harrison Michaels, who, much to her dismay, lives in Japan. She attempts to avoid him, but his e-mails tug at her heart.
Then Harrison reveals that he knew her as a child in Japan. In fact, he knows more about her childhood than she does! Will Nicole face her fears in order to discover her past and take a chance on love?