Happy (almost) New Year! What are your goals for next year? Is reading more one of your goals?
Last year I tried to read 52 books in a year. I managed to read 47. I guess I had high hopes for someone publishing a book and having a baby 😂 This year I’m aiming for 35 books! If you’re a reader or like personal goals, you should join me on Goodreads in setting a yearly book goal!
Another goal I have is to be on social media a little less. I love social media for many reasons, including because I can keep in touch with friends and even make new friends/discover new authors and books, but I do tend to let myself get sucked into the rabbit hole that is social media 😅 I’d love to replace some of my scrolling time with reading and writing!
If you’re also looking to decrease your time on social media, let me recommend some amazing books for you to devour! Spending less time online doesn’t mean you need to be bored 😉
Amazing Books to Read in 2023
Contemporary
Can accidentally becoming a beekeeper lead to love?
Single mom Cordy Brown can’t catch a break. Not only does she lose her job, but the quaint English cottage she pools her savings to purchase is the very definition of a money pit. To top it off, a delivery man appears on her doorstep with a shipment of bees and announces she’s their new caretaker! Could life get any more complicated?
Ronan Thomson is only in England for one reason: to drag his underage brother back to Ireland for end-of-year exams. He quickly learns, however, that nothing about this will be simple and he finds himself holding a baby goat on Cordy’s doorstep. Falling for a beautiful American is easy. Ronan’s problems lie in the overabundance of animals, his stubborn brother, and the unexpected guest from Cordy’s past.
Can Cordy and Ronan overcome all the obstacles standing between them? After all, some things just feel meant to bee.
Savannah Cade’s dreams are coming true. The Claire Donovan, editor-in-chief of the most successful romance publishing company in the country, has requested to see the manuscript Savannah’s been secretly writing. The only problem: she’s an editor for a different company, and their philosophy is only highbrow works are worth printing and romance should be reserved for the lowest level of Dante’s inferno.
But when Savannah drops her manuscript during a staff meeting and nearly exposes herself to the whole company—including William Pennington, the new boss and son of the romance-despising CEO herself—she has no choice but to hide the manuscript in a hidden room.
When she returns, she’s dismayed to discover that someone has not only been in her hidden nook but has written notes in the margins—quite critical ones. But when Claire’s own reaction turns out to be nearly identical to the scribbled remarks, and worse, Claire announces that Savannah has six weeks to resubmit before she retires, Savannah finds herself forced to seek the help of the shadowy editor after all.
As their notes back and forth start to fill up the pages, however, Savannah finds him not just becoming pivotal to her work but her life. There’s no doubt about it: she’s falling for her mystery editor. If she only knew who he was.
What happens when best friends promise to share their dating stories–the good, the bad, and the never swipe again–as part of a book on love? A lot of humor, heart, and HEAs.
When Sam (known online as Dr. Love) begs her roommates to help provide stories for her upcoming book, they were all too happy to agree. Mostly because they didn’t think they would HAVE stories. No big deal.
But throughout this series, one by one, Sam’s friends find love with a friend’s brother, a boss, a fake fiancé, a friend, and an enemy. Fall in love with the friendships as much as the leading men in these laugh-out-loud, closed door romantic comedies.
This collection includes five full length novels and one holiday novella: Falling for Your Best Friend’s Twin, Falling for Your Boss, Falling for Your Fake Fiancé, Falling for Your Best Friend, Falling for Your Enemy, and The Twelve Holidates.
When Olivia Tennyson – or Ollie to her friends – was sixteen, she wrote a Dream List of all the things she wanted for her life, including a happy marriage and a family. But at twenty-nine, Ollie is single, living at home with her over-protective and manipulative mother, and is feeling like her dreams are getting further out of reach.
It’s time for a change.
It’s time to take matters into her own hands.
Without telling her mum, or more importantly, asking her permission, Ollie finds the perfect place to start her new life. End Cottage has a duck-egg blue front door, a garden that leads to acres of forest, and definitely counts as her dream home.
Now all Ollie has to do is complete the rest of her list and find out who she really is, before she can imagine any romance coming into her life. After all, how is she going to find her dream man in the middle of a forest…
Brought together across time by a love of story, three women in England fight to defy expectations, dream new dreams, and welcome love into their lives.
As a counselor, Sophia Barrett is trained to help people cope with their burdens. But when she meets a new patient whose troubles mirror her own, she realizes she hasn’t dealt with the pain of her recent past. After making a snap decision to get away for the summer, Sophia moves overseas to an apartment above a charming bookstore in Cornwall, England. She is hopeful she will find peace there surrounded by her favorite thing: great literature.
Bookstore owner Ginny Rose is desperate to save her business without asking for help from a husband who’s decided to take a break from their marriage. Ginny never imagined she’d be solely responsible for keeping afloat her husband’s dream, but the unexpected friendship with her new renter has her feeling more optimistic. Between the two of them—and Ginny’s brother-in-law, William—the bookstore might stand a chance.
Then Sophia finds a notebook in the bookstore that contains journal entries from Emily Fairfax, a governess who lived in Cornwall more than 150 years ago. Sophia learns that Emily harbored a secret passion for becoming an authoress—as well as a deep love for her childhood friend, Edward, whose station she dared not dream to touch.
Eager to know more of Emily’s story, Sophia goes on a quest—dragging Ginny and William with her—to discover the heart of the woman behind the beautiful entries. Soon Ginny’s need to save the bookstore becomes more than a way to save her marriage, and Sophia finds new purpose of her own. Together they find that sometimes both heartache and hope can reach across the centuries.
Time heals some wounds.
The first time Lyla Savoie Kenney found love—boundless, passionate love—it wasn’t with a person but a place. She found deep-rooted endearment there, and in keeping with tradition, it caused her first real heartbreak too.
Lyla grew up on the beaches at Begoa’s Point, a campground she and her father visited each summer for seventeen years. She spent each non-summer month counting down the days until she could return, until going back was no longer an option. Begoa’s Point closed with no explanation.
Fifteen years later, now a widowed mother with a child of her own, Begoa’s Point is reopening its doors. Lyla is surprised when she is abruptly moved off the waiting list and given a reservation at the camp, but even more surprising is what she finds when she arrives.
Weston Accardi, the first boy Lyla ever gave her heart to, is the proud new owner of the Begoa’s property. He has changed—and not just because a prosthetic leg now exists where a natural limb once did. He is no longer the carefree rebel he used to be but has grown into a responsible businessman.
Their past, however, refuses to remain such, cycling back to smother the fire they’ve tried so hard to rebuild since her arrival to the reopened campground.
Young Adult
Thea Fenton’s life looks picture-perfect, but inside, she is falling apart. Wracked by anxiety no one seems to understand or care about, she resorts to self-harm to deflect the pain inside.
When a local teen commits suicide, Thea’s anxiety skyrockets. Unexplainable things happen, leaving her feeling trapped within her own chaotic mind. The lines between reality and another world start to blur, and her previously mundane issues seem more daunting and insurmountable than ever.
Then she meets Khi, a mysterious new boy from the coffee shop who seems to know her better than she knows herself—and doesn’t think she’s crazy. His quiet confidence and unfounded familiarity draw her into an unconventional friendship.
Khi journeys with her through grief, fear, and confusion to arrive at compassion for the one person Thea never thought she could love.
A beneather and an android; the heroes no one dreamed.
Daydreamer Faye Wallace believes her recurring dreams of flying ships have a purpose beyond fantasy. And when Icarus—her swoon-worthy dream boy—knocks on the door, reality is swept away with her heart.
Charged with saving the sky world of Halos from a destiny of prophesied doom, Faye embarks on a journey to relive her whimsical visions.
Except for one problem: nothing about Halos matches what she remembers. Including Icarus.
Faye must sift truth from imagination and become the girl who saves her dreams—before they create a nightmare she can’t return from.
With boys, lies, dying skies—not to mention sky pirates—this sweet YA adventure romance will pull you into a journey to discover which dreams are worth fighting for!
YA Fantasy
Around Agatha Sea, princesses are poised, magically gifted, and betrothed.
So, when seventeen-year-old Princess Beatriz still fails to secure a betrothal, her parents hold a ball. Forming an alliance could mean the difference between peace and war, but Beatriz doesn’t want just any suitor. She’s in love with her best friend, Prince Lux. Marrying Prince Lux will always be a silly dream as long as she has no magical gift.
Princess Beatriz will do whatever it takes to obtain a touch of magic, including making a deadly oath to go on a quest to Valle de Los Fantasmas. A valley where no one comes out alive.
If she can manage to succeed, Princess Beatriz could have everything she desires and secure peace for her kingdom. If she fails, she’ll lose not only her greatest dream but also her kingdom, and maybe even her own life.
Unbethrothed, a 2022 new release title, is a young adult fantasy that encourages young women to embrace their self-worth. Exploring themes of redemption, the story takes place in a tropical seaside kingdom complete with a castle, flat-roofed houses and a mountainous jungle land. The authors’ own Latin background gives her young adult novels a Latin twist causing the most avid reader to be surprised.
Kathka is dead.Once a powerful king, he is now a soul cursed to remain tethered for eternity to the Wise One, his murderer and the only god left in the world. But the god offers him a deal.
If he saves seven lives, the god will grant him a second life. Kathka accepts the deal, willing to do whatever necessary to obtain a new life and accomplish what he could not in his first – kill the Wise One.
However, the world he returns to has changed. A new empire reigns, presided over by the religious cult of the Bu Chak that searches for those cursed by the gods, including Kathka.
Surrounded by new technology and a culture he does not understand, Kathka flees for his own life while seeking the seven he is tasked to save. As the world continues to crumble, Kathka cannot ignore the rising doubt that he may not be able to save even one.
“I suppose you have a choice to make. You can continue along in the life you have been living, you can identify yourself with your job, but I see in your eyes that this is not who you are. This is not what makes you happy.”
After the death of his father, Tucker gave up his dreams to take care of his mother. Reluctantly he followed in his father’s footsteps and became a truck driver. Every day was as predictable as his truck route and Tucker slowly gave up his hopes for a different life until he finds a girl in the middle of the road. Evil threatens to destroy Ravinna’s world unless Tucker chooses to believe her and accept her challenge to become a dragon slayer.
In the peaks of an island, now part of the densely populated city of Hong Kong, an ancient beast awakens.
Winnie Yuen has spent her sixteen years feeling like a failure. Unable to measure up to her mother’s beauty, her father’s design skills, or the standards of her peers, she has given her allegiance to her belief in dragons. With the discovery of a mysterious blood red stone and a narrow escape from death, Winnie finds herself caught up in the revival of a legend.
Meanwhile, six months have passed since Tucker Kenworthy was swept away on an otherworldly mission to stop a rampaging dragon. When he returned to his small town life in Northern California, he expected things to be different, but instead, he’s fallen back into the ruts of his old life as a truck driver, and has heard nothing from the woman who stole his heart.
The princess Ravinna has accepted a mission to travel from her world, where dragons are an everyday part of life, to a land where their existence has been written off as fantasy. She is eager to be reunited with Tucker, but worries her feelings for him will be a distraction from the task at hand. When she discovers Tucker’s mother has slipped unexpectedly into a coma, she realizes convincing him to join her on a dangerous journey to the other side of his world will be an even bigger challenge than she first imagined.
Will Ravinna be able to retain her warrior’s focus? Will Tucker leave his mother’s side to help stop the dragon from wreaking havoc on Hong Kong and revealing the truth behind the myths? Or will Winnie fall prey to her destiny tied to one of the darkening dragons?
Thriller
The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle is a breathlessly addictive mystery that follows one man’s race to find a killer, with an astonishing time-turning twist that means nothing and no one are quite what they seem.
Aiden Bishop knows the rules. Evelyn Hardcastle will die every day until he can identify her killer and break the cycle. But every time the day begins again, Aiden wakes up in the body of a different guest at Blackheath Manor. And some of his hosts are more helpful than others. With a locked-room mystery that Agatha Christie would envy, Stuart Turton unfurls a breakneck novel of intrigue and suspense.
Historical
What if your worst curse could also be your greatest gift?
As a Missouri plantation owner’s daughter, Sarah Walcott has always experienced the best society has to offer, yet her charmed life also carries unexplainable tragedy. She’s been widowed six times, always on her wedding day. When a seventh husband meets the same fate, her parents determine to send her to an asylum, where she can no longer be a burden to them or a danger to society. In desperation, Sarah joins the Larksong wagon train on their way to the West and soon learns that her saviors also harbor extraordinary gifts…ones that may finally bring her the answers she needs.
Anxious to be free from a family legacy he would rather not claim and a slave-built society he doesn’t support, Tobias Lark believes the only way to find his perfect town is to create it himself. Joined by his three brothers, he sets out for the Washington Territory with a collection of carefully curated supporters, all determined to build a new life in the West. When a young plantation widow unexpectedly joins their party, he fears the curse she carries will crack the solid foundation upon which all his plans are built.
With each step along the trail, Tobias and Sarah encounter hardships that test their resilience and threaten the idyllic life they’re searching for. Will they stand together in the face of adversity or is the community of Larksong just another unobtainable fantasy?
1945. World War II has come to an end. But the battle for a young boy’s future is just beginning.
The small, dusty town of Goldfield, Nevada, is all that thirteen-year-old Claude Fisher has ever known. The youngest of three brothers, he spends his days running wild across the desert with his best friend and neighbor, Kitty Ralph. Despite Kitty’s tumultuous home life, they are happy and carefree. Life stretches before them like the flat plains of the desert they call home.
On the cusp of young adulthood, Claude is convinced that their friendship will someday turn into more. But one tranquil autumn evening, tragedy strikes, and suddenly Claude is left holding the pieces of a broken life.
Stripped of his best friend, Claude’s faith in the God he was raised to trust is shattered. As he navigates a future he didn’t expect, Claude wrestles to make sense of it all. Why does a sovereign God permit tragedy to happen? Is the sinner worthy of forgiveness? And will he ever find hope again after losing the girl he loved?
A sweeping tale of love, loss, and the renewal of faith in the face of tragedy.
Just as it seems life is opening before Violet with unlimited possibilities for her future, her hometown of Atlanta is devastated by a citywide fire, and her idolized older brother heads off to France as an officer in the Great War. Violet’s safe, tight-knit family is about to be tested beyond anything they have ever experienced, and her dreams for the future keep colliding with forces outside her control and a rapidly changing culture. While she tries to rebuild her life from loss after loss, two very different young ministers both profess her place in their own dreams for the future. As her childhood faith is shaken to its very core, Violet must determine who she truly is, what she most wants, and what it means to love.
Can Russell and Katie’s love survive through the family conflicts, heart-wrenching losses, and dark secrets that threaten to drown them both?
Haunted by the tragedies and mistakes of his past, Russell Carver has nonetheless managed to build a successful—if lonely—life for himself in his native Boston. But when he meets lovely, vivacious Katie Sweet, up from Atlanta to visit her grandmother, Russell’s stoic life is turned upside down and long-abandoned dreams are reawakened. Russell will do anything to protect and provide for this woman he adores, but neither of them can imagine the great waters of calamity that will soon rush against them and shake their fledgling relationship to its very foundation. As the nation is plunged from the Roaring Twenties into the Great Depression, destroying their hopes and dreams, will Russell and Katie find the strength to fight for what they cherish most?
Will their quest for the truth deliver them from their past or destroy their dreams for a future together?
Cal Newfield has spent his entire life living in the shadow of his father’s sins. When the United States enters the Second World War, he hopes to finally have the chance to prove himself a hero. Sent on a government mission to gather information about Hitler’s rumored “Final Solution,” Cal can little imagine the impossible choices he will face and the tremendous cost of honor he must pay.
Growing up next door to Cal in Boston, Gincy Maxwell has been spoiled yet suffocated by her controlling parents. When Cal uncovers a secret from her past, it upends her world and calls into question her very identity. Refusing to face the truth, Gincy loses the most important friendship in her life and instead begins down a path that seems paved with prestige—but hides peril and emptiness.
After years and miles apart, will death threats, political scandals, and a world at war draw Cal and Gincy together again or divide them forever?
When Justin Young is reunited with his orphaned siblings during the American Civil War, he decides to bring his widowed sister and younger brothers to live with him in Chicago, desiring to give them a home and a family. But he soon discovers that sometimes love is more painful than it is healing as he faces his own inadequacies.
Along their journey towards reconciliation with God and each other, the siblings and their friends learn that real love often looks like the hard work of granting grace and second chances to other hurting, imperfect people with whom they have nothing in common. In the end, they each find that when they come home to God, He gives them the courage, freedom and grace to come home to the people they’ve come to love.
As Irish American orphans raised in different circumstances in Kentucky, North Carolina and Maryland, the Young siblings could not be more different from each other, but they are determined that the ties of the same blood are strong enough to bring them together despite the secrets they each carry from their pasts. In this emotional story filled with humor and love, Yankee siblings come head to head with Confederate ones, Christian siblings with atheists, educated siblings with those raised on the street, and extroverted siblings with introverts. Set in the backdrop of Civil War Chicago, with its labor strikes and the Union prison camp at Camp Douglas, you will find characters you’ve come to love and won’t soon forget.
Jed and Jack Young may be brothers by birth, but as orphans, their separate upbringings produced polarizing results. Now that the Civil War is over, the brothers look forward to settling into the next chapter of their lives as they learn to walk in their new faith. Each brother’s ideal happily-ever-after is the other’s worst nightmare – and when that nightmare becomes their own reality, their relationship with each other is threatened.
Mary Pierce has a picture-perfect life with three beautiful daughters and a husband who adores her. When tragedy alters the course of her life, Mary has to lean on God in deeper ways as she learns to navigate a confusing and painful new path.Face to face with their greatest fears, Jed, Jack, and Mary must anchor themselves in the unchanging character of God, holding fast the belief that what God is doing in them is greater than their pain.
As they each overcome sin, learn everyday obedience, and find peace in surrender, they discover there are no dark corners in their lives that God’s grace won’t illuminate and His power can’t resurrect.
Jack Young’s past comes back to haunt him in the third installment of Heather Wood’s Christian family saga as the Great Chicago Fire threatens to destroy everything he loves most
Newly graduated from seminary and on the cusp of taking a pastorate in Kentucky, Jack discovers devastating consequences of the licentious life he put behind him six years ago. To move forward, he must go back. But each encounter with his old life brings lasting reverberations for his future and further chips away at the peace he’s pursued so desperately all these years. The revival of an old friendship sparks feelings he’s worked hard to keep dormant and challenges his determination to reject anything that could come between him and the Lord again.
When the city of Chicago burns to ashes, it leaves his family tragically altered—and Jack more unsure of his place in God’s plan than ever.
A jilted bride desperate to save her family from ruin.
A bounty hunter seeking vengeance for a ravaged past.
An arduous trek toward justice–or redemption.
Silver Matlock and Jared Newman know traveling together is a bad idea. Bad for Silver’s already tarnished reputation in her small Colorado town. Bad for bounty hunter Jared’s secret, single-minded mission for revenge. But Silver is determined to track down the rogue who left her at the altar and stole the last remnant of her father’s fortune. And Jared’s in a hurry to hunt down the murderer who destroyed his family–even if Silver is too distractingly beautiful for comfort.
The pair takes off over mountain and desert, past bleak homesteads and raw mining towns, hot on the trail of the two villains who took what wasn’t theirs to take. Soon supplies dwindle, secrets emerge, and suspicion leave Silver and Jared at odds when they need each other most. To confront an enemy deadlier than desert rattlesnakes and rocky cliffs, Silver and Jared must learn to forgive and trust and face the question they haven’t dared voice: What happens next?
Biblical Fiction
A Story of Love, Desperation, and Hope During a Great Biblical Epoch
Sold into slavery by her father and forsaken by the man she was supposed to marry, young Egyptian Kiya must serve a mistress who takes pleasure in her humiliation. When terrifying plagues strike Egypt, Kiya is in the middle of it all.
To save her older brother and escape the bonds of slavery, Kiya flees with the Hebrews during the Great Exodus. She finds herself utterly dependent on a fearsome God she’s only just beginning to learn about, and in love with a man who despises her people. With everything she’s ever known swept away, will Kiya turn back toward Egypt or surrender her life and her future to Yahweh?
Having escaped Egypt with the other Hebrews during the Exodus, Shira is now living in freedom at the foot of Mt. Sinai, upon which rests the fiery glowing Cloud containing the shekinah glory of God. When the people disobey Yahweh and build a golden idol, the ensuing chaos gives Shira an unexpected opportunity to learn the arts of midwifery. Although her mother wishes for her to continue in the family weaving trade, Shira’s gifts shine brightest when she assists with deliveries. In defiance of her mother, Shira pursues her heart’s calling to become an apprentice midwife.
When a delivery goes horribly wrong, Shira finds herself bound to a man who betrayed her, the caretaker of three young children, and the target of a vengeful woman whose husband was killed by Shira’s people, the Levites. As contention between the Hebrew tribes and the foreigners fans the flames of another dangerous rebellion, Shira will come face-to-face with the heartbreak of her past that she has kept hidden for so long. How can she let go of all that has defined her to accept the love she’s denied herself and embrace who she truly is?
Alanah, a Canaanite, is no stranger to fighting and survival. When her family is killed in battle with the Hebrews, she disguises herself and sneaks onto the battlefield to avenge her family. The one thing she never counted on was surviving.
Tobiah, a Hebrew warrior, is shocked to find an unconscious, wounded woman among the Canaanite casualties. Compelled to bring her to a Hebrew healer back at their camp, he is soon confronted with a truth he can’t ignore: the only way to protect this enemy is to marry her.
Unused to being weak and vulnerable, Alanah submits to the marriage–for now. As she comes to know and respect Tobiah and his people, however, she begins to second-guess her plans of escape. But when her past has painfully unanticipated consequences, the tentative peace she’s found with Tobiah, the Hebrews, and Yahweh is shaken to the core. Can Alanah’s fierce heart and strength withstand the ensuing threats to her life and all she’s come to love?
Anippe has grown up in the shadows of Egypt’s good god Pharaoh, aware that Anubis, god of the afterlife, may take her–or her siblings–at any moment. She watched him snatch her mother and infant brother during childbirth, a moment which awakens in her a terrible dread of ever bearing a child. When she learns that she is to be become the bride of Sebak, a kind but quick-tempered Captain of Pharaoh Tut’s army, Anippe launches a series of deceptions with the help of the Hebrew midwives—women ordered by Tut to drown the sons of their own people in the Nile—in order to provide Sebak the heir he deserves and yet protect herself from the underworld gods.
When she finds a baby floating in a basket on the great river, Anippe believes Egypt’s gods have answered her pleas, entrenching her more deeply in deception and placing her and her son Mehy, whom handmaiden Miriam calls Moses, in mortal danger. As bloodshed and savage politics shift the balance of power in Egypt, the gods reveal their fickle natures and Anippe wonders if her son, a boy of Hebrew blood, could one day become king. Or does the god of her Hebrew servants, the one they call El Shaddai, have a different plan for them all?
EXPERIENCE THE PASSION WEEK
Having grown up in the impoverished lower city of Jerusalem, Shamira is no stranger to injustice at the hands of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Her family is shunned by many in the Jewish community who believe that their misfortune in life is the result of a secret sin. Rumors are spreading of a nearby healer with incredible abilities; if the stories are true, then the Messiah may be near, and Shamira will stop at nothing in the pursuit of a miracle.
Asa spends every day at the temple under the tutelage of his strict father, an elite Levite priest who enforces the laws without mercy. Between the growing demands of the Roman government and the threats of the Zealots, tensions are high. When Shamira, the girl who stole his heart years ago, asks him to help her find the healer called Jesus, he must choose to either follow in his father’s footsteps or forge his own path.
Shamira knows that both her life and the lives of her loved ones could be changed forever, but only if she can find a way to speak to the man called Jesus of Nazareth before it’s too late.
Pro-Life Fiction
Is Molly willing to cross the one line she swore she never would to put her shattered life back together again?
Molly Taylor’s never had a problem trusting God, and she’s got Tanner Walters to thank for that. Best friends since kindergarten, Tanner’s faithfully walked by her side through all life’s ups and downs. And he’s been biding his time, too, waiting for just the right moment to ask Molly to take the next big step with him.
Dating.
Before he can make his move, though, Jason Moore returns to town, stealing Molly’s heart—and Tanner’s chances. As their relationship blossoms, so do Tanner’s fears. There’s just something about Jason that doesn’t sit right with him.
He’s dangerous.
Something Molly doesn’t realize until after he derails her life in a single night.
Ashamed, Molly buries the truth of what happened that night and does her best to get her life back on track—with Tanner this time. As she slowly begins to heal, one final, stinging betrayal ushers in a new realization for Molly.
That healing from what Jason did to her isn’t possible, especially not at the hands of a God who didn’t protect her from him in the first place. So, she sets off in search of healing apart from Him.
What will it take for Molly to turn around and face her darkness—and the God who’s followed her into that darkness, beckoning her out?
Can Molly let go of her dreams to take ahold of the plans God has for her?
After three years searching for healing from a life-shattering trauma, Molly Taylor finally found it in the one place she swore she never would.
In God.
And she’s ready to step into whatever future He has in store for her.
A future that no longer includes the one person she assumed it always would—Tanner Walters. Devastated he didn’t wait for her during her lost years, Molly throws herself into her continued healing, determined to move on with someone new. But as she watches her family and friends find their happily-ever-afters around her, Molly can’t help but wonder if her past mistakes disqualify her from finding her own.
Until Tyler Sanderson comes knocking on her door.
Cautiously optimistic that happily-ever-after is possible, Molly begins writing the next chapter of her life, forgetting one crucial detail.
She isn’t the one holding the pencil.
God is.
And when it becomes clear He’s writing a very different story than the one Molly has in mind, suddenly she’s not so sure she can follow Him wherever it is He’s leading her.
Will Molly keep the window of her heart open to God’s plan, or will she wrestle for control and slam the window shut?
Mennonite/Amish
The story about a mother who risks everything to save a child not genetically hers . . .
The Past —
Graduate student Beth Winslow was sure she was ready to navigate the challenges of becoming a surrogate. But when early tests indicate possible abnormalities with the baby, Beth is unprepared for the parents’ decision to end the pregnancy — and for the fierce love she feels for this unborn child. Desperate, she flees the city and seeks refuge at Hopen Haus, a home for unwed mothers deep in a Tennessee Mennonite community.
The Present —
As head midwife of Hopen Haus, Rhoda Mummau delivers babies with a confident though stoic ease. Except in rare moments, not even those who work alongside her would guess that each newborn cry, each starry-eyed glance from mother to child, nearly renders a fault through Rhoda’s heart, reminding her of a past she has carefully concealed.
Past and present collide when a young woman named Amelia
arrives in the sweeping countryside bearing secrets of her own. As Amelia’s due
date draws near, Rhoda must face her regrets and those she left behind in order
for the healing power of love and forgiveness to set them all free.
Raised in an Old Order Mennonite community, Rachel Stoltzfus is a strong-willed single woman, content living apart from mainstream society until whispers stir the moment her belly swells with new life. Refusing to repent and name the partner in her sin, Rachel feels the wrath of the religious sect as she is shunned by those she loves most. She is eventually coerced into leaving by her brother-in-law, the bishop.
But secrets run deep in this cloistered community, and the bishop is hiding some of his own, threatening his conscience and his very soul. When the life of Rachel’s baby is at stake, however, choices must be made that will bring the darkness to light, forever changing the lives of those who call Copper Creek home.
To most townsfolk, he’s known simply as The Beast. Annabelle Beiler has little interest in gossip, but she’s heard about Adam Herschberger’s scars and his gruff, solitary ways. Though he sounds like a character from one of Belle’s treasured books, the man is real and, it turns out, just as unreasonable as the rumors claim. When a buggy accident wipes out the last of her daed’s money, forcing him to sell their farm, Adam buys it. Then he offers Belle a deal—marry him, and her family can keep their home.
Everyone is shocked by Belle’s decision, but she’s determined to be a good fraa, cleaning Adam’s rundown house and tending the overgrown garden. Breaking through her new husband’s icy reserve will be another matter. Belle’s courage and strength are abundant, but it will take true faith to guide Adam back to the heart of his Amish community—and to the loving marriage they both deserve.
Christmas
On a snowy December evening during the Great Depression, a high-spirited college student impulsively decides to do some spying on a quiet classmate—with unexpected results. A short story both funny and touching, in which mischief brings about a small Christmas miracle.
Some Christmas Camouflage is a short story, approximately 9,400 words long.
True Love should never be put to a family vote.
Elle:
All I wanted was a nice, relaxing Christmas vacation at home with my family. But no, the lot of them had to ruin it by inviting my childhood crush, Oliver Moore, and throwing us together at every possible moment. Heaven, help me.
Now, instead of sipping hot cocoa by the fire, I’m dodging matchmaking attempts and trying to pretend I’m not attracted to Oliver’s adorably perfect smile. I will not become another one of my family’s projects.
Oliver:
I mean, am I upset Elle’s family swindled us into this Christmas vacation together? No. Will I ever admit that aloud? Also, no. I’ve long ago come to terms with the friend zone Elle placed me in back around ninth grade.
But there’s something different about her this week. Something that’s bringing up feelings I really should ignore.
Too bad ignoring has never been my strong suit.
Natalie didn’t ask Santa to send her an ex-boyfriend this year. She definitely didn’t ask for him to stay at her B&B.
All Natalie wants for Christmas is to survive being in charge of the town’s holiday parade and fill up the last few rooms in her B & B. But Santa must have a sense of humor since she didn’t really expect to be filling it with her ex-boyfriend.
Cade hasn’t been home for the holidays for four years. Not since the Christmas he’d planned to propose to Natalie… before she dumped him. This year’s Christmas gift? Running into her again. Surprise!
Now stuck with Cade, Natalie must face the reality that she might have made a mistake. Maybe, just maybe, keeping her secret isn’t worth sacrificing their happily ever after.
Non-Fiction
Hard times come for all in life, with no real explanation. When we walk through suffering, it has the potential to devastate and destroy, or to be the gateway to gratitude and joy.
Elisabeth Elliot was no stranger to suffering. Her first husband, Jim, was murdered by the Waoroni people in Ecuador moments after he arrived in hopes of sharing the gospel. Her second husband was lost to cancer. Yet, it was in her deepest suffering that she learned the deepest lessons about God.
Why doesn’t God do something about suffering? He has, He did, He is, and He will.
Suffering and love are inexplicably linked, as God’s love for His people is evidenced in His sending Jesus to carry our sins, griefs, and sufferings on the cross, sacrificially taking what was not His on Himself so that we would not be required to carry it. He has walked the ultimate path of suffering, and He has won victory on our behalf.
This truth led Elisabeth to say, “Whatever is in the cup that God is offering to me, whether it be pain and sorrow and suffering and grief along with the many more joys, I’m willing to take it because I trust Him.”
Because suffering is never for nothing.
A Movement Seeks to Redefine Christianity. Some Think that It Is a Much-Needed Progressive Reformation. Others Believe that It Is an Attack on Historic Christianity.
Alisa Childers never thought she would question her Christian faith. She was raised in a Christian home, where she had seen her mom and dad feed the hungry, clothe the homeless, and love the outcast. She had witnessed God at work and then had dedicated her own life to leading worship, as part of the popular Christian band ZOEgirl. All that was deeply challenged when she met a progressive pastor, who called himself a hopeful agnostic.
Another Gospel? describes the intellectual journey Alisa took over several years as she wrestled with a series of questions that struck at the core of the Christian faith. After everything she had ever believed about God, Jesus, and the Bible had been picked apart, she found herself at the brink of despair . . . until God rescued her, helping her to rebuild her faith, one solid brick at a time.
In a culture of endless questions, you need solid answers. If you or someone you love has encountered the ideas of progressive Christianity and aren’t sure how to respond, Alisa’s journey will show you how to determine―and rest in―what’s unmistakably true.
Are you tired of feeling like you have to check social media to find out what you’re supposed to think? Are you weary of the latest self-help books that promise to set you free but only imprison you with laundry lists of studies to consider, positive affirmations to recite, and Facebook groups to join?
We’ve all seen the memes that populate the internet: live your truth, follow your heart, you only have one life to live. They sound nice and positive. But what if these slogans are actually lies that unhinge us from reality and leave us anxious and exhausted? Another Gospel? author Alisa Childers invites you to examine modern lies that are disguised as truths in today’s culture. Everyday messages of peace, fulfillment, and empowerment swirl around social media. On the surface, they seem like sentiments of freedom and hope, but in reality they are deeply deceptive.
#RoarLikeAMother
The problem with lies is they don’t often sound like lies. They seem harmless, and even sound right. So what’s a Mama Bear to do when her kids seem to be absorbing the culture’s lies uncritically?
Mama Bear Apologetics™ is the book you’ve been looking for. This mom-to-mom guide will equip you to teach your kids how to form their own biblical beliefs about what is true and what is false. Through transparent life stories and clear, practical applications—including prayer strategies—this band of Mama Bears offers you tools to train yourself, so you can turn around and train your kids.
Are you ready to answer the rallying cry, “Mess with our kids and we will demolish your arguments”? Join the Mama Bears and raise your voice to protect your kids—by teaching them how to think through and address the issues head-on, yet with gentleness and respect.
Raise Them to Value God’s Design
Starting at a young age, kids are being fed damaging misinformation about sexuality, gender identity, and human biology. As a parent, it’s up to you to help your children understand God’s truth about these integral concepts in the face of the candy-coated lies that saturate today’s world.
In the footsteps of the bestselling Mama Bear Apologetics comes this invaluable guide to training your kids to know and respect God’s design in a world that has rejected it. This book will equip you to…
- understand God’s design for gender, sex, marriage, and family as a beautiful portrait that reveals the nature of God Himself
- identify the tactics being used to trick children into adopting an unbiblical view of sexuality under the guise of Christian-sounding words like love, identity, tolerance, and justice
- teach your kids to treat those who hold different beliefs with gentle, Christlike compassion without compromising biblical values
As society continues to blur the lines of what is good, true, and acceptable, God’s standards remain clear and unchanging. This book will give you the wisdom to confidently raise your children to understand sex and gender through a biblical lens.
Women were made to give life—and they can do that right in their own homes.
Hygge [HYOO-guh] has become a cultural buzzword. When many read about this Danish practice, their shoulders lift in excitement, then fall in exhale. In a culture of rush, hygge appeals to their desire for rest—for slow living, shared moments, and fostered friendships. Hygge has strong ties to beauty, contentment, and well-being. It’s warm and inviting. Hygge is the opposite of hustle. It eschews abundance. It savors. It takes things slow and envelopes you in sanctuary. Hygge is home. When you sit in a comfy chair by the fire, that’s hygge. When you arrange a fresh bouquet of wildflowers on a bedside table, that’s hygge too. Candles, soft furnishings, natural light, fresh-baked pastries, intimate gatherings with friends—these are what come to mind when you think of hygge. But hygge can be so much more.
In Holy Hygge, author Jamie Erickson unites the popular Danish practice with the deep, theological truths of the gospel. She unpacks the seven tenets of hygge: hospitality, relationships, well-being, atmosphere, comfort, contentment, and rest. In addition, Erickson shows how the external veneer of a lifestyle can create a life-giving home only when placed under the hope of the gospel. Holy Hygge provides practical ideas for using hygge to gather people and introduce them to faith in Christ. Each chapter concludes with discussion questions, Scripture references, and a prayer.
Storm Shultz 