Looking for inspirational fiction that takes place in more recent times? Check out one of the the authors who wrote these books!
For One More Day
By Albom, Mitch
This is the story of Charley, a child of divorce who is always forced to choose between his mother and his father. He grows into a man and starts a family of his own. But one fateful weekend, he leaves his mother to secretly be with his father - and she dies while he is gone. This haunts him for years. It unravels his own young family. It leads him to depression and drunkenness. One night, he decides to take his life. But somewhere between this world and the next, he encounters his mother again, in their hometown, and gets to spend one last day with her - the day he missed and always wished he'd had. He asks the questions many of us yearn to ask, the questions we never ask while our parents are alive. By the end of this magical day, Charley discovers how little he really knew about his mother, the secret of how her love saved their family, and how deeply he wants the second chance to save his own.
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1401303277
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Book
Chestnut Street
By Binchy, Maeve
Just round the corner from St Jarlaths Crescent featured in MINDING FRANKIE is Chestnut Street. Here, the lives of the residents are revealed in Maeve Binchys wonderfully compelling tales Bucket Maguire, the window cleaner, who must do more than he bargained for to protect his son. Nessa Byrne, whose aunt comes to visit from America for six weeks every summer and turns the house - and Nessas world - upside down. Lilian, the generous girl with a big heart, and the fiance not everyone approves of. And Melly, whose gossip about the neighbours leads to trouble in the form of the fortune teller, Madame Magic...No one rivals Maeve Binchy for stories of warmth, kindness, love, loss - and life not always turning out as expected.,
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9781410466792
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Hardcover
As Young As We Feel
By Carlson, Melody
Once upon a time in the little town on the Oregon coast, there were four Lindas—all in the same first-grade classroom. So they decided to go by their middle names. And form a club. And be friends forever. But that was 47 years and four lives ago. Now a class reunion has brought them all—the New York lawyer, the empty nester, the frustrated artist, and the aging starlet—together again in their old hometown, at a crossroads in their lives. They’re about to explore the invigorating reality that even the most eventful life has second acts…and there’s no statute of limitations on friendship.
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9781434764973
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Paperback
The Walk
By Evans, Richard Paul
The first book in a new series from Richard Paul Evans, The Walk is the story of Alan Christoffersen, a once-successful California advertising executive who loses everything he holds dear. At first he considers taking his life; instead he embarks on a walk across America from Vacaville, CA to Maine. The Walk begins the story of his journey-the people he meets, the relationships he forms, and the lessons he learns as he walks to a new life.
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9781439187319
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Hardcover
The Sweet by and By
By Evans, Sara
"Enchanting." - Patti Callahan Henry, New York Times bestselling authorThe first book in the Songbird series from country music star Sara Evans and New York Times bestseller Rachel Hauck!It begins with a little red envelope . . . the one Jade doesnt want to send. The envelope that invites her mother, Beryl, to her wedding - and opens up more of her past than she cares to deal with. Jade has worked so hard to put her hard-scrabble childhood behind her.And shes found everything she wanted in the beautiful green hills of Whisper Hollow, Tennessee. A thriving vintage shop all her own. A lovely one-eyed shepherd dog named Roscoe. And Max, the almost-too-good-to-be-true man she plans to marry in just a few weeks. For the first time in her life, her heart feels at home, and she cant wait to step out into their beautiful future.But can she really have a sweet by and by if she cant come to terms with yesterday?Lose yourself in the novel that audiences and critics alike are calling . . ."Heartwarming." - Publishers Weekly"Breathtaking." - New York Times bestselling author Robin McGraw"Beautifully real." - actress Eva Longoria
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9781410424624
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Audiobook
Almost Heaven
By Fabry, Chris
2011 ECPA Christian Book Award winner for fiction! 2011 Christy Award Winner for contemporary standalone novel.Billy Allman is a hillbilly genius. People in Dogwood, West Virginia, say he was born with a second helping of brains and a gift for playing the mandolin but was cut short on social skills. Though he'd gladly give you the shirt off his back, they were right. Billy longs to use his life as an ode to God, a lyrical, beautiful bluegrass song played with a finely tuned heart. So with spare parts from a lifetime of collecting, he builds a radio station in his own home. People in town laugh. But Billy carries a brutal secret that keeps him from significance and purpose. Things always seem to go wrong for him. However small his life seems, from a different perspective Billy's song reaches far beyond the hills and hollers he calls home.
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9781414319575
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Paperback
A Place Called Hope
By Gulley, Philip
When Quaker Pastor Sam Gardner is asked by the ill Unitarian minister to oversee a wedding in his place, Sam naturally agrees. It's not until the couple stands before him that he realizes they're two women. In the tempest of strong opinions and misunderstandings that follows the incident, Sam faces potential unemployment. Deeply discouraged, he wonders if his pastoral usefulness has come to an end. Perhaps it's time for a change. After all, his wife has found a new job at the library, his elder son is off to college, and the younger has decided to join the military once he graduates high school. Sam is contemplating a future selling used cars when he receives a call from a woman in the suburban town of Hope, Indiana. It seems Hope Friends Meeting is in desperate need of a pastor. Though they only have twelve members, they also have a beautiful meetinghouse and a pie committee (Sam is fond of pie) . But can he really leave his beloved hometown of Harmony?
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9781455519804
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Hardcover
Sea Rose Lane
By Hannon, Irene
After a devastating layoff, attorney Eric Nash heads back to the town where he grew up only to discover that his childhood home is being transformed into a bed & breakfast. Instead of plotting his next career move in peace, he s constantly distracted by noise, chaos and BJ Stevens, the attractive but prickly blonde architect and construction chief who s invaded the house with her motley crew."
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9781683240334
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Library Binding
Love Without End
By Hatcher, Robin Lee
For two single parents with bruised hearts, it'll take more than a little courage to get back on the horse when it comes to love.Kimberly Welch lost her husband to a heart attack in the blink of an eye. But she's losing her daughter slowly, in the day-to-day tension. In three difficult years, Kimberly has gone from Seattle socialite to Kings Meadow charity case, and her daughter is not responding well to the changes. She's becoming a sullen, cantankerous teen.Chet Leonard lost his teenage son in a car accident. Then his wife abandoned him and their two remaining boys. He tries to keep his mind on the family ranch, but if the last two years have taught him anything, it's that sometimes you just have to let the memories hurt. Let the memories hurt, and leave well enough alone.But when Chet volunteers to help tame Kimberly's daughter's horse, everyone gets more than they bargained for . . . especially when eighty-four-year-old Anna McKenna shows up.Nana Anna has reappeared in Kings Meadow after decades away, bringing with her the magnetism and transformative joy that come from a life well lived . . . just the kind of magic that a couple of unlucky-in-love single parents need to conjure up a little courage and raise a new family from the ashes of tragedy."Hatcher crafts a lovely installment of the Kings Meadow Romance and readers will want more of the Idaho ranchers. It takes us into the healing power of horses and God's ability to create community where it is most needed." - Romantic Times, 4-1/2 star review
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9781401687670
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Paperback
Home to Holly Springs
By Karon, Jan
Readers of the nine bestselling Mitford novels have been captivated by Jan Karon?s ?gift for illuminating the struggles that creep into everyday lives?along with a vividly imagined world? (People) . They learned quickly that ?after you?ve spent time in Mitford, you?ll want to come back? (Chicago Tribune) . Millions eagerly awaited the publication of each novel, relishing the story of the bookish and bighearted Episcopal priest and the extraordinary fullness of his seemingly ordinary life. Now, Jan Karon enchants us with the story of the newly retired priest?s spur-of-the-moment adventure. For the first time in decades, Father Tim returns to his birthplace, Holly Springs, Mississippi, in response to a mysterious, unsigned note saying simply: ?Come home.? Little does he know how much these two words will change his life. A story of long-buried secrets, forgiveness, and the wonder of discovering new people, places, and depth of feeling, Home to Holly Springs will enthrall new readers and longtime fans alike.
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9780670018253
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Hardcover
The Chance
By Kingsbury, Karen
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Karen Kingsbury comes a heartwarming story about childhood friends, broken lives, and a long-ago promise that just might offer the hope of love for today. The day before a teenage Ellie moved from Georgia to California, she and her best friend Nolan sat beneath the Spanish moss of an ancient oak tree where they wrote letters to each other and buried them in a rusty old metal box. The plan was to return eleven years later, dig the box up, and read the letters. But now, as that date approaches, much has changed. Ellie has abandoned the faith she grew up with, her days consumed with loving her little girl and trying to make ends meet. Sometimes she watches TV to catch a glimpse of her old friend Nolan, now an NBA star, whose faith is known by the entire nation. But few know that Nolan's own personal tragedies have fueled both his faith and athletic drive. Despite his success, Nolan is isolated and lonely, plagued by a void in his heart that has remained since that night beneath the old oak tree with Ellie. For both Ellie and Nolan, the coming date is more than just a childhood promise. It's the chance to make sense of it all - the chance to find out if it's ever too late to find love again. Karen Kingsbury weaves a moving tale of heart-wrenching loss, the power of faith, and the wounds that only a forever kind of love can heal. She delves deeply into a theme that resonates within us all: Hope lives for those willing to take a chance.
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9781451647037
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Print book
Unwritten
By Martin, Charles
An actress running from her past finds escape with a man hiding from his future.When someone wants to be lost, a home tucked among the Ten Thousand Islands off the Florida coast is a good place to live. A couple decent boats, and a deep knowledge of fishing and a man can get by without ever having to talk to another soul. It's a nice enough existence, until the one person who ties him to the world of the living, the reason he's still among them even if only on the fringes, asks him for help. Father Steady Capri knows quite a bit about helping others. But he is afraid Katie Quinn's problems may be beyond his abilities. Katie is a world-famous actress with an all too familiar story. Fame seems to have driven her to self-destruct. Steady knows the true cause of her desire to end her life is buried too deeply for him to reach. But there is one person who still may be able to save her from herself. He will show her an alternate escape, a way to write a new life. But Katie still must confront her past before she can find peace. Ultimately, he will need to leave his secluded home and sacrifice the serenity he's found to help her. From the Florida coast, they will travel to the French countryside where they will discover the unwritten story of both their pasts and their future.
Publisher: n/a
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9781455503957
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Print book
It Happens Every Spring
By Palmer, Catherine
Meet the characters that live, work, dream, and love in the community of Deepwater Cove. Best-selling authors Gary Chapman and Catherine Palmer team up to show how four married couples, all in different stages in life, experience the joys and hardships of marriage as examined in Gary Chapman's The Four Seasons of Marriage. In book one, Steve and Brenda face a common problem among middle-age couples: empty nest syndrome. Steve works too much, and with their two children out of the house, Brenda feels lonely and unfulfilled. In order to save their marriage, the two must learn to reconnect. Readers are also introduced to many charming characters, like Cody, the mentally challenged homeless man that shows up on Steve and Brenda's porch; Pete, who owns the Rods ’N’ Ends tackle shop; and Patsy Pringle, who owns the Just As I Am beauty parlor, where much of the action takes place.
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9781414311654
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Paperback
The Masterpiece
By Rivers, Francine
New York Times bestselling author Francine Rivers returns to her romance roots with this unexpected and redemptive love story, a probing tale that reminds us that mercy can shape even the most broken among us into an imperfect yet stunning masterpiece.A successful LA artist, Roman Velasco appears to have everything he could possibly want -- money, women, fame. Only Grace Moore, his reluctant, newly hired personal assistant, knows how little he truly has. The demons of Roman's past seem to echo through the halls of his empty mansion and out across his breathtaking Topanga Canyon view. But Grace doesn't know how her boss secretly wrestles with those demons: by tagging buildings as the Bird, a notorious but unidentified graffiti artist -- an alter ego that could destroy his career and land him in prison.Like Roman, Grace is wrestling with ghosts and secrets of her own. After a disastrous marriage threw her life completely off course, she vowed never to let love steal her dreams again. But as she gets to know the enigmatic man behind the reputation, it's as if the jagged pieces of both of their pasts slowly begin to fit together . . . until something so unexpected happens that it changes the course of their relationship -- and both their lives -- forever.
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9781496407900
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Hardcover
Someday Home
By Snelling, Lauraine
Lynn's husband passed away two years ago. She doesn't want to live alone, but she's resistant to leave the great big lake house that holds all her memories. Angela's husband decides he needs something "different" and files for divorce. Judith never married, having spent her life caring for her parents. Suddenly they're gone, and she must start over. When these three women move in together, they hope they've found the answer each needs: a place to laugh, grieve, and heal. Brought together by such differing circumstances, will they discover a friendship to see them through the years to come, or will their differences be too great for them to be united
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9781628996876
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Book
Every Breath
By Sparks, Nicholas
Hope Anderson has some important choices to make. At thirty-six, she's been dating her boyfriend, an orthopedic surgeon, for six years. With no wedding plans in sight, and her father recently diagnosed with ALS, she decides to use a week at her family's cottage in Sunset Beach, North Carolina, to ready the house for sale and mull over some difficult decisions about her future.
Tru Walls has never visited North Carolina but is summoned to Sunset Beach by a letter from a man claiming to be his father. A safari guide, born and raised in Zimbabwe, Tru hopes to unravel some of the mysteries surrounding his mother's early life and recapture memories lost with her death. When the two strangers cross paths, their connection is as electric as it is unfathomable . . . but in the immersive days that follow, their feelings for each other will give way to choices that pit family duty against personal happiness in devastating ways.
Illuminating heartbreaking regrets and enduring hope, Every Breath explores the many facets of love that lay claim to our deepest loyalties while asking a life-changing question: How long can a dream survive?
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9781538714683
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Large Print
Promises to Keep
By Tatlock, Ann
Eleven-year-old Roz (Rosalind) Anthony and her family have just moved to Mills River, Illinois, to escape an abusive situation. Only days after settling into their new home, they are surprised to find the previous owner, Tillie Monroe, on their front porch reading the newspaper. Though her sons have sold the house and sent her to a facility for the aged, she is determined to die in the place she lived her life, and somehow manages to find her way "home" day after day. Feeling sympathy for the elderly woman, Roz's mother allows Tillie to move back in. Mara Nightingale becomes Roz's first friend in Mills River. In spite of their many differences, the girls discover they have something in common that binds them together--both are hiding secrets.
Publisher: n/a
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9780764208096
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Paperback
An Irish Country Girl
By Taylor, Patrick
Readers of Patrick Taylor’s books know Mrs. Kinky Kincaid as the unflappable housekeeper who looks after two frequently frazzled doctors in the colourful Irish village of Ballybucklebo. She is a trusted fixture in the lives of those around her, and it often seems as though Kinky has always been there.Nothing could be farther from the truth.Some forty-odd years before and many miles to the south, the girl who would someday be Kinky Kincaid was Maureen O’Hanlon, a farmer’s daughter growing up in the emerald hills and glens of County Cork. A precocious girl on the cusp of womanhood, Maureen has a head full of dreams, a heart open to romance, and something more: a gift for seeing beyond the ordinary into the mystic realm of fairies, spirits, and even the dreaded Banshee, whose terrifying wail she first hears on a snowy night in 1922….
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9780765369277
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Paperback
The Dance
By Walsh, Dan
Jim Anderson is a successful businessman, and his wife, Marilyn, is the perfect wife. And why wouldnt she be? He gives her everything she needs. Thats why Jim never expected to come home one day and find Marilyn gone.After 27 years of marriage, Marilyn has had enough of feeling unloved and neglected. She wants to experience some measure of happiness before shes too old to enjoy it, even signing up for dance lessons, something Jim would never do. What will it take for Jim to finally become the man Marilyn needs him to be? Combining the literary talents of bestselling author Dan Walsh and the relationship expertise of bestselling author Gary Smalley, The Dance is the first novel in The Restoration Series. Readers will get caught up in these flawed but sincere members of the Anderson family as they rediscover genuine love and start a transformation that ultimately affects all of them.
Publisher: n/a
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9780800721480
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Paperback
Beyond the Picket Fence
By Wick, Lori
Endearing characters, tender romances, triumphs of faith--these are the gems readers have cherished in Lori Wick's novels. Now Lori brings the same treasures to this very special collection of eight short stories.
Publisher: n/a
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1565078179
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Hardcover
The Prayer Box
By Wingate, Lisa
When Iola Anne Poole, an old-timer on Hatteras Island, passes away in her bed at ninety-one, the struggling young mother in her rental cottage, Tandi Jo Reese, finds herself charged with the task of cleaning out Iolas rambling Victorian house.Running from a messy, dangerous past, Tandi never expects to find more than a temporary hiding place within Iolas walls, but everything changes with the discovery of eighty-one carefully decorated prayer boxes, one for each year, spanning from Iolas youth to her last days. Hidden in the boxes is the story of a lifetime, written on random bits of paper--the hopes and wishes, fears and thoughts of an unassuming but complex woman passing through the seasons of an extraordinary, unsung life filled with journeys of faith, observations on love, and one final lesson that could change everything for Tandi.
Publisher: n/a
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9781410460875
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Hardcover
Cross Roads
By Young, William P
Anthony Spencer is egotistical, proud of being a self-made business success at the peak of his game, even though the cost of winning was painfully high. A cerebral hemorrhage leaves Tony comatose in a hospital ICU. He 'awakens' to find himself in a surreal world, a 'living' landscape that mirrors dimensions of his earthly life, from the beautiful to the corrupt. It is here that he has vivid interactions with others he assumes are projections of his own subconscious, but whose directions he follows nonetheless with the possibility that they might lead to authenticity and perhaps, redemption. The adventure draws Tony into deep relational entanglements where he is able to 'see' through the literal eyes and experiences of others, but is "blind" to the consequences of hiding his personal agenda and loss that emerge to war against the processes of healing and trust.
For One More Day
By Albom, Mitch
This is the story of Charley, a child of divorce who is always forced to choose between his mother and his father. He grows into a man and starts a family of his own. But one fateful weekend, he leaves his mother to secretly be with his father - and she dies while he is gone. This haunts him for years. It unravels his own young family. It leads him to depression and drunkenness. One night, he decides to take his life. But somewhere between this world and the next, he encounters his mother again, in their hometown, and gets to spend one last day with her - the day he missed and always wished he'd had. He asks the questions many of us yearn to ask, the questions we never ask while our parents are alive. By the end of this magical day, Charley discovers how little he really knew about his mother, the secret of how her love saved their family, and how deeply he wants the second chance to save his own.
Chestnut Street
By Binchy, Maeve
Just round the corner from St Jarlaths Crescent featured in MINDING FRANKIE is Chestnut Street. Here, the lives of the residents are revealed in Maeve Binchys wonderfully compelling tales Bucket Maguire, the window cleaner, who must do more than he bargained for to protect his son. Nessa Byrne, whose aunt comes to visit from America for six weeks every summer and turns the house - and Nessas world - upside down. Lilian, the generous girl with a big heart, and the fiance not everyone approves of. And Melly, whose gossip about the neighbours leads to trouble in the form of the fortune teller, Madame Magic...No one rivals Maeve Binchy for stories of warmth, kindness, love, loss - and life not always turning out as expected.,
As Young As We Feel
By Carlson, Melody
Once upon a time in the little town on the Oregon coast, there were four Lindas—all in the same first-grade classroom. So they decided to go by their middle names. And form a club. And be friends forever. But that was 47 years and four lives ago. Now a class reunion has brought them all—the New York lawyer, the empty nester, the frustrated artist, and the aging starlet—together again in their old hometown, at a crossroads in their lives. They’re about to explore the invigorating reality that even the most eventful life has second acts…and there’s no statute of limitations on friendship.
The Walk
By Evans, Richard Paul
The first book in a new series from Richard Paul Evans, The Walk is the story of Alan Christoffersen, a once-successful California advertising executive who loses everything he holds dear. At first he considers taking his life; instead he embarks on a walk across America from Vacaville, CA to Maine. The Walk begins the story of his journey-the people he meets, the relationships he forms, and the lessons he learns as he walks to a new life.
The Sweet by and By
By Evans, Sara
"Enchanting." - Patti Callahan Henry, New York Times bestselling authorThe first book in the Songbird series from country music star Sara Evans and New York Times bestseller Rachel Hauck!It begins with a little red envelope . . . the one Jade doesnt want to send. The envelope that invites her mother, Beryl, to her wedding - and opens up more of her past than she cares to deal with. Jade has worked so hard to put her hard-scrabble childhood behind her.And shes found everything she wanted in the beautiful green hills of Whisper Hollow, Tennessee. A thriving vintage shop all her own. A lovely one-eyed shepherd dog named Roscoe. And Max, the almost-too-good-to-be-true man she plans to marry in just a few weeks. For the first time in her life, her heart feels at home, and she cant wait to step out into their beautiful future.But can she really have a sweet by and by if she cant come to terms with yesterday?Lose yourself in the novel that audiences and critics alike are calling . . ."Heartwarming." - Publishers Weekly"Breathtaking." - New York Times bestselling author Robin McGraw"Beautifully real." - actress Eva Longoria
Almost Heaven
By Fabry, Chris
2011 ECPA Christian Book Award winner for fiction! 2011 Christy Award Winner for contemporary standalone novel.Billy Allman is a hillbilly genius. People in Dogwood, West Virginia, say he was born with a second helping of brains and a gift for playing the mandolin but was cut short on social skills. Though he'd gladly give you the shirt off his back, they were right. Billy longs to use his life as an ode to God, a lyrical, beautiful bluegrass song played with a finely tuned heart. So with spare parts from a lifetime of collecting, he builds a radio station in his own home. People in town laugh. But Billy carries a brutal secret that keeps him from significance and purpose. Things always seem to go wrong for him. However small his life seems, from a different perspective Billy's song reaches far beyond the hills and hollers he calls home.
A Place Called Hope
By Gulley, Philip
When Quaker Pastor Sam Gardner is asked by the ill Unitarian minister to oversee a wedding in his place, Sam naturally agrees. It's not until the couple stands before him that he realizes they're two women. In the tempest of strong opinions and misunderstandings that follows the incident, Sam faces potential unemployment. Deeply discouraged, he wonders if his pastoral usefulness has come to an end. Perhaps it's time for a change. After all, his wife has found a new job at the library, his elder son is off to college, and the younger has decided to join the military once he graduates high school. Sam is contemplating a future selling used cars when he receives a call from a woman in the suburban town of Hope, Indiana. It seems Hope Friends Meeting is in desperate need of a pastor. Though they only have twelve members, they also have a beautiful meetinghouse and a pie committee (Sam is fond of pie) . But can he really leave his beloved hometown of Harmony?
Sea Rose Lane
By Hannon, Irene
After a devastating layoff, attorney Eric Nash heads back to the town where he grew up only to discover that his childhood home is being transformed into a bed & breakfast. Instead of plotting his next career move in peace, he s constantly distracted by noise, chaos and BJ Stevens, the attractive but prickly blonde architect and construction chief who s invaded the house with her motley crew."
Love Without End
By Hatcher, Robin Lee
For two single parents with bruised hearts, it'll take more than a little courage to get back on the horse when it comes to love.Kimberly Welch lost her husband to a heart attack in the blink of an eye. But she's losing her daughter slowly, in the day-to-day tension. In three difficult years, Kimberly has gone from Seattle socialite to Kings Meadow charity case, and her daughter is not responding well to the changes. She's becoming a sullen, cantankerous teen.Chet Leonard lost his teenage son in a car accident. Then his wife abandoned him and their two remaining boys. He tries to keep his mind on the family ranch, but if the last two years have taught him anything, it's that sometimes you just have to let the memories hurt. Let the memories hurt, and leave well enough alone.But when Chet volunteers to help tame Kimberly's daughter's horse, everyone gets more than they bargained for . . . especially when eighty-four-year-old Anna McKenna shows up.Nana Anna has reappeared in Kings Meadow after decades away, bringing with her the magnetism and transformative joy that come from a life well lived . . . just the kind of magic that a couple of unlucky-in-love single parents need to conjure up a little courage and raise a new family from the ashes of tragedy."Hatcher crafts a lovely installment of the Kings Meadow Romance and readers will want more of the Idaho ranchers. It takes us into the healing power of horses and God's ability to create community where it is most needed." - Romantic Times, 4-1/2 star review
Home to Holly Springs
By Karon, Jan
Readers of the nine bestselling Mitford novels have been captivated by Jan Karon?s ?gift for illuminating the struggles that creep into everyday lives?along with a vividly imagined world? (People) . They learned quickly that ?after you?ve spent time in Mitford, you?ll want to come back? (Chicago Tribune) . Millions eagerly awaited the publication of each novel, relishing the story of the bookish and bighearted Episcopal priest and the extraordinary fullness of his seemingly ordinary life. Now, Jan Karon enchants us with the story of the newly retired priest?s spur-of-the-moment adventure. For the first time in decades, Father Tim returns to his birthplace, Holly Springs, Mississippi, in response to a mysterious, unsigned note saying simply: ?Come home.? Little does he know how much these two words will change his life. A story of long-buried secrets, forgiveness, and the wonder of discovering new people, places, and depth of feeling, Home to Holly Springs will enthrall new readers and longtime fans alike.
The Chance
By Kingsbury, Karen
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Karen Kingsbury comes a heartwarming story about childhood friends, broken lives, and a long-ago promise that just might offer the hope of love for today. The day before a teenage Ellie moved from Georgia to California, she and her best friend Nolan sat beneath the Spanish moss of an ancient oak tree where they wrote letters to each other and buried them in a rusty old metal box. The plan was to return eleven years later, dig the box up, and read the letters. But now, as that date approaches, much has changed. Ellie has abandoned the faith she grew up with, her days consumed with loving her little girl and trying to make ends meet. Sometimes she watches TV to catch a glimpse of her old friend Nolan, now an NBA star, whose faith is known by the entire nation. But few know that Nolan's own personal tragedies have fueled both his faith and athletic drive. Despite his success, Nolan is isolated and lonely, plagued by a void in his heart that has remained since that night beneath the old oak tree with Ellie. For both Ellie and Nolan, the coming date is more than just a childhood promise. It's the chance to make sense of it all - the chance to find out if it's ever too late to find love again. Karen Kingsbury weaves a moving tale of heart-wrenching loss, the power of faith, and the wounds that only a forever kind of love can heal. She delves deeply into a theme that resonates within us all: Hope lives for those willing to take a chance.
Unwritten
By Martin, Charles
An actress running from her past finds escape with a man hiding from his future.When someone wants to be lost, a home tucked among the Ten Thousand Islands off the Florida coast is a good place to live. A couple decent boats, and a deep knowledge of fishing and a man can get by without ever having to talk to another soul. It's a nice enough existence, until the one person who ties him to the world of the living, the reason he's still among them even if only on the fringes, asks him for help. Father Steady Capri knows quite a bit about helping others. But he is afraid Katie Quinn's problems may be beyond his abilities. Katie is a world-famous actress with an all too familiar story. Fame seems to have driven her to self-destruct. Steady knows the true cause of her desire to end her life is buried too deeply for him to reach. But there is one person who still may be able to save her from herself. He will show her an alternate escape, a way to write a new life. But Katie still must confront her past before she can find peace. Ultimately, he will need to leave his secluded home and sacrifice the serenity he's found to help her. From the Florida coast, they will travel to the French countryside where they will discover the unwritten story of both their pasts and their future.
It Happens Every Spring
By Palmer, Catherine
Meet the characters that live, work, dream, and love in the community of Deepwater Cove. Best-selling authors Gary Chapman and Catherine Palmer team up to show how four married couples, all in different stages in life, experience the joys and hardships of marriage as examined in Gary Chapman's The Four Seasons of Marriage. In book one, Steve and Brenda face a common problem among middle-age couples: empty nest syndrome. Steve works too much, and with their two children out of the house, Brenda feels lonely and unfulfilled. In order to save their marriage, the two must learn to reconnect. Readers are also introduced to many charming characters, like Cody, the mentally challenged homeless man that shows up on Steve and Brenda's porch; Pete, who owns the Rods ’N’ Ends tackle shop; and Patsy Pringle, who owns the Just As I Am beauty parlor, where much of the action takes place.
The Masterpiece
By Rivers, Francine
New York Times bestselling author Francine Rivers returns to her romance roots with this unexpected and redemptive love story, a probing tale that reminds us that mercy can shape even the most broken among us into an imperfect yet stunning masterpiece.A successful LA artist, Roman Velasco appears to have everything he could possibly want -- money, women, fame. Only Grace Moore, his reluctant, newly hired personal assistant, knows how little he truly has. The demons of Roman's past seem to echo through the halls of his empty mansion and out across his breathtaking Topanga Canyon view. But Grace doesn't know how her boss secretly wrestles with those demons: by tagging buildings as the Bird, a notorious but unidentified graffiti artist -- an alter ego that could destroy his career and land him in prison.Like Roman, Grace is wrestling with ghosts and secrets of her own. After a disastrous marriage threw her life completely off course, she vowed never to let love steal her dreams again. But as she gets to know the enigmatic man behind the reputation, it's as if the jagged pieces of both of their pasts slowly begin to fit together . . . until something so unexpected happens that it changes the course of their relationship -- and both their lives -- forever.
Someday Home
By Snelling, Lauraine
Lynn's husband passed away two years ago. She doesn't want to live alone, but she's resistant to leave the great big lake house that holds all her memories. Angela's husband decides he needs something "different" and files for divorce. Judith never married, having spent her life caring for her parents. Suddenly they're gone, and she must start over. When these three women move in together, they hope they've found the answer each needs: a place to laugh, grieve, and heal. Brought together by such differing circumstances, will they discover a friendship to see them through the years to come, or will their differences be too great for them to be united
Every Breath
By Sparks, Nicholas
Hope Anderson has some important choices to make. At thirty-six, she's been dating her boyfriend, an orthopedic surgeon, for six years. With no wedding plans in sight, and her father recently diagnosed with ALS, she decides to use a week at her family's cottage in Sunset Beach, North Carolina, to ready the house for sale and mull over some difficult decisions about her future. Tru Walls has never visited North Carolina but is summoned to Sunset Beach by a letter from a man claiming to be his father. A safari guide, born and raised in Zimbabwe, Tru hopes to unravel some of the mysteries surrounding his mother's early life and recapture memories lost with her death. When the two strangers cross paths, their connection is as electric as it is unfathomable . . . but in the immersive days that follow, their feelings for each other will give way to choices that pit family duty against personal happiness in devastating ways. Illuminating heartbreaking regrets and enduring hope, Every Breath explores the many facets of love that lay claim to our deepest loyalties while asking a life-changing question: How long can a dream survive?
Promises to Keep
By Tatlock, Ann
Eleven-year-old Roz (Rosalind) Anthony and her family have just moved to Mills River, Illinois, to escape an abusive situation. Only days after settling into their new home, they are surprised to find the previous owner, Tillie Monroe, on their front porch reading the newspaper. Though her sons have sold the house and sent her to a facility for the aged, she is determined to die in the place she lived her life, and somehow manages to find her way "home" day after day. Feeling sympathy for the elderly woman, Roz's mother allows Tillie to move back in. Mara Nightingale becomes Roz's first friend in Mills River. In spite of their many differences, the girls discover they have something in common that binds them together--both are hiding secrets.
An Irish Country Girl
By Taylor, Patrick
Readers of Patrick Taylor’s books know Mrs. Kinky Kincaid as the unflappable housekeeper who looks after two frequently frazzled doctors in the colourful Irish village of Ballybucklebo. She is a trusted fixture in the lives of those around her, and it often seems as though Kinky has always been there.Nothing could be farther from the truth.Some forty-odd years before and many miles to the south, the girl who would someday be Kinky Kincaid was Maureen O’Hanlon, a farmer’s daughter growing up in the emerald hills and glens of County Cork. A precocious girl on the cusp of womanhood, Maureen has a head full of dreams, a heart open to romance, and something more: a gift for seeing beyond the ordinary into the mystic realm of fairies, spirits, and even the dreaded Banshee, whose terrifying wail she first hears on a snowy night in 1922….
The Dance
By Walsh, Dan
Jim Anderson is a successful businessman, and his wife, Marilyn, is the perfect wife. And why wouldnt she be? He gives her everything she needs. Thats why Jim never expected to come home one day and find Marilyn gone.After 27 years of marriage, Marilyn has had enough of feeling unloved and neglected. She wants to experience some measure of happiness before shes too old to enjoy it, even signing up for dance lessons, something Jim would never do. What will it take for Jim to finally become the man Marilyn needs him to be? Combining the literary talents of bestselling author Dan Walsh and the relationship expertise of bestselling author Gary Smalley, The Dance is the first novel in The Restoration Series. Readers will get caught up in these flawed but sincere members of the Anderson family as they rediscover genuine love and start a transformation that ultimately affects all of them.
Beyond the Picket Fence
By Wick, Lori
Endearing characters, tender romances, triumphs of faith--these are the gems readers have cherished in Lori Wick's novels. Now Lori brings the same treasures to this very special collection of eight short stories.
The Prayer Box
By Wingate, Lisa
When Iola Anne Poole, an old-timer on Hatteras Island, passes away in her bed at ninety-one, the struggling young mother in her rental cottage, Tandi Jo Reese, finds herself charged with the task of cleaning out Iolas rambling Victorian house.Running from a messy, dangerous past, Tandi never expects to find more than a temporary hiding place within Iolas walls, but everything changes with the discovery of eighty-one carefully decorated prayer boxes, one for each year, spanning from Iolas youth to her last days. Hidden in the boxes is the story of a lifetime, written on random bits of paper--the hopes and wishes, fears and thoughts of an unassuming but complex woman passing through the seasons of an extraordinary, unsung life filled with journeys of faith, observations on love, and one final lesson that could change everything for Tandi.
Cross Roads
By Young, William P
Anthony Spencer is egotistical, proud of being a self-made business success at the peak of his game, even though the cost of winning was painfully high. A cerebral hemorrhage leaves Tony comatose in a hospital ICU. He 'awakens' to find himself in a surreal world, a 'living' landscape that mirrors dimensions of his earthly life, from the beautiful to the corrupt. It is here that he has vivid interactions with others he assumes are projections of his own subconscious, but whose directions he follows nonetheless with the possibility that they might lead to authenticity and perhaps, redemption. The adventure draws Tony into deep relational entanglements where he is able to 'see' through the literal eyes and experiences of others, but is "blind" to the consequences of hiding his personal agenda and loss that emerge to war against the processes of healing and trust.