In college, he was the hot, anti-Christian prof she crushed on… and now he’s sponsoring a church event? Opposites attract in this redemptive geocaching romance.
Closet believer Lyssa Quinn steps out of her comfort zone to help coordinate the Pot of Gold Treasure Hunt her church is using as an outreach event. She’s not expecting her former humanities prof — young, handsome, anti-Christian Kirk Kennedy — to be in Jewel Lake at all, let alone in a position to provide sponsorship to the geocaching event.
How can she trust someone who once shredded her best friend’s faith? Kirk’s treasure hunt takes him down a path he hadn’t intended as he searches for opportunities to connect with Lyssa and her intriguing sparkle. How can he convince her there is more than one kind of treasure? And how can she introduce him to the greatest prize of all?
Topaz Treasure first released in Rainbow’s End, a four-author Romancing America anthology published by Barbour Publishing in May, 2012. This version has been rewritten with 25% new material and moved from Osage Beach, Missouri, to Jewel Lake, Montana.
About the Pot of Gold Geocaching Romance Series Join the Pot of Gold Treasure Hunt, a summer-long geocaching adventure in Jewel Lake, Montana, and find a greater treasure than you expected in this Christian romance series!
Narelle’s Thoughts:
I enjoyed reading Topaz Treasure, Book 1 in the Pot of Gold Geocaching Romance series by Valerie Comer. Lyssa was the quiet one at college who didn’t speak up or argue with her college professor, Kirk Kennedy, when he was vocal in expressing his disdain for Christianity.
Fast forward a few years, and Lyssa is now a school teacher in Jewel Lake, Montana. Lyssa is shocked to find Kirk working in a new gadget store in her small town. She’s visiting the soon-to-open business looking for sponsorship for her church’s Pot of Gold Treasure Hunt geocaching event. Lyssa is stunned when Kirk expresses an interest in sponsoring the church event.
Kirk is visiting Jewel Lake for the summer to help his brother set up a new store and new life in the small town. Kirk changed his views on Christianity after his brother’s wife passed away, and he’s intrigued by Lyssa and her geocaching sponsorship opportunity at the local church.
A lovely friends-to-more romance develops as Lyssa and Kirk overcome past secrets and preconceived ideas. The geocaching aspect of the story is fun and I enjoyed exploring the outdoors with Lyssa and Kirk. I recommend Topaz Treasure to contemporary romance readers who like fun small town novellas with geocaching and a strong faith element in the story.
When Annabelle Elliot returned his engagement ring six years ago, Rick Wentworth buried his broken heart in his job at Intelligence Associates, Inc. Returning from his overseas assignment, a newly awarded contract forces him into daily contact with her.
Working with Rick is a constant reminder of what Annabelle gave up when she let herself be persuaded to focus on a career instead of love. Now, she admits she made a mistake, but reconciliation seems impossible.
Can Annabelle find the courage to let Rick see her heart? And if she does, will he forgive her?
This sweet contemporary Christian romance novella, inspired by Jane Austen’s Persuasion, is a modern reminder that love is worth waiting for.
Narelle’s Thoughts:
I enjoyed reading Operation Valentine(Operation Romance Book 2) set in the D.C. Metro Area. Annabelle has set up a software development company and she primarily works from home. She reconnects with an old college friend, Tori, who is engaged to Gabe. Operation Mistletoe (Operation Romance Book 1) is Tori and Gabe’s romance story.
Rick is Gabe’s best friend and they work together at Intelligence Associates, Inc. Rick recently returned from Germany and has been staying at Gabe’s place. Gabe and Tori aren’t aware that Rick and Annabelle were once an item and were engaged at college. When Tori invites Annabelle to a dinner party at Gabe’s place, the awkward reunion for Rick and Annabelle reignites old feelings.
Annabelle picks up an IT contract from Gabe to work at his office, not knowing that Rick also works there. A fun reunion romance unfolds that includes a denial of feelings, a hilarious ski trip, and a sweet Valentines Day surprise. I recommend Operation Valentine to contemporary romance readers who like fun, faith-filled reunion romance novellas.
Sparks fly when a hometown hockey hero meets a classy art-loving museum guide hiding a secret…
Jai Mullins is used to being the fastest man on ice. Trouble is, his ability to find a genuine woman is tracking at glacial melt levels. He’s trusting God she’s out there, but he’s wary of getting trapped by a superfan, when all he wants is someone with whom he can be real. Allie Davis has two great loves: impressionist art and hockey. More specifically, a certain hockey player. But between her shyness and her family, she’s convinced she’ll never meet him, let alone connect with him in a non-embarrassing way.
Until she does. And they connect. And romance sparks.
But she is hiding a big secret, and he’s about to find that first impressions sometimes need a reality check. Will they learn to trust and find a way forward, or will half-truths lead to further hurt on opposite sides of the country and lonely lives?
Cassie is set on proving she’s no longer a party girl, instead focusing on her career as an event planner. Ryan Mitchell, her dad’s top executive, proves to be a handsome distraction, especially when someone from Cassie’s wild past tries to draw her back into the life she has worked hard to escape.
Ryan is taken with his boss’s beautiful daughter. But he is slow to trust, having been burned by a brother who ran in the same circles. When Cassie’s newfound faith works its way into his heart, Ryan wants to claim both Cassie and her faith as his own. Can they forgive past mistakes and navigate a future together?
A playboy cowboy who doesn’t give up. A single mom who doesn’t give in.
Blake Cavanagh is determined not to be like his father, so he’ll play the field and never settle down at all. It’s a bit daunting dating three women at once, but he’s up for the task. When Blake sees one of his girlfriends in line at the coffee shop, he sneaks up behind her.
Dafne Santoro — single mom, new teacher, and city girl — is new to small-town Jewel Lake. She’s not expecting to be accosted at the Copper Carafe, and her jiu jitsu training kicks in. She might exchange fervent apologies with the handsome cowboy as she helps him off the floor, but let him make it up to her with a date? Not happening.
Blake’s not going to give up so easily, and Dafne’s not about to give in. What will it take to get this cowboy and this teacher on the same page?
It seems like a dream come true . . . until it forces her to question everything.
Brielle Adebayo is fully content teaching at a New York City public school and taking annual summer vacations with her mother to Martha’s Vineyard. But everything changes when her mom drops a bombshell–Brielle is really a princess in the island kingdom of Ọlọrọ Ilé, off the coast of Africa, and she must immediately assume her royal position, since the health of her grandfather, the king, is failing.
Distraught by all the secrets her mother kept, Brielle is further left spinning when the Ọlọrọ Ilé Royal Council brings up an old edict that states she must marry before her coronation, or the crown will pass to another. Brielle is uncertain if she even wants the throne, and with her world totally shaken, where will she find the courage to take a chance on love and brave the perils a wrong decision may bring?
Ambition. Regrets. Pushing outside your comfort zone. Making dreams come true in the Big Apple. A modern Cinderella love story that plays out in New York’s theater district.
A shy theater manager with a controlling family dreams of moving into the spotlight but lacks confidence.
Theater manager Monica is tired of being her family’s first choice to help out at a moment’s notice. They assume she has no life of her own, and they’re right. She volunteers to be a Big Sister to a fatherless Hispanic girl, Luisa. She never dreams she’d fall in love with Luisa’s older, brooding, gorgeous brother.
A ruggedly handsome Latino man’s violent past makes him unwilling to accept help from anyone.
Carlos endured the tragic death of his father and brother. Now he’ll do anything to protect the rest of his family. At first, he resists his mother’s decision to bring in a young woman to mentor his little sister, Luisa. It’s his job now to take care of his family. Plus, this responsible, accomplished Monica reminds him too much of an ex who prioritized her career over their love life, breaking his heart. He won’t allow that to happen again.
Is Carlos, with his violent past, the key to Monica achieving her greatest dreams?
Monica and Carlos are opposites in every way, but love doesn’t always strike when it makes sense.
Professional chef Leah Spencer is level-headed, responsible, and practical—making it an easy decision to move home to Laurel Cove, North Carolina to care for her ailing father. All he wants is for his only child to find love and partnership like he had with his late wife—before he leaves her all alone. Desperate to ease his worries, as well as her own, she breaks character and creates a fake relationship with the one man in town who likely wants nothing to do with her. And the one man she’s ever truly loved.
Ladies’ man Jasper Bowdon has successfully avoided commitment ever since his heart was broken a decade ago. Casual dating, however, had grown tiresome and he’d recently decided to take a break from women to finally figure out what he really wants. Why, then, does he agree to a pretend relationship with the very woman who’d ruined him in the first place? And why is he left wondering if it could all be part of God’s plan to heal them both?
Zach Dawson is dealing with the loss of his football career, his latest love, and the one thing he can’t talk about, when he returns to Kellersburg, Ohio, his hometown. He’s trying to get his life back on track by helping with a charitable endeavor.
Maisey Norberg’s life is turned upside down when she learns that Zach is back in town. She’s been his biggest fan since she was six and he was fourteen. Are her feelings the remnants of a childhood crush on the boy down the street or something grown up?
Zach and Maisey are thrown together for the Twelve Dogs of Christmas documentary as they help a philanthropist give deserving children a dog. Will this shared experience help them find true love?
Award-winning photographer Mason Montgomery is back in Pine Valley, Kentucky. Hopefully, for good, if his business proposal is accepted. On paper, he’s the perfect buyer for Forget-Me-Not Photography. Too bad the seller, Ol’ Man Rowe, doesn’t see it that way. He’s looking for a family man to take over, and Mason’s bachelor status doesn’t fit the bill.
For shy Lily Anne Dawson, life has not turned out the way she’d hoped. Working at her mother’s bakery and editing for the local newspaper is a far cry from her journalistic dream. She’s a failure. A lonely failure worrying about infertility with no romantic prospects in sight.
That all changes when a decade-old promise to marry on Valentine’s Day pushes the two together at their high school reunion. The impromptu proposal offers a solution to their problems. But marriage requires honesty—and both have secrets. Secrets that could make or break their budding love.
Drummer John Kennedy can keep a beat, but he can’t hold a conversation, so he relies on actions to show he cares. Unfortunately, when he’s instantly intrigued by a spunky female mechanic, he can’t seem to convey the sincerity of his intentions. And the rejections don’t stop there. His own sister is pushing him away just when he could help her most.
Erin Hirsh’s life would be easier if God hadn’t given her a love for cars. Only her father understood her, and she’s losing him to dementia. Her brief romances have always backfired worse than a mistuned engine, and she refuses to give John the chance to wreck her heart. A rock star with a supermodel ex can’t possibly see anything in her.
At least that’s what she thinks until they find common ground in faith and their worsening family situations leave them each longing for a place to belong. Could God intend for this pair of opposites to belong together?
Separated at birthand determined to become a family.
“She looks like me!” When her orphaned niece utters those words, Kelsey Harris is shocked — not only that Morgan has a long-lost twin but that the grieving five-year-old spoke at all. Overjoyed by Morgan and Mia’s instant connection, Kelsey and Zach Johnson, Mia’s widowed adoptive father, agree to be friends — and only friends. But can they ignore their growing feelings when the matchmaking sisters put their plan into action?
When his twins’ nanny leaves for a family emergency, single dad Knox Taylor knows he’s in over his head caring for the girls alone. But having their aunt’s aid for the summer wasn’t the assistance he had in mind. But Merritt Lane’s crash course in fatherhood might just teach Knox what he desperately needs to know…and reveal she’s the partner he didn’t know he was missing.
Veterinarian Neal Rodgers is in Wander Canyon seeking the truth about his past—not to rescue a litter of kittens under his next-door neighbor’s porch. But persistent single-mom Tessa Kennedy is impossible to ignore—especially when she uncovers a family secret of her own. Discovering the hidden facts of their histories could be the key to unlocking everything in this small town.
After a traumatic brain injury, military vet Behr Delgado refuses the one thing that could help him—a service dog. But Ellery Watson is sure the perfect pup will change Behr’s life and offers to work with him one-on-one. As Behr sets about overcoming his fears, Ellery’s surprised to find herself opening up about her troubled nephew. Will family obligations force them to deny what’s in their hearts?
Finding a missing girl depends on a K-9 and his handler.
Erin Lansing will search every inch of the mountains to find her missing teen daughter—even with someone dead-set on stopping her. Teaming up with search-and-rescue K-9 handler Dillon Walker and his dog, Scout, is her only chance at living long enough to see her daughter again. But to save them all, can Dillon and Scout help Erin confront the dangerous truth about her past?
A killer seeking revenge will stop at nothing to get it…
Pilar Jefferson is shocked to learn that her supposedly deceased father is alive and has been in prison—and now his ruthless former partner is after her. Fleeing on her wedding day was the best way to protect her loved ones. But now with her mother held for ransom and her ex-fiancé, Austin Duke, stumbling back into her life, can she keep everyone safe—and escape an assassin?
Witness protection should have kept them safe. Instead, it left them completely exposed…
Canadian border patrol officer Emma James has only one concern after putting a crime boss behind bars: keeping her daughter safe. But witness protection has a leak, and Emma’s enemies know exactly where to find her. Now on the run with no safe haven, trusting her estranged former brother-in-law, police constable Mason James, to shield them is her only hope…
Alice runs a New Orleans flower shop alongside her aunt, but thoughts of her mother, who went missing during Hurricane Katrina, are never far from her mind. After getting off on the wrong foot with a handsome yet irritating man who comes to her shop, Alice soon realizes their worlds overlap–and the answers they both seek can be found in the same place.
In 1861 Charleston, Clara is known to be a rule follower–but the war has changed her. Unbeknownst to her father, who is heavily involved with the Confederacy, she is an abolitionist and is prepared to sacrifice everything for the cause. With assistance from a dashing Union spy, she attempts to help an enslaved woman reunite with her daughter. But things go very wrong when Clara agrees to aid the Northern cause by ferrying secret information about her father’s associates.
Faced with the unknown, both women will have to dig deep to let their courage bloom.
A WASP Goes Above the Call of Duty to Free Captive American Soldiers
Full of intrigue, adventure, and romance, this new series celebrates the unsung heroes—the heroines of WWII.
Peggy Witherspoon, a widow, mother, and pilot flying for the Women’s Airforce Service in 1944 clashes with her new reporting officer. Army Air Corp Major Howie Berg was injured in combat and is now stationed at Bolling Field in Washington D.C. Most of Peggy’s jobs are safe, predictable, and she can be home each night with her three daughters—until a cargo run to Cuba alerts her to American soldiers being held captive there, despite Cuba being an “ally.” Will Peggy go against orders to help the men—even risk her own life?
Lumberjacks and Ladies Work Together to Build America Struggling to remain independent in the 1800s, four women reluctantly open up to help from lumberjacks—and love.
All That Glitters by Candice Sue Patterson 1851—Maine Winifred finds herself running the family lobstering business when her father and brothers join the California gold rush. Will she stubbornly reject help from a local lumberjack?
Winter Roses by Pegg Thomas 1865—Michigan Elizabeth cooks for a logging crew, spurning the men’s advances, until reoccurring gifts capture her attention. Will she heed her mother’s warning about “shanty boys”?
Not for Love by Naomi Much 1881—Wisconsin Widowed, Maggie seeks a husband—in name only—from the logging camps, but the man who answers her letter is a surprise. Can she open her heart to love again?
Undercover Logger by Jennifer Lamont Leo 1890—Idaho Carrie will not sell her timberland and allows the banker’s nephew to sign onto her logging crew to ferret out the reason she is losing money at an alarming rate. Will truth be revealed to her forlorn heart?
In 1920, Annabeth De Lacy’s father is appointed landlord of Galway Parish in Ireland. Bored without all the trappings of the British Court, Annabeth convinces her father to arrange an apprenticeship for her with the Jennings family–descendants of the creator of the famed Claddagh Ring.
Stephen Jennings longs to do anything other than run his family’s jewelry shop. Having had his heart broken, he no longer believes in love and is weary of peddling the “lies” the Claddagh Ring promises.
Meanwhile, as the war for Irish independence gains strength, many locals resent the De Lacys and decide to take things into their own hands to display their displeasure. As events take a dangerous turn for Annabeth and her family, she and Stephen begin to see that perhaps the “other side” isn’t quite as barbaric and uncultured as they’d been led to believe–and that the bonds of friendship, love, and loyalty are only made stronger when put through the refiner’s fire.
Travel to the Emerald Isle for another poignant and romantic story from the enchanted pen of Jennifer Deibel.
Will trust be the winning ticket to mending two wounded hearts?
The 1909 Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition is taking place in Seattle with participants from all over the world when Lizzie Clark accepts a position at an orphanage in the city. After suffering heartbreak and loss, she is determined to make a life for herself independently.
Jack Butler’s mother abandoned their family when he was a young boy. Loyalty to his father cost him fulfilling his own aspirations, so Jack strives to take their family farm in a new direction.
A newborn is left at the orphanage with a note asking Lizzie to take care of him. Why did the woman abandon her child? And why is Jack, a handsome local farmer so interested in helping Lizzie search for the infant’s mother?
When shocking revelations disrupt their plans, Lizzie and Jack are faced with life-changing decisions. Will they open their hearts to trusting again?
This story was inspired by events that took place at the 1909 Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Expo—Seattle’s first world’s fair.
As the Nazis march toward Paris in 1940, American ballerina Lucie Girard buys her favorite English-language bookstore to allow the Jewish owners to escape. Lucie struggles to run Green Leaf Books due to oppressive German laws and harsh conditions, but she finds a way to aid the resistance by passing secret messages between the pages of her books.
Widower Paul Aubrey wants nothing more than to return to the States with his little girl, but the US Army convinces him to keep his factory running and obtain military information from his German customers. As the war rages on, Paul offers his own resistance by sabotaging his product and hiding British airmen in his factory. After they meet in the bookstore, Paul and Lucie are drawn to each other, but she rejects him when she discovers he sells to the Germans. And for Paul to win her trust would mean betraying his mission.
Master of WWII-era fiction Sarah Sundin invites you onto the streets of occupied Paris to discover whether love or duty will prevail.
Lives depend on the truth she uncovers. She can’t give up her search.
A birthday excursion turns deadly when the SS Eastland capsizes with Olive Pierce and her best friend on board. Hundreds perish during the accident, and it’s only when Olive herself barely escapes that she discovers her friend is among the victims.
In the aftermath of the tragedy, Olive returns to her work at a Chicago insurance agency and is immersed in the countless investigations related to the accident. But with so many missing, there are few open-and-shut cases, and she tries to balance her grief with the hard work of finding the truth.
While someone sabotages her progress, Olive accepts the help of newspaper photographer Erik Magnussen. As they unravel secrets, the truths they discover impact those closest to Olive. How long will the disaster haunt her–and how can she help the others find the peace they deserve?
Cassie George is barely staying above water as she works to get her doctorate and raise her daughter. But she stubbornly keeps swimming to prove a few bad decisions haven’t ruined her forever. Plus, it’s all a great excuse to stay away from the small Oregon town she fled in shame years prior. But when she receives a call that the aunt who raised her has had a major health crisis, she knows it’s time to return.
A charming themed inn, breaking waves, and a missing guest. What more could one ask?
The Novel Inn’s reopening goes smoothly until a guest vanishes. The new owners prepare for their first large group—a former squad of cheerleaders meeting for a reunion. Things go awry when the head cheerleader fails to show up. Sisters Kate and Jillian, the innkeepers, enlist the help of their brother Rick, a local police officer. They’re confident the missing woman will be found, but they soon learn to expect the unexpected, even during a walk on the beach.
He promised to protect her. But what happens when the hunter becomes the prey?
Welcome to Shadow Ridge, where LONGMIRE meets JERICHO.
From USA Today Best-selling author Lisa Harris comes an epic series where the survival of Shadow Ridge depends on learning how to fight crime all over again.
In today’s world, law enforcement agencies across the country rely on forensic tools, DNA testing, and crime labs. But what if that technology was suddenly no longer available? No one in the small, west Texas town of Shadow Ridge knows what took down the power grid, or when it’s going to be back up, but everyone knows exactly where they were the moment it went down. And now, with no electricity, no internet, and no modern technology, the men and women responsible for keeping the town safe are going to have to learn how to fight crime all over again.
Deputized by his father in the isolated town of Shadow Ridge, Levi McQuaid is caught up in a missing persons case that has the potential to destroy everything he holds dear. Levi McQuaid searches for the sister of an old friend, Ava Solomon, but the situation takes a deadly turn when the search leads them on a dangerous trek across the west Texas desert. The devastating truth proves much worse than they’d imagined. And now that they know the truth. . .getting out alive might be impossible.
Former Secret Service agent Boyd Sinclair finds protecting Lina Parker more difficult than anything he’d faced at the White House. Relentless attacks from the Chinese Mafia interferes with his investigation around the potential threat to the president. And when Boyd learns of a possible family connection to Lina, his mission turns complicated. For the first time in his life, he’s torn between saving the woman he’s fallen for, or the president of the United States.
A simple DNA test has pulled microbiologist Lina Parker into a dangerous game of hide and seek, one she has scant hope of winning without Boyd’s help. When the truth about her mother’s family is revealed, she knows Boyd is the only man she can trust – with her life and her heart. But first they must uncover the identity of the real traitor in their midst…
Searching for an abducted woman… Detective Londyn Steele is thrown into the deep end when she’s assigned to find an abducted socialite. Problem is, her family’s company, Steele Guardians, was supposed to protect the family matriarch at her eightieth birthday party when she disappears, and Londyn fears her investigation will expose problems in her family’s company and bring them down. Especially when County Detective Nate Ryder declares jurisdiction over the scene, and Londyn must take a back seat in one of the most important cases she’s ever investigated.
Could put them in a deadly killer’s crosshairs. Londyn has no choice but to work with Nate and bristles at his interference at first, but soon forms a working truce so they can combine forces to locate this missing woman before it’s too late. As they search for leads, emotions he hasn’t felt since before his service as a Navy SEAL come to the surface. He credits Londyn for unearthing the guy he used to be before his military service, and Londyn can barely fight her attraction for him. But when they fear the socialite was murdered and the killer is still hunting, seeking another prey, their feelings for each other have to be put on hold to stay alive.
How can she save the little girl next door from being exploited if nobody believes her?
Grace used to try to save people, but that was before she realized how powerless she is. Now, she avoids emotional ties, working from her secluded cabin, content with her aloneness. When eight-year-old Lily starts hanging around, Grace enjoys her company but carefully keeps her distance—until she discovers the girl is being exploited. Little though she wants to, she must get involved, even if it means risking her own safety to secure Lily’s.
Andrew can’t help but be drawn to his new neighbor and her beautiful foster child. When he learns about Lily’s disturbing history, he offers to help Grace prove her suspicions about the girl’s father. But the more they learn, the more puzzling Lily’s history seems. They work together to unravel the mystery, determined to ensure Lily ends up with a family who loves her.
But Lily’s father isn’t giving up his muse—or his obsession—that easily. He believes Lily is rightfully his, and he’ll do anything to get her back.
Don’t miss this thrilling page-turner, the latest in the addictive Coventry Saga.
Her best friend is murdered the same way her brother was years ago. Is there anyone she can possibly trust?
A decade ago, Delaney Broward discovered her brother’s murdered body at the San Antonio art co-op he founded with friends. Her artist boyfriend, Hunter Nash, went to prison for the murder, despite his not-guilty plea.
This morning, Hunter walks out of prison a free man, having served his sentence.
This afternoon, Delaney finds her best friend dead, murdered in the same fashion as her brother.
Stay out of it or you’re next, the killer warns.
Hunter never stopped loving Delaney, though he can’t blame her for not forgiving her. He knows he’ll get his life back one day at a time, one step at a time. But he’s blindsided to realize he’s a murder suspect. Again.
When Hunter shows up on her doorstep asking her to help him find the real killer, Delaney’s head says to run away, yet her heart tells her there’s more to his story than what came out in the trial. An uneasy truce leads to their probe into a dark past that shatters Delaney’s image of her brother. She can’t stop and neither can Hunter—which lands them both in the crosshairs of a murderer growing more desperate by the hour.
In this gripping romantic suspense, Kelly Irvin plumbs the complexity of broken trust in the people we love—and in God—and whether either can be mended.
Held prisoner by all she’s lost, Katarina’s about to lose all she has.
Grand Duchess Katarina Volstova barely escaped the Russian revolution, arriving in Paris just before the birth of her twin daughters. With her heart still captive in her homeland, she haunts the Louvre each day, spending hours gazing at one painting, lost in her pain.
Not the man he once was, Timothy Smythe never returned home to England after the Great War. Instead, he hides himself away doing maintenance in the Louvre and watching the beautiful woman whose pain seems riveted on one painting.
When Katarina returns home to find her daughters and their nanny missing, the loss opens her eyes to all she has to lose now.
Frantic to find her girls, her distress causes Timothy to offer his assistance. Together they put together clues to a puzzle they must complete before the kidnapper ensures Katarina and her daughters are never reunited.
Slashed Canvas offers a retelling of The Lost Princess that mingles self-centered grief, spoiled little girls, and proof that nothing will stop a mother from saving her children.
Joseph is the pampered favorite son of the patriarch Jacob. His older brothers, deeply resentful of his status in the family, take advantage of the chance to get rid of him, selling him to slave traders and deceiving their father about his fate. It seems like their troubles are over. But for Joseph and older brother Judah, they are just beginning.
While Joseph is accused of rape and imprisoned, Judah attempts to flee the memory of his complicity in the betrayal of his younger brother. After decades apart, the brothers will come face-to-face in a stunning role reversal that sees Joseph in a position of great power while Judah begs for mercy. Will forgiveness or vengeance win the day?
When a quiet journey to Jerusalem turns tragic, newly orphaned Rimona must flee a kinsman set on selling her as a slave. Racing into the rocky hills outside of Hebron, Rimona is rescued by a Philistine commander journeying to Jerusalem with six-hundred warriors.
Exiled commander, Ittai the Gittite, is seeking refuge in the City of David. Protecting a frantic Hebrew woman is not in his leadership plan. Although, having a nobleman’s niece in his caravan might prove useful for finding shelter in a foreign land.
Rimona and Ittai arrive in Jerusalem on the eve of a rebellion. In the chaos of an heir’s betrayal, will they be separated forever, or can they defend King David and help the aging monarch control his rebellious son?
Beware the waters. The dangerous deep brings ruin to all.
Emme has spent her life avoiding anything to do with pirates. But the fates are cruel, and now a hidden sickness leads her to partner with pirates for the one thing that can save her—a cure on an island none are certain exists.
The pirate captain’s secrets are darker than the deep and threaten to kill them all. His obligations are tinged with betrayal, for his oathbind must be fulfilled. To ignore it is to invite peril of unimaginable destruction.
As the adventure unfolds, the sea takes more than she expects and the sea gives more than he wants.
Headstrong Johanna Berglund, a linguistics student at the University of Minnesota, has very definite plans for her future . . . plans that do not include returning to her hometown and the secrets and heartaches she left behind there. But the US Army wants her to work as a translator at a nearby camp for German POWs.
Johanna arrives to find the once-sleepy town exploding with hostility. Most patriotic citizens want nothing to do with German soldiers laboring in their fields, and they’re not afraid to criticize those who work at the camp as well. When Johanna describes the trouble to her friend Peter Ito, a language instructor at a school for military intelligence officers, he encourages her to give the town that rejected her a second chance.
As Johanna interacts with the men of the camp and censors their letters home, she begins to see the prisoners in a more sympathetic light. But advocating for better treatment makes her enemies in the community, especially when charismatic German spokesman Stefan Werner begins to show interest in Johanna and her work. The longer Johanna wages her home-front battle, the more the lines between compassion and treason become blurred–and it’s no longer clear whom she can trust.
Narelle’s Thoughts:
I picked up this book not knowing what to expect because it’s different to what I usually read. Things We Didn’t Say is set in Minnesota during the latter years of World War 2 (WW2). I was immediately drawn into the compelling and heartfelt story, and couldn’t put the book down.
The story is told via a series of letters in chronological order, including editorial content from the local newspaper. The opening chapter introduces Johanna and her predicament. The authorities want to charge her with treason for her role in events that took place while she worked as a translator in the prisoner of war (POW) camp in her home town in Minnesota. The story then backtracks to a year earlier and shows how Johanna landed in this situation.
I love learning about history from reading historical fiction. Being an Aussie, I’m familiar with POW camps and historic war events that took place in my part of the world during WW2. I had no idea about the WW2 history on US mainland soil, and I appreciated learning about this aspect of WW2. I recommend Things We Didn’t Say to historical fiction readers who like books that explore social, political, and other issues connected to POW camps on American soil during WW2 with a relevant faith element in the story.
Today I have released the 2nd Edition ebook at Amazon and Kindle Unlimited. Her Tycoon Hero (Sydney Sweethearts Book 1) has a new cover and updated technology in the story. The paperback is available now from Amazon. The mass market paperback with the old cover is unavailable because the publishing rights in all formats have reverted to me.
Here’s the updated book description:
Cassie Beaumont believes in second chances.
Cassie is set on proving she’s no longer a party girl, instead focusing on her career as an event planner. Ryan Mitchell, her dad’s top executive, proves to be a handsome distraction, especially when someone from Cassie’s wild past tries to draw her back into the life she has worked hard to escape.
Ryan is taken with his boss’s beautiful daughter. But he is slow to trust, having been burned by a brother who ran in the same circles. When Cassie’s newfound faith works its way into his heart, Ryan wants to claim both Cassie and her faith as his own. Can they forgive past mistakes and navigate a future together?
Opposites attract—and repel. But which is more powerful?
Callie Steele might be a bit…focused on work, but despite what her employers say, she enjoys her well-ordered, productive life.
When she’s sent to meet the owners of an estate requiring post-hurricane landscaping, Callie meets their son, Kai Brody, a super-chilled pro surfer, who is as opposite from her as they come. Though initially smitten, Callie knows a relationship with Kai is a bad idea—a very bad idea.
Kai, however, can’t help but be intrigued by someone who challenges him to make something of his life again. He’s determined to pursue her, if she’ll give him half a chance.
The more time they spend together, negotiating the challenges of work, illness, and family, the more their opposing outlooks clash and connect. What do these unlikely friends really want from life? Is it best to focus on work or recreation?
As Kai and Callie seek answers from the Lord, they also must consider if such complete opposites have enough in common to make a relationship last.
Reclaiming Hope concludes the Hooper Island stories of the Independence Islands Series featuring five islands, six authors, and a boatload of happily-ever-afters.
The Independence Islands Series: beach reads aren’t just for summer anymore.
Narelle’s Thoughts:
I enjoyed reading Reclaiming Hope and seeing Callie, one of my favorite characters in Restoring Fairhaven, finding love in her own romance story. This is the third book from Carolyn Miller in the Independence Islands multi-author series and the story is a standalone that’s connected to Carolyn’s earlier books. Callie now works for both Max (the author who owns Fairhaven) and Samantha (the owner of Greener Gardens) who were the main characters in Restoring Fairhaven and are now happily married.
Kai is a pro surfer who broke his leg and is recuperating at his parents’ vacation home on Hooper Island. He recently became a Christian and is at a crossroads regarding the future direction of his life and surfing career. The opening chapter of the book is hilarious and we see Callie standing up for herself and not being a pushover.
Callie puts together a quote with Dermott (the hero from Regaining Mercy) for Greener Gardens to fix the gardens of Kai’s parents’ vacation home that were damaged by a hurricane. Kai is interested in Callie, but he’s not the type of guy she’d normally be drawn to and consider dating. When Callie learns that Kai is a Christian, she realizes they have more in common than she’d initially thought. How can she refuse Kai’s requests to give him a ride to church?
A fun and sweet friends-to-more romance unfolds that’s put under pressure when a big secret from the past is revealed. I recommend Reclaiming Hope to readers who like fun contemporary romance reads with an island setting and a relevant faith element in the story.
It seems like a dream come true . . . until it forces her to question everything.
Brielle Adebayo is fully content teaching at a New York City public school and taking annual summer vacations with her mother to Martha’s Vineyard. But everything changes when her mom drops a bombshell–Brielle is really a princess in the island kingdom of Ọlọrọ Ilé, off the coast of Africa, and she must immediately assume her royal position, since the health of her grandfather, the king, is failing.
Distraught by all the secrets her mother kept, Brielle is further left spinning when the Ọlọrọ Ilé Royal Council brings up an old edict that states she must marry before her coronation, or the crown will pass to another. Brielle is uncertain if she even wants the throne, and with her world totally shaken, where will she find the courage to take a chance on love and brave the perils a wrong decision may bring?
Narelle’s Thoughts:
There are so many things to love about In Search Of A Prince, and the gorgeous international setting tops my list. The fictional tropical island setting in West Africa was a lovely place to escape into a story. Brielle is the only daughter of a NYC doctor and she enjoys her life in the city. When Brielle learns her late father, who she never knew, was an African prince, and her paternal grandfather, the king, is unwell, she packs up her life and travels by private jet with her best friend, Iris, to the African tropical island kingdom.
The big complication in the story is Brielle’s search for a suitable prince to marry before her grandfather passes. The story is written in first person single viewpoint, and I was happy I picked the ‘winner’ early on who would claim Brielle’s hand in marriage. The romance includes a royal love triangle setup mixed with the marriage of convenience trope. Brielle must choose a husband and marrying for love is not necessarily at the top of her criteria list.
In Search Of A Prince also includes coming of age themes and explores the island’s culture. Brielle is on a journey of discovering her heritage and she quickly develops a close relationship with her grandfather. I loved the strong faith element that was an essential part of the story. Brielle practices her faith. She prays, reads the Bible, and seeks wisdom in her decision making. Brielle has humility and she understands the servant heart that’s needed for her to become a great queen who will lead her people as their head of state.
I recommend In Search Of A Prince to contemporary romance readers who enjoy royalty princess marriage of convenience stories with a strong faith element in a stunning tropical African island setting.
Many thanks to Bethany House and NetGalley for the advanced reader copy.
Darby Sparks has lived a very sheltered life. As a homeschool graduate, a small town resident, and the only child of two over-protective parents, she’s dreamed of chasing big dreams. But big dreams take big courage. So in a moment of uncharacteristic boldness, Darby leaves the only life she’s ever known and sets off for California to test her skills in Hollywood. It works…until she runs out of money. That wasn’t part of her spur-of-the-moment plan, and she finds herself stuck in an unfamiliar city with too much pride to call home for help.
With limited options, Darby finds herself working for dangerously hot Lennon Dixon, the owner of a downtown Los Angeles tattoo parlor. Lennon needs help and finds it in Darby. What he doesn’t expect is her odd aversion to his place of business…or his attraction to her. As for Darby, to call her new job unfamiliar is the world’s biggest understatement. But to call her mutual attraction to Lennon unexpected is a very close second.
Previously published as part of the Just One Summer collection.
Narelle’s Thoughts:
I enjoyed reading A Painted Summer, a short romance novella that fits within the college and new adult book category and is set in Los Angeles. Darby reached her milestone twenty first birthday and decided to leave her small Washington town and overprotective parents for the bright lights of L.A. She’s on summer break after completing her sophomore year at college, and has switched to an online course that she wants to quit.
L.A. is not what Darby expected, and is a world away from her homeschooling small town life back home. She collects acting audition rejections, runs low on cash, and takes the only job she can secure as a receptionist at a downtown L.A. tattoo parlor.
Lennon owns the tattoo parlor and offers Darby a job. He gives Darby the nickname, Sparky, and soon learns about her quirks. Darby doesn’t know what to make of Lennon, or the simmering attraction that pulls her into his orbit. Four years her senior, he’s the one new friend she’s mades in L.A. who looks out for her. He’s inked and inks others for a living, and she’s massively afraid of needles. What could possibly go wrong?
A fun romance unfolds in Darby’s viewpoint. We journey with Darby and experience her often hilarious life challenges and growing feelings for Lennon that lead to a satisfying story ending. I recommend A Painted Summer for readers who like short romance novellas in an urban setting that embrace realistic life challenges for young adults with a light faith element.
He’s committed to the ranch he loves, she’s just here for a job, but they just might find each other too.
Katie Wadford is devastated after being fired from her job as an account manager. When no other large firms in town will hire her, she’s desperate to find a place to prove herself. Reluctantly she returns to her hometown in hopes of working for a small business to boost her resume.
Sawyer Macklin is certain that his family ranch doesn’t need a business manager. When his father hires one anyway, Sawyer agrees to get along. But the woman who shows up in high heels isn’t anything like what he expected.
When Katie offers the ranch as the location for a church fundraiser, Sawyer volunteers to help, but only so he can tell her it’s a bad idea and put an end to it. He finds out Katie is a hard person to say no to.
As they learn to work together, will Sawyer’s fears of his past mistakes keep them apart, or will they both find a future they didn’t expect?
They both want the truth, but are they willing to pay the price?
Ava Collins is more than ready to say goodbye to the breakneck pace of the city, and an invitation to her grandfather’s ranch is exactly what she needs. Finding out her former flame is running the ranch, on the other hand, was entirely unexpected. How can she put aside her memories of that whirlwind summer when she has to work beside the handsome cowboy every day?
Jameson Ford was grateful to be offered the new foreman job at Wolf Creek Ranch. He’s eager to prove himself, but quickly distracted by the reappearance of his first love, who also happens to be his boss’s granddaughter. It’s been years since they promised each other forever, and neither of them know how to pick up where they left off or if they should forget it ever happened.
Allied by their love of the ranch, Jameson and Ava have to work together, despite the lingering feelings between them. When Ava uncovers secrets about her family, she doesn’t know if she can trust anyone. Most of all, can she learn to trust her heart on her way to discovering the truth?
Truth is a Whisper is the first book in the Christian romance Wolf Creek Ranch series.
They can’t agree on anything—except that the job comes first.
Dandelion “Andi” Bloom has sacrificed a lot for her career in the Army. Now that she’s retired, playing security guard at Bloom’s Farm for high-profile events is a welcome change of pace. That is, until hosting a string of political events means working with a Secret Service detail – including a certain special agent she would have rather left behind in Virginia.
Special Agent Ross McClain takes his job seriously. Even if he has to come to the middle-of-nowhere in Indiana to work events for the Vice-Presidential candidate. On Bloom’s Farm, Ross runs into a familiar—and unwelcoming—face. Could this assignment get any worse?
Despite their mutual disdain, Andi and Ross must work together to provide security for the farm and the candidate. As the assignment goes on, it becomes impossible not to clash over every decision—and even harder to deny their growing chemistry.
Dancing with Dandelion is Book 7 in the Bloom Sisters Series. This small town, family saga is full of heartwarming themes, swoony-worthy kisses, and sweet happy endings.
He’s the one who broke her heart. She’s the one he can’t forget.
Elle learned the hard way that summer love doesn’t always last. But now Cort is back, and after how long it took her to get over him last time, she’s not willing to risk that heartbreak again.
Cort didn’t know what a big mistake it was to leave town until years later. Now, he’s forced to choose between the woman he loves or the family that raised him.
Cort is determined to win back his girl but Elle isn’t sure a second chance is worth the risk. Can they put aside the past to look to the future, or are some things just not meant to be?
Waiting for Right Now is the 4th and final book in the Finding Home series.
Turns out, my sister was serious about everything she said in that phone call.
The cancer. The leaving. The postcards.
So I was already struggling to figure out just what God thought He was doing. And then my boss introduced me to the guy who would be taking over the new project.
My project.
Sure, Owen’s hot. And so what if he has the world’s most impressive resume? He’s not getting my job without a fight. And my job isn’t the only thing I’m not going to surrender.
I’m also not going to let Owen take over my heart.
She’s focused on winning gold. He wants to lose the player tag. Can a fake relationship become something real?
Aussie short track skater Holly Travers has one goal – make the Vancouver Games, no matter what it takes. She has no time for distractions, even if they come in the handsome form of her Canadian best friend’s twin brother. This hockey player may say he’s not a player, but can she trust him? Brent Karlsson has one goal – make his sister’s best friend realize he’s a changed man and she should give him a chance. When a set-up in Hawaii helps these two opposites realize they have more in common than they thought, what happens when he wants to turn their fake relationship into something real? And how can a relationship work when these two elite athletes never see each other and live on opposite sides of the world?
Love on Ice is the second book in the Original Six hockey romance series, a sweet, slightly sporty, contemporary romance series.
Can two polar opposites meet in the middle to achieve a winning outcome?
Sunset Meadows’ activity director Melinda Brewer has her work cut out for her. As a five-year veteran with the cutting-edge retirement community, “Mel” wears many hats. But her job is more than a title. The residents at “The Meadows” are like family—some of whom she’s known her entire life. Ruby—this little niche in the Ozark Mountains—may be a mere dot on the Missouri map, but it’s also Mel’s birthplace, the land of her heritage, reminiscent of old ways while cognizant of new seasons.
Leave it to new kid on the block Matt Enders to upset the apple cart. When Enders is hired as the facility’s new social worker, his idea of a well-oiled machine is to eliminate a few rusty cogs—chiefly, some of Mel’s most successful programs. Mr. City Slicker doesn’t care about making waves. He delivers a hurricane!
Matt Enders isn’t budging. Let Mel Brewer think what she will. While he’s willing to meet the pint-size package of TNT halfway regarding new ideas and innovation, he won’t sacrifice improvement for the sake of hurt feelings. Can he convince Mel that a team approach is better than a single-handed effort?
Ironically, crabby Clinton Farley, a Meadows’ resident and devout non-believer, is the catalyst that draws Matt and Mel closer. Together, the two must set aside differences to work for a common cause—introducing Clinton to a sunnier side of life and a new way of living.
When they finally learn Clinton’s story, can Matt and Mel open their hearts to new opportunities, as well as each other?
After a tragic event leaves Rob Melbourne’s little girl traumatized, he’ll do anything to help her recover—even enlist his first love, Juliet Newkirk, and her therapy pup, Moose. Working with Juliet stirs up old feelings for Rob, a distraction he doesn’t need. But with the dog’s help, the road to healing his daughter might just give Rob and Juliet a second chance at happiness…
Surprise fatherhood could be just the thing to reform this black sheep.
Called home after an injury in the family, prodigal son Samuel Navarro shocks everyone by arriving with his surprise baby in tow. When Samuel’s mom is unable to act as a full-time babysitter, his childhood love, Joella James, reluctantly takes the job. But can the newly devoted dad convince Joella he’s a changed man…and that she’s the perfect final piece to his little family?
A veteran in need of a fresh start will get more than he bargained for…
Veteran Micah Holland’s scars go deeper than anyone knows. An inheritance from his mentor could be a new beginning—if he shares the inherited goat farm with fiercely independent Paige Watson. Now the only way they can keep the farm is to work together. But first Micah must prove he’s a changed man to keep his dream and the woman he’s falling for.
When injured professional bull rider Luke Beckett returns to his hometown to recover, he doesn’t expect his B and B host and physical therapist to be his first and only love, Meg Brennan. He’s also unprepared for Meg’s adorable triplets to steal his heart. Luke’s past has him doubting he’s good enough for Meg and the children, but they might be just what the doctor ordered to help him heal…
An undercover assignment turns into a perilous mountain escape.
After witnessing a shooting in a remote mountain location, high-risk photographer Willow Farris races to help—and runs into her old flame, Quentin Decker. Undercover to take down an international smuggler, Quentin has a mission to complete. But with Willow in the crosshairs, shielding her takes priority. If they want to bring the criminals to justice, Quentin and Willow must first get off the mountain alive…
The crash was intentional… But he can’t remember why.
With no memory of the crash that landed him in a hospital, Ian Delaney is determined to uncover who sabotaged his helicopter—without the protection of his family-appointed bodyguard. But Simone Walker’s used to stubborn clients and won’t let Ian leave her sight. To catch an unknown traitor, they must rely on each other…or the next attack could prove lethal.
Tracking leads in her sister’s disappearance could make a K-9 handler the next victim.
Lacey Jefferson’s search for her missing sister quickly turns into a murder investigation—thrusting Lacey and her search-and-rescue K-9, Scarlett, into a killer’s sights. Now teaming up with her ex-boyfriend, Sheriff Creed Payne, is the only way to discover the murderer’s identity. But can they survive long enough to dig up the truth?
EMS helicopter pilot Penny Carlton is used to high stress situations, but being forced to land on a mountain in a raging storm with a critical patient–and a serial killer on the loose–tests her skills and her nerve to the limit. She survives with FBI Special Agent Holt Satterfield’s help. But she’s not out of the woods yet.
In the ensuing days, Penny finds herself under attack. And when news reaches Holt that he may not have gotten his man after all, it will take all he and Penny have to catch a killer–before he catches one of them.
Bestselling and award-winning author Lynette Eason is back with another high-octane tale of close calls, narrow escapes, and the fight to bring a nefarious criminal to justice.
In the last stages of a genetic disease, Ellen Creighton has decided to live out her remaining days at the estate of her longtime friend Harrison Burlington. Harrison cares deeply for Ellen, but as a wheelchair-bound paraplegic, he’s never allowed himself to get serious in a relationship. However, he’s desperately trying to save her by finding the holy water that is believed to heal any disease.
When he locates two flasks, Ellen refuses to drink one of them because she believes the holy water killed her sister and father. In an effort to convince her to take it, Harrison ingests the contents first, and when Ellen witnesses the effects, she can no longer deny the power of the substance in the bottles. Dangerous criminals are also seeking the holy water, and Ellen soon learns they will go to any lengths to get the powerful drug–including sending her back into the past to find it for them.
Bestselling and award-winning author Jody Hedlund plunges you into the swiftly flowing river of history in a race against the clock in this breathtaking, emotional second Waters of Time story.
How can you belong when you don’t know who you are?
Gina Reid is surrounded by people getting married or having babies. She’s under pressure to settle down but how can she do that when she doesn’t even know where she came from? Since the startling revelation that she was adopted, it’s felt like there is something missing. Fear has kept her from searching for her biological parents.
What if learning the truth is worse than not knowing?
But now an overheard comment has propelled her into action. Can Gina find out who she truly is? Or will she discover that some secrets are best left undisturbed?
Grace Across the Miles is a soul-stirring contemporary Christian novel. Book 6 in the Grace series.
The best fiction simply tells the truth. But the truth is never simple.
When novelist Kendra Brennan moves into her grandfather’s old cabin on Hidden Lake, she has a problem and a plan. The problem? An inflammatory letter from A Very Disappointed Reader. The plan? To confront Tyler, her childhood best friend’s brother–and the man who inspired the antagonist in her first book. If she can prove that she told the truth about what happened during those long-ago summers, perhaps she can put the letter’s claims to rest and meet the swiftly approaching deadline for her next book.
But what she discovers as she delves into the murky past is not what she expected. While facing Tyler isn’t easy, facing the consequences of her failed friendship with his sister, Cami, may be the hardest thing she’s ever had to do.
Plumb the depths of the human heart with this emotional exploration of how a friendship dies, how we can face the unforgivable, and how even those who have been hurt can learn to love with abandon.
Her calling to change the world may be his downfall.
On the heels of the Great Rebellion, Margaret Foster, an abolitionist northerner, takes a teaching position in 1865 San Diego—a town dominated by Southern sympathizers. At thirty-seven years of age, Margaret has accepted spinsterhood and embraced her role as teacher. So, when Everett Thompson, the handsomest member of the School Board, reveals his interest in her, it’s a dream come true. Until her passionate ideals drive a wedge between them.
After two decades of hard work, Everett Thompson is on the verge of having everything he’s dreamed of. Even the beautiful new teacher has agreed to his courtship. Then two investments go south and a blackmailer threatens everything Everett has and dreams of.
As Everett scrambles to shore up the crumbling pieces of his life, Margaret unwittingly sets off a scandal that divides the small community and threatens her position as teacher. With the blackmailer still whispering threats, Everett must decide if he’s willing to risk everything for the woman still keeping him at arm’s length.
In this gripping WWII time-slip novel from the author whose books have been called “propulsive” and a “must-read” (Publishers Weekly), Grace Tonquin is an American Quaker who works tirelessly in Vichy France to rescue Jewish children from the Nazis. After crossing the treacherous Pyrénées, Grace returns home to Oregon with a brother and sister whose parents were lost during the war. Though Grace and her husband love Élias and Marguerite as their own, echoes of Grace’s past and trauma from the Holocaust tear the Tonquin family apart.
More than fifty years after they disappear, Addie Hoult arrives at Tonquin Lake, hoping to find the Tonquin family. For Addie, the mystery is a matter of life and death for her beloved mentor Charlie, who is battling a genetic disease. Though Charlie refuses to discuss his ties to the elusive Tonquins, finding them is the only way to save his life and mend the wounds from his broken past.
A Virginia chocolatier and a privateering sea captain collide once more after a failed love affair a decade before. Will a war and a cache of regrets keep them apart? Or will a new shared vision reunite them?
It is 1755, and the threat of war with France looms over colonial York, Virginia. Chocolatier Esmée Shaw is fighting her own battle of the heart. Having reached her twenty-eighth birthday, she is reconciled to life alone after a decade-old failed love affair from which she’s never quite recovered. But she longs to find something worthwhile to do with her life.
Captain Henri Lennox has returned to port after a lengthy absence, intent on completing the lighthouse in the dangerous Chesapeake Bay, a dream he once shared with Esmée. But when the colonial government asks him to lead a secret naval expedition against the French, his future is plunged into uncertainty.
Will a war and a cache of regrets keep them apart, or can their shared vision and dedication to the colonial cause heal the wounds of the past? Bestselling and award-winning author Laura Frantz whisks you away to a time fraught with peril–on the sea and in the heart–in this redemptive, romantic story.
New Orleans’ most eligible bachelor insists he’s not on the market . . . but he couldn’t be more wrong.
Jilted in front of all New York, Theodore Day decides to lose himself in his family’s luxury riverboat business in New Orleans and compete against his brother to become the next company head. The brother with the most sales by summer’s end will win the position. Thanks to Theodore’s fame as a suitor in a socialite’s outlandish competition to find a husband, he has become very desirable royalty in Southern society and thus has an advantage.
It took Flora Wingfield’s best work to convince her family to summer in New Orleans, but with Teddy Day a bachelor once again, she’s leaving nothing to chance. Desperate to stand out from all the clamoring belles, Flora attempts a bold move that goes completely awry, only to find it’s her interior design skills that finally catch his notice.
But when Flora’s father’s matchmaking schemes come in the way of her plans, Teddy will have to decide where his happiness truly lies and what he is willing to sacrifice for it.
Can a man who’s completely wrong for her help her find Mr. Right?
Gwendolyn McGill wants to be loved and accepted for who she is, but that’s hard to do in a small town where everyone judges her by the scandal her father caused. Unfortunately, the man she hoped would sweep her away from all the wagging tongues is no longer interested in marrying her. Unable to leave town, she’s determined to prove she’s more than just a pretty face who knows how to bat her eyelashes.
For years, Timothy O’Conner has loved Gwen from a distance, knowing someone like her would never be attracted to a lowly ranch hand with a blemished face like him. When Gwen unexpectedly shows up at the ranch, asking him to help her learn how to attract a man of quality, Tim’s feelings become even harder to suppress.
When danger pushes them together, they discover there’s more to each other than either of them imagined. Though God is no respecter of persons, is the desire of their hearts strong enough to defy society’s expectations?
Marrying Mr. Wrong is the fourth book in the Frontier Vows Series by award-winning Christian romance author Melissa Jagears. If you like to read about unexpected characters falling in love, you’ll enjoy this tender love story that has the perfect mix of romance and adventure.
Tragedy brought them together. Now truth might tear them apart.
Wed to a trading company partner to escape life in Montreal under her harsh father’s thumb, Camilla Bonnet finds herself widowed and pregnant in the Upper Country frontier. When her brother fails to return for her from Fort William, she is cast on the mercy of the trading post owner’s family. She also draws comfort from Bemidii Marchal, a Métis hunter who soothes away her misgivings as he finds his own refuge on Lake Superior’s Madeline Island.
Bemidii’s thoughts of courting a maiden are cut short when he raises his knife against a company man at Fort William’s Great Rendezvous. No one will believe he killed to protect his sister—least of all the beautiful Frenchwoman on Madeline Island who stirs his affections—not when she learns that her brother is dead and Bemidii stands accused of his murder. As the sharp blade of truth divides them, will Bemidii survive the justice of powerful men who are a law unto themselves?
She’s always determined to be the stable, reliable one. But now her commitment may destroy her.
On the surface, Whitney Powell is happy working with her sled dogs and welcoming the new additions to her family through her sisters’ marriages and an upcoming birth. But her life is full of complications, including an estranged father, that have her on the edge of losing control. Growing up, she was the strong sister, and she can’t give that up now.
When villagers in outlying areas come down with a horrible sickness, Dr. Peter Cameron turns to Whitney and her dogs for help navigating the deep snow, and they become close while ministering to the sick together. Peter has long recognized her finer qualities but is troubled by the emotions and secrets she keeps buried within. He wants to help but wonders if she is more of a risk than his heart can take.
As sickness spreads throughout Nome and another man courts Whitney, she and Peter will discover that sometimes it is only in weakness that you can find strength.
When a man arrives at the Bleecker Street Inquiry Agency, anxious to hire them to find a missing heiress, Eunice Holbrooke realizes her past has finally caught up with her . . . and that she may no longer be able to hide under the disguise that has kept her safe for so long.
Arthur Livingston’s goal in life is to make his mark on the world as a mining industrialist, but after the man who could help him achieve his goal is murdered, Arthur feels compelled to seek justice for the family–but he’s left with more questions than answers after the eccentric Bleecker Street Inquiry Agency refuses to take on his case.
Desperate to conceal her real identity and avoid the irritatingly handsome Arthur, Eunice takes on a different case that requires her to go deep undercover and entangles her in one troublesome situation after another. When other secrets come to light, Eunice has no choice but to confront her past, hopeful that it will set her free but knowing it could very well place her life–and the lives of those she loves–in jeopardy.
Beth Tremayne has always been drawn to adventure. During her childhood, she fed that desire by exploring every inch of the Isles of Scilly. Now, after stumbling across an old collection of letters and a map buried on her family’s property, she’s found more adventure than she ever anticipated in the hunt for pirate treasure. But in order to discover where the clues lead, she must search alongside Lord Sheridan, a man she finds insufferable.
Sheridan has spent years pursuing whatever archaeological interests pique his imagination. And when he discovers that Beth’s search connects with one of his far-removed pirate ancestors, he can’t help getting involved. Plus, he finds her irresistible, even though she insists he stole a prized possession of hers.
As they work together following different clues and drawing closer to danger, they start to piece together a story of tragic love and piratical adventure. But which treasure will bring the greatest surprise–the one they find in each other or the one just out of their reach?
Stampedes, wild animals, and renegade Comanches make a cattle drive dangerous for any man. The risks multiply when Charlotte Grimes goes up the trail disguised as Charlie, a fourteen year-old boy. She promised her dying father she’d save their ranch after her brother, Tobias, mismanages their money. To keep her vow, she rides the trail with the brother she can’t trust.
David Shepherd needs one more successful drive to finish buying the ranch he’s prayed for. He partners with Tobias to travel safely through Indian Territory. David detests the hateful way Tobias treats his younger brother, Charlie. He could easily love the boy like the brother he’s always wanted. But what does he do when he discovers Charlie’s secret? What kind of woman would do what she’s done?
The trail takes an unexpected twist when Charlotte falls in love with David. She’s afraid to tell him of her deception. Such a God-fearing, honest gentleman is bound to despise the kind of woman who dares to wear a man’s trousers and venture on a cattle drive. Since her father left her half the ranch, she intends to continue working the land like any other man after she returns to Texas. David would never accept her as she is.
Choosing between keeping her promise to her father or being with the man she loves may put Charlotte’s heart in more danger than any of the hazards on the trail can.
Mylas Grey doesn’t want to be famous. Not even for a day. As a private investigator, he prefers to fly under the radar.
However, when a well-known doctor asks Mylas to investigate his father’s murder, that’s exactly what happens. Suddenly, Mylas is dodging reporters while interviewing suspects and searching for the dead man’s elusive girlfriend.
In the end, he narrows his suspects down to three people . . .
First, there’s the fired employee . . . The man had opportunity and means, but did he have enough fire in his belly?
Then, there’s the ambitious daughter . . . She had motive, opportunity, and means, but would she really kill her own father?
And finally, there’s the disgruntled client . . . He had motive and means, but did he have opportunity?
Mylas has a few other things on his mind besides catching the killer, like learning to work with the staff he’s put together at his new private investigative agency, an undertaking that turns out to be more difficult than he anticipated.
And then, there’s the love of his life, Whitney Engel, who’s not sure she wants to be involved with someone who keeps showing up on the national news every night.
As Mylas closes in on the killer, he makes a costly mistake, one that could prove deadly. Will his desperate prayers for a miracle be answered?
Book IV in the Mylas Grey Mystery Series is a fast-paced whodunit, full of intriguing characters, excellent storytelling, and inspiring faith.
Seare is at war. The Red Druid has continued to gain strength and power, and the people of Seare suffer beneath the ravages of the isle’s unbound spirits. The Fíréin are all that stand between the land and certain disaster. But there is strife within the Brotherhood as well: Eoghan still refuses to claim his rightful throne, leaving the responsibilities of rule to Conor and creating an uncomfortable distance between the sworn brothers.
When Conor leaves Ard Dhaimin to find the key to defeating the Red Druid, he delves into a world of shadows and danger which will bring him to the brink of madness and back. All the while Eoghan and Aine are left to pursue their own mission to defeat their adversary through her magical gifts.
But as the final battle looms ever closer, they realize that the cost of defeating the Red Druid may be greater than they’re willing to pay… and that nothing—and no one—is as it seems.
She’s a grad student inexperienced in love. He’s a charming negotiator with a colorful past. Insecurities threaten their relationship when she decides to take a chance on the heartbreaker.
Ashlynn Peters is ever the optimist when it comes to love, but even she’s surprised to cross paths with a real-life Prince Charming. Her childhood crush is back in town, and he’s more handsome than she remembers and also more intriguing than any man she’s ever dated.
Ashlynn finds herself falling hard for Jeremy, only to discover he’s not the perfect guy she thought he was. Will she choose to look past Jeremy’s tarnished armor or give up on finding her happily-ever-after?
Inspired by the author’s own love story, this romantic novella will have you laughing, dreaming, and wondering if fairy tales really do come true.
Narelle’s Thoughts:
I enjoyed reading Taking a Chance on the Heartbreaker, a lovely Christmas romance novella set in San Jose, California. Ashlynn is a grad student who’s living with her older brother and sister-in-law while finishing her Masters degree to become a school counsellor. She works at a jewellery store around her college classes.
Jeremy was the older guy at the church youth group who Ashlynn crushed on when she was in middle school. His family moved away to the East Coast, and he has returned to the Bay Area to work as a contract negotiator. Jeremy and Ashlynn’s meet cute at the jewellery store is adorable, and a sweet romance develops as they get to know each other.
Ashlynn has survived the tragedy of losing her parents, and her older brother is very protective of her. She’s an idealist who wants to marry a man who holds her Christian values regarding love and marriage. Although Jeremy shares her faith, his bad boy past is at odds with Ashlynn’s ideals. I appreciated how Jeremy and Ashlynn navigated this issue in the story. I recommend Taking a Chance on the Heartbreaker to contemporary romance readers who like Christmas novellas with a relevant faith element in the story.
