Remnants by Stan Poel

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1940s – Netherland

Nineteen-year-old Jenny DeHaan is determined to live her life outside the confines of the family farm. When accepted to a prominent university, she sets out on the road to independence. While in school, she develops a bond with Marten Demeester, a Jewish student who shares her goal of becoming a pediatrician.

When Hitler breaks his promise and invades their country, everything changes. The peaceful land becomes a battlefield, and the Netherlands quickly falls to the overwhelming German forces. The Nazis, aided by local collaborators, begin a process of arrest, deportation, and extermination of Dutch Jews, with Marten’s family targeted by a powerful Gestapo colonel.

The race to save their Jewish neighbors puts Jenny and Marten, now members of the Dutch Resistance, squarely in the crosshairs of the cunning and ruthless Gestapo. Failure could mean death for them and for their families and friends. As the Nazis close in, the pair is forced to make fateful choices. What price are they willing to pay to save others?

Divided Heart by Sheryl Marcoux

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late 1800s? – Texas

Once the town outcast, Nate Powell leaves his Texas home and rises to success as a respected Boston banker. But his life is empty without Hattie Brown, the saloon girl he left behind. Hoping she’ll give him a second chance, he returns to Texas, the place of bad memories and the home of Zachariah Keane, the man Nate blames for his sister’s death.

Now a Christian, Hattie ekes out a hard and humble living. When Nate returns without warning and promises her a life beyond her dreams, Hattie’s heart is torn. Her love for him has never died, but how can she leave her beloved home or Zachariah, the godly man who’s become like a brother to her? Especially when Nate’s become so hardened and unyielding.

In order to find happiness with the woman he loves, Nate will have to find a mend for his divided heart, forgive the man he’s grown to hate, and find peace with God.

Wagon Train Christmas by Linda Ford

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1848 – Colorado

Sophia Lorenzo is a young widow. And she’s in hiding at Bent’s Fort with her one-year-old son. Her late husband’s parents are powerful and determined to take her son from her. To protect them both, she must hide her true identity.

Buck Williams is the wagon master for the wagon train recently arrived at the Fort. He has been a loner since his wife died on a wagon train headed for Oregon. He guards his heart against further hurt.

Buck knows Sophia, but doesn’t know why she is lying about her identity. When she reveals the trouble she is in and asks for his help, Buck finds new hope that protecting this woman and child will atone for his failure to protect his wife.

But trouble is on Sophia’s trail. Can Buck protect the woman and child he’s come to love?

My Heart Belongs in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania: Clarissa’s Conflict by Murray Pura

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1863 – Pennsylvania

Clarissa Avery Ross lives a full life. By day she is the daughter of a respectable shoemaker being courted by seminary student Kyle Forrester. But by night she is a conductor on the Underground Railroad, working with a mysterious man called Liberty. She would like to share her work with Kyle, but he refuses to enlist when the war breaks out. How can she remain true to a man being labeled a coward? When the war comes to her back door in an epic battle, the greatest challenges to her faith and love are yet to come.

Longhorn Christmas * The Sweetest Gift * The Christmas Candle by Mary Connealy

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Three previously released Christmas novellas.

Longhorn Christmas
Netty Lewis, a lonely young widow is saved from a raging mama longhorn by a passing cowboy who’s been wandering since the end of the Civil War.
She needs help surviving her rugged life and caring for Jeremiah, her young son. And that means rounding up a nice-sized herd of wild-as-wolves longhorns.
Netty and Roy, along with Jeremiah begin a journey toward Christmas, family, home and love.
And a herd of longhorns are making the way hard.

A sweet re-telling of The Gift of the Magi–with a happy ending
The Sweetest Gift
She longs for music. He needs a valuable horse to improve his herd.
When Christmas comes the gift they truly give is the gift of love.

The Christmas Candle
A lonely widower with a pair of out-of-control sons he never got to know while their mother was alive.
A woman with a love of nature and beauty and scent…and the little boys seem determined to destroy her way of life.
A feisty Ozark mountain granny who doesn’t put up with much nonsense.
The gift of a candle for Christmas and a Christ child who is a perfect match for this scent of heaven.

Snow Angel by Davalynn Spencer

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1884 – Colorado

As a child, she lost something precious at Christmas. Twenty years later, she’s about to lose her heart.

Lena Carver works as her physician brother’s medical assistant, housekeeper, and cook despite her disfigurement from a childhood accident. Each year, the Christmas holidays come with contradictions—cherished memories of a mysterious encounter and painful recollections of a great loss. Lena lives with the belief that she is beyond love’s reach, until a dark-eyed cowboy arrives broken, bruised, and bent on changing her mind.

Wil Bergman wakes in a stranger’s home with a busted leg, a bullet-creased scalp, and no horse. Trail-weary, robbed, and penniless, his dreams and plans for a future are suddenly unattainable. Forced to recuperate in the home of a country doctor, he finds himself at the mercy of a surgeon whose sister’s healing touch has power to stitch up his lonely heart and open his eyes to the impossible.

The Deepest Sigh by Naomi Musch

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1915 – Wisconsin

Seventeen year old Marilla Eckert has been in love with Langdon Prescott, her family’s hired hand, since she was fourteen years old. Determined to win him, she’s blissfully unaware of the secret passion he feels for her older sister Delia. But when Delia weds a longtime beau, Lang settles for Marilla and marries her anyway, despite his continued longing and intent to someday win her sister away from her husband. It isn’t long before Marilla realizes where Lang’s devotion truly lies, yet she presses on, giving everything she has to offer, convinced she can still gain his love.

Then America steps into the Great War. The men are sent a world away to fight, and Marilla’s cares, coupled with the lack of her husband’s favor, finally wear her thin. When heartache and disaster strike on every front, and Marilla’s hour of need leads her elsewhere for comfort, will all of them wind up too broken to ever find their hearts’ true homes?

Romancing the Bride by Melissa Jagears

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1884 – Wyoming

Marrying a stranger to save a ranch is one thing; losing the land on their wedding day is another.

Desperate to keep the ranch where three of her children and a husband lie buried, Annie Gephart must marry or sell. Which of the few bachelors in town would consider a surprise proposal to wed a plain widow with a rebellious daughter, a spirited boy, and unpaid taxes—without laughing in her face?

Jacob Hendrix has never fully let go of his ranching dreams despite ending up as a small Wyoming town’s marshal. The job wouldn’t be so bad, except he’s more errand boy than lawman. When Annie proposes marriage without a single coquettish bat of an eyelash, can he commit himself to a woman he hardly knows for a choice piece of property he’d be an idiot to pass up?

But taxes aren’t all that threaten Annie and Jacob’s plans. Cattle rustlers, crumbling friendships, and wayward children make this marriage of convenience anything but. When they lose what they’ve sacrificed everything to save, will the love of a stranger be enough?

Beneath a Michigan Moon by Candice Sue Patterson

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1885 – Michigan

Ava Ryan resides alone at the New Presque Isle lighthouse on the shore of Lake Huron. Her father’s recent passing has made her the temporary lightkeeper. With nowhere else to go and her precarious health making it impossible to start over, she desperately needs to keep the position. She manages the property and the lighthouse duties well, until a handsome logging foreman interrupts her routine–and her peace.

Benjamin Colfax needs to map the best cutting route for his crew, and the best vantage point is from the lighthouse. However, the fiery little lightkeeper won’t allow him access. It’s obvious she’s hiding something, and Benjamin is determined to discover what it is.

When unexpected circumstances force them into marriage, neither is prepared for the challenges that lie ahead. Will they open their hearts and give in to the stormy attraction brewing between them, or will illuminated secrets tear them apart?

The Song of Hearts Set Free by Darlene Panzera

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1851 – New Jersey

In 1850, Jersey City residents could be jailed for helping runaway slaves escape north…
 
Yet when a southern fugitive saves the life of Annie Morrison’s brother, Will, they feel they should return the favor and hide the man on their family’s rural homestead. Annie’s abolitionist friend, Louisa, encourages her to continue to help those traveling the ‘Underground Railroad,’ but Annie is fearful of the danger…until she meets Isaiah Hawkins.
 
Isaiah is a ‘watcher’ who works on the ferry boats looking for those who might steal the captain’s cargo. Little does the captain know, Isaiah is secretly transporting ‘cargo’ of his own. Except Annie derails his plans when she takes in the fugitive he was meant to escort, and Isaiah must convince her to work with him to get the Underground Railroad back on track.
As Annie helps Isaiah ship fugitives across the Hudson River to New York, her attraction toward the handsome young man grows. But when she sees him aid notorious slave catcher, Simon Cole, the horrid man threatening her family, past fears of betrayal rise to haunt her and she must question—is Isaiah really friend or foe?

 

Hope for Tomorrow by Michelle De Bruin

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1910 – Iowa

When Logan De Witt learns of his father’s sudden death, he returns home to the family’s dairy farm. During his stay, he discovers his mother’s struggle with finances and his younger sister’s struggle with grief. Concern for his family presses Logan to make the difficult decision to leave his career as a pastor and stay on the farm. As a way to make some extra money, he agrees to board the teacher for their local school.

Karen Millerson arrives from Chicago ready to teach high school but her position is eliminated so she accepts the role of country school teacher. Eager to put her family’s ugly past behind her, Karen begins a new career to replace the trust she lost in her own father who had been in ministry when she was a child.

Logan and Karen both sense a call from the Lord to serve him, but neither of them expected that one day they would do it together.

Can Karen learn to trust again? Will Logan lay aside his grief in exchange for God’s purpose for his life?

A Dream Fulfilled by Julie Lessman

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1935 – Massachusetts

She’s always dreamed of a best friend.
He’s always dreamed of a large family.
Until hope intervenes with a dream fulfilled.

Katie O’Connor McGee learned early on not to let anyone get too close. Picked on mercilessly in school because of an unsightly handicap, she kept everyone at arm’s length, including three big sisters seven to fourteen years older. As far as Katie was concerned, friends were meant to be restricted, not embraced. But when she meets Arlene Campbell and her little girl, Addie, during playtime at a park with her own children, she discovers a friendship for which she’s waited a lifetime. A dream hidden deep in her soul she didn’t even know existed until she connected with a woman who would change her life forever, teaching her the depth and sacrifice of true friendship.

Luke McGee has dreamed of having a large family since he roamed the streets of Boston as a virtual orphan, finally finding a home—and his heart—in a marriage to Katie O’Connor and their two young girls. However, once Katie’s time and affection shifts toward a new friend who needs her, it creates turmoil in Luke’s happy home. It doesn’t help that as Director for the Boston Children’s Aid Society, Luke works long hours providing homes and hope for troubled children on the streets. But when he reaches out to one hardened little boy, his hope to make a difference suddenly coincides with that of his wife’s, sowing the seeds of a dream fulfilled for them all.

 

The Mending of Lillian Cathleen by Linda Brooks Davis

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1914 – Oklahoma

It’s 1914. While American women are demanding the vote and the first flames of the Great War are igniting Europe, a battle of a different sort rages in Oklahoma. The thermometer registers one hundred six degrees, an out-of-the-ordinary occurrence, even for the twenty-eighth day of July.
 
     But this is no ordinary day. A murder trial has concluded, and the jury has reached a verdict.
 
The star witness for the prosecution fidgets in the old church pew. She’s lost enough, given more than her share. Hasn’t she? The answer rests in the hands of twelve men. Not a single woman sits among the jurors.
 
     Lily eyes the judge. And the courtroom holds its breath.

Night at the Opera by Stacy Henrie

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1908 – England

When American heiress Gwen Barton aids an injured gentleman in an opera box in London, she shares a kiss with the stranger that changes her life. More determined than ever to be herself, in spite of the limp she’s sustained since childhood, she will marry for love and not a title. She also resolves to learn the identity of the man she helped—and kissed. Surely he can’t be the irritating Avery Winfield, though. But as circumstances continue to throw Gwen and Avery together, she begins to wonder if there is more to this man than she first thought.

While most of London only knows him as the nephew of a duke, Avery Winfield is actually working for the Secret Service Bureau to ferret out German spies from among the ton. It’s a profession that gives him purpose and a reason to remain a bachelor. But the more he interacts with Gwen Barton, an heiress from America, the more he begins to question his plans and neglected faith. Then he learns Gwen is the young lady from the opera box who helped him. Now his most important mission may have nothing to do with saving Britain from danger and everything to do with risking his heart for the woman he met that night at the opera.

Author Interview & Giveaway – Jacob’s Bell – John Snyder

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Are you in the mood for Christmas? Doesn’t the cover look like one you ought to read by a fire?

jacobsbell

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Jacob’s Bell

At one time, Jacob had it all: wealth, a wonderful family and a position as one of the most respected businessmen in Chicago. Then he made some bad decisions and all that changed. For the past twenty years he lived in an alcohol-induced haze, riddled with guilt for the dreadful things he had done to his family and his role in the untimely death of his wife. Estranged from his children and penniless, he was in and out of jail, on the street and jumping freight trains for transportation. Realizing he needed a drastic change, Jacob embarked on a journey to find his children, seek their forgiveness, and restore his relationship with them. Befriended by a pastor at a Salvation Army mission, he struggled to transform his life. Yet finally he overcame his demons, but not without a fair number of setbacks. Jacob became a Salvation Army Bell Ringer at Christmastime. While ringing his bell on a street corner one snowy day, he met a young girl who, through a series of strange coincidences, led him back to his children and facilitated Jacob’s forgiveness just in time for Christmas.

John’s Website

johnsnyder

 

 

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Questions about John’s Story

What inspired your story?

I am intrigued by people, family dynamics and overcoming obstacles. Jacob’s Bell: A Christmas Story encompasses all of this. I also, love Christmas and how the holiday can transform peoples’ hearts.

What character in your book turned out to be your favorite?

Jacob! Absolutely hands down.

If you could be one of your characters, who would you choose to be and why?

Jacob. His life was such a roller coaster, and at some points, such a train wreck, but he overcame his obstacles and achieved his goal; forgiveness. What a journey!

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John is giving away FIVE books (USA only). Enter the Rafflecopter below!

**If you don’t want to enter Rafflecopter, tell me in a comment below: “I’m not entering the rafflecopter, but please throw me in the hat” so I can manually put you in there for a chance.**

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Mist O’er the Voyageur by Naomi Musch

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1807 – Canada

After her aunt’s death, Métis woman Brigitte Marchal finds herself alone in Montreal. Uninterested in the convent and desperate to flee a loathsome suitor, she disguises herself as a young man to travel west by voyageurs’ brigade in search of her long-absent, fur-trader father. But her inexperience and disguise don’t hide her for long.

René Dufour yields to the unwelcome position of shielding Brigitte, but he cannot hide her identity forever. Keeping her safe while meeting his North West Company obligations and honoring his family promises may prove to be more disquieting to his heart than he imagined.

As Brigitte adjusts to the voyageur life on Lake Superior, she struggles to justify the faith she grew up in with the mysticism around her, but greater still is the conflict her heart must settle over who to trust in this rugged, unfamiliar country.

This Courageous Journey by Misty Beller

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1854 – Montana

As the fifth daughter in a family of nine, Noelle Grant spent her life striving to be unique. Her love of telling stories helps define her goal—to be known around the country as one of the top news correspondents of her time. And what better way to uncover sensational tales than to travel through the mountain wilderness to visit her brother? The trip comes together perfectly as she journeys with family friends who will be settling in the same area. Her first inkling that things may not be as perfect as she’d imagined shows up in the form of the mountain man hired as their guide for the final leg of the journey.

When Daniel Abrams agrees to guide the small group of easterners along his usual route northward to the Canadian mountains, his gut tells him he’s making a terrible decision. But if he doesn’t take them, who will? The crew’s leader refuses to consider turning back. As they start out, Daniel can’t help but notice the woman traveling under the care of her friends. Though she appears too genteel to last long in these mountains, she soon reveals a strength that draws him more than he should allow.

When the dangers of this wilderness become more than the group bargained for, Noelle must choose to delay her trip northward or proceed alone with the man she’s come to trust against all reason. She never dreams her decision will place her—and the man she loves—in a situation more hazardous than any story her imagination could conjure.

Enchanting Nicholette by Dawn Crandall

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1893 – Massachusetts

Nicholette Everstone is already a widow at the age of twenty-two: her husband was murdered on their wedding day. She has just returned to Boston after two years of mourning in Europe. Although her husband was loving, the marriage was an arranged one, and Nicholette would like to wed again–this time for love…and to someone safe

As she acclimates to life in Back Bay again, Nicholette meets someone she can’t help but fall for. But when she learns of the danger and sacrifices Cal Hawthorne takes on for the safety of others, will her heart be strong enough to keep her fears of “what if” at bay?

This book was originally published in the Timeless Love: Romantic Stories That Span the Ages collection.

Eternity Between Us by Stephenia McGee

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1861 – Virginia

An unnatural thunder rumbled through the air, carrying with it not thoughts of rain but of smoke and trepidation…
 
After being forced to use a pistol against invaders, Evelyn Mapleton is no longer the timid girl her extended family expects. The more her aunt and cousin resent her new independence, the more Evelyn is determined she’ll make her missing father proud by taking up his cause and aiding Confederate soldiers–even if she has to outmaneuver the Yankees guarding her home to do it. 
 
Samuel Flynn’s life is consumed with two priorities: learning to become a proper guardian for the young orphans he’s adopted and obtaining his physicians license. When his final testing sends him to a Federal Army field hospital, the last thing he expects is to be entranced by a mysterious woman. But when Evelyn’s misguided exploits put her life in danger, will he risk everything he’s worked for to save a woman he thinks is his enemy?
 
Based on first-hand accounts from the Civil War and with a strong romantic thread, this is a tale of faith, espionage, hope, and courage historical fiction fans won’t want to miss.

Lady of a Thousand Treasures by Sandra Byrd

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1866 – England

Miss Eleanor Sheffield is a talented evaluator of antiquities, trained to know the difference between a genuine artifact and a fraud. But with her father’s passing and her uncle’s decline into dementia, the family business is at risk. In the Victorian era, unmarried Eleanor cannot run Sheffield Brothers alone.

The death of a longtime client, Baron Lydney, offers an unexpected complication when Eleanor is appointed the temporary trustee of the baron’s legendary collection. She must choose whether to donate the priceless treasures to a museum or allow them to pass to the baron’s only living son, Harry—the man who broke Eleanor’s heart.

Eleanor distrusts the baron’s motives and her own ability to be unbiased regarding Harry’s future. Harry claims to still love her and Eleanor yearns to believe him, but his mysterious comments and actions fuel her doubts. When she learns an Italian beauty accompanied him on his return to England, her lingering hope for a future with Harry dims.

With the threat of debtor’s prison closing in, Eleanor knows that donating the baron’s collection would win her favor among potential clients, saving Sheffield Brothers. But the more time she spends with Harry, the more her faith in him grows. Might Harry be worthy of his inheritance, and her heart, after all? As pressures mount and time runs out, Eleanor must decide whom she can trust—who in her life is false or true, brass or gold—and what is meant to be treasured.

When the Heart Sings by Liz Tolsma

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1943 – Poland

Natia has a secret—and she’s hiding him right beneath her captor’s nose.

In 1943 Poland, the Nazis have forced Natia and Teodor from their peaceful farm to the harsh confines of a labor camp. When the couple is separated, Natia is chosen to be the housekeeper for the camp’s overseer, and Teodor is sent to work in the factory. Despite the strict camp rules—and the consequences for disobeying them—Natia finds a way to communicate with Teodor by sending messages through song as she passes Teodor’s dormitory.

The stakes get higher when Natia finds a Jewish orphan on the overseer’s doorstep. She is determined to protect the boy and raise him as the child she and her husband were unable to bear—but if her German captors discover how much she’s hiding, both she and Teodor may pay the ultimate price. . .

True Nobility by Lori Bates Wright

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1860 – Georgia

Alone in an unfamiliar country where her noble title is useless. Everything she believes in is shattered. Driven by desperation, she risks it all to return to the one man whose love promises to be true.

Lady Victoria Haverwood, beloved daughter of a widowed Earl, has spent years at a fashionable boarding school longing for the day she can come home to finally take her place as mistress of Wrenbrooke. But when she becomes the target of a murderous plot, her idyllic plan is swiftly turned upside down. Nicholas Saberton, an accomplished American Naval Captain, is commissioned to escort the earl and his daughter safely across the ocean to the lively shores of Savannah, Georgia. Pledged to protect her with his life, Nicholas is determined to remain immune to Victoria’s innocent charm. Focused on building his shipping empire, the Haverwood heiress and her quirky relatives become an irresistible diversion. Danger shadows them. Soon the repercussions of her father’s past ensnare Victoria in a web of deception that threatens to consume her. Only her love for Nicholas will give her strength to discover the truth. But will it be too late?

Anna’s Tower by Pegg Thomas

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1883 – Michigan

Anna Wilson is determined to be the first female lighthouse keeper at Thunder Bay Island in Lake Huron. As her uncle nears his retirement, she makes herself indispensable at the lighthouse, doing everything but manning the tower.

Russian immigrant Maksim Ivanov is shipwrecked on an island when the James Thompson runs aground in a storm. The shipping line rescues the crew, but Maksim is stranded. At least there are a pair of old aunties who speak his language. He works to help the elderly lighthouse keeper, earning his way until he can get off the island.

The handsome and capable newcomer could steal Anna’s dream out from under her. Or he could provide a new one.

Becoming Mrs. Lewis by Patti Callahan

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1940s-1960s – New York and England

In a most improbable friendship, she found love. In a world where women were silenced, she found her voice. 

From New York Times bestselling author Patti Callahan comes an exquisite novel of Joy Davidman, the woman C. S. Lewis called “my whole world.” When poet and writer Joy Davidman began writing letters to C. S. Lewis—known as Jack—she was looking for spiritual answers, not love. Love, after all, wasn’t holding together her crumbling marriage. Everything about New Yorker Joy seemed ill-matched for an Oxford don and the beloved writer of Narnia, yet their minds bonded over their letters. Embarking on the adventure of her life, Joy traveled from America to England and back again, facing heartbreak and poverty, discovering friendship and faith, and against all odds, finding a love that even the threat of death couldn’t destroy. 

In this masterful exploration of one of the greatest love stories of modern times, we meet a brilliant writer, a fiercely independent mother, and a passionate woman who changed the life of this respected author and inspired books that still enchant us and change us. Joy lived at a time when women weren’t meant to have a voice—and yet her love for Jack gave them both voices they didn’t know they had. 

At once a fascinating historical novel and a glimpse into a writer’s life, Becoming Mrs. Lewis is above all a love story—a love of literature and ideas and a love between a husband and wife that, in the end, was not impossible at all.

Jacob’s Bell by John Snyder

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1944 – Illinois and Maryland

For readers of Richard Paul Evans and Melody Carlson comes JACOB’S BELL, a heartwarming Christmas story about how an unlikely friendship between an old man and a little girl saved a family.

Sometimes the road to forgiveness and restoration can be a rocky one. Set in Chicago and Baltimore in 1944 with flashbacks to the 1920s, JACOB’S BELL follows Jacob MacCallum on his arduous journey to redemption.
 
At one time, Jacob had it all: wealth, a wonderful family and a position as one of the most respected businessmen in Chicago. Then he made some bad decisions and all that changed. For the past twenty years he lived in an alcohol-induced haze, riddled with guilt for the dreadful things he had done to his family and his role in the untimely death of his wife. Estranged from his children and penniless, he was in and out of jail, on the street and jumping freight trains for transportation. Realizing he needed a drastic change, Jacob embarked on a journey to find his children, seek their forgiveness, and restore his relationship with them. Befriended by a pastor at a Salvation Army mission, he struggled to transform his life. Yet finally he overcame his demons, but not without a fair number of setbacks. Jacob became a Salvation Army Bell Ringer at Christmastime. While ringing his bell on a street corner one snowy day, he met a young girl who, through a series of strange coincidences, led him back to his children and facilitated Jacob’s forgiveness just in time for Christmas.

The Light Before Day by Suzanne Woods Fisher

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17th and 19th century – Massachusetts

After three years on a whaling voyage, Henry Macy returns to Nantucket to news that his grandmother has passed, bequeathing her vast fortune to him and his sister, Hitty. And it was truly vast. But Lillian Coffin was no fool. The inheritance comes with a steep cost, including when they should marry and whom–a Quaker in good standing, of course. But if they relinquish the inheritance, it all goes to Tristram Macy, their father’s thieving business partner.

As Hitty and Henry seek a way to satisfy the will’s conditions, they’ll be faced with obstacles on every side–and it may be that Lillian Coffin will have the last word after all.

Shelter of the Most High by Connilyn Cossette

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1388 BC – Israel

The daughter of a pagan high priest, Sofea finds solace from her troubles in the freedom of the ocean. But when marauders attack her village on the island of Sicily, she and her cousin are taken across the sea to the shores of Canaan.

Eitan has lived in Kedesh, a City of Refuge, for the last eleven years, haunted by a tragedy in his childhood and chafing at the boundaries placed on him. He is immediately captivated by Sofea, but revealing his most guarded secret could mean drawing her into the danger of his past.

As threats from outside the walls loom and traitors are uncovered within, Sofea and Eitan are plunged into the midst of a murder plot. Will they break free from the shackles of the past in time to uncover the betrayal and save their lives and the lives of those they love?

The Reluctant Warrior by Mary Connealy

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1868 – Nevada

Union army officer Cameron Scott is used to being obeyed, but nothing about this journey to Lake Tahoe has gone as expected. He’s come to fetch his daughter and nephew, and seek revenge on the people who killed his brother. Instead he finds himself trapped by a blizzard with two children who are terrified of him and stubborn but beautiful Gwen Harkness, who he worries may be trying to keep the children.

When danger descends on the cabin where they’re huddled, Cam is hurt trying to protect everyone and now finds Gwen caring for him too. He soon realizes why the kids love her so much and wonders if it might be best for him to move on without them. When she sees his broken heart, Gwen decides to help him win back their affection–and in the process he might just win her heart as well.

Legacy of Mercy by Lynn Austin

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1897 – Illinois

Having returned to Chicago, young socialite Anna Nicholson can’t seem to focus on her upcoming marriage. The new information she’s learned about her birth mother continues to pull at her, and she hires Pinkerton detectives to help her find the truth. But as she meets people who once knew her mother and hears stories about the past, Anna soon discovers that some secrets are better left hidden.

At the same time, unflattering stories about Anna are leaked by someone who would love to see her disgraced and her engagement broken. And as Anna tries to share her faith with her society friends, she understands that her choice to seek God’s purpose for her life isn’t as simple as she had hoped.

When things are at their darkest, Anna knows she can turn to her grandmother, Geesje de Jonge, back in Holland, Michigan. Geesje’s been helping new Dutch immigrants, including a teen with a haunted past, adjust to America. She only hopes that her wisdom can help all these young people through the turmoil they face.

In the Shadow of the Queen by Kim Stokely

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BC – Jerusalem

For the first time in history, a woman rightfully reigns over Israel. The queen’s rule gives Anna, a gifted young seamstress, opportunities for work and education she never thought possible. But to achieve her dreams, Anna must enter a world festering with intrigue and deceit. Those living within the queen’s shadow already plot to seize the throne when she is dead. Even Lev, Anna’s first love, is drawn into this underlying world of power, pleasure and political maneuvering.

Torn between her own desires and the traditions of her people, Anna’s story is one of enduring courage and her inspired belief in God’s love and faithfulness in all circumstances.

The Christmas Heirloom: Four Holiday Novellas of Love through the Generations

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In Kristi Ann Hunter’s “Legacy of Love,” Sarah Gooding never suspected returning a brooch to an elderly woman would lead to a job . . . and introduce her to the woman’s grandson, a man far above her station.

In Karen Witemeyer’s “Gift of the Heart,” widow Ruth Albright uses the family brooch as collateral for a loan from the local banker. But the more she comes to know the man behind the stern businessman, the more she hopes for a second chance at love.

In Sarah Loudin Thomas’s “A Shot at Love,” Fleeta Brady’s rough-and-tumble childhood means she prefers hunting to more feminine activities. She never expected her family’s brooch might be how a fellow hunter turns her attention from competition to romance.

In Becky Wade’s “Because of You,” Maddie Winslow has spent years in love with a man whose heart was already spoken for. When a church Christmas project brings them together and she stumbles upon an old family brooch, might it finally be her turn for love?

A Heart for Freedom by Janet Grunst

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1775 – Virginia

Matthew Stewart wants only to farm, manage his inn, and protect his family. But tension between the Loyalists and Patriots is mounting. When he’s asked to help the Patriots and assured his family will be safe, he agrees.

She’s seen the cost of fighting England, and she wants no part of it.

In Scotland, Heather Stewart witnessed the devastation and political consequences of opposing England. She wants only to avoid war and protect the family and peace she finally found in Virginia. But the war drums can be heard even from their home in the countryside, and she has no power to stop the approaching danger.

The consequences are deadly.

When Matthew leaves for a short journey and doesn’t return, Heather faces the biggest trial of her life. Will she give up hope of seeing him again? Will he survive the trials and make his way home? What will be the consequences of his heart for freedom?

Wagon Train Matchmaker by Linda Ford

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1848 – New Mexico

Mary Mae Clark has learned the hard way not to trust what a man says. Broken promises have made her wary and now she only wants to return to Santa Fe to help her friend Sophia keep her wee son.

Warren Russell has been freighting on the Trail for four years. He likes it that way. No ties. No family. No love. He doesn’t deserve it after his neglect of his wife and small son resulted in their deaths.

But the accidental death of his best friend on the trail leaves Warren as guardian to the man’s ten-year-old niece, Polly. He gratefully accepts Mary Mae’s help with the child but only while they are on the trail. Then he and Polly will move on. Only Polly has other ideas. Matchmaking ideas…

Can Polly match Mary Mae and Warren in time for her to have a family for Christmas?

The Kitchen Marriage by Gina Welborn and Becca Whitham

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1888 – Montana

When French immigrant Zoe de Fleur is forced out of her position as household cook for a high society New Yorker, the pretty and talented chef seizes an unexpected chance to head west for a new beginning. She pursues what she thinks is a prestigious job in the frontier’s “finest kitchen,” but instead finds herself in a matchmaker’s agency . . .
 
Isaak Gunderson is one of Helena, Montana’s most eligible bachelors, but he’s too focused on running for mayor and his family’s business to think about a wife and family. His twin brother, Jakob, is supposed to be too busy as well, yet sends for a mail-order bride anyway. Isaak doesn’t want to fuel an ongoing rivalry with his twin, but this tempting newcomer can’t be ignored. If only she’d come to Helena a different way and loving her wasn’t a betrayal . . .