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Among the Fair Magnolias

In the most turbulent decade of our nation’s history, four Southern women—destinies forged by birth, hearts steeled by war—face near impossible choices on their journeys in life . . . and in love.

To Mend a Dream by Tamera Alexander

Savannah Darby would do almost anything to revisit her family home. So when new owner, Aidan Bedford, a Boston attorney and former Union soldier, seeks to redecorate the house for his fiancée, Savannah jumps at the opportunity. But the clock is ticking. Can she find the box her father supposedly hid there during the war before her assignment is completed? And before she sees yet another battle lost on the home front. This time, one of the heart.

An Outlaw’s Heart by Shelley Gray

When Russell Stark returns to Fort Worth, he’s determined to begin a new life. But when he arrives at his mother’s homestead, he discovers she’s very ill, and the woman he loved is still as beautiful and sweet as he remembered. With time running out, Russell must come to terms with both his future and his past.

A Heart So True by Dorothy Love

Abigail knows all too well what is expected of her: to marry her distant cousin Charles and take her place in society. But her heart belongs to another. A terrible incident forces Abby to choose between love and duty.

Love Beyond Limits by Elizabeth Musser

Emily has a secret: She’s in love with one of the freedmen on her family’s plantation. Meanwhile, another man declares his love for her. Emily realizes some things are not as they seem and secrets must be kept in order to keep those she loves safe.

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In To Mend a Dream we return to Savannah Darby’s life after To Win Her Favor. She lost the home she loved and is trying to support her younger brother and sister. Now she’s going to have a chance to once more see the inside of her former home. Due to her skill in sewing and decorating, she’ll be working for the new owner of Darby Farm.

She’s also going to have the opportunity to search for the box her father hid before going off to fight in the war. After too many near misses, will she finally get caught? And what’s she going to do about falling in love with someone else’s fiance’?

In An Outlaw’s Heart, Russell returns to Broken Arrow, Texas after nearly a seven year absence. He fled his home, his mother and his girl and rode with a gang of outlaws. Now he’s back and he’s not sure why. He returned to a broken down house and barn and a broken hearted mother.

What can he do? He has no dreams left. He just wants to see his mother and maybe find out about Nora. Has she married and moved on with her life? Partialy. Se is finally seeing a man who may not be all he appears to be. Maybe Russell still has a chance with her.

In A Heart So True we’re taken back to Pawleys Island and Charlotte Fraser from Carolina Gold. The Frasers are at their summer home on the island and preparing for their annal barbeque. Mr. Fraser is interested in obtaining political office so it’s an even bigger deal this year. The governor will be attending, so everything must be perfect (including Charlotte’s behavior).

Charlotte wants to marry Dr. Wade Bennett, but her father wants her to marry Charles Kittridge. Which engagement will be announced at the party?

In Love Beyond Limits Emily lives in a sorry time in our nation’s history. She is teaching how to read to the freedmen and their families who live on her father’s plantation. Many do not take kindly to the freeing of the slaves nor to their learning to read.

This is the time of the Klan and their vicious torturing and killing of the blacks. Emily’s love and allegience puts her, her family and the freedmen in danger. And as a topper, she finds out that the man she finally agreed to marry belongs to the Klan. You’ll find a bit of a surprise at the ending.

These novellas were penned by four talented ladies. I thoroughly enjoyed each novella, but I especially enjoyed the two which took me back to follow up on a character from a novel I had read. I’m looking forward to more from these ladies.

A bonus – recipes and discussion questions in the back of the book.

***A special thank you to litfuse for providing a review copy.***

Tamera Alexander is the best-selling author of numerous books including A Lasting Impression and The Inheritance. Tamera is a two-time Christy Award winner, two-time RITA winner, and a recipient of the prestigious Library Journal Award. A native of west Tennessee.

Dorothy Love makes her home in the Texas hill country with her husband and their golden retriever. An award-winning author of numerous young adult novels, Dorothy made her adult debut with the Hickory Ridge novels.

Shelley Gray is the author of The Heart of a Hero series. Her Amish novel (written as Shelley Shepard Gray), The Protector, recently made the New York Times best seller list.

Elizabeth Musser, a native of Atlanta, Georgia now living in France, is a novelist who writes what she calls ‘entertainment with a soul.’ For over 25 years, Elizabeth and her husband, Paul, have been involved in mission work with International Teams.

To Capture Her Heart

By Rebecca DeMarino

In an uncertain time, she faces a choice that will change her life forever.

It is 1653 and Heather Flower, a princess of the Montaukett tribe, is celebrating her wedding feast when a rival tribe attacks, killing the groom and kidnapping her. Though her ransom is paid by an Englishman, she is bound by her captors and left to die–until she finds herself rescued by handsome Dutch Lieutenant Dirk Van Buren.

Still tender from her loss, Heather Flower begins to heal in the home of the Hortons, English friends of her people. Torn between her affection for Dirk and her longtime friendship with Ben Horton, Heather Flower must make a difficult choice–stay true to her friend or follow her heart.

Exploring a unique slice of history, Rebecca DeMarino transports you to the wild land that would eventually become Long Island, New York.

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Wed and widowed on the same day, she’s now the object of two men’s affections. Love her as they might, they need patience to allow Heather Flower to get past her grief.

There’s also cultural barriers. Heather Flower is an Indian princess while one of her admirers is English and the other Dutch.

She goes to her aunt whose wisdom helps her process her grief. It still doesn’t help her decide which man to marry. Her heart belongs to the Dutchman but she ends up agreeing to marry the other. After all, Dirk seems to no longer care since he hasn’t shown up for a long time, and Ben is right there.

My heart said she should still wait, but now it’s her wedding day. It appears that she’s chosen to make do with Ben who has been a longstanding friend.

Thank you, Ms De Marino, for a book I didn’t want to put down.

***A special thank you to Lanette Haskins for providing a review copy.***

Rebecca DeMarino is the author of A Place in His Heart, book one of The Southold Chronicles, a series inspired by her ninth great-grandparents, Barnabas and Mary Horton. She inherited her love of baking and gardening from her mother; a love of horses, reading, and writing from her dad; and the wanderlust gene from both parents. Rebecca lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband, Tom. Learn more at www.rebeccademarino.com.

Thriving in Babylon

By Larry Osborne

Meet a man forced to live in a fast changing and godless society. He faced fears about the future, concern for his safety, and the discouragement of world that seemed to be falling apart at warp speed.

Sound familiar? His name was Daniel, and with the power of hope, humility, and wisdom, he not only thrived, he changed an empire while he was at it. Though he lived thousands of years ago, he has a much to teach us today.

Even in Babylon, God is in control.

In Thriving in Babylon, Larry Osborne explores the “adult” story of Daniel to help us not only survive – but actually thrive in an increasingly godless culture. Here Pastor Osborne looks at:

-Why panic and despair are never from God

-What true optimism looks like

-How humility disarms even our greatest of enemies

-Why respect causes even those who will have nothing to do with God to listen

-How wisdom can snatch victory out of the jaws of defeat

For those who know Jesus and understand the full implications of the cross, the resurrection, and the promises of Jesus, everything changes—not only in us, but also in our world.

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We are definitely living in Babylon and it isn’t easy. Larry Osbourne says we cannot only survive here, but we can also thrive. The big question is how.

Hope, humility and wisdom. Mr. Osborne takes us through the book of Daniel and then guides our focus on these three needs in order to thrive in the midst of present day evil.

Have you been to spiritual boot camp? That’s what is needed to build the five qualities we need to thrive in our Babylon.

• Obedience
• Perspective
• Endurance
• Confidence
• Courage

Always remember that even the tiniest light shines brightly in total darkness. This book leads us to being that light as we survive and thrive in Babylon. Thank you, Mr. Osborne, for shining your light through this book.

Gone without a Trace

By Patricia Bradley

The past is repeating itself–and time is running out

It’s been more than two years since homicide detective Livy Reynolds’s cousin disappeared from Logan Point. Unlike most people in her hometown, Livy has never believed that Robyn left voluntarily. When Dallas private investigator Alex Jennings contacts her concerning a senator’s missing granddaughter who was last seen in Logan Point, Livy notices eerie similarities between the two disappearances. With self-doubt plaguing her and an almost instant dislike of the self-assured PI, she’s finding this investigation an uphill battle. But with the prospect of finding her cousin on the horizon, she’ll have to find a way to work with Alex–before it’s too late.

Award-winning author Patricia Bradley keeps you on the edge of your seat with a case–and a relationship–that is anything but certain.

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Livy Reynolds is a cop on leave.She froze up and endangered her partner when she didn’t fire at the perp. All because she was haunted by a teenage boy she killed. She had a choice – take a leave or man a desk. She chose the leave and ended up at her Aunt Kate’s B & B. She went for dinner and stayed.

That same day PI Alex Jennings checked in at Kate’s place. Livy, being a homicide detective with the Memphis PD, thought little of Alex’s sleazy profession. Don’t you just know they would end up as a team? After all, two girls have mysteriously disappeared. Were they in the hands of a serial killer or some other kind of wacko?

There’s a lot of interesting twists in this book. I thought I had figured out the bad guy, but I hadn’t. Then I was sure it was someone else. It wasn’t. This is one of those books I didn’t want to put down until I finished it.

Thank you, Ms Bradley. I’m certainly looking forward to your next book.

***A special thank you to Revell for providing a review copy.***

Patricia Bradley is the winner of a 2012 Daphne du Maurier Award and a 2012 Touched by Love Award and was also a finalist for the 2012 Genesis Award. The author of Shadows of the Past and A Promise to Protect, she is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers and Romance Writers of America. Bradley makes her home in Mississippi. Learn more at www.ptbradley.com.

Someday Home

By Lauraine Snelling

The sprawling lake home Lynn Lundberg built with her husband has been an epicenter of joyful family life, from summer holidays spent around the water, to cookies baked in the kitchen with grandchildren in the fall. But since her husband’s sudden passing two years ago, Lynn has been lost in the grief and solitude she feels without him at home. She doesn’t want to sell the big family place, but she can’t exist there on her own much longer. After hearing of a new way of living–where single women share responsibilities as housemates–Lynn thinks she’s found the answer to her prayers. Soon she meets two ladies with whom she could begin this journey. But coming from such differing circumstances, will the new challenges they face undo their plans? Or will they begin a friendship to see them through the years to come in this Someday Home.
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This novel brings together three lost and lonely women and turns them into a family.

Lynn is a widow with a home that’s too big for her, but she doesn’t want to give it up.

Angela is a real estate agent whose husband found greener pastures. She wants to leave bad memories behind.

Judith gave up her hopes and dreams as a young woman to care for her parents. Her father put her through the wringer and didn’t even have the decency to leave her a home or money. The only way she can stay in her home is if she becomes a live in caretaker for the living history museum her father created.

Three very different women who have to start life over. This new living arrangement they have will have them struggling with their new coalition. Will it work? The title says it will.

Thank you, Ms Snelling, for giving us this book of endings and beginnings.

***A special thank you to Katie Conners for providing a review copy.***

Lauraine Snelling is the award-winning author of more than 65 novels. Her books consistently appear on ECPA bestseller lists and have been translated into Norwegian, Danish, and German. A hallmark of her style is the empathy with which she explores difficult issues in her compelling stories. Lauraine and her husband, Wayne, live in the Tehachapi Mountains with a bassett named Sir Winston. Learn more: LauraineSnelling.com

Beyond the Ashes

By Karen Barnett

“Tis better to have loved and lost…,” but can Ruby Marshall risk her heart a second time?

Where better to rebuild and face one’s fears than in 1906 San Francisco, a city rising from the ashes? Ruby Marshall, a young widow, is certain she’ll discover new purpose assisting her brother Robert with his cancer research, but she doesn’t anticipate finding new love.

Dr. Gerald Larkspur dreams of filling his empty home with family, but he’d always hoped it would be a wife and children. In the aftermath of the great earthquake, the rooms are overflowing with extended family and friends left homeless by the disaster. When Robert’s widowed sister arrives, the close quarters seem close indeed. Ruby and Gerald’s fledgling romance is put at risk when Gerald develops symptoms of the very disease they’re striving to cure. Together they must ask—is it worth a second chance at love when time might be short?

Note: Beyond the Ashes is the second book in The Golden Gate Chronicles series. To find out more about the series and to purchase book one click here.

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Ruby eagerly arrived in San Francisco to help her brother with his cancer research. What she didn’t know ahead of time was his engagement to his boss’s cousin. She also didn’t know about their living arrangements. With the fire leaving so much in ashes people are camping out where ever they can.

Ruby has many adjustments to make, including going about in an automobile, the squalid conditions in the tent city, and the disheartening cancer that her brother and Dr. Larkspur deal with daily.

Both Gerald Larkspur and Ruby need some love in their lives. Just when it seems they’ve found it in each other, Gerald turns from Ruby and that love. Why? And will it ever be possible to recapture it? Be prepared for tears near the end of this book.

This is a good stand alone read, but you’ll appreciate it more if you read Out of the Ruins first. I’m looking forward to the third book of The Golden Gate Chronicles. Thank you, Ms Barnett, for continuing to teach me more about the San Francisco earthquake and the resulting fires.

***A special thank you to litfuse for providing a review copy.***

Karen Barnett is the author of Mistaken and several articles that have been published by Guideposts and other national magazines. She lives in Albany, Oregon, with her husband, two children, and three cats.

Find Karen’s website here.

Summer’s List

By Anita Higman

A dying wish alters the course of a young woman’s life.

Life hadn’t been easy for Summer Snow. In acts of selflessness-caring for her ailing parents and running her grandmother’s bookstore-she had forfeited her youth and dreams for the needs of others. And the only tries she had at love… didn’t turn out. She had the bookstore, she had her beloved granny, but she was missing something-or someone.

Opportunity strikes when Granny sends Summer on an unexpected adventure with one Martin Langtree, a kind but gangly young man from Summer’s past. A childhood friendship is rekindled, a romance is sparked, and mysteries are solved in one magical Texas summer. Will Summer strike out on love again, or will things finally go her way?

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Summer has class. Her fiance’ Elliot only thinks he has. He’s a wannabe senator with the beautiful woman on his arm. But she no longer wants to be his adoring, perfect, little wife. Now that Summer walked out of the restaurant and Elliot’s life, where will she go? What will she do? All she’s seeing are dead ends.

Right now it’s off to Granny’s and her unconditional love. Granny has been the one pillar of strength that Summer could always count on. Until now. Granny’s dying. She has one request of Summer. Granny’s made a list of things she wants Summer to do. First on the list is to find her childhood friend, Martin, and persuade him to help her fulfill the list with her.

Summer does find Martin, along with his very interesting family. Martin was always Summer’s best friend. Would this continue as he helps Summer cross everything off her list?

You’d better have that box of tissues handy as you read this book. There are tears near the end – some sad, some happy.

Thank you, Ms Higman, for this touching embrace of life’s realities.

***A special thank you to litfuse for providing a review copy.***

Best-selling and award-winning author, Anita Higman, has over thirty books published (several coauthored) for adults and children. She’s been a Barnes & Noble “Author of the Month” for Houston and has a BA degree, combining speech communication, psychology, and art. Anita loves good movies, exotic teas, and brunch with her friends.

Find out more about Anita at http://anitahigman.com.

Hutterite Diaries

By Linda Maendel

What would it be like to share all your possessions and live in Christian community?

In Hutterite Diaries, Linda Maendel offers a rare glimpse into the daily routines and communal faith of her people, the Hutterian Brethren. From stories of working together to bring in the fall potato harvest to laugh-out-loud tales of sisterly love laced with revenge, Maendel invites readers into her Bruderhof, or colony, nestled on the prairie of western Canada. Here children and adults work, play, eat, and worship together, crafting a community of goods and living out an alternative to the individualism and consumerism of mainstream society.

Few outsiders know anything about the Hutterites, a Plain Christian group related to the Amish and Mennonites. Maendel’s story invites readers into deeper understanding of this community of faith, calling us to take seriously the example of Jesus and the early church in our daily living.

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The only thing I knew about the Hutterites before I read this book is that they are a Plain People.

The stories shared by Ms Maendel have taught me a great deal and enlarged my understanding of life in a Hutterite community.

This small book is very easy to read. Even though it’s non-fiction it’s not dull and dry. It reads more like fiction.

Thank you, Ms Maendel, for sharing your life with us.

***A special thank you to litfuse for providing a review copy.***

Linda Maendel is a Hutterite author, blogger, and educator who lives in Elm River Colony outside of Winnipeg, Manitoba.

As Waters Gone By

By Cynthia Ruchti

How can a marriage survive when separated by hundreds of miles and impenetrable prison walls?

Emmalyn and Max Ross may have to endure the fight of their lives to mend the tattered fabric of their marriage. His actions ensured she could never be a mother and put him in prison, giving their relationship a court-mandated five-year time-out. On a self-imposed exile to beautiful but remote Madeline Island, one of the Apostle Islands of Lake Superior, Emmalyn has just a few months left to figure out if and how they can ever be a couple again.

Nudged along by the exuberant owner of the Wild Iris Inn and Café, a circle of misfit people in their small town, and a young girl who desperately needs someone to love her, Emmalyn restores an island cottage that could become a home and begins to restore her heart by learning what it means to love unconditionally. Yet even as hope begins to find a place within the cottage walls, Emmalyn still wonders if she’s ready for Max’s release. She may be able to rebuild a cottage, but can she rebuild a marriage?

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Emmalyn had to escape from a life she could no longer afford. She needed to make a new life for herself, so she sold her house and move to Madeline Island to a hunting cottage she and her husband owned. It was a good thing she planned to spend her first night on the island at Wild Iris Inn.

The cottage was a mess – starting with the large hole in the roof. She ended up spending more than one night at the inn while trying to get the cottage even halfway inhabitable. She also met a bunch of the islands odd balls during the rehab process of her cottage.

As the cottage is being repaired, her heart and spirit are slowly being healed. That bunch of odd balls are becoming friends- some almost like family. Emmalyn is also starting to forgive her husband and thinking about reconciling with him when his five year prison term is up. What’s going to happen to them then?

Thank you, Ms Ruchti, for this book. It makes me want to move to Madelyn and among the characters you’ve created. I certainly hope you have plans to follow up with more about these very interesting people.

***A special thank you to litfuse for providing a review copy.***

Speaker and award-winning author, Cynthia Ruchti draws from 33 years experience writing and producing a daily radio broadcast to tell stories hemmed in Hope through her novels, novellas, devotions, and nonfiction. She serves as the professional relations liaison for American Christian Fiction Writers. Cynthia and her husband live in the heart of Wisconsin.

Find the author online here.

Fatal Trauma

By Richard L. Mabry, M.D,

Hang on to your seats! Richard Mabry’s latest medical thriler , Fatal Trauma, will have you reading long into the night!

A gunman who has nothing to lose faces a doctor who could lose it all to prove his innocence.

When Dr. Mark Baker and Nurse Kelly Atkinson are held at the mercy of a dangerous gunman, the lives of every emergency room patient are at stake. At the end of the evening three men are dead. One of them is a police officer who couldn’t be saved despite Mark’s best efforts. The other two are members of the feared Zeta drug cartel.

Though the standoff is over, the killing is not, because when the drug cartel loses its members, revenge is not far behind. Facing an adversary whose desires are dark and efforts are ruthless, Mark finds himself under suspicion as a killer, yet still a potential victim. When he turns to his high school sweetheart, attorney Gwen Woodruff, for help, Kelly helplessly looks on, as she hides her own feelings for the good doctor.

At the height of the conflict, three questions remain: Who is the shooter? Who will the next victim be? And can Mark prove his innocence before the gun turns on him?

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What a position to be in! Both a victim and a suspect. Dr. Mark Baker’s and Nurse Kelly’s lives are at stake. First when they are held hostage, and then later as the Zeta drug cartel is out for revenge.

These two are caught in the middle between law enforcement and the cartel. As my grandmother would say, especially regarding Mark, “They are up a creek without a paddle.”

Mark manages to come up with an attorney he trusts, but she is not a criminal attorney. On top of everything Kelly is developing romantic feelings for Mark, and also, is jealous of his attorney. What a tangled up mess it all is!

I thought I had definitely figured out who the shooter was. Surprise. I was wrong.

This book grabbed me and pulled me in like all Dr. Mabry’s books do. This is one to start reading early in the morning on a day you expect few interruptions. You’re not going to want to put this book down until you are finished with it. Forget meals and sleep.

You’ll find a teaser at the back of the book. I read it and am waiting very impatiently for Dr. Mabry’s next book, Miracle Drug.

***A special thank you to litfuse for providing a review copy.***

A retired physician, Dr. Richard Mabry is the author of seven critically acclaimed novels of medical suspense. His previous works have been finalists for the Carol Award and Romantic Times Reader’s Choice Award, and have won the Selah Award. He is a past Vice-President of American Christian Fiction Writers and a member of the International Thriller Writers. He and his wife live in North Texas.

Find Richard online here.