Pregnant with their third child, Deirdre works as a washerwoman at the hotel's laundry. If Sean works at all, he drinks his paycheck at the pub. When he is killed in an accident at work, Deirdre is devastated. She gives birth to another son, but cannot work at the laundry. The oldest son lives on the street as a newsie. Rather than let Ava Rose and her baby brother starve to death with her, she signs for them to be put on an orphan train. This orphan train takes these youngsters to Nebraska to Claudine, who has suffered multiple miscarriages. Will the adoption provide the safety and opportunity that Deirdre hopes? This researched story of two mothers and the child who loves both is heart wrenching.It is a poignant tale of hope and courage against unfathomable odds for a better life free from prejudice and poverty.

    Enter a stranger with a ready grin, who says that his name is Micah and claims to have known Ava’s ex back in high school. Micah is currently “in between” jobs, and Ava feels led to offer him work doing odd jobs around her home. Little does she know that her simple act of kindness will challenge her faith, threaten the lives of the people she loves, and have her running for her life. Ava hopes that somehow she will be saved, but in the end, she may be forced to make a devastating choice in order to survive. Read the novella He Said His Name Was Micah today.

    While still in mourning, her unscrupulous father resurfaces after many years’ absence and finds a way to undermine her mother’s will. Without regard for Noel’s welfare, he claims everything is rightly his, and the family lawyer can’t produce documents to prove otherwise. By invitation from her best friend, Noel makes a hard choice to leave her childhood hometown in upstate New York and journey to the friend’s house in Pensacola, Florida. Together they will try to devise a plan for Noel’s future. Fate steps in when a blinding rainstorm causes her to miss a turn, leading her to an unlikely place, and an uncertain destiny. Brought low by circumstances and struggling to make ends meet, she takes shelter in the least desirable location and accepts a graveyard-shift job. The last thing Noel is looking for is romance, but a chance meeting with a handsome, young lawyer named Liam Grant makes her reconsider. Could she accept his dinner invitations and make it through the Christmas holiday without revealing her destitute condition?

     Kate decides to become a governess and she and her sisters are delighted when she is hired by the Duke of Chelmsford, who agrees to let the Sawyer sisters live on the estate. But the Duke has his own motives for his decision. When he tries to force himself upon her younger sister, Kate threatens to kill him. Two days later, the Duke is dead and his grandmother wants a quick trial and hanging, with Catherine on the end of the rope. But the new Duke, Marcus Creighton, the black sheep of the family, is unconvinced that the lovely, gentle governess is a murderess and he’s determined to solve the murder and save Catherine from the gallows. As he delves deeper into past family secrets, his efforts to save the woman he has fallen in love with puts his own life in danger.

    Who does this Marine recruiter think he is? Her brother is a boy and is not ready to be sacrificed on the altar of “service to your country.” No. Thank you. When trying to talk sense into Max doesn’t work, she does the only thing she can think of. Take it to the top.Gareth Hudson has an exemplary record as a Marine recruiter and knows a good man when he sees one. So when Maxton McCollum starts asking questions in a diner one afternoon, it was obvious. This was a match made in military heaven. One young man anxious to serve his country. One country ready to train him to be the best version of himself.So when Avalon walks into Gareth’s recruiting office, all the wrong kinds of fireworks explode. In a peacekeeping move unlike him, Gareth asks for four Saturdays to change her mind. If he can’t, he’ll suggest that Max wait six months before signing up.Romance wasn’t part of the bargain, and with their age difference, Gareth knows it still shouldn’t be, but how do you resist the pull of love at Christmas?♥ Most Wonderful Time by Toni ShilohGabe Lewis loves Christmas, just not as much as his eccentric mother who gave him and his siblings Christmas names. When he discovers that his new co-worker Shanée Mitchell wants nothing to do with the season, he makes it his mission to show her the true meaning. But he never expected feelings to develop for the Air Force veteran. Can he take a chance that she feels the same way or miss the best gift of all?♥ The Road Home by Cathe SwansonTally has tried to leave her military history far in the past, but she's not ready to go back to her former life, either. Can an old army buddy help her find a new road home?♥ Now and Forever Christmas by Jaycee WeaverRomance ruined their friendship. This could be the Christmas they repair it?CJ Sinclair never imagined trading her chef’s toque for the domestic life but her pregnant sister needs help over the holidays, and the timing couldn’t be better. A breakup and a bad case of burnout are just two on a list of things out of her control these days. Then there’s Tobin, her once best friend who she hasn’t spoken to in years. Now he’s everywhere all the time and sparking feelings she thought she got over ages ago.The past eight years as a professional musician for the US Army prepared Tobin McGhee for his new job as high school band teacher. They didn’t prepare him for how he’d feel seeing CJ again. This time, though, he won’t make the same mistakes. He’s determined to rebuild the friendship they lost. Maybe even rediscover those feelings they had back in high school before everything went wrong.Can they make holiday music together and rekindle the friendship they once had, or will romance ruin everything again?

    And so she joins a wagon caravan, leaving behind the cold streets of Virginia to forge a new life as a mail order bride in California. The trail is long and dangerous, but with the help of Mr. Jackson, the caravan’s scout, they make their way through the western wilds. However, when her baby girl falls ill, Beth fears that once again she will lose someone she loves. Suddenly, Jackson becomes more than a scout. He is Beth’s only hope—and he has also made his way into her heart. A heart that is promised to another. But love will find us, wherever we are, and Christmas is a time for wishes to come true.

    She's a romance writer. When they are thrown together at a cottage on the beach, will love bloom or sparks fly? Justin Miller is one of the producers and host of the reality dating show Who Wants To Marry a Cowboy, but he's tired of helping others find love. He's tired of love in general. Why can't it just be a little business arrangement, like everything else in his life? His business partner sends him on a little vacation to clear his head, and cheer him up. It was just supposed to be a week at a cottage on the beach. Until he meets Ava.Romance writer Ava McDermott believes in love even though she has yet to find the one for her. However, after struggling with her current book, she decides to take a few days off and recharge at a cottage by the sea. She expected some time alone, but when a strange man shows up, she finds herself in a romance of her own.Justin and Ava must decide if it's time to create their own fairy tale ending, even if it's not real. A fictional relationship for two people who are ready to escape reality sounds like the perfect plan, until it isn't. Real feelings can get hurt, even when you're fake dating someone. Image isn't everything, and Ava and Justin have to choose. Is love real, or make believe? A new inspirational Christian romance by Amazon best selling author Lorana Hoopes, this story focuses on second chances and trusting God to bring the right people into your life at the right time. Though titled the sixth book in the series, this is Lorana's third book in the Blushing Brides series and follows The Cowboy's Reality Bride and The Reality Bride's Baby. Book includes a free bonus short story. Details inside. Book also includes discussion questions for book groups. Follow the journey by clicking the button above.

    He slips his own letter into the packet before it is mailed out to the churches in Richmond, Philadelphia and Chicago seeking his own bride. When the stage arrives with the brides Joshua finds his didn’t make the trip. However, his heart has chosen another, his intended’s best friend. Can he help her overcome her guilt at stealing her friend's beau, or are they destined for heartache? Can he truly prove he loves her and make her The Pastor’s Replacement Bride? In Chicago, Hattie Long is about to end her indentured service as a cook's helper in one of the upscale brothels in Chi town. The gangster who owns the brothel informs her that when her service is up he will take her under his wing and show her how to please his customers and make her his star attraction. At the advice of her pastor's daughter with the same name as her tells her about a group of women going west to become mail order brides including herself. They arrange for her to join them. But on the day of departure Hattie’s friend is struck down with scarlet fever. When the brides arrive in Sanctuary her friend’s beau, Pastor Joshua Bryce, decides to court her to escape a forced marriage by the deacons. Soon trouble follows and Hattie has to escape her past. Can she finally find her happily ever after as the Pastor’s Replacement Bride?

    Over 700 pages of award-winning, critically-acclaimed inspirational romance. Hearts Crossing “How do you feel about God, Collin?” “I don’t.” Collin Edwards, a former parishioner at Woodland Church of Christ, has renounced God without apology, his faith drained away in the face of a tragic loss. Daveny Montgomery cares deeply about her relationship with God and the community of Woodland. But lately she's been in a rut, longing for something to reignite her spiritual enthusiasm. A beautification project at Woodland seems the answer for them both. Daveny spearheads the effort and Collin assists—but only with the renovations, and only because he wants to know Daveny better. Despite his deepening feelings for her, even stepping into the common areas of the church stirs tension and anger. Can Daveny trust in Collin’s fledgling return to faith? And can Collin ever accept the fact that while he turned his back on God, God never turned his back on him? Hearts Surrender Kiara Jordan is a sophisticated modernista, but beneath an engaging personality and super-model looks, her heart hungers, and she longs for deeper meaning in her life. Ken Lucerne is the charismatic young pastor of Woodland Church; he's adjusting to life as a widower and copes by keeping as busy as possible with his parish and missionary work. A home-building mission in Pennsylvania brings them together, and forces them to look hard and deep at the relationship they share, and where God means for it to go. Already bound by mutual respect and caring, love dawns, a love that takes them to a life-point neither would have expected. After all, can a chic, vivacious woman find fulfillment within the quiet, mission-centered life of a clergyman? Can they trust God's hand strongly enough to surrender their hearts to one another...forever? Hearts Communion Jeremy "JB" Edwards dreams of one thing: Having a loving wife and children of his own. Not a surprising ambition, since he was raised at the heart of a large, tight-knit family. Monica Kittelski spends her days at Sunny Horizons Daycare Center pouring her heart and faith into other people's children. But Monica harbors one impossible dream: Having children of her own someday. JB and Monica seem the perfect match, but what will come of their electric, sassy relationship when Jeremy learns of Monica's infertility? Hopes and reality collide when they must confront the idea of finding God's plan and following His will when a dearest hope is destined to remain unfulfilled. Can these two loving, passionate hearts survive a communion of dreams and reality? Hearts Key Once the effervescent leader of the pack, Amy Maxwell should have had the perfect marriage. Instead, she escapes with nothing but the clothes on her back and her daughter, Pyper. Once the shy teen, Tyler Brock has evolved into a powerhouse in Christian music, and when he returns to Woodland for a benefit concert, Amy can’t believe he is as faithful and tender as ever. He even manages to touch the heart of a doubtful Pyper. But Amy can’t escape her own self-doubt, and she questions the wisdom of her heart when it comes to the charismatic musician who is so different now, yet so much the same. Can the key to their hearts unlock a lifetime of love?

    Peer into the lives of four people from the village of Bethany—a harlot, a mistress, a beggar, and a leper—as their worlds interweave and collide. Throughout similar circumstances, they each have unique and personal encounters with Jesus. Along the way, they learn what it means to experience authentic relationships, genuine community, and true faith. These emotionally charged stories reveal people who struggle with the same kinds of life issues that we all encounter today—feelings of loneliness, guilt, inadequacy, betrayal, and despair. Yet their interactions with Jesus bring profound changes to the way that they view their world, each other, and themselves. These four tales use the creative gift of imagination to explore what each of these men and women might have been thinking and feeling, while remaining true to the biblical accounts and consistent with life in first century Israel. So come on a journey that will challenge you, inspire you, and like these characters from Bethany, leave you forever changed.

    But soon after, Mikaela and her fiancé are in a tragic car accident, resulting in her husband-to-be’s death. Then when Mikaela’s grandmother loses her life in a hiking accident one year later, an old man gives Mikaela another mysterious blue card at the funeral. After the service, Mikaela’s grandfather asks that she oversee the renovations on his bed & breakfast in New Zealand. When she arrives, Mikaela meets Tui Davies—the inn’s manager—and Brentin Williams, the man Tui expects her daughter to marry. Tui helps Mikaela retrieve a doll from the cellar vault, but the doll turns out to be an evil omen that Mikaela is told she must get rid of before someone is murdered. Meanwhile, the old man from the funeral is bent on revenge and is plotting against everyone who has ever wronged him, and Mikaela is next in line. But until she discovers the killer’s contact in New Zealand, whom can she trust? And while Brentin attempts to help Mikaela overcome her grief, she must decide—is she ready to love again?

    It means someone in authority over you has decided that “coming in from the cold” is out of the question. It means you’d better run. Laynie Portland has masqueraded as Swedish citizen Linnéa Olander for close to two decades, the last seven years as the companion of Vassili Aleksandrovich Petroff, a reputable Russian scientist, former officer of the KGB and, at present, senior technology advisor to the Secretary of the Russian Federation’s Security Council. What Petroff doesn’t know is that, during her time as his woman, Laynie (Linnéa) has ferreted out and fed her handlers a treasure trove of political and technological intel. However, Petroff is a man with a pathological need to control every aspect of Laynie’s life. When Petroff’s jealous rages worsen, Laynie has had enough and petitions her agency to pull her out. She is told, however, that she is too well-placed to decommission; she is too valuable an asset where she is—and she fears that someone, someone in her chain of command, would rather risk her death under Petroff’s hand than lose the value and prestige her intel engenders. She is told, furthermore, that her request to withdraw poses a larger danger—because the abrupt departure of Linnéa Olander would trigger an avalanche of Russian suspicions, and those suspicions would extend to her company, Marstead International, the front for a joint U.S./NATO covert intelligence gathering venture. But Laynie is desperate: She knows how close to the edge she stands. She has acted the part of Linnéa Olander too long and her ability to maintain the façade she presents to Petroff is fragile at best. A single misstep could blow her cover. Faced with no viable alternative, Laynie runs. Petroff views Linnéa Olander’s disappearance as a personal affront. In his eyes, Linnéa’s disloyalty is the ultimate act of betrayal, and he swears to find and punish her. Simultaneously, Laynie’s Marstead superiors brand her as a rogue agent, a loose cannon who can no longer be trusted—and the “retirement package” they order for her includes a short walk off the deck of a ferry into the black, icy rollers of the Baltic Sea. How can Laynie escape both the Russians and her own agency—the very people she once trusted? Will no one help her? Or will the God in whom her sister Kari trusts extend his protection over her life? But why would he do that, Laynie asks herself, given the life I have lived?Laynie PortlandBook 1: Laynie Portland, Spy Rising—The PrequelBook 2: Laynie Portland, Retired SpyBook 3: Laynie Portland, Renegade Spy 12.02.2019Book 4: Laynie Portland, Spy Resurrected 06.02.2020

    But she's not looking for a happy and tearful reunion.After a life of pain, loneliness and neglect, Makayla wants revenge.Her search leads her to Robin Jones, but she’s nothing like the monster Makayla imagined. While pursuing her mission to destroy Robin’s life, Makayla comes to know, and even love her.But by the time she realizes her mistake, her plan for payback has already been set in motion, leaving Makayla helpless to stop it.With disaster looming, Makayla needs help. The kind only God can give. What she doesn't realize is, she's going to need Him for a lot more than that.Because Robin's life isn't the only one about to be blown to pieces. There's a secret Makayla doesn't know. A secret worse than anything she experienced in her past. A secret that will change her life forever.

    From the foothills of North Carolina to the mountains of West Virginia, Birdie weaves her story with homespun simplicity, creating a tapestry that vibrates with the colors and textures of her life and times, spinning a tale from the years before the Great Depression on up through the end of World War II. Enthralled by her first taste of womanhood, she follows her heart with the man of her dreams, only to find that life is not fair. Or perfect. Or easy. Will she find the courage to risk everything in order to reclaim what she once had?

    She produces popular Southern-style cookbooks that showcase Amish and Kentucky recipes.Sicily inspires readers through her weekly devotionals and Amish Washday "morality" boxed sets. She sold over 103,000 books in 2012. Most of her books made the best-seller's list in 2012, although she gave all glory to God.She attends a Plain church and lives a Proverbs 31 life.