Book picks similar to
Courting the Clearwaters by Jill Penrod


christian
romance
contemporary
christian-fiction

The Problem with Crazy


Lauren K. McKellar - 2014
    It can be good crazy, bad crazy ... or "crazy" crazy--like it was when my ex-boyfriend sung about me on the radio." Eighteen-year-old Kate couldn't be more excited about finishing high school and spending the summer on tour with her boyfriend's band. Her dad showing up drunk at graduation, however, is not exactly kicking things off on the right foot--and that's before she finds out about his mystery illness, certain to end in death. A mystery illness that she could inherit. Kate has to convince everyone around her that her father is sick, not crazy. But who will be harder to convince? Her friends? Or herself? The Problem With Crazy "is a story about love and life; about overcoming obstacles, choosing to trust, and learning how to make the choices that will change your life forever.

First Crush


Ashley Elizabeth Ludwig - 2016
    The search to learn more about her birth family drives Natalie to renovate the dilapidated chateau into a stylish bed-and-breakfast complete with wine tastings amongst beautiful vineyards. But danger awaits her around every corner of the aged home and every lush row of grapes. For twenty-five years a serial killer has left a trail of bodies in his wake. Now the Lakeview Slayer has his sights set on Natalie.  Nick Hardaway never recovered from his sister’s murder—a victim of the Slayer. When news of the killer’s latest murder breaks, Nick grows more determined to make amends for his sister’s death, and joins Natalie in her renovations of the chateau. Natalie may hold the key to capturing the Lakeview Slayer before he kills again, but first the pair must decide if their newfound love is worth dying for.

What Are Friends For?


Sarah Sutton - 2020
    Seventeen-year-old Remi Beaufort learns this the hard way when she plays a blindfolded kissing game at a party.She thinks she's kissing Jeremy, the totally hot basketball player she's been crushing on. And the kiss...it's amazing. Heart-stopping, world-changing, toe-curling. The kiss makes her forget about her overbearing mother, the next-door neighbor's drama, and the probability that she'll fail her senior year. The best kiss of her life makes all that fall away.Until her blindfold falls off, and she realizes that instead of kissing her crush, she's kissing Elijah, her best friend since third grade.Though she manages to convince Elijah that he was kissing his girlfriend, Remi can't get the thought of his lips on hers out of her head. As things between them grow more and more complicated--because it turns out her fantasizing about his mouth is more of a problem than it sounds--Remi has to make a choice: does she live the rest of her life loving her best friend in secret? Or does she tell the truth and risk ruining their friendship forever?Heart-melting and romantic, What Are Friends For? is a swoon-worthy best-friends-to-lovers story that will leave you crushing hard.

According to Jane


Marilyn Brant - 2009
    From nowhere comes a quiet 'tsk' of displeasure. The target: Sam Blaine, the cute bad boy who's teasing Ellie mercilessly, just as he has since kindergarten. Entirely unbidden, as Jane might say, the author's ghost has taken up residence in Ellie's mind, and seems determined to stay there. Jane's wise and witty advice guides Ellie through the hell of adolescence and beyond, serving as the voice she trusts, usually far more than her own. Years and boyfriends come and go - sometimes a little too quickly, sometimes not nearly fast enough. But Jane's counsel is constant, and on the subject of Sam, quite insistent. Stay away, Jane demands. He is your Mr. Wickham. Still, everyone has something to learn about love - perhaps even Jane herself. And lately, the voice in Ellie's head is being drowned out by another, urging her to look beyond everything she thought she knew and seek out her very own, very unexpected, happy ending.

The Doorknob Society


M.J. Fletcher - 2012
    When she was young Chloe’s mother vanished. Wracked by feelings of abandonment and anger she lost herself traveling with her father's magic act, where illusions were part of her everyday life. Yet everything changes when they are pursued by a mysterious man in black out to kill her father. Touching a doorknob activates abilities she never knew she had and she finds herself thrust into a world of ancient societies and secrets.When her father disappears it is a race against time to find answers before she loses what is left of her family. Now Chloe must choose who to trust, the man who will do anything for her or the one she can’t stop thinking about.

The Christmas Challenge


JoAnn Durgin - 2016
     Donovan Harper and Claire Morgan are more successful as co-owners of a thriving advertising agency in quaint Serendipity, Pennsylvania, than they were at navigating their romantic relationship. When an eccentric client makes an unusual request, Donovan convinces Claire their agency should participate in Serendipity’s annual Christmas Challenge. With contests and activities ranging from The Snowflake Plunge, candy cane making, snowman building, wreath and tree decorating, and a snowmobile race, could this be the opportunity Donovan has prayed for to win back the love of his life? Join the holiday fun with Claire and Donovan in a story celebrating love, faith, family, small-town charm, and the true miracles of the Christmas season. In addition to The Christmas Challenge, JoAnn Durgin is the USA Today Bestselling Author of the beloved Lewis Legacy Series as well as Prelude, the prequel to the series. Her other works include the Amazon bestselling Catching Serenity, Heart’s Design and its sequel, Gentle Like the Rain, The Wondrous Love Series, Echoes of Edinburgh, Perchance to Dream, Whisper to My Heart, and the popular Starlight Christmas Series. A former estate administration paralegal, JoAnn now writes contemporary Christian romance full-time and lives with her family in her native southern Indiana. Writing Christian fiction is her passion, and she loves nothing more than sharing the hope to be found in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

Chop, Chop


L.N. Cronk - 2008
    When Greg moves into town and finds out what she's doing, he thinks it's a great idea...so he starts doing it too! It's just one of the things that reserved, young David must tolerate as their friendship grows throughout the years. As they near adulthood, they grow not only closer to each other, but closer to God as well. David finds himself content in every way, but when tragedy occurs David must struggle to find his way back to God. Contemporary Christian Fiction: Top Rated... Best Selling... Award Winning! Don't let the fact that it's the first in a series scare you off - Chop, Chop is a complete, stand-alone novel that will NOT leave you hanging. Sequels are available, however, for those who wish to follow the characters further. Often pegged as a "Young Adult" novel, demographics show that most readers of the Chop, Chop series are actually between the ages of 25 and 55 (and the sequels are definitely geared toward that age group). Whether you're young or old, Chop, Chop is a true coming-of-age story about friendship, loss and forgiveness that is sure to touch your heart.

The Santa Society


Kristine McCord - 2013
    Myth. Miracles.They say there is truth in legends.Last Christmas, Erin came home to be with her dying mother. It's been a year, and Erin can't move on. It's a good thing a behemoth dog named Klaus and Reason-the-handsome-realtor are about to change all that.When Reason's efforts to help Erin sell her mother's house turn into a series of fiascos, Erin finds herself falling in love with him despite the quirky chaos that follows him. But Reason is more than he seems, and soon Erin is immersed in the clandestine world of the Santa Society, a centuries old secret organization that protects the truth behind Christmas.

My Journey to the Ocean


Lena Mikado - 2015
    Her whole picture-perfect existence is planned out and allows for no deviation. She is engaged to be married and intends to be happy. Along with three of her girlfriends, she takes a summer trip across the ocean, to St. Simons Island, United States. Her whole world is about to be rock-n-rolled, and she will have to face a pretty hard choice. It all sounds like a setup for a summer-fling novel, but is it really like that in actuality, or does Miss Real Life have something more conniving under her sleeve? Are there happy endings in real life? This book is a love story. It's about love in all possible representations, forms and masks it can wear. It's a love story of a girl in her 20s, looked back on by a woman in her 30s, who is also trying to take a peek into the future. It's an ageless book, it's a borderless book, it’s a book that focuses on and laughs at our cultural differences, yet sweeps away all man-made boundaries on its way. But I made it sound too complex. It's first and foremost a story about a summer away from home, it's a story about falling in and out of love - it's a story about My Journey to the Ocean.

A Wedding Miracle


Melissa Storm - 2016
    He’s a minister. Can they overcome their differences to find Heaven on Earth? Rabbi Heidi Gold is overjoyed when her best friend Ari asks her to officiate her wedding. Heidi’s mother, of course, is overjoyed at all the successful young single Jewish men she’s bound to meet at the reception. But at just twenty-five years old, Heidi isn’t looking to settle down… that is, until she looks across the dance floor and sees heaven personified in a handsome stranger. Pastor Sam White loves counseling newly engaged couples even though being married to God has always been enough for him, personally. That’s why he can’t understand his irresistible draw toward Heidi. Although she is beautiful, faithful, and kind, is clearly all wrong for him. Still… what could once dance hurt? They’ve never met before, so why does it feel like their hearts have known each other all along? Will Heidi and Sam find a way to overcome their differences and experience the full beauty of God’s love on Earth? Find out in A Wedding Miracle, inspired by Lucy Kevin’s Four Weddings & A Fiasco Kindle World!

Bury the Hatchet


Catherine Gayle - 2015
    Now he needs to prove to the watchful eyes that he’s changed for the better. But cozying up to Little-Miss-Perfect-Gone-Bad isn’t his idea of making amends.Agreeing to marry a hockey star to clear her “bad girl” reputation is the worst idea Oklahoma’s former sweetheart, Tallulah Belle Roth, has ever heard. With cameras constantly in their faces, Hunter and Tallie need to prove their sickeningly-sweet, do-good lives are the real deal—just to Bury the Hatchet once and for all.But when the cameras are off, desire burns hot. Can fake and just for show turn into something real and forever?

Baggage Claim


Amanda Tru - 2011
    But, when her luggage is lost and she is accosted by an infuriating Homeland Security agent named Dawson Tate, events take a dangerous turn. Now, can she and Dawson elude their enemies and prevent a terrorist attack before the bomb in their possession is detonated in the center of Manhattan--all while keeping their obvious attraction to one another in check? Find out in this Romantic Thriller.

The Gifting


K.E. Ganshert - 2015
    And crazy is dangerous."In a world where nothing supernatural exists, Tess Eckhart is positive she’s going crazy. After her complete freakout at a high school party, her parents worry she might be right. So much that they pack their bags and move across the country, next to a nationally-renowned facility for the mentally ill.Tess is determined to fit in at her new school, despite the whispers and stares. But when it comes to Luka Williams, a reluctantly popular boy in her class, she’s unused to a stare that intense. Then the headaches start, and the seemingly prophetic dreams that haunt her at night. As Tess tries harder to hide them, she becomes increasingly convinced that Luka knows something—that he might somehow be responsible.But what if she’s wrong? What if Luka Williams is the only thing separating her from a madness too terrifying to fathom?

The Almost Wives Club


Nancy Warren - 2015
    Edward Carnarvon III is rich, handsome and hers. But at the final fitting of her wedding gown, one of the seamstresses pricks her and a tiny blood spot appears on the outrageously expensive gown. Its famous designer fires the clumsy seamstress on the spot, whereupon the girl puts a curse on the dress and storms out. Kate doesn't believe in curses. She’s modern, American and in love with the perfect guy. What could go wrong? But that very evening she meets a man who makes her question her future. And then she discovers that Edward has been hiding a secret or two… and before you can say, “This dress is so cursed,” she’s on the run from Edward, his family, her mother, the paparazzi and the person she thought she was. When the man who discovers her hiding place turns out to be the last man she should trust, it’s time to throw her cautious good sense out with the satin shoes she won’t be wearing. Playing it safe hasn’t done her much good. Maybe it’s time to play by a new set of rules. Her rules. Sometimes Prince Charming is the one who turns out to be the frog, and true love appears in the most unexpected places. Follow the cursed dress through five sets of bridal hands as four more women join The Almost Wives Club. These are complete novels. Watch for: Secondhand Bride coming in April, 2015 Bridesmaid for Hire coming in May, 2015 The Wedding Flight in June, 2015 If the Dress Fits in July 2015

A Sanctuary Christmas Tale


Lisa Phillips - 2015
    Danger wasn't on Elliot's wish list for the holiday season, and neither was an unplanned trip to a witness protection town. Shelby Merrin isn't interested in a holiday romance. She already has everything she needs...until Santa comes to town. A WITSEC Town Series Short Story *Christian Romantic Suspense*