Book picks similar to
Chocolate Beach by Julie Carobini


christian-fiction
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Foreclosed


Traci Tyne Hilton - 2010
    Foreclosed is the word no homeowner wants to hear and Mitzy is determined to save the incredible mansion on her street from that fate. But with the homeowner desperate to keep Mitzy away from his property and Alonzo, the dangerously hot rival investor trying to snatch it out from under her, Mitzy knows she has to work fast, or the economy won’t be the only thing dead… Enjoy this cozy Christian Mystery for free today! Praise for the Mitzy Neuhaus Mysteries A fun cozy mystery. The lead character, Mitzy Neuhause, is what one would get if Legally Blond were about real estate. She is well-intentioned, beautiful, slightly clueless, and really, really good at what she does - which is selling homes in Portland, Oregon. The fun begins when she butts heads with a local commercial property real estate agent over a stunning and mysterious Victioran mansion. The next thing you know Russian royal jewels are being discussed and the Russian mob may, or may not, be involved. Mitzy needs to keep her faith, her head, and her big, blonde, 80's hair in place in order to bring everything to a happy ending.—Jane Wells, author of Glitter in the Sun Foreclosed is a thoroughly entertaining and superbly plotted debut novel from Traci Hilton. The book approaches the genre of mystery from an unusual but extremely engaging setting: the world of real estate. And alongside the book's delightful protagonist Mitzy Neuhaus, the reader loses himself in the grandeur and enigmatic qualities of the stunning mansion that the author so authoritatively conveys. The chemistry between Alonzo and Mitzy is apparent from their first encounter and adds a layer of tantalizing romance to the book; their chemistry is electric and their battle of wills really brings the book's main plot to life. But it is Mitzy who deserves the greatest plaudits. She is an emotionally engaging character with an incredible amount of depth; resourceful, polite, entrepreneurial and caring, she is the book's main attraction and could quite easily sustain a lengthy series of mysteries that the book's many readers would enjoy. Finally, the author's writing must receive its deserved praise. Often with light reads such as Foreclosed, the writing can be suspect. But Traci Hilton displays effortless control and command of language. A highly recommended read. –A. S. Anand author 2032

Gone to Green


Judy Christie - 2009
    The paper was an unexpected inheritance from a close colleague, and Lois must keep it for at least a year, bringing a host of challenges, lessons, and blessings into her life.When Lois pulls into Green on New Year’s Day, she expects a charming little town full of smiling people. She quickly realizes her mistake. After settling into a loaned house out on Route 2, she finds herself battling town prejudices and inner doubts and making friends with the most surprising people: troubled teenager Katy, good-looking catfish farmer Chris, wise and feisty Aunt Helen, and a female African-American physician named Kevin.Whether fighting a greedy, deceitful politician or rescuing a dog she fears, Lois notices the headlines in her life have definitely improved. She learns how to provide small-town news in a big-hearted way and realizes that life is full of newsworthy moments. When she encounters racial prejudice and financial corruption, Lois also discovers more about the goodness of real people and the importance of being part of a community.While secretly preparing the paper for a sale, Lois begins to realize that God might indeed have a plan for her life and that perhaps the allure of city life and career ambition are not what she wants after all.

Texas Roads


Cathy Bryant - 2010
    With lovable-but-quirky town folks, quaint country charm, and loads of business potential, Miller's Creek seems like the perfect place to start over. But Dani's dreams of finding home are crushed when malicious rumors and a devastating secret propel her down a road she never expected to travel. Though a Texas politician questions the arrival of this city gal in the hometown he's sworn to protect and defend, Steve can't help but admit he's falling for her. But when a mysterious billionaire funds a renovation to downtown Miller's Creek, Dani's suspicious behavior brings his built-in lie detector to alarm-clanging alert. Can Steve and Dani call a truce for a higher calling? Will romance blossom in Miller's Creek? And will Dani ever find true home? Written with the feel of Mayberry and the Mitford series, readers have fallen in love with Miller's Creek. Will you? If you enjoy Christian contemporary romance and inspirational women's fiction, don't miss this feel-good novel. Get your copy today. WHAT READERS ARE SAYING... "Page Turner! I absolutely loved this book!" " I loved the bantering between Steve and Dani and the romance they shared. They made the perfect couple. Both stubborn and bullheaded and the humor between them was really magical." "I too fell in love with Miller's Creek..." "What an excellent inspirational romance book with some mystery and a topic of finding home." "This book was non-stop 'just a little further' until suddenly I was at the end!" "The author did a remarkable job of developing her characters in the book's story line....I am anxious to read the next Miller's Creek book and highly recommend Texas Roads for Christian fiction readers." "This is a heartfelt and sometimes heart-rending story; well-written, gripping,thoroughly enjoyable, and spellbinding." OTHER CATEGORIES: Christian Western Romance Christian Dramatic Romance Inspirational Women's Fiction Inspirational Politician Romance Christian Renovation Fiction Christian Fiction Women's Religious Fiction

The Art of Losing Yourself


Katie Ganshert - 2015
     Every morning, Carmen Hart pastes on her made-for-TV smile and broadcasts the weather. She’s the Florida panhandle’s favorite meteorologist, married to everyone’s favorite high school football coach. They’re the perfect-looking couple, live in a nice house, and attend church on Sundays. From the outside, she’s a woman who has it all together. But on the inside, Carmen Hart struggles with doubt. She wonders if she made a mistake when she married her husband. She wonders if God is as powerful as she once believed. Sometimes she wonders if He exists at all. After years of secret losses and empty arms, she’s not so sure anymore. Until Carmen’s sister—seventeen year old runaway, Gracie Fisher—steps in and changes everything. Gracie is caught squatting at a boarded-up motel that belongs to Carmen’s aunt, and their mother is off on another one of her benders, which means Carmen has no other option but to take Gracie in. Is it possible for God to use a broken teenager and an abandoned motel to bring a woman’s faith and marriage back to life? Can two half-sisters make each other whole?

A Sweethaven Summer


Courtney Walsh - 2012
    Just before losing a battle with cancer, Suzanne Carter sent letters to childhood friends from her hometown of Sweethaven, Michigan. Suzanne's three friends -- Lila, Jane, and Meghan -- haven't spoken in years, yet each has pieces of a scrapbook they made together as girls. Suzanne's letters have lured them all back to the idyllic lakeside town, where they meet Campbell and begin to remember what was so special about their long Sweethaven summers. As the scrapbook reveals secrets from the past, old wounds are mended, lives are changed, and friendships are restored -- just as Suzanne intended.

Your Perfect Year


Charlotte Lucas - 2016
    He’s going to enjoy the day… For hyper-particular publishing heir Jonathan Grief, the day starts like any other—with a strict morning fitness regimen that’ll keep his divorced, easily irritated, cynical, forty-two-year-old self in absolutely flawless physical condition. But all it takes to put a crimp in his routine is one small annoyance. Someone has left a leather-bound day planner with the handwritten title Your Perfect Year in his spot on his mountain bike at his fitness course!Determined to discover its owner, Jonathan opens the calendar to find that someone known only as “H.” has filled it in with suggestions, tasks, and affirmative actions for each day. The more he devotes himself to locating the elusive H., the deeper Jonathan is drawn into someone else’s rich and generous narrative—and into an attitude adjustment he desperately needs.He may have ended up with a perfect year by accident, but it seems fate has set Jonathan on a path toward healing, feeling, and maybe even loving again…if only he can meet the stranger who’s changing his life one day at a time.

Hearts Crossing


Marianne Evans - 2010
    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?

Thicker Than Blood


C.J. Darlington - 2009
    She’s putting her past behind her and working hard to build her career as a buyer for a large used bookstore. So far she’s been able to keep her drinking problem at bay, but everything changes when she lands a DUI on her thirty-third birthday. When she’s accused of a crime she didn’t commit at work, she has nowhere to turn. She yearns for her estranged family, especially her younger sister May whom she hasn’t seen for fifteen years. Now the owner of a failing cattle ranch in Elk Valley, Colorado, May couldn’t possibly want a relationship with the big sister who didn’t even say good-bye all those years ago, could she? Soon Christy’s fleeing from her shattered dreams, her abusive ex-boyfriend, and God. Could the Triple Cross Ranch be the safe haven she’s searching for, or will May’s new-found faith give her even more reason to reject Christy?

Miranda Warning


Heather Day Gilbert - 2014
    The Glock-wielding, knife-carrying housewife knows how to survive whatever life throws at her. But when an anonymous warning note shows up in her best friend Miranda’s mailbox—a note written in a dead woman’s handwriting—Tess quickly discovers that ghosts are alive and well in Buckneck, West Virginia. Hot on a cold trail, she must use limited clues and her keen insight into human nature to unmask the killer...or the next victim might be Tess herself.Tinged with the supernatural and overshadowed by the mountains' lush, protective presence, this twisting psychological mystery is the first in A Murder in the Mountains series.

Hazardous Duty


Christy Barritt - 2006
    Claire dropped out of school and started her own crime scene cleaning business. Now, when a routine cleaning job leads her to a murder weapon the police overlooked, she realizes that the wrong man is in jail. With the help of her new and attractively single neighbor, Riley Thomas, Gabby plays the detective to make sure the right man is put behind bars.

Runner Up


Leah Banicki - 2012
    Last year's runner up was the 'good guy' heart throb Anthony Capriccio, who won over every good girl's heart when he showed off his sweet nature and his stunning good looks. Though successful in her career as a professional photographer, Hannah had been a flop on the dating scene. Would the lights and drama of a TV crew, twenty-five beautiful woman, and one good looking guy be too much? From the hearth of a Scottish castle, to expansive Australia, to the busy streets of London, Hannah Parker will find out if she is up to the task of catching her very own Prince Charming. -Appropriate for young teens and older-

My Paper Heart


Magan Vernon - 2012
    Dating one of the hottest guys in the biggest fraternity? Done. Failing out of College? Oops... When Libby Gentry's parents receive the letter that she's failed out of school, Libby is forced to pack her Prada bag and head to work for her great aunt in rural Louisiana. Nothing about tiny Elsbury, Louisiana, entices her until she locks eyes with the southern charmer, Blaine Crabtree. Libby is used to getting what she wants and Blaine is no exception, but as the two grow closer, bigger problems arise. Libby doesn't know how much more pain her already paper-thin heart can take and when new opportunities in Chicago pop up she is presented with a difficult situation: wait for her redneck Romeo, or move on.

Almost Perfect


Julie Ortolon - 2005
    And the worst part is, it's sort of true. Together they make a pact: they'll face down their fears—and maybe show Miss Perfect a thing or two!A Free SpiritMaddy was always the artistic one of the group, alive with color and mischief from her saucy red curls to her vintage hippie skirts. Her challenge, the friends decide, is to get her artwork accepted at a gallery. A job as arts director at a summer camp near Santa Fe—with its multitude of galleries—seems like a start in the right direction.A Reformed Bad BoyThere’s just one catch: The camp is run by Maddy’s high school flame, Joe, whose heart she broke—okay, smashed—and his anger towards Maddy hasn’t cooled one bit. But neither has their attraction.A Perfect Match?Old desires burn hotter than ever as Joe makes it clear there’s only one way back to his heart: She has to get serious about her art. But will falling in love help or hinder Maddy as she struggles to meet her challenge?

The Isaac Project


Sarah Monzon - 2015
    Not only does she catch her boyfriend, the man she hoped to marry, lip-locked with another woman, she also receives the gut-wrenching news that her grandfather, the man who raised her, is dying. His last wish? To see her happily married. Heartbroken, Becky seeks inspiration in the pages of the Holy Scriptures. And finds it in the story of Isaac and Rebekah. If love couldn't keep his parents together, Luke Masterson wonders what will make a marriage last. He decides to steer clear of all women—especially crazy ones like Becky Sawyer, who employs a friend to find her a husband. But when he feels the dogged promptings of the Holy Spirit to move across the country and marry a complete stranger, it seems love has little to do with it anyway. With commitment their only foundation, and love constantly thwarted, can an arranged marriage find happiness in the twenty-first century?

His Longing Heart


Jan Thompson - 2015
    She is a billionairess violin collector with a trust fund. Living in two different worlds, will their unexpected romance last?His Longing Heart is the first novel in USA Today bestselling author Jan Thompson’s Seaside Chapel Christian small-town beach romance series. This book is the updated second edition of the previously published Share with Me.The musician…Six years ago, Ivan McMillan was a budding crossover violinist on a world tour with his pianist sister. His career was cut short when Grandpa Otto died suddenly, leaving Grandma Yun saddled with enormous medical bills that ate up all their savings. In the midst of Ivan’s struggle to provide for his elderly grandmother and to save their family home from foreclosure, he finds himself falling in love with his billionairess friend, whose lifestyle he cannot afford.The muse…After Brinley Brooks’s ex-boyfriend abandons her due to her vow of purity, the twenty-something heiress goes home to St. Simon’s Island to spend time with her family and to accept her life as a single woman. At her sister’s birthday party, Brinley is mesmerized by a violinist friend, Ivan, when he plays one of Bach’s orchestral suites. Music therapy or not, her heart starts to seek its own second movement in her love life. Or is she just lonely? One thing leads to another, and Brinley enters Ivan’s world of material poverty and spiritual wealth.The minuet of their lives…When one of Ivan’s worst fears comes to pass, he feels obligated to show Brinley what it means to be a Christian living through adversity. However, trusting God is the last thing on his mind as the crisis affects his career, his life, his family, and his relationship with Brinley. Ivan cannot let her see how far he has sunk. What is a Christian man to do?