Book picks similar to
Mildred Budge in Cloverdale by Daphne Simpkins
christian
fiction
book-club
contemporary
Long Time Coming
Vanessa Miller - 2010
Kenisha Smalls has lived in poverty all her life. She has three children by three different men and has just been diagnosed with inoperable cancer. While the meeting between these two women appears accidental, it becomes their catalyst of hope. Neither woman expects the blessing that God has in store for her. While Deidre guides Kenisha on the path to eternal life with Jesus Christ, Kenisha teaches Deidre how to stand strong against the storms of life.
Cool Beans
Erynn Mangum - 2010
That is until her best friend starts dating Maya's high school sweetheart. This funny, heartwarming fiction story by best-selling author Erynn Mangum uses the power of story to challenge teens to discover the relevance of faith in their relationships and their lives.
They Almost Always Come Home
Cynthia Ruchti - 2009
Their marriage might have survived if their daughter Lacey hadn't died . . . and if Greg hadn't been responsible. Libby enlists the aid of her wilderness savvy father-in-law and her faith-walking best friend to help her search for clues to her husband's disappearance...if for no other reason than to free her to move on. What the trio discovers in the search upends Libby's presumptions about her husband and rearranges her faith.
A Wife and a River
Sherri Schoenborn Murray - 2015
Mae was NOT what he had in mind when he asked four elderly women to pray for him in hiring his first employee. She was just the kind of lure he didn’t need in his fishing store.
Here Among Us
Maggie Harryman - 2010
After all, she has been battling Maeve most of her life. Disagreeing about the extent of their Irish mother’s creeping dementia and the fate of the family’s thriving restaurant business, named for their beloved, long dead father, Paddy, is surely a recipe for a world-class brawl. What Flynn doesn’t expect is the fragile truce the sisters forge to save O’Shea’s from the clutches of Maeve’s scheming husband, Jeffrey. Flynn and Maeve are reluctantly aided by their forty-four-year-old brother, Osheen, a handsome Peter Pan still cruising the Jersey shore, getting high and dodging responsibility. And while Didi tries to convince her mother that “everything is as it should be,” just when Flynn is sure she’s gained the upper hand on Jeffrey, her own mother’s shocking confession sends her into a wine-soaked tailspin and forces her to deal once and for all with the ghosts of her past. Devastated, Flynn must choose to save O’Shea’s or risk losing forever all she has left of her father.In Here Among Us, the O’Sheas find themselves dealing with the very timely issue of Alzheimer’s, a disease that strips the victim's identity and wreaks havoc on the family left to pick up the pieces. But Flynn, Osheen and Maeve’s troubles began long before their mother started to “slip.” For the O’Sheas, much of their shared angst is rooted in the single most devastating event of their lives—the death of their father when they were young children. The novel explores not only how deep wounds can seem impossible to heal, but how refusing to let go of the stories the O'Sheas desperately cling to about who they are, threatens to hasten their demise.
Hallowed Halls
Hannah Alexander - 2014
Joy Gilbert is fired from a lucrative position she hates in the city, she returns to her small hometown to find her former fiance single, her once vivacious mother struggling financially and physically, and Tressa, the 15-year-old daughter of the boss who just fired her, popping out of the back door of her car. Tressa refuses to return to the city, where her divorced parents struggle emotionally over the death of their son. When Dr. Zack Tyler sees Joy walk into the ER with the daughter of the man who lured Joy away from him, he's hesitant, though he's overjoyed to see her again. Out of compassion, he hires her in the ER so she can support herself and her mother, and their relationship blooms.Meanwhile, Tressa has blackouts that grow increasingly bad. Joy and Zack rediscover their love for one another as they discover what caused the break-up. Together they work to save Tressa and uncover a rare genetic defect, a mystery that has ravaged decades of Tressa's family line.
Fireworks
Elizabeth White - 2006
With her faithful black Lab Monty, she moves to the charming backwater city of Mobile, Alabama, to uncover the truth. But this world-traveled military brat with a string of letters behind her name finds herself wholly unprepared to navigate the cultural quagmires of the Deep South. Captivated by the warmth and joy of her new circle of friends, Susannah struggles to keep from falling for a subject who refuses to be anything but a man of integrity, compassion, and lethal Southern charm. Fireworks offers a glimpse into the heart of the South and a cynical young woman’s first encounter with Christ-like love.
Immortality
Dee Henderson - 2018
She’s finishing a design for a new type of battery. And she’s also doing some traveling to explore the Rocky Mountains. It’s going to be an enjoyable three months. A relatively new Christian, she wants to know God better than she does now and that, too, is part of her summer plans. What she hadn’t considered was a summer romance, but walks into one compliments of God who has been richly blessing her. This is the story of Emily Worth and Noah Shepherd. It’s also a story of God’s romance with us through Jesus for God has purposed in His heart to love us forever. Dee Henderson is the author of numerous novels, including An Unfinished Death, Taken, Unspoken and the acclaimed O’MALLEY series. Several titles have appeared on the USA Today Bestseller list; Full Disclosure has also appeared on the New York Times Bestseller list. Her books have won or been nominated for several industry awards, such as the RITA Award, the Christy Award and the ECPA Gold Medallion.
Too Close to Home
Lynette Eason - 2010
Her methods are invisible, and she never stops until the case is closed. When missing teens begin turning up dead in a small Southern town, Samantha is assigned to help local chief Connor Wolfe find the killer. And he has two problems with that. There's her faith--in God and herself. And then there's the fact that she looks exactly like his late wife. As they get close to an answer, the case becomes personal. The killer seems to be taking an interest in Connor's 16-year-old daughter, who thinks her dad is getting way too protective. Can't a girl just have some fun? Too Close to Home ratchets up the suspense with each page, and will have readers cheering for the characters they love as justice is served and love grows even in the face of danger. Read this one with the lights on!
Fireflies in December
Jennifer Erin Valent - 2008
When her best friend, Gemma, loses her parents in a tragic fire, Jessilyn's father vows to care for her as one of his own, despite the fact that Gemma is black and prejudice is prevalent in their southern Virginia town. Violence springs up as a ragtag band of Ku Klux Klan members unite and decide to take matters into their own hands. As tensions mount in the small community, loyalties are tested and Jessilyn is forced to say good-bye to the carefree days of her youth. Fireflies in December is the 2007 winner of the Christian Writers Guild's Operation First Novel contest.
Superior Justice
Tom Hilpert - 2011
He's a tough-guy, thinks-he's-funny, rock-music-playing, gourmet-cooking, painfully-moderate-drinking, hard-boiled man of the cloth. He is even available for a bit of romance, under the right circumstances. Borden gets deeply involved in things he doesn't understand when one of his parishioners is arrested for a vigilante killing. The parishioner shares his true alibi with Borden, under the privileged status of religious confession. Knowing the man is innocent, Borden must prove it somehow, without divulging his secret. Along the way he uncovers a twisted series of murders and cover ups. Before it is all over, Borden himself has been bribed, beaten, shot, and arrested for murder. Even worse, he's fallen in love and had his heart broken.
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?
Lost Down Deep
Sara Davison - 2020
If only she could remember … Summer Velasquez is on the run from a man she has no recollection of after an attack she can’t recall. Every face in the crowd is a potential suspect, so how is Summer supposed to know who is a threat to her and who isn’t? After fleeing her assailant and the parents who lied to her about what happened, she changes her name and seeks refuge in Elora, Ontario. The small town feels familiar, although she has no memory of ever having been here. Even in what should be a safe place, she can’t shake the feeling that she is being watched. When Ryan Taylor strolls into the Taste of Heaven Café where she works, Summer is immediately drawn to him. However, he may not be who he says he is either. As her suspicions grow, Summer prepares to run again. But at least one person is determined to stop her. Permanently. And if she can’t remember who he is, this time he may succeed.
Coldwater Revival
Nancy Jo Jenkins - 2006
A masterful debut, Coldwater Revival will forever be etched in your memories and upon your heart.Download the Readers' Guide.
The Invitation
Nancy Moser - 2016
Four ordinary people with little in common other than a vague dissatisfaction with their lives, and an unpretentious invitation that seems to come out of nowhere.Each dismisses the mysterious invitation as a practical joke. But when strange--some might even call them miraculous--things start happening, all four find themselves embarking on a journey that takes them beyond their wildest imaginings and tests their faith to the breaking point.Before it's over, each discovers that, with God, nothing is impossible. Faith can move mountains if you open your heart to the One who has called you.God uses ordinary people--in extraordinary ways.