Book picks similar to
What the Bayou Saw by Patti Lacy


first-reads
fiction
christian-fiction
christian

Desperate Pastors' Wives


Ginger Kolbaba - 2007
    All desperate for something. Is it possible that their desperation will lead to hope? Mimi, Lisa, Jennifer, and Felicia all live in the fishbowl of Red River, Ohio. Everyone expects something from them. Gourmet casseroles. Perfect husbands. Well-behaved children. They expect even more of themselves. The constant demands and always-ringing phones are enough to drive any sane woman crazy. Add to all that the condescending Katherine Fleming Katt -- self-promoting pastor's wife of the town's largest church -- who loves to flaunt her superior position. In the midst of such chaos, will each woman find the one thing she longs for? When the unflappable Kitty Katt starts showing up at odd places, the four friends get suspicious. Is Kitty hiding something? What secrets lie behind her "perfect" exterior? But even more significant than unraveling Kitty Katt's secrets is finding answers for themselves.

Finding Jeena


Miralee Ferrell - 2010
    . . in short, a new life. But when rumors around town cast her boss in a shady light, Jeena starts questioning her employer's integrity. Still, the money is good and his ethics aren't her concern. Right? Wrong. The rumors are just the beginning. Jeena's boss disappears just when hush-hush phone calls, unpaid salaries, and piles of bills attract the attention of federal authorities. Then, Jeena's carefully crafted world begins to crumble and her struggle with alcohol rears its ugly head. Shaken to the core as she faces financial and emotional ruin, Jeena is confronted with her prejudices--and with a God she had long forgotten.

Shame


Greg Garrett - 2009
    He certainly thought there'd be more to it than his ramshackle Oklahoma farm and a mundane job coaching basketball at his old high school. He questions his fatherhood skills too: his oldest son won't speak to him, his younger son wants to quit the basketball team, and now his daughter wants to go out on dates. He loves his wife, but the marriage has settled into complacency. Now his twentieth high school reunion looms and he has agreed to play in an exhibition game at the reunion, which is sure to be a wretched joke. And his ex-girlfriend's back in town, newly single. Twenty years is plenty long enough for a man to mope after what might have been. It's time for John to make himself understand that.Professor of English at Baylor University, Greg Garrett is an award-winning author of both fiction and nonfiction. His critically acclaimed novel Free Bird was chosen by Publishers Weekly as one of the best first novels of 2002. He resides in Austin, Texas.

Learning to Fly


Roxanne Henke - 2008
    Each time Susan thinks she just might have a handle on this "mothering thing," Lily discovers a new stage of growth and testing and Susan tries her best to keep up.A chance meeting of a high school acquaintance, JoJo, also a new mom, in the grocery store gives both Susan and her daughter friends to learn and grow with. Parenting their girls from toddler-through-teen years is a constant challenge for the two mothers...and their daughters. As high school graduation approaches, all four of these women face new territory. Are the young women ready for life on their own? Are the mothers ready to let their girls go?"Learning to Fly" is a story of life, love, and letting go."Fiction that finds blessing in the broken"..".a CBA novelist to watch." --"Publishers Weekly"

Songs of Deliverance


Marilyn Griffith - 2009
    Lucky for them, their teacher knew something the principal didn't; they were cream of the crop but they just hadn't sprouted the way people expected.Though they went their separate ways, the past is calling them back to the school and the teacher who wouldn't give up on them. Now they'll have to decide what love really means--and whether they're willing to dance to a new tune to get it. But can they rediscover the songs of deliverance that once brought them together? Or will secrets keep them apart?

Forewarned


Debra Ullrick - 2009
    Unable to get out much because of pain, she goes online in hopes of finding some new friends to fill the void the long, lonely winters bring. A budding friendship develops, and soon, Jasmine finds herself in danger. Jack Warren is in love with Jasmine and has been for years. When he discovers she’s talking to strangers on the Internet, a pit fills his stomach, signaling something’s not right about one particular person. Can he convince her to give up her budding friendship before it’s too late? Will she ever come to love him as more than just a friend?

The Bone Box


Bob Hostetler - 2008
     Archeologist and agnostic Randall Bullock has come to Israel to try and resurrect his crumbling career and shattered life. Teaming up with Miri Sharon, a beautiful representative of Israeli Antiques Authority, the two unearth a stone casket marked "Joseph, son of Caiaphas," which contains several fragile scrolls that document the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This discovery launches Miri and Randall, along with his estranged nineteen-year-old daughter, Tracy, into a race to validate the monumental find, no matter what the Israeli authorities, media circus, and archaeological rivals want the world to believe. Forced to face the power of this historical resurrection, Randall must also struggle with his own beliefs -- or lack of them -- while trying to keep the consequences of their discovery from taking a disastrous turn. The Bone Box, fraught with political intrigue, is a suspense-filled blend of historical fact, romance, and transforming faith. Through all the danger and struggle, Randall discovers how easy -- and deadly -- it is to ignore the evidence and reject the true story of Christ.

Solemnly Swear


Nancy Moser - 2008
    But was she simply in the wrong place at the wrong time? It's up to the jury to decide. Each member comes from a different background, but one in particular has a lot at stake by being on this jury. The circumstantial evidence against the accused piles up, yet Patti McCoy isn't the only one who has to deal with innocence and guilt. Or judgment.

The Black Cloister


Melanie Dobson - 2008
    Raised by her loving stepfather, Elise has spent years trying to learn the truth about her mother, Catrina, and her birth family in Germany, but still knows very little. Now a young woman in college, Elise is traveling to her homeland of Germany to uncover her family's past, but what she finds is much more harrowing than she ever suspected.

Fossil Hunter


John B. Olson - 2008
    When paleontologist Dr. Katie James leads an expedition to search for an ancient whale fossil rumored to be in the Iraqi desert, she has no idea her archrival, Nick Murad, will be searching for the same fossil. But then Katie makes a ground-breaking discovery and is forced to collaborate with Nick to analyze the find before it's destroyed by a fundamentalist government faction. Nick and Katie's initial results fly in the face of current scientific theory, and it seems the whole world turns against them, including those they thought they could trust. Then the fossil disappears, sending Nick and Katie on a chase that could cost them their reputations, their careers—even their lives.

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.

Ruby Among Us


Tina Ann Forkner - 2008
    Lucy senses her grandmother holds the key, but Kitty seems as eager to hide the past as Lucy is eager to find it.From the streets of San Francisco and Sacramento to the lush vineyards of the Sonoma Valley, Lucy follows the thread of memory in search of a heritage that seems long-buried with her mother, Ruby.What she finds is as enigmatic and stirring as it is startling in this redemptive tale about the power of faith and mother-daughter love.

The Ultimate Guide to Darcy Carter


Teresa Slack - 2006
    Regardless, she doubts she can guide herself out of a brown paper bag. When her editor suggests she write The Ultimate Guide to Finding Mr. Right, she wants no part of it. To avoid Mr. Right--since she's pretty sure he doesn't exist--and hopefully figure out where the discontentment with her life is coming from, she heads south to research one last ultimate guidebook. The questions and doubts swirling around in her head follow. If she's no longer America's Ultimate Guide Girl, who is she? Would she recognize Mr. Right if he was standing right in front of her? Where does an Ultimate Guide Girl turn for guidance? Her heavenly father who gives wisdom to all who seek it? Or can she rely on herself, the woman with all the answers? This clean contemporary Christian romance is a feel-good, laugh-out-loud story that reminds us sometimes the things we work so hard for don't bring the fulfillment and happiness we're looking for.

Rain Dance


Joy E. DeKok
    What happens when a Christian woman facing a childless future and a woman seeking an abortion are waiting to see the same doctor?What if after that "chance" encounter they are unable to forget each other?What if they find themselves drawn together in spite of their drastic differences by their surprising similarities?What if they somehow find the courage to become friends?Rain Dance takes the listener into the hearts of these two women as they journey closer to the heart of the One who offers hope and healing.

The Good Girl


Christy Barritt - 2013
    She can list the Bible canon backward, forward, and alphabetized. And the only time she ever missed church was at seventeen because she had pneumonia and her mom made her stay home. But when her life shatters around her and her reputation is left in ruins, Tara decides escape is the only option. She flees halfway across the country to dog-sit, but the quiet anonymity she needs isn t waiting in her sister s house. Instead she finds a knife with a threatening message, a fame-hungry friend, a too-hunky neighbor, and evidence of...a ghost? Following all the rules has gotten her nowhere. And nothing she learned in Sunday School can tell her where to go from there.