Making a List

November 30, 2016 / Gail Johnson / 4 Comments

Can you believe we begin counting down to Christmas tomorrow? Twenty-five days! Oh, how time flies when you’re having fun with family! To begin the holiday season, I want to share a few ideas for your reading and gift lists to get you in the mood. I’ll begin with the newest release available tomorrow.

Mistletoe Mountain by Dora Hiers – 5 stars

Book Blurb: After college, Kane Kirkland returned home to Mistletoe Mountain a changed man, fifty pounds lighter and a new Christian. Six years later, with a successful real estate career and a fresh boost of confidence, all he wants for Christmas is a chance at love with longtime crush Sydney. Something happened to his friend while he was away. Something dark and life-altering ripped the joy from her spirit. And he intends to find out what…

After a disastrous relationship unraveled Sydney Camden’s life, broken and devastated, she gave up all hope for her happily-ever-after. Those silly fantasies belonged only in romance novels, not in real life. Besides, who has time for love? Her life is crazy busy caring for a disabled father and volunteering at Grace Nest, a home for pregnant teens. But then Kane turns up the heat. The gentle giant has always attracted her, but the idea of loving and losing her friend terrifies her. Because when he learns about her hidden sin, surely he’ll vanish from her life forever.

A snowstorm forces them together and unleashes their fears. Kane worries if Syd still sees him as the overweight kid from their past and questions whether a future together is God’s will or his most treasured dream. Syd wrestles the demon of lies as she relives horrendous memories.

Grace Nest…where broken hearts heal, chains are loosened, and hope is restored. Where love finds its way home during Christmas.

Yuletide Angel by Sandra Ardoin -5 stars

Book Blurb: It’s Christmastime in 1890s Meadowmead, and someone is venturing out at night to leave packages at the homes of the needy. Dubbed The Yuletide Angel, no one knows the identity of this mysterious benefactor.

No one, except Hugh Barnes, a confirmed bachelor who finds himself drawn to the outwardly shy but inwardly bold Violet Madison, a young woman who risks her safety to help others.

When Violet confesses her fear of eviction from her childhood home, Hugh longs to rescue her. His good intentions are thwarted, however, when Hugh’s estranged brother shows up in town … and in Violet’s company.

But Violet faces an even bigger threat. A phantom figure lurks in the shadows, prepared to clip the wings of The Yuletide Angel.

Pieces On Earth by Cathy Bryant – 5 stars

Book Blurb: A young mother and wife of a naval aviator longs for a white Christmas, and she doesn’t mean yet another white Christmas beach near where her husband is stationed. Grateful for a recent promotion that should keep her man stateside, Liv eagerly anticipates the first family Christmas in several years with her husband, daughter, and extended family.

Then her military marriage undergoes trial by fire as her husband is deployed for an undetermined amount of time right before the holidays, leaving Liv and her little girl in pieces.

Can Liv find God’s peace in the midst of life’s pieces? Or will the anxiety and secret she’s harboring lead to tragedy?

A Christmas Gift for Rose by Tricia Goyer – 5 stars

Book Blurb: Rose turned her back on the man she loves after he assisted the Englisch during World War II―only to discover she’s an Englischer herself.

Born in the midst of the hardships of The Great Depression, Rose grew up in Berlin, Ohio, in the arms of a loving Amish family. But she is overwhelmed by self-doubt when she learns that she was born Englisch and abandoned when her family moved West in search of work.

Was she meant to be Amish or would she have been better off growing up with her own kind―Englischers? When the man she loves leaves her behind, Rose is certain he left for good. Yet Rose discovers sometimes our greatest gifts are the ones we fear.

A Patchwork Christmas Collection by Judith Miller, Nancy Moser, Stephanie Grace Whitson – 5 stars

Book Blurb: Join three of today’s bestselling inspirational fiction authors in a collection of Christmas stories from Victorian-era America that are full of second-chance romances. Jilted by her fiancé, Karla packs away her wedding quilts and her plans for marriage. Widow Jane travels to marry a prosperous man she barely knows in order to give her daughter a better life—then is stranded in a winter storm. Victoria, a wealthy ingénue, inadvertently causes grave injury to a poor man she once considered quite a catch. Each must search her heart, change her plans. . .and patch together a tender, unexpected life filled with love.

A Prairie Christmas Collection by Tracie Peterson, Tracey Bateman, Deborah Raney, Pamela Griffin, JoAnn A. Grote, Maryn Langer, Darlene Mindrup, Janet Spaeth, Jill Stengl – 5 stars

Book Blurb: Experience Christmas on the historical American Great Plains as retold by nine different multi-published authors, including Tracie Peterson and Deborah Raney. Follow pioneers, immigrants, and orphans through their adventures, heartaches, challenges, victories, and romances. You are sure to find more than one favorite among the nine holiday romances in this unique collection to warm your heart and inspire your faith.

What is your favorite fictional story to read during the holidays?

Desire’s Promise ~ Karen Jurgens

November 29, 2016November 29, 2016 / Gail Johnson / 4 Comments

Karen Jurgens is here today to tell us about her new novella, Desire’s Promise, available on Amazon! But first, here’s the book blurb.

Carlie Livingston is steering into her last year of college in Oxford, Ohio, confident that she and Lance Holloway are headed to the altar after graduation. Those plans are wrecked, however, by her dad’s infidelity, causing her parents to walk through a messy divorce. Will she have the same fate if she marries her college sweetheart who comes from a secular family? Her mother insists she will.

She tests God’s Word by letting Him take the wheel of her life. But if God is in control, why are all her close relationships crumbling? Nothing makes sense.

Just when it appears hopeless, Clay McKinney two-steps into Carlie’s life, promising to provide everything she’s looking for. But if he’s God’s answer, why can’t her heart release Lance? Where will her final destination be on this journey of trust?

Tell us about your novella.

My novella introduces Carlie, a Christian girl, who plans to marry her secular boyfriend, Lance. Those plans fall apart when her parents’ marriage fails due to her dad’s infidelity. Stressed by the pending divorce as well as her mom’s warnings about being unequally yoked, she decides to put her relationship with Lance on hold. Although Lance doesn’t understand why he’s being rejected, Carlie decides to put God’s Word to the test by trusting Him for her future mate. Just when it looks like she’s lost all her close friends, God answers her prayers in an unexpected way.

Why did you feel there was a need for this book?

It is written out of a ministry I founded two years ago, Touched by Him Ministries. I had been praying for exactly how the Lord wished to use me, and He gave me the answer: Christian marriage. As a mother, I had a strong desire to see my daughters grow up to marry godly husbands. As a retired high-school teacher, I saw a great need for guiding and counseling teens during those vulnerable years. This evangelical story is for every teenager and young adult who is looking for a happily-ever-after marriage or for anyone who enjoys reading a romance with college-age characters.

What marital advice would you offer a young girl looking for love? Especially one raised in church, but who is discouraged by so many failed Christian marriages?

I would encourage every young girl to pray daily for her Christian mate and to trust the Lord with her future. Especially be patient because meeting the right person isn’t magic, nor does it happen overnight. God works through the lives of many people to bring about the right circumstances for that special day to arrive. It’s like piecing together a patterned quilt or composing a symphony using many different instruments. Once it happens, you can look back and see how the Lord was working all along. Believe that God’s Word is true, memorize it, and stand on it. It will never fail, especially in this day when it appears that so many good people fail. A Christian marriage involves three: a husband, a wife, and Jesus Christ. And a strand of three cannot easily be torn apart.

What’s next for you as an author?

My current WIP is Desire’s Deception, and it’s a novel about Carlie’s parents, Steve and Gwen Livingston. As Book 2 of the Desire Series, it deals with how Steve’s infidelities almost destroyed his Christian marriage. Gwen deals with deep hurt along with forgiveness and trust issues, while Steve copes with turning away from his secret life that led to sin and away from God. Can their marriage be saved? So many couples face these same issues—with a variety of different circumstances. I hope the story will minister to all couples experiencing marital difficulties leading down the road to divorce. With God at the helm, rough waters can be crossed safely to shore, even when it may appear hopeless.

Karen Jurgens, a native Cincinnatian, has been a Texan transplant for thirty years and counting. Since retiring from teaching in 2014, she has begun a new career writing, blogging, and speaking through her new ministry.

Her first contemporary romance novella, A Christmas Mosaic, was published in October 2015, as part of a multi-novella anthology, Warm Mulled Kisses. Book 1 of The Desire Series, Desire’s Promise, was just published through Amazon in October 2016. Book 2, Desire’s Deception, will be published mid-2017. The series deals with Christian marriage principles and targets adults of all ages.

She is a Crew Member at https://writingpromptsthoughtsideas.wordpress.com and a member of ACFW. You can also find her ministry posts monthly at www.heartwingsblog.com and can also follow her personal blog about scriptural answers to life’s trials at Touched by Him Ministries: www.karenjurgens.com.

Happy Thanksgiving

November 15, 2016 / Gail Johnson

Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift. 2 Corinthians 9:15

Taking a short break to be with family. I pray you all have a warm and happy Thanksgiving! God bless.

Feel free to download the Thanksgiving picture to your desktop. To do this, right-click your mouse on the picture. Then left-click on the set as desktop background link.

Picture courtesy of Pixabay. Public domain