Thomas Nelson is back with a great series of books to look forward to in late 2013!

Lots to love in these offerings ~ cover wise I love Dear Mr Knightley, The Painted Table, To Know You, The Merciful Scar, Stones for Bread, and wait for it…An Amish Miracle! Very few Amish covers capture my attention but this one does, although I’m a little nervous it may not be final as it isn’t showing up in the TN catalogue. I like the ones listed because they are different and steer clear from the styles that often shout “Christian Fiction” louder than “here’s a great story with a fabulous cover”!

As far as stories go, I’m very excited about Dear Mr Knightley (again!), I hope it shines, Christa’s books are nothing short of brilliant, and I’m very intrigued by the subject matter in Rebecca’s, Suzanne’s, and also in Shannon & Kathryn’s collaboration.  

Worthy of note ~ City on Fire is a reprint of Tracy’s excellent book, Pompeii,  The Christmas Candle is also a reprint, the first three Yada Yada books have been given a new look (I’ve only shown the first), and Colleen’s novella will only be available in e-book format when it releases. Also, The Painted Table has been previously published with another publisher.

So, much to talk about ~ as always, please chime in!

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The Shadow Lamp by Stephen R Lawhead

The quest for answers hinges on finding the cosmic link between the Shadow Lamp, the Skin Map, and the Spirit Well.

The search for the map of blue symbols started in a rainy alley in London, but has since expanded through both space and time. Mina, Kit, Gianni, Cass, Haven, and Giles have gathered in Mina’s 16th-century coffee house and are determined to find a path back to the Spirit Well. Yet with their shadow lamps destroyed and key pieces of the map still missing, the journey will be far costlier than they imagine. And when one of their own disappears with the coveted green book, they no longer know who to trust.

At the same time, the Zetetic Society is on the verge of a most disturbing discovery. The expansion of the universe is slowing and soon will begin to reverse. And when it does, the effect will be far more than a setback. It will be the systematic annihilation of all that exists . . . the end of everything.

The quest for answers is no longer limited to treasure. Now everything depends on cracking the code.

September, 2013

The Merciful Scar by Rebecca St. James & Nancy Rue

In the midst of pain, mercy is sweet relief.

Kirsten Peterson was 16 the first time her life fell apart. The only release she could find was through the tiny lines she carved in her skin. Outwardly she seemed fine, but the scars remained. Hidden from everyone who loved her.

Then it happens again. On the night she’s certain her boyfriend will propose . . . but instead he kisses her best friend. Devastated, Kirsten falls back on the only source of relief she can imagine. When she lands in the ER, the secret she has so carefully hidden with her wit and bright smiles is laid bare.

Desperate to keep the news from her father and with few resources, Kirsten agrees to a treatment program on a sheep ranch where she’ll work to pay the costs of her stay. There, she’ll discover the amazing gift of mercy and its power to reshape pain into something beautiful and new.

September, 2013

Fatal Tide by Lis Wiehl & Pete Nelson

Dani and Tommy discover that the vicious killings in East Salem were merely the birth pangs of a greater evil about to be born.

Occultist leaders at Saint Adrian’s school are in league with an East Salem pharmaceutical company. Together they’ve developed a drug that acts as a time-bomb in children, attacking and killing the prefrontal cortex—the moral center of the brain—once adolescence begins.

East Salem residents Dani Harris, forensic psychiatrist, and Tommy Gunderson, former pro-football player, have discovered the plan to deliver this drug into the water system and will stop at nothing to halt it. Their secret weapon? Reese Stratton, a student who barely escaped from St. Adrian’s—without his twin brother.

Now demonic creatures are terrorizing East Salem under the cover of darkness. Having killed two residents, the beasts have surrounded Tommy’s hillside home. But their deadly attacks seem to have been just a prelude to greater disaster: during a physical battle between angels and demons, a dam breaks, flooding the town of East Salem, but also washing it clean.

September, 2013

City on Fire by Tracy L Higley

A Jewish slave girl fights for her life in first-century Pompeii on the eve of the city’s destruction.

Wealthy Roman patrician Cato came to the seaside town of Pompeii to build a new business, but hostility and outright corruption threaten his carefully laid plans and ignite his desire for social justice. Meanwhile, Ariella, an escaped Jewish slave girl, comes to town with a gladiator troupe. Disguised as a young boy, Ariella’s only ambition is survival.

Ariella and Cato face political intrigue, religious persecution, and family peril even as the ominous mountain in the distance begins to spew its fire. They must bridge their differences to save the lives of those they love before fiery ash buries Pompeii, turning the city into a lost world.

September, 2013

The Christmas Candle by Max Lucado

Glowing bright with a timeless message, The Christmas Candle will warm your heart.

It’s 1864 in Gladstone, England, a tiny village in the Cotswolds. Nothing out of the ordinary evervhappens here. Except at Christmas time. This year, Edward Haddington, a lowly candle maker isvvisited by a mysterious angel. That angel silently imparts a precious gift. The candle maker and hisvwife, Bea, have to make a difficult choice—who among them most needs a Christmas miracle?

As hope blossoms in wintertime, soon the entire town glows brightly with Christmas joy.

September, 2013

Gunpowder Tea by Margaret Brownley

She’s a Pinkerton detective. He’s working undercover for Wells Fargo. Neither has a clue about love.

Annie Beckman arrives at Last Chance Ranch in the Arizona Territory holding the classified ad she found. Miss Walker’s search for an heiress who is single and willing to remain so gives her the perfect cover. As a detective for the Pinkerton Agency, Annie’s latest clandestine task is to discover the identity of the mysterious Phantom, a train robber thought to be hiding out at the ranch.

Ranch hand and undercover Wells Fargo detective Jeremy Taggert is secretly tracking the Phantom too, but Annie suspects he may be the train robber she’s after. They’re constantly at odds and she even goes so far as to serve him gunpowder tea in an attempt to gain the upper hand.

Danger lurks around every corner and everyone is under suspicion—even Miss Walker! It’ll be a race to the finish to see which rival detective finds the Phantom first. Nothing—not even romance—can get in their way

October, 2013

Heart Failure by Richard Mabry

Not even Witness Protection could keep him safe . . . but he’ll do anything to keep the woman he loves out of danger.

Dr. Carrie Markham thought Adam Davidson was the perfect fiance. But that was before a drive-by shooting led to his confession that he’s a defector from the witness protection program and is now running for his life. Adam isn’t the man she thought he was, and every moment she spends with him seems to bring her closer to her own death.

Adam must convince Carrie he’s innocent and figure out who’s trying to kill him. She must decide if her love for him is real—and whether he’s worth the risk.

And the clock is ticking.

October, 2013

To Know You by Shannon Ethridge & Kathryn Mackel

Years ago, Julia Whittaker gave up two daughters for adoption. Now she must find them to try to save the life of her son.

Julia and Matt Whittaker’s son was diagnosed with biliary atresia at birth. Dillon has beaten the odds for thirteen years only to have the odds—and his liver—crash precipitously. The only hope for his survival is a transplant. He can receive a “living liver” transplant but neither his parents, nor various family members and friends, are compatible.

The transplant list is long and Dillon’s time is short. Very short.

He has two chances for a compatible liver: his two older half-sisters, born eighteen months apart and adopted at birth.

But can Julia ask a young woman—someone she surrendered to strangers—to donate a portion of her body to a brother she’s never known? Will either sister even be a match for their half-brother? Will either of them show mercy and courage if they are?

Julia knows she’s probably on a fool’s errand—reaching out to the daughters she abandoned only now that she needs them. But what other choice does she have except to try?

October, 2013

Holy Night by Colleen Coble (e-book only)

On the eve of her Christmas wedding in Hawaii, Leia’s younger sister goes missing. The wedding is called off and the search begins.

As Leia prepares for her upcoming Christmas Eve wedding to Bane, she discovers her younger sister Eva is missing. Leia learns she must call off the wedding or she’ll never see Eva again.

When Leia hands back Bane’s ring, he presses her for the reason. Her coldness makes him believe all she’s telling him—until he overhears her tell her parents what is really going on. He vows to help her find her sister, but assures her the wedding will stay off since she didn’t trust him enough to tell him the truth in the first place.As the two of them search for Eva, Leia is frantic to find her sister, but her heart breaks at how much she’s hurt and hurting Bane. And she doesn’t know how to fix it. All the family is converging for a wedding she is beginning to believe really won’t take place. Even if they find Eva alive and well, can they ever find their way back to that holy night where they can pledge their love to one another?

November, 2013

Dear Mr Knightley by Katherine Reay

Dear Mr. Knightley is a contemporary epistolary novel with a delightful dash of Jane Austen.

Samantha Moore survived years of darkness in the foster care system by hiding behind her favorite characters in literature, even adopting their very words. Her fictional friends give her an identity, albeit a borrowed one. But most importantly, they protect her from revealing her true self and encountering more pain.

After college, Samantha receives an extraordinary opportunity. The anonymous “Mr. Knightley” offers her a full scholarship to earn her graduate degree at the prestigious Medill School of Journalism. The sole condition is that Sam write to Mr. Knightley regularly to keep him apprised of her progress.

As Sam’s true identity begins to reveal itself through her letters, her heart begins to soften to those around her—a damaged teenager and fellow inhabitant of Grace House, her classmates at Medill, and, most powerfully, successful novelist Alex Powell. But just as Sam finally begins to trust, she learns that Alex has secrets of his own—secrets that, for better or for worse, make it impossible for Sam to hide behind either her characters or her letters.

November, 2013

Nightmare City by Andrew Klavan

Tom Harding only wants the truth. But the truth is becoming more dangerous with every passing minute.

As a reporter for his high school newspaper, Tom Harding was tracking the best story of his life—when, suddenly, his life turned very, very weird. He woke up one morning to find his house empty . . . his street empty . . . his whole town empty . . . empty except for an eerie, creeping fog—and whatever creatures were slowly moving toward him through the fog.

Now Tom’s once-ordinary world has become something out of a horror movie. How did it happen? Is it real? Is he dreaming? Has there been a zombie apocalypse? Has he died and gone to hell?

Tom is a good reporter—he knows how to look for answers—but no one has ever covered a story like this before. With the fog closing in and the hungry creatures of the fog surrounding him, he has only a few hours to find out how he lost the world he knew. In this bizarre universe nothing is what it seems and everything—including Tom’s life—hangs in the balance.

November, 2013

Stones for Bread by Christa Parrish

What do you do when the gift you thought was bread turns out to be stones?

Liesl McNamara’s Wild Rise is not only a popular bakehouse and café in Vermont, it’s an extension of herself. Liesl is an artisan bread maker, like her mother and grandmother before her. Even though she lost her mother to suicide when she was eleven, she keeps this maternal bond alive as she bakes.

Liesl prides herself on living an uncomplicated, unattached life. But that changes when Seamus walks through the door of Wild Rise, lugging the large bags of whole wheat flour from the local food co-op. He and his daughter Cecelia have recently moved to the country seeking simplicity. Despite her best effort, Liesl becomes attracted to this teddy bear of a man who laughs easily and eats strange sandwich concoctions—on her bread, much to her dismay.

Her simple life is further complicated when a popular cooking show features her bakery. The publicity increases her business and brings several offers from larger businesses, all of which she turns down. But it also brings a completely unexpected phone call, one from a woman claiming to be her half-sister.

Liesl’s sense of identity dissolves as everything about her relationship with her mother—and the bread that held them together—comes into question. Has she been given stones rather than bread? And how can she ever take these crumbs and make them whole again?

November, 2013

Plain Peace by Beth Wiseman

Anna’s grandfather seems determined to ruin her Rumspringa . . . and any hopes she has of finding a husband.

Anna Byler should be enjoying her Rumspringa as allowed by her faith. But because of the strict rules enforced by her grandfather—the bishop—the available suitors in town are afraid to court her. Even Anna’s grandmother is keeping a big secret from Anna’s grandfather in an effort to keep the peace. Under her grandfather’s oppressive watch, Anna begins to feel her faith slipping and wonders if God has forsaken her.

Jacob Hostetler and his family have relocated to Lancaster County following a family tragedy in Ohio. As his family struggles to rebuild their lives, Jacob is forced to act as head of the household when his father is unable to cope with recent events. It’s been a long time since Jacob has felt any joy. Until he meets Anna Byler. But will Anna’s grandfather succeed at keeping them apart? And can Jacob put the past behind him and open his heart?

November, 2013

An Amish Miracle by Beth Wiseman, Ruth Reid, & Mary Ellis

“Always in My Heart” by Mary Ellis

Hope Bowman believes God is punishing her for giving up her firstborn son when she was a teenager. She’s hidden this past from her husband, who is thankful for their daughters but longs for a son. Hope prays desperately, but the son God sends isn’t a new pregnancy. It’s the fifteen-year-old boy she gave away years ago.

“Always His Providence” by Ruth Reid

Widow Rosa Hostetler has one month to pay her delinquent taxes before the county auctions her farm. She’s prepared to sell whatever is necessary to pay the lien, but she isn’t willing to request money from the community’s widow fund. She’s embarrassed and refuses to admit she needs help. Rosa depends on income from selling eggs, but when that income is threatened, only a miracle can help Rosa accept the kindness of a neighbor.

“Always Beautiful” by Beth Wiseman

Becky Byler is eighteen and obese. As she continues to grow, so does her despair. Having lost all hope, she considers taking her life, even though it goes against her beliefs. Standing before rushing water, unable to swim, Becky begs God for a miracle. Two months pass and Becky has miraculously lost over a hundred pounds. But does Becky like the person she has become? Could it be this weight loss isn’t at all the miracle she thinks it is?

December, 2013

The Painted Table by Suzanne Field

The table that once provided comfort and even shelter had become a symbol for all that was wrong with the Quimbly family.

In 1920, seven-year-old Josephine and her sisters sought protection from a raging prairie fire by hiding beneath their family’s beautiful Norwegian wooden table. She survived, but the terrifying experience planted a seed of mental instability in Josephine.

Just as WWII began, Josephine fell in love at a dance. Nel and Josephine soon married, but Nel was quickly drafted and sent overseas, leaving Josphine to work and care for their new baby, Saffee.

Nel’s absence was an additional strain on Josephine’s already precarious hold on reality. Though he returned safely, their family was never quite normal. Throughout their childhoods, Saffee and her sister learned to navigate their own personal “normal” from day to day—from their mother’s unpredictable spells of arguing with imagined tormentors to her frantic painting and repainting of the old heirloom table, handcrafted by her great-grandfather.

Not until Saffee went to college and met Jack would she begin to gain victory over the past and find the real gifts her troubled mother left behind.

December, 2013

The Yada Yada Prayer Group by Neta Jackson

A group of 12 very different women, assigned to a prayer group at a women’s conference, become the best of friends as they support each other through the challenges and crises in their lives.

What do an ex-con, a former drug addict, a real estate broker, a college student, and a married mother of two have in common?

Nothing, or so I thought. Who would have imagined that God would make a prayer group as mismatched as ours the closest of friends? I almost didn’t even go to the Chicago Women’s Conference—after all, being thrown together with five hundred strangers wasn’t exactly my “comfort zone.”

But something happened that weekend to make us realize we had to hang together, and the “Yada Yada Prayer Group” was born! When I faced the biggest crisis of my life, God used my newfound Sisters to show me what it means to be just a sinner saved by grace.

December, 2013

Carolina Gold by Dorothy Love

The war is over, but at Fairhaven Plantation, Charlotte’s struggle has just begun. Charlotte Fraser returns to her late father’s once-flourishing rice plantation on the Waccamaw River, determined to continue his tradition of growing the special kind of rice known as Carolina Gold. But Fairhaven Plantation is in ruins, the bondsmen are free, and money is scarce.

To make ends meet, Charlotte reluctantly accepts a position as tutor to the young daughters of Nicholas Betancourt, heir to the neighboring Willowood Plantation. Then Nick’s quest to prove his ownership of Fairhaven sends Charlotte on a dangerous journey that uncovers a family mystery. . . and threatens all that she holds dear.

Inspired by historical events, Carolina Gold weaves together mystery, romance, and rich historical detail, bringing to life the story of one young woman’s struggle to restore her ruined world.

December, 2013

The Sinners’ Garden by William Sirls

In a small town where hope and tragedy intermingle, things—and people—are not always what they seem.

Andy Kemp has suffered most of his life from both physical and emotional scars, and he believes that the scars on his face are proof that God doesn’t love him. Andy has grown into a withdrawn teenager, keeping to himself, until his uncle, ex-con Gerald Ripley, shows up and wants to be a mentor to Andy. Rip has turned his life around and wants to do everything he can to help mend Andy’s pain and the rift in his relationship with his sister.

Meanwhile, police officer Heather Gerisch responds to a late-night breaking and entering episode in one of the poorest homes in town. The masked man makes the sign of the cross, escapes, and Heather soon realizes that he has left $5,000 in gift cards to a local grocery store. As the bizarre break-ins continue and Heather pursues the elusive “Summer Santa,” Andy begins to hear strange and beautiful music, and Rip is convinced that he is hearing the voice of God.

As the lives and stories of the townspeople of Benning Township intertwine, extraordinary circumstances emerge and long-kept secrets are revealed.

December, 2013