Finally getting to share the new covers and stories releasing from Bethany House Publishers in mid 2021. I’m not sure about you, but I find looking at new covers and reading about new novels heading our way is a good distraction and brings much joy!

The standouts for me are Tammy’s Love and the Silver Lining and Amanda Dyke’s Yours is the Night. And I can’t wait to read both of them as I love their storytelling style, just perfect for the genres they write in. And a hot tip from me! Word on the street is that Connilyn’s second Covenant House novel is nothing short of brilliant 🙂 I’m very excited to read it, too.

How about you? Which ones of these covers/novels spark your bookish interest?

Let it Be Me by Becky Wade

A Misty River Romance #2

Having graduated college at 18, Sebastian Grant has continued to leverage his intelligence and determination to become a pediatric heart surgeon. The more accolades he receives, the more he’s driven to pursue. Then he meets high school math teacher Leah Montgomery, and his fast-spinning world comes to a sudden stop.

Solving advanced math equations by the age of five, Leah has always wanted to pursue a PhD in mathematics. She willingly put that dream on hold to raise her brother. Now that he is of age, she’s set on avoiding any obstacles to her goal–including romance. 

When Leah receives surprising news in the process of taking a test for tracking her ancestry, she asks Sebastian to help her comb through aged hospital records to learn more. Soon his presence isn’t so easily ignored. But when Sebastian learns his best friend also has feelings for Leah, he begins to question his resolve to win her. Attaining their deepest desires may require more sacrifices than they ever imagined.

May 2021

A Woman of Words by Angela Hunt

Jerusalem Road #3

Disciple Matthew, a former tax collector, is invited to work with Peter, James, and John in Jerusalem. He dreams of preaching and performing miracles like his fellow apostles, but he finds his dreams postponed because of a request from Yeshua’s mother.

Well aware of the passing years, Mary asks Matthew to help her record the stories of Yeshua while the eyewitnesses are still alive. Reluctantly, he agrees, though the longer he and Mary work together, the more difficult their task becomes. Not only are they pressured by opposition from friends and foes alike, but Gaius Caesar, better known as Caligula, is determined to raise a statue of himself in the Holy Temple, even if it means killing every man in Israel.

As Matthew works to save his people, Mary encourages him to come to terms with issues from his past. When they finally near the completion of their project, Matthew realizes that the job he reluctantly accepted might be his God-given destiny.

May 2021

Paint and Nectar by Ashley Clark

Heirloom Secrets #2

In 1929, a spark forms between talented watercolorist Eliza and William, a charming young man who has been hired to forge her popular paintings. Her aunt makes it clear Eliza should stay away from him because of a feud between their families over missing heirloom silver. But the source of the rivalry was long ago, and as the two get to know each other, they fall in love. William regrets the job that desperation led him to take and their families’ ongoing bitterness, but setting things right comes at a cost.

In 1929, a spark forms between talented watercolorist Eliza and William, a charming young man who has been hired to forge her popular paintings. Her aunt makes it clear Eliza should stay away from him because of a feud between their families over missing heirloom silver. But the source of the rivalry was long ago, and as the two get to know each other, they fall in love. William regrets the job that desperation led him to take and their families’ ongoing bitterness, but setting things right comes at a cost.

In present-day Charleston, Lucy Legare has just inherited an old house from a mysterious benefactor, along with all the secrets it holds, including an old silver heirloom. Declan Pinckney is determined to buy the house for his family’s development company. But as Lucy uncovers secrets about the house, garden, and silver, she becomes more determined than ever to preserve the historic Charleston property, not only for history’s sake but also for her own.

May 2021

The Nature of a Lady by Roseanna M. White

The Secrets of the Isles #1

1906
Lady Elizabeth “Libby” Sinclair, with her love of microscopes and nature, isn’t favored in society. She flees to the beautiful Isles of Scilly for the summer and stumbles into the dangerous secrets left behind by her holiday cottage’s former occupant, also named Elizabeth, who mysteriously vanished. 

Oliver Tremayne–gentleman and clergyman–is determined to discover what happened to his sister, and he’s happy to accept the help of the girl now living in what should have been Beth’s summer cottage . . . especially when he realizes it’s the curious young lady he met briefly two years ago, who shares his love of botany and biology. But the hunt for his sister involves far more than nature walks, and he can’t quite believe all the secrets Beth had been keeping from him.

As Libby and Oliver work together, they find ancient legends, pirate wrecks, betrayal, and the most mysterious phenomenon of all: love.

May 2021

Power Play by Rachel Dylan

Capital Intrigue #3

When State Department attorney Vivian Steele witnesses two ambassadors collapse as if poisoned at a diplomatic dinner in Washington, DC, she is recruited to be a member of a joint FBI task force assigned to investigate. But she soon finds her by-the-book ways clashing with a special agent in the Diplomatic Security Service, Jacob Cruz. A former Navy SEAL and in charge of the event’s security, Jacob takes the attack personally and is driven to act quickly, even ahead of the rules and regulations. 

As Viv starts to work her diplomatic sources, her past as a State Department lawyer comes back to haunt her, and secrets held tightly by the government thrust her into a web of danger. Afraid, Viv turns to the one man bent on protecting others. But can she accept Jacob’s reckless ways as exactly what she needs to stay alive and to discover the truth behind the attacks?

June 2021

Sustaining Faith by Janette Oke & Laurel Oke Logan

When Hope Calls #2

So much has been accomplished. Lillian Walsh has stepped out courageously beyond what she’d ever dreamed of being able to achieve. She and her newly rediscovered sister, Grace, have settled three children from England into new Canadian homes and are prepared to place two more just after the New Year, when it happens–another painful disruption. 

A white lie the sisters used to protect some orphans has resulted in an official complaint and a letter revoking the sisters’ permission to manage their little children’s home. And unexpectedly, Walter, the young man who has won Lillian’s heart, departs for a job in the oil industry without leaving any hope for their future, making her confused and lonely.

With more children on their way from England needing caring homes, Lillian and Grace must use every ounce of gumption to keep their mission alive. But when startling information about the past surfaces and a new arrival comes via suspicious circumstances, they’ll have to decide what is worth fighting for and what is better left in God’s hands. 

June 2021

To Find Her Place by Susan Anne Mason

Redemption’s Light #2

In the midst of WWII, Jane Linder pours all her energy and dreams for a family into her career at the Toronto Children’s Aid Society. As acting directress, Jane hopes for a permanent appointment so she can continue making a difference in the lives of troubled children. But if anyone were to find out she is divorced, everything would change.

Garrett Wilder has been hired to overhaul operations at the Children’s Aid Society. He hopes to impress the board members with his findings and earn the vacant director’s position. A war injury ended his dream of taking over his parents’ farm, but with the security of the director’s job, he’d be able to contribute financially and help save the family business. 

Despite their competing interests, feelings begin to blossom between them. But then Jane’s ex-husband returns from overseas with an unexpected proposition that could fulfill her deepest desires. Suddenly at a crossroads, can Jane discern the path to true happiness?

June 2021

On the Cliffs of Foxglove Manor by Jaime Jo Wright

1885. 
Adria Fontaine has been sent to recover goods her father pirated on the Great Lakes during the war. But when she arrives at Foxglove Manor–a stone house on a cliff overlooking Lake Superior–Adria senses wickedness hovering over the property. The mistress of Foxglove is an eccentric and seemingly cruel old woman who has filled her house with dangerous secrets, ones that may cost Adria her life. 

Present day. 
Kailey Gibson is a new nurse’s aide at a senior home in a renovated old stone manor. Kidnapped as a child, she has nothing but locked-up memories of secrets and death, overshadowed by the chilling promise from her abductors that they would return. When the residents of Foxglove start sharing stories of whispers in the night, hidden treasure, and a love willing to kill, it becomes clear this home is far from a haven. She’ll have to risk it all to banish the past’s demons, including her own.

June 2021

The Heart’s Charge by Karen Witemeyer

Hanger’s Horsemen #2

Members of Hanger’s Horsemen, Mark Wallace and Jonah Brooks arrive in Llano County, Texas, to deliver a steed, never expecting they’d deliver a baby as well. Left with an infant to care for, they head to a nearby foundling home, where Mark encounters the woman he’d nearly married a decade ago.

After failing at love, Katherine Palmer dedicated her life to caring for children, teaming up with Eliza Southerland to start Harmony House. From mixed ancestry, illegitimate, and female, Eliza understands the pain of not fitting society’s mold. Yet those are the very attributes that lead her to minister to outcast children. The taciturn Jonah intrigues her with his courage and kindness, but there are secrets behind his eyes–ghosts from wars past and others still being waged.

However, when a handful of urchin children from the area go missing, a pair of Horsemen are exactly what the women need. Working together to find the children, will these two couples find love as well?

June 2021

A Man with a Past by Mary Connealy

Brothers in Arms #2

Falcon Hunt awakens without a past, or at least not one he can recall. He’s got brothers he can’t remember, and he’s interested in the prettiest woman in the area, Cheyenne. Only trouble is, a few flashes of memory make Falcon wonder if he’s already married. He can’t imagine abandoning a wife. But his pa did just that–twice. When Falcon claims his inheritance in the West, Cheyenne is cut out of the ranch she was raised on, leaving her bitter and angry. And then Falcon kisses her, adding confusion and attraction to the mix.

Soon it’s clear someone is gunning for the Hunt brothers. When one of his brothers is shot, Falcon and Cheyenne set out to find who attacked him. They encounter rustled cattle, traitorous cowhands, a missing woman, and outlaws that take all their savvy to overcome. As love grows between these two independent people, Falcon must piece together his past if they’re to have any chance at a future.

July 2021

Forever My Own by Tracie Peterson

Ladies of the Lake #2

In 1871, Kirstin Hallberg arrives in Duluth, Minnesota, to find the city council intent on building a canal and ensuring the city’s rise to greatness. She’s come to care for her elderly grandmother Lena Segerson only to discover Lena very full of life and full of secrets. For when Kirstin opens their front door one day, she finds the brother she long thought dead on the other side. Domar begs his sister to say nothing to their parents, viewing their grief as payment for falsely accusing him of bad behavior years prior and driving him from their Swedish village. Caught between her brother’s wishes and the chance to ease her family’s pain, Kirstin doesn’t know which decision is right.

When Domar’s friend Ilian is hurt in an accident, Kirstin and her grandmother volunteer to care for him. Ilian struggles with his own bitterness toward his estranged father, heightened by his injured leg. He can now never return to logging, but the only other thing he really knows and enjoys is making Mackinaw boats–but that would force him to seek his father’s help. 

As he recovers, a natural attraction starts between Ilian and Kirstin, but both are dealing with problems without easy answers. With no clear way forward, can love ever thrive and the past be forgiven?

July 2021

Between the Wild Branches by Connilyn Cossette

The Covenant House #2

Ten years ago Lukio fled Kiryat-Yearim, where he’d been adopted by the Levite family who guarded the Ark of the Covenant. Feeling betrayed by everyone, he returned to his birthplace in Philistia to become a famous fighter. Now the champion of Ashdod, Lukio has achieved every goal with the help of his ruthless cousin. But just as he is set to claim the biggest prize of all, the daughter of the king, his past collides with his present in the form of Shoshana.

After a heartbreaking end to her secret friendship with Lukio, Shoshana thought to never see the boy with the dual-colored eyes and the troubled soul again. But when she is captured in a Philistine raid and enslaved
in Ashdod, she is surprised to find that the brutal fighter known as Demon-Eyes is Lukio himself. 

With explosive secrets and unbreakable vows standing between them, finding a way to freedom for both may cost them everything.

July 2021

The Barrister and the Letter of Marque by Todd M. Johnson

As a barrister in 1818 London, William Snopes is a strong advocate who chooses to defend the poorer classes against the powerful. That changes the day a struggling heiress, Lady Madeleine Jameson, arrives at
his door. 

In a last-ditch effort to save her faltering estate, Lady Jameson invested in the acquisition of a merchant brig, the Padget, allowed by a letter of marque from the king’s regent to legally capture cargo from French traders operating illegally in the Indian Sea. Yet when the ship returns to the London harbor, it’s met by constables and soldiers ready to seize its goods, accusing the sailors of piracy. And the letter proving their legality has disappeared. 

Moved by the lady’s distress, intrigued by the claimed letter, and goaded by an opposing solicitor, William Snopes cautiously takes the case. But as he gets deeper into the mystery and prepares for trial, he learns that the forces arrayed against Lady Jameson, and now himself, are even more powerful than he’d imagined.

August 2021

Love and the Silver Lining by Tammy L. Gray

A State of Grace Novel #2

Darcy Malone’s dreams of mission work are dashed on her eve of fulfilling them: The Guatemalan school she was to teach at has closed. Devastated because she’s already quit her job and given up her apartment, she also loses the perfect escape from the aftermath of her parents’ divorce. Stuck in her worst-case scenario, Darcy takes an unexpected offer to move in with Bryson Katsaros’s little sister, despite the years of distrust that’s grown between her and Bryson, the lead singer in her best friend Cameron’s band. As she meets those close to him, Darcy realizes that Bryson is more than she believed.

Struck with the need to find a purpose, Darcy jumps at the chance to care for and train a group of dogs, with the aim of finding each a home before their bereaved owner returns them to animal control. But it’s Darcy herself who will encounter a surprising rescue in the form of unexpected love, forgiveness, and the power of letting go. 

August 2021

Yours is the Night by Amanda Dykes

Platoon Sergeant Matthew Petticrew arrives in France as part of the American Expeditionary Forces, an arrival which a war-weary France desperately hopes will help to end the turmoil. Having faced unthinkable things on the front, he is captivated by the sound of a lullaby, sung by a voice so pure he knows he must have imagined it. But rumors sweep through the trenches like wildfire, dubbing the voice “The Angel of Argonne,” a mysterious presence who leaves behind wreaths on unmarked graves and footprints in the war-pocked soil. 

Raised wild in the depths of the Forest of Argonne, France, Mireilles finds her world rocked when war comes crashing into the idyllic home she has always known, taking much from her. When Matthew discovers Mireilles, three things are clear: She is alone in the world, she cannot stay, and he and his two unlikely companions might be the only ones who can get her to safety.

August 2021

To Write a Wrong by Jen Turano

The Bleeker Street Inquiry Agency #2

Miss Daphne Beekman is a mystery writer by day, inquiry agent by night. Known for her ability to puzzle out plots, she happily works behind the scenes for the Bleecker Street Inquiry Agency, staying well away from danger. However, when Mr. Herman Henderson arrives on the doorstep of the agency, desperate for someone to investigate numerous attempts on his life, Daphne soon finds herself in the thick of a case she’s determined to solve.

Mr. Herman Henderson is also a mystery writer, but unlike the dashing heroes he pens, he prefers living a quiet life, determined to avoid the fate of his adventurous parents, who perished while searching for the Lost City of Gold.

As the list of suspects grows and sinister plots are directed at Daphne, the situation quickly deteriorates, and a revealed secret jeopardizes their newfound affection. Only time will tell if Daphne will be able to regain Herman’s trust and save both their lives.

August 2021

Crossed Lines by Jennifer Delamere

Love Along the Wires #2

Emma Sutton knows she should be satisfied with her position at London’s Central Telegraph Office. But ever since she was orphaned young, she’s longed for a family of her own. Things look up when a handsome engineer is thrown into her orbit and he sends Emma the love note of her dreams.

Mitchell Harris’s sharp wit and facility with a pen have enabled him to thrive despite serious obstacles. That the woman of his dreams works just one floor above his should make life perfect. But a childhood accident has left Mitchell convinced he’ll never draw a woman like Emma Sutton’s attention. When his best friend–who once saved his life–falls in love with Emma, too, and asks for help writing her love letters, Mitchell is torn between desire and loyalty. 

Believing the writer of the letters is the answer to her prayers, but confused over her growing attraction to Mitchell, Emma’s heart must decide where to call home. 

August 2021