The wonderful people at Tyndale have released their mid 2018 covers/synopses to the world and it’s so fun to share them with you. Beth’s, Amy’s, and Courtney’s are the ones that appeal to me most. They have a contemporary look and intrigue me, as much for their simplicity as anything else. Tara’s is very elegant and I love the blue colouring.

I’m a little confused by Heidi’s – it certainly depicts the historical era part of the story well, with the elegant dress and the flags. The gold and red colours are stunning. But I have questions! Do you think that is blood on her sleeve and arm? And while I don’t mind “decapitations’ for the most part, this one seems doesn’t work as well as the flag looks more like a veil. I think I would have preferred her whole face revealed and the two flags both positioned at the bottom. But I know nothing about design, so I’m only talking from what personally appeals to me. I love Heidi’s writing and I’m super excited to read this one.

Pam’s is pretty and follows the style of her first book in the series and I like Tracy’s new cover for the re-release. As for Tessa’s, I really like the sense of movement created, but it reminded me more of a children’s book cover than one for adults. Is that just me?

Regardless of covers, the best part about this post is that I want to read EVERY SINGLE ONE of these stories! Carla’s is, of course, a re-issue but one can never get enough of James MacDonald, right?! Tessa writes some of the very best Biblical fiction around, along with Tracy. Courtney is an AMAZING talent, as is Beth and I’m so excited for her new writing journey with Tyndale. Tara is a new author I’m excited to read and Pam and Heidi write beautiful historical stories, and Amy always makes the read contemplate life! I’m intrigued with Rachelle’s book as she branches out from her YA beginnings.

I’d love to know your thoughts on these covers and stories!

*****

Things I Never Told You by Beth Vogt

It’s been ten years since Payton Thatcher’s twin sister died in an accident, leaving the entire family to cope in whatever ways they could. No longer half of a pair, Payton reinvents herself as a partner in a successful party-planning business and is doing just fine—as long as she manages to hold her memories and her family at arm’s length.

But with her middle sister Jillian’s engagement, Payton’s party-planning skills are called into action. Which means working alongside her opinionated oldest sister, Johanna, who always seems ready for a fight. They can only hope that a wedding might be just the occasion to heal the resentment and jealousy that divides them . . . until a frightening diagnosis threatens Jillian’s plans and her future. As old wounds are reopened and the family faces the possibility of another tragedy, the Thatchers must decide if they will pull together or be driven further apart.

May 2018

The Hidden Side by Heidi Chiavaroli

New York, 2016

Natalie Abbott offers answers for hurting listeners on her popular radio program. But she struggles to connect with her teenagers, with her daughter in an unhealthy relationship and her son uncommunicative and isolated. When one member of the family commits an unspeakable act, Natalie is forced to uncover who she truly is under the facade of her radio persona.

New York, 1776

Mercy Howard is shocked when her fiancé, Nathan Hale, is arrested and hanged as a spy. When she’s asked to join the revolutionary spy ring in Manhattan, she sees an opportunity to avenge Nathan’s death. But keeping her true loyalties hidden grows increasingly harder as the charming Major John Andre of the King’s Army becomes more to her than a target for intelligence.

Mercy’s journals comfort Natalie from across the centuries as both women struggle with their own secrets and shame, wondering how deep God’s mercy extends.

May 2018

The Road to Magnolia Glen by Pam Hillman

1792, Natchez Trace, MS

Bitter since his eldest brother abandoned their family in Ireland, Quinn O’Shea travels to Natchez, Mississippi, ready to shuck the weight of his duty and set off on an adventure of his own. It’s time Connor, as head of the family, took responsibility for their younger siblings. While aboard ship, a run-in with three Irish sisters lands Quinn in the role of reluctant savior. Though it may delay his plans, he cannot abandon the Young sisters, especially the tenacious yet kind Kiera.

Upon arriving in the colonies, Kiera Young prepares to meet her intended and begin her new life. But she soon discovers the marriage her brother-in-law arranged was never meant to be, and a far more sinister deal was negotiated for her and her sisters.

Quinn offers to escort his charges safely to Breeze Hill Plantation and his brother’s care, fully intending to seek his freedom elsewhere. But the longer he remains, the greater his feelings toward Kiera grow and the more he comes to realize true freedom might be found in sacrifice.

June 2018

Before I Saw You by Amy Sorrells

Folks are dying fast as the ash trees in the southern Indiana town ravaged by the heroin epidemic, where Jaycee Givens lives with nothing more than a thread of hope and a quirky neighbor, Sudie, who rescues injured wildlife. After a tragedy leaves her mother in prison, Jaycee is carrying grief and an unplanned pregnancy she conceals because she trusts no one, including the kind and handsome Gabe, who is new to town and to the local diner where she works.

Dividing her time between the diner and Sudie’s place, Jaycee nurses her broken heart among a collection of unlikely friends who are the closest thing to family that she has. Eventually, she realizes she can’t hide her pregnancy any longer, not even from the baby’s abusive father who is furious when he finds out. The choices she must make for the safety of her unborn child threaten to derail any chance she ever had for hope and redemption. Ultimately, Jaycee must decide whether the truest form of love means hanging on or letting go.

June 2018

Just Let Go by Courtney Walsh

For Quinn Collins, buying the flower shop in downtown Harbor Pointe fulfills a childhood dream, but also gives her the chance to stick it to her mom, who owned the store before skipping town twenty years ago and never looking back. Completing much-needed renovations, however, while also competing for a prestigious flower competition with her mother as the head judge, soon has Quinn in over her head. Not that she’d ever ask for help.

Luckily, she may not need to. Quinn’s father and his meddling friends find the perfect solution in notorious Olympic skier Grady Benson, who had only planned on passing through the old-fashioned lakeside town. But when a heated confrontation leads to property damage, helping Quinn as a community-service sentence seems like the quickest way out—and the best way to avoid more negative press.

Quinn finds Grady reckless and entitled; he thinks she’s uptight and too regimented. Yet as the two begin to hammer and saw, Quinn sees glimpses of the vulnerability behind the bravado, and Grady learns from her passion and determination, qualities he seems to have lost along the way. But when a well-intentioned omission has devastating consequences, Grady finds himself cast out of town—and Quinn’s life—possibly forever. Forced to face the hurt holding her back, Quinn must finally let go or risk missing out on the adventure of a lifetime.

June 2018

When Through Deep Waters by Rachelle Dekker

Alicen McAffery finally has the life her mother always dreamed for her: beautiful home in Santa Monica, successful husband, adorable daughter. Then tragedy blows her carefully assembled facade to pieces. Worse yet—Alicen feels solely responsible. At rock bottom, she decides to accompany a childhood friend back to Red Lodge, Montana, where they spent summers together as kids.

The peaceful mountain landscape, accented with lush forests and small-town charm, brings back happy memories of time spent with her beloved, eccentric Grandma Josephine. Alicen begins to hope that perhaps things could be different here. Perhaps the oppressive guilt will lift—if only for a moment.

But when Alicen starts hearing voices and seeing mysterious figures near the river in the woods, she begins to fear she’s completely lost her sanity, as it’s rumored her grandmother did. Or might there be more to Red Lodge than meets the eye? Could the voices and visions be real—and her only means of finding the healing she so desperately needs? Or will they prove to be her final undoing?

July 2018

Engraved on the Heart by Tara Johnson

Reluctant debutante Keziah Montgomery lives beneath the weighty expectations of her staunch Confederate family, forced to hide her illness for fear of a scandal. As rumors of war arrive on their doorstep, Keziah sees little cause for balls and courting. Despite her discomfort, she cannot imagine an escape from her familial confines—until an old schoolmate shows her a life-changing truth that sets her feet on a new path . . . as a conductor in the Underground Railroad.

Dr. Micah Greyson never hesitates to answer the call of duty, no matter how dangerous, but when the enchanting Keziah waltzes back into his life, his well-ordered plans are turned upside down. Torn between the life he has always known in Savannah and the fight for abolition, Micah struggles to discern God’s will amid such turbulent times.

Tensions increase in the Montgomery household as Keziah conceals her Underground affiliation from her nosy, Southern belle cousin and overbearing parents determined to marry her off to the wealthiest suitor. As Keziah and Micah face their own battles, they discover some convictions are worth a sacrifice . . . but as circumstances threaten to keep them apart, they will learn if love is truly strong enough to endure the pain of war.

July 2018

Five Days in Skye by Carla Laureano

Andrea Sullivan is so consumed by her hospitality consultant job that she’s forgotten what brings her joy. She dreads her new assignment—a last chance to snag a high-profile client in Scotland. Yet the lush Isle of Skye transcends her preconceptions. As does the man she must impress, the rugged, blue-eyed Scotsman James MacDonald.

He’s passionate about cooking but after six restaurants, four cookbooks, and his own television show, he’s grown weary of the scrutiny that comes with living in the public eye.

Soon Andrea and James begin to sense these five days in Skye together may just be God’s wild invitation into deeper life . . . and truer love.

July 2018

The Thief of Corinth by Tessa Afshar

First-century Corinth is a city teeming with commerce and charm. It’s also filled with danger and corruption—the perfect setting for Ariadne’s greatest adventure.

After years spent living with her mother and oppressive grandfather in Athens, Ariadne runs away to her father’s home in Corinth, only to discover the perilous secret that destroyed his marriage: though a Greek of high birth, Galenos is the infamous thief who has been robbing the city’s corrupt of their ill-gotten gains.

Desperate to keep him safe, Ariadne risks her good name, her freedom, and the love of the man she adores to become her father’s apprentice. As her unusual athletic ability leads her into dangerous exploits, Ariadne discovers that she secretly revels in playing with fire. But when the wrong person discovers their secret, Ariadne and her father find their future—and very lives—hanging in the balance.

When they befriend a Jewish rabbi named Paul, they realize that his radical message challenges everything they’ve fought to build, yet offers something neither dared hope for.

Be transported back in time by this gripping tale of adventure, bravery, and redemption, and discover why Debbie Macomber says, “No one brings the Bible to life like Tessa Afshar.”

August 2018

The Stones of My Accusers by Tracy Groot

You’re the one, Nathaniel had said. You go and tell her, “No stones.”

Rivkah knows her own sin all too well. She knows the prophets’ judgments against women like her—and still believes that prostitution doesn’t even compare to the most secret and shameful incident of her past. Not even her best friend knows what she did. Only God knows.

Determined to make her way to Caesarea Maritima to confront the mother of her beloved Nathaniel, Jorah has no time to consider the rumors she hears of her brother Jesus’ resurrection. She’ll stop at nothing to get the answers she needs.

A former Zealot, Joab is wrestling with delivering a message to a woman named Rivkah—a message that challenges everything he ever believed. A message from her son….”No stones.”

August 2018