The world can wait

      Cover   Blurb:  After being jilted the day before her Christmas wedding, Sara Jane hates the holidays. Holly and mistletoe are a painful reminder that happily-ever-after isn't for her. Now, this Christmas, her baby sister is getting married. Talk about adding insult to injury! Forced into faux Christmas joy while she helps plan the nuptials, Sara Jane just wants to escape to Athens, Greece--away from the judgmental stares and snickers of her family and friends. God, on the other hand, may have other plans. Maxwell Dixon has secretly loved Sara Jane since they were children. Like so many tragic childhood love stories, however, he was relegated to "friend status" long ago. But when Sara Jane needs him for moral support and to be a safe date at the wedding, Max decides it's time to show Sara Jane what love and Christmas are all about. Short extract       An Interview with Sara Jane   Interviewer: After reading your story, Sara Jane, I have...

  Blurb:   When Elaine first sets eyes on former bull-rider Alex, her heart says he belongs right here, with her, on her Colorado ranch. Someday. Her faith’s in tatters after her dad’s unexpected death helping out a friend. Even when Alex reminds her that there’s no greater love than giving one’s life for a friend—like Jesus did for us, she can’t soften her heart. In addition to her woes, her vagabond uncle Jerome seems to have made shady arrangements that may cause her and her mother to lose the ranch. Can Alex’s trust in God along with his encouragement, comfort, and strength begin to restore her own reliance on the Lord?    Short Extract:   “Your father didn’t understand his brother, honey. How Jerome could leave this beautiful place. They groused and grumbled, but they loved each other just the same.” Mama glared at me then. “Kind of like you and me, I guess. But that’s beside the question. Moving on: Your father and I started a dedicated education fund for ...

  Christmas Ivy  (Published by Prism Book Group, 2016) by Judy DuCharme First line: The sizzle of bacon cooking brought Ivy to an upright position out of sound sleep. Blurb: It had to be a dream. Her grandparents, who have already passed away, greet her Christmas morning with love and sage advice. Their presence captivates reality and brings Ivy to complete confusion. Could this strange visit truly be the provision for which Ivy longed? How could a quilt reveal truths never before realized. Christmas Ivy has won   First Place Short Story at 2016 Florida Christian Writers Conference, and 2018 National Indie Excellence Award Winner for  Christmas Ivy. Inspiration: I hoped to help write a story to be used for my church’s children’s Christmas play. The story began to form as I drove home from a prayer meeting. I sat on the steps by our little heater and wrote most of it in one setting that night. It was never used for the play, but it was expanded and became the small bo...

  Christmas Under Wraps : Blurb : Though snow never falls in the Everglades, Christmas miracles rain down on Mullet Harbor.   English Professor, Christian Abrams, has thrown his career away to protect his young nephew, Dylan, from an unjust system. When Christian sees the turn off for the Everglades town of Mullet Harbor, “where you’ll always find a Friend,” he and Dylan are running low on fuel for their bodies and for his truck.   The welcoming…but quirky…citizens of the town offer refuge, but Christian can’t take the chance of being caught in the remote location. Elementary teacher, Kaylee McFarland becomes the one element for which Christian hasn’t planned. And his heart certainly hasn’t expected to have any romantic interests as he and Dylan struggle to maintain their freedom.   An ultimatum, a threat, a deep secret, and an overprotective mother light up more than Christmas trees in the holiday comedy.   Extract :  A splash drew Kaylee to the railing to...

  Lucy loves her familiar Christmas traditions. But this year, they’re all thrown out the window when she drops everything to drive across the country to care for her sister in Phoenix, Arizona. So much for a white Christmas! Between her anxious dog, her sister’s thieving kitten, and a way too attractive ice cream truck driver, will she learn that trying something new might just be what God has planned? https://pelicanbookgroup.com/ec/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=68_41&products_id=1645

  blurb: Pepper Rainwater is thriving in newfound faith, blooming love, and her own Christmas house. But the appearance of her mother brings back all the ugliness of growing up in a storage unit. Can she face family issues from a new perspective and forgive her parents for the past? The discovery of Foxx Haven' s true beginnings shatter his sense of security. For the first time, he questions his father' s love and deals with getting to know his birth mother. Did God really plan this mess for his life? He' s such a wreck inside, how can he be the man of faith Pepper deserves? Their mothers bring challenges and time constraints on Pepper and Foxx. He longs to show his love, she yearns to bask in his attention. How will they help their widowed mothers, make life easier for one another, heal appropriately, and look toward a brighter future? excerpt: Pepper sighed. She’d never been so calm or at peace in her life. And it was hard to put that into a clear thought. Maybe the sense...