A reviewer's life is never without books ... thankfully 😊 I love introducing readers to new (or new-to-them) authors, so, I thought I'd do something a bit different for today's #FridayReads post. I'm going to share some of the books in my TBR pile (and, hopefully, help you add to your pile!)
At the end of this post, be sure to enter for your chance to win one of TWO copies of Whose Waves These Are by Amanda Dykes. (US ONLY. Two different winners. Contest ends 5/17/19. If you're one of the randomly chosen winners, I'll contact you for your mailing address.)
My TBR pile (which includes print
and Kindle books) is generally overflowing. That's something that makes my reader heart very happy 🌝 I enjoy reading a variety of genres, and my TBR pile reflects that. Here are a few upcoming releases I'm excited about, in no particular order...
Welcome to the string, a game of impossible decisions and deadly consequences. Let's go over the ground rules.
Rule #1: Participation is mandatory.
Rule #2: If anyone refuses to play, all threats will come to pass.
Game on.
Get ready for a deadly social experiment as a sociopath known as The Conductor delivers disturbing threats and twisted moral dilemmas to unsuspecting students and staff.
As a powerful instinct for self-preservation sweeps through the campus, one man has a grave decision to make. Will university copy Markus Haas play the game to protect those he loves? Or will he break the string and incite massive chaos—and even death?
In the great suspense tradition of Ted Dekker and Steven James, Caleb Breakey's explosive debut novel will have you turning pages into the night.
In the midst of the Great War, Margot spends her days deciphering intercepted messages. But after a sudden loss, her world is turned upside down. Drake returns wounded from the field, followed by a destructive enemy. Immediately smitten with Margot, how can Drake convince a girl who lives entirely in her mind that sometimes life's answers lie in the heart?
Between the years of 1869 to 1939 more than 100,000 poor British children were sent across the ocean to Canada with the promise of a better life. Those who took them in to word as farm laborers or household servants were told they were orphans—but was that the truth?
After the tragic loss of their father, the McAlister family is living at the edge of the poorhouse in London in 1908, leaving their mother to scrape by for her three younger children, while oldest daughter, Laura, works on a large estate more than an hour away. When Edna McAlister falls gravely ill and is hospitalized, twins Katie and Garth and eight-year-old Grace are forced into an orphans' home before Laura is notified about her family's unfortunate turn of events in London. With hundreds of British children sent on ships to Canada, whether truly orphans or not, Laura knows she must act quickly. But finding her siblings and taking care of her family may cost her everything.
Andrew Fraser, a wealthy young British lawyer and heir to the estate where Laura is in service, discovers that this common practice of finding new homes for penniless children might not be all that it seems. Together Laura and Andrew form an unlikely partnership. Will they arrive in time? Will their friendship blossom into something more?
Inspired by true events, this moving novel follows Laura as she seeks to reunite her family and her siblings who, in their darkest hours, must cling to the words from Isaiah: "Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed, for I am thy God."
Life changes overnight for coach John Harrison when his high school basketball team and state championship dreams are crushed under the weight of unexpected news. When the largest manufacturing plant shuts down and hundreds of families leave their town, John questions how he and his family will face an uncertain future. After reluctantly agreeing to coach cross-country, John and his wife, Amy, meet an aspiring athlete who's pushing her limits on a journey toward discovery. Inspired by the words and prayers of a newfound friend, John becomes the least likely coach helping the least likely runner attempt the impossible in the biggest race of the year.
When a damaged young woman is given a chance to reclaim her life in a small South Carolina town, she must reckon with the dark secrets she left behind in order to accept the love she deserves.
On the run from a violent past, Leah Allen arrived in tiny Rivertown, South Carolina, battered and broken, but ready to reinvent herself. By a stroke of fate, Leah is drawn to the Southern hospitality of a small cafe, looking for a warm meal but finding so much more. Lulu, the owner, offers her a job, a place to stay, and a new lease on life. Through Lulu's tenacious warmth and generosity, Leah quickly finds herself embraced by the quaint community as she tries to put herself back together. Given she's accustomed to cruelty, the kindness is overwhelming.
Soon Leah meets Crowley Mason, the most eligible bachelor in town. A lawyer and friend of Lulu's, Crowley is wary of Leah's sudden, mysterious arrival. Despite his reserve, something sparks between them that can't be denied. But after all she's been through, can Leah allow herself to truly love and be loved, especially when her first urge is to run?
Exploring the resiliency of both the heart and the spirit, Lulu's Cafe gorgeously illustrates how old scars can finally heal no matter how deep they seem.
Raina Bretton is a rag woman in London's east end when a handsome stranger appears in a dank alley and offers her a glittering smile and a chance for adventure. Rothburne Abbey has a unique position for her, one that will take her away from her hardscrabble life and give her a chance to be a lady. Things she could only dream of might be coming true. But some dreams turn out to be nightmares.
Though Raina has traded squalor for silk and satin, something about the abbey is deeply unsettling. As she wrestles with her true identity, the ruin, decay, and secrets she finds at the heart of the old mansion tear at her confidence and threaten to reveal her for who she really is. Only one man stands between her and the danger that lurks within--and only if he decides to keep her biggest secret hidden.
The secrets of those closest to us can be the most dangerous of all.
Months after her husband, Sean, is killed by a hit-and-run driver, physicist Georgie Brennan discovers he lied to her about where he had been going that day. A cryptic notebook, a missing computer, and strange noises under her house soon have her questioning everything she thought she knew.
With her job hanging by a thread, her son struggling to cope with his father's death, and her four-star general father up for confirmation as the next Secretary of Defense, Georgie quickly finds herself tangled in a political intrigue that has no clear agenda and dozens of likely villains. Only one thing is clear: someone wants her dead too.
The more she digs for the truth, the fewer people she can trust.
Not her friends.
Not her friends.
Not her parents.
Sometimes a shattered dream leads to an amazing journey.
At twenty-six, apprentice baker Mia West has her entire life planned out: a Craftsman cottage in Seattle, a job baking at The Butter Emporium, and her first love, her boyfriend Ethan, by her side. But when Ethan declares he "needs some space," Mia's carefully planned future crumbles.
Feeling adrift, Mia joins her vivacious housemate Rosie on a humanitarian trip around the world funded by a reclusive billionaire. Along with a famous grunge rock star, a Rwandan immigrant, and an unsettlingly attractive Hawaiian urban farmer named Kai, Mia and Rosie embark on the adventure of a lifetime.
From the slums of Mumbai to a Hungarian border camp during the refugee crisis, Mia's heart is challenged and changed in astonishing ways--ways she never could have imagined. As she grapples with how to make a difference in a complicated world, Mia realizes she must choose between the life she thought she wanted and the life unfolding before her.
In a romantic adventure across the globe, The Enlightenment of Bees beautifully explores what it means to find the sweet spot in life where our greatest passions meet the world's great need.
A young woman arrives at the grand ancestral home of her husband's family, hoping to fortify her cracking marriage. But what she finds is not what she expected: tragedy haunts the hallways,whispering of heartache and a past she never knew existed.
Inspired by the true titans of the steel-boom era, Bethlehem is a story of temptation and regret, a story of secrets and the cost of keeping them, a story of forgiveness. It is the story of two complex
women--thrown together in the name of family--who, in coming to understand each other, come finally to understand themselves.
Cassie Kendrick is on the run. Her abusive father arranged her marriage to a despicable man, but she's discovered an escape. Disguised as a man, Cassie enlists in the Union army, taking the name Thomas Turner. On the battlefields of the Civil War, keeping her identity a secret is only the beginning of her problems, especially after she meets Gabriel Avery, a handsome young photographer.
Anxious to make his mark on the world and to erase the darkness and guilt lurking from his past, Gabriel works with renowned photographer Matthew Brady to capture images from the front lines of the war. As Gabriel forges friendships with many of the men he encounters, he wonders what the courageous, unpredictable Thomas Turner is hiding.
Battling betrayal, their own personal demons, and a country torn apart by war, Cassie and Gabriel learn to forgive themselves and trust their futures to the God who births hope and healing in the darkest places?
When her father buys an island off the coast of Maine with the hope of breathing new life into it, Camden Grayson thinks he's lost his mind. An unexpected event sends Cam this rescue, and she discovers the island has its own way of thinking… and loving.
From award-winning author Carrie Stewart Parks comes a new novel with danger that reaches from a New Mexico Anasazi archaeological dig to micro- and nano-chip technology.
Stolen art. A New Mexico archaeological dig. An abandoned dog. And a secret that's worth killing for.
Evelyn McTavish's world came crashing down with the suicide of her fiancé. As she struggles to put her life back together and make a living from her art, she receives a call that her dog is about to be destroyed at the pound. Except she doesn't own a dog. But the shelter is adamant that the microchip embedded in the canine with her name and address makes it hers.
Evelyn recognizes the dog as one owned by archaeologist John Coyote because she did a commissioned drawing of the two of them. The simple solution is to return the dog to his owner — but she arrives only to discover John's murdered body.
As Evelyn herself become the target, her path crosses with undercover FBI agent Sawyer Price. But the more he gets to know her, the more personally invested he is in keeping her safe. They're desperate to find the links between these disparate pieces. And the clock is ticking.
What if our truest life is the one right in front of us?
Does life sometimes seem to be passing by? Are you so busy — with email to check, Instagram to scroll through, and friends to be envious of — that you become disconnected from your actual life? You know, the one that you are living right here, right now?
With hilariously relatable confessions and profoundly beautiful insights, Kate Merrick invites us to stop running away from the lives were living today and instead walk in peace and fullness God offers moment to moment. She shows us how to:
- kill your Wi-Fi, put down the tech, and find deeper contentment,
- redirect the FOMO so you don't miss out on your own life, and
- go on a diet of fewer choices to discover the blessings of the quiet, slow, and intentional.
Only when we look honestly at our hearts and have the courage to live truly present do we receive the gifts of God found in all of life's seasons — the painful ones, the big and beautiful ones, and even the ordinary ones.
Josephine Is Forced to Spy for Grave Robbers
Step into True Colors—a new series of Historical Stories of Romance and American Crime
In Massachusetts in 1824, Josephine Clayton awakes on the table of the doctor she's assisted all these months. She was presumed dead by all and has become the doctor's next corpse for his medical research. Frightened, the doctor tries to kill her, but Josephine begs to be spared. A deal is struck — Josie will leave her village and work at a distant cotton mill. All the while, she will await her true mission — posing as a mourner to help his body snatcher procure the replacement. At the mill though, Josie is praised for her medical remedies among the mill girls, gaining attention from the handsome factory manager Braham Taylor. Yet when Braham's own loved one becomes the prey for the next grave robbing, Josie must make a choice that could put her dark past behind her or steal away the promise of any future at all.
What price will Josie pay for love when her secrets begin to unravel?
For three years, Penny Ercanbeck as an opening other people's mail. Dead ends are reality for clerks at the Dead Letter Office. Still she dreams of something more — a bit of intrigue, a taste of romance, or at least a touch less loneliness. When a letter from a brokenhearted man to his one true love falls into her hands, Penny seizes this chance to do something heroic. It becomes her mission to place this loss letter into the hands of its intended recipient.
Thomas left his former life with no intention of ending up in Azure Springs, Iowa. He didn't expect a happy ending after what he had done. All he wanted to do was run and never look back. In a moment of desperation, he began to write, never really expecting a reply.
When Penny's undertaking leads her to the intriguing man who touched her soul with his words, everything grows more complicated. She wants to find the rightful owner of the letter and yet she finds herself caring — perhaps too much — for the one who wrote it.
From the critically acclaimed author whom Publishers Weekly has called a "master storyteller" comes a taut new thriller where things are not always as they appear to be.
Thirty years in the future, when AI is so advanced that humans live side by side with cognizant robots called Artificials, Kestrel Hathaway must come to terms not just with what machines know, but what they believe, is hope real for them, or merely an illusion?
Soon after experiencing a personal tragedy, Kestrel witness is a terrorist attack and is drawn into a world of conspiracies and lies that she and Jordan, her Artificial, have to untangle. With a second, more brutal attack looming on the horizon, their best chance of stopping it is teaming up with federal counterterrorism agent Nick Vernon.
But the clock is ticking — and all the while, Jordan is asking questions that Artificials were never meant to ask.
Deftly weaving suspense and intrigue into a rich, resonant tale that explores faith and what it really means to be human, Steven James offers us a glimpse into the future and into our own hearts.
Synapse is an unforgettable, gripping story of dreams shattered, truth revealed, and hope reborn.
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Title: Final Grains of Sand
