More 2012 releases from Abingdon Press

Here's some more 2012 releases from Abingdon Press, all set to release in April.

Any take your fancy?

 

The Mother Road by Jennifer AlLee

Within the course of a week, Natalie is dumped by her husband, receives an urgent call home from her father, and discovers her estranged sister is pregnant.

A road trip on Route 66 may not help, but it sure couldn't hurt. Or so Natalie thinks, until Lindsay's boyfriend starts stalking them.

Will their trip down the Mother Road bring the two sisters closer together or turn out to be the biggest wrong turn yet?








 
 Cooking the Books by Bonnie S Calhoun

After her mother dies from a heart attack, Sloane Templeton goes from Cyber Crimes Unit to bookstore owner before she can blink.

She also "inherits" a half-batty store manager; a strange bunch of little old people from the neighborhood who meet at the store once a week, but never read books, called the Granny Oakleys Book Club; and Aunt Verline, who fancies herself an Iron Chef when in reality you need a cast iron stomach to partake of her culinary disasters. And with a group like this you should never ask, “What else can go wrong?”








Always the Designer, Never the Bride by Sandra D Bricker

It’s taken Audrey Regan years to establish herself as a wedding dress designer, and to date she’s been roped into creating dresses for nine of her girlfriends. Request #10 follows her vow to “Just say no!” and comes from her very best friend. She can hardly turn Carly down!         

Audrey arrives in Atlanta early to perform all of her maid-of-honor duties along with final fittings for a one-of-a-kind dress. But Carly’s wedding is nothing short of an event, complete with Prince Charming, and the festivities make Audrey question whether there’s a prince of her own anywhere in her future.  

Enter the groom’s brother and best man. Shaggy-haired, tattooed bad boy J.R. Hunt couldn’t be any more different from Prince Charming if he rode in on a Harley Davidson.  Oh, wait. He actually did ride in on a Harley!




Her Restless Heart by Barbara Cameron

Mary Katherine is caught between the traditions of her faith and the pull of a different life. When Daniel, an Amish man living in Florida, arrives and shares her restlessness, Mary Katherine feels drawn to him and curious about the life he leads away from Lancaster County.  

But her longtime friend Jacob has been in love with her for years. He’s discouraged that she’s never viewed him as anything but a friend and despairs that he is about to lose Mary Katherine to this outsider.  

Will the conflicted Mary Katherine be lost to the Englisch world, or to Daniel, who might take her away to Florida? Or will she embrace her Amish faith and recognize Jacob as the man she should marry and build a life with?

Coming soon in Summerside's Love Finds You Series

Summerside Press is having continued success with their contemporary and historical Love Finds You series with different novelists writing standalone stories which take place in often uniquely named places in the United States. Here's the latest in this popular series.

Enjoy!

Love Finds You in Deadwood, South Dakota by Tracey Cross

Jane Albright’s life is shattered.

The Nebraska homesteader is newly widowed, with one child to care for and another on the way. When she learns that she is at risk of losing the family home and freighting business to a greedy moneylender named Franklin Lloyd, she has no choice but to brandish a bullwhip and haul freight all the way to Deadwood, South Dakota. Franklin agrees to give Jane three months to pay the note, and she is determined to secure her children’s future. But Deadwood is a rough place for a woman, and Jane is soon over her head. Franklin longs to help her—but will she let him?

August, 2010





Love Finds You in Sugarcreek, Ohio by Serena Miller

A mysterious outsider casts a long shadow on Ohio’s Amish country.

Policewoman Rachel Troyer has always looked after her three elderly Amish aunts, proprietors of a farmhouse inn near Sugarcreek, Ohio. The idyllic town is popular with tourists, who come to sample its famous Amish goods. But one thing is clear to Rachel—Joe Matthews is no tourist. When the bearded stranger lands on her aunts’ doorstep, begging shelter for himself and his young son, Rachel is suspicious. Will she be able to uncover Joe’s secrets despite her aunts’—and her own—growing affection for him?

August, 2010





Love Finds You Under the Mistletoe by Irene Brand & Anita Higman

An Appalachian Christmas

A promise to her dying sister compels Julia Mayfield to take her young nephew to Mistletoe, Kentucky, a tiny town tucked away in the Appalachian Mountains. Sparks fly when she meets David Armstrong, a World War II veteran like herself. Even as shadows from the past weave a dangerous web around Julia and David, will their love flourish like the mistletoe that blankets the nearby hills?

Once Upon a Christmas Eve

Hollie Goodnight’s store has just been voted best Christmas shop in America. All the new publicity draws flamboyant novelist Van Keaton to the cozy town of Noel, Missouri, demanding to write Hollie’s story—a dramatic tale of misfortune and triumph. She is swept up in his world of beautiful words and fanciful interludes…until Owen Quigly, her lifelong best friend, launches a plan to win her back.

September, 2010

Love Finds You in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California by Sandra D Bricker

Annie Gray has an epiphany: she is not living the life she’s always dreamed of.

She decides to start fresh, drawing inspiration from her favorite classic Hollywood films. First, Annie moves into the picturesque Carmel bungalow belonging to her grandmother—a retired film star. Next up: landing an exciting job as a private investigator’s assistant. But Annie’s new boss is no Humphrey Bogart, and the work isn’t quite what she pictured. Just when everything in Annie’s screen-worthy plan teeters on the brink of disaster, she has another epiphany. Will this one land her in the arms of her own leading man?

October, 2010







Love Finds You in Silver City, Idaho by Janelle Mowery

It’s 1869, and chaos rules Silver City.

As Rebekah Weaver recovers from an accident that has left her badly burned, she worries that her father’s handsome new assistant won’t see past her scarred exterior. Deputy Marshal Nathaniel Kirkland is working undercover to investigate a series of explosions in the mines and businesses of Silver City. When ominous notes begin appearing on townspeople’s doors, Nate needs Rebekah’s help to uncover the identity of the perpetrator. As they work together, Nate begins to speculate that Rebekah’s “accident” was really a case of intentional sabotage—and that she might still be in danger.

October, 2010






Love Finds You in Hope, Kansas by Pamela Griffin

Fashionable Easterner Alison Stripling is shocked to receive a letter from her deceased sister’s husband in Hope, Kansas, pleading for help with his six children.

The letter gives Alison a chance to escape her troubles in Boston, and the name of the town seems like a sign from God. But when she arrives at a rustic cabin on the prairie, she’s in for a bigger shock: Rafe Munroe didn’t write the letter at all! Realizing the children are determined to pair them off, Rafe and Alison join forces to prove the idea would never work. Can Hope’s cupids—all six of them—strike love’s arrows into the hearts of their pa and Miss Alison?

December, 2010

Coming soon from Abingdon Press

I posted a while back with some of Abingdon's late 2010 releases and here are some more for your enjoyment!

Click on the links to preorder or learn more about the author.


Always the Baker Never the Bride by Sandra D Bricker

Thirty-six-year-old Emma Rae Travis has been baking specialty cakes and melt-in-your-mouth pastries at The Backstreet Bakery in historic Roswell, just outside of Atlanta, for the last six years. But here’s the rub about her job as a baker … Emma is diabetic. When she tastes her creations, it can only be in the most minute portions. Emma is considered an artisan for the stunning crème brulee wedding cake that won her the Passionate Palette Award last year, but she’s never even had one full slice of it.

When Jackson Drake hears about this local baker who has won a prestigious award for her wedding cake artistry, he tells his assistant to be sure and include her in the pastry tastings scheduled at his new wedding destination hotel the following week. And for Jackson, that particular day has started out badly with two workmen trapped in a broken elevator and a delivery of several dozen 300-thread-count bed linens in the wrong size abandoned in the lobby. But when the arrogant baker he met a week prior in Roswell stumbles into the dining room with a platter of pastries and a bucketful of orders, he knows for certain: It’s going to be a really rotten day.

Can these two ill-suited players master the high-wire act and make a go of their new business venture? Or will they take each other crashing downward, without a net? And will the surprise wedding at The Tanglewood be theirs?

Goodness Gracious Green by Judy Christie

Will Lois Barker put down roots in Green . . . or will small-town life be too tough?

The charming and uncertain journalist is delighted with her decision to keep The Green News-Item and excited about the possibility of romance with her good-looking catfish farmer/coach neighbor—and the growth of her fresh faith and friendships.

Her second year in Green has scarcely been rung in, though, before Lois is wrung out. The former owners of the paper want it back. The mayor’s dog bites her on the face. A series of fires threaten Lois. And while her friends blossom, Lois feels wilted.

Charlotte Figg Takes Over Paradise by Joyce Magnin

Newly widowed Charlotte Figg purchases a double-wide trailer sight unseen and moves to the Paradise Trailer Park with her dog Lucky. Unfortunately, neither the trailer nor Paradise are what Charlotte expected. Her trailer is a ramshackle old place in need of major repair, and the people of Paradise are harboring more secrets than Bayer has aspirin. Charlotte’s new friend Rose Tattoo learns that Charlotte played softball and convinces her to rally the women of Paradise into a team. Reluctant at first, Charlotte warms to the notion and is soon coaching the Paradise Angels. Meanwhile, Charlotte discovers that the manager of Paradise, Fergus Wrinkel, abuses his wife Suzy. Charlotte sets out to find a way to save Suzy from Fergus and in the process comes to a difficult realization about her own painful marriage.





Valeria's Cross by Kathi Macias & Susan Wales

In the 3rd century, pampered Roman princess Valeria falls in love with Mauritius, captain of the Theban Legion. She sends him off to battle, where he suffers under the schemes of a notorious pagan general with an ambition for power and a lust for Valeria.

In a scene based on true events, the evil Galerius kills Mauritius and his entire legion for their Christian faith. And in a shocking turn of events, the grieving Valeria is forced to become Galerius’ wife against her will. Never has a marriage been set up for such failure.

Valeria loathes her new husband, but he seems to undergo a change of heart, adopting a child for her and giving her power and authority, and even love. She struggles with the commitment she knows she must keep, and the love she knows she will never find again.

September, 2010




The Voyage of Promise by Kay Marshall Strom

Slavers burst into Grace Winslow's life with guns blazing and tear her family apart forever. She watches in anguish as her husband is led in chains aboard a tightly packed slave ship bound for America.

An old enemy has a more sinister plan for Grace and prepares her for a different kind of servitude in London. But Grace will not be enslaved. And she will not give up on the man she loves. In her determination to be reunited with her husband, she finds God reaching out to her.

October, 2010

Character Spotlight ~ Sandra D Bricker's Cassie & Richard

Today the spotlight shines on.......................Cassie Constantine & Richard Dillon


Sandra D Bricker has been writing for years and has eleven novels to her credit. Her latest novel, for Summerside's Love Find You series takes the reader to Holiday, Florida for an unusual and fun take on a mature love match!

Enjoy this look behind the scenes:~


Brief physical description

Cassie and Richard are 50-somethings, both of whom have been married to someone else and widowed.

Cassie is somewhat petite and very perky for her age, apple-cheeked and pretty and Richard is an avid Florida golfer, so he's suntanned and poised.

If I was casting the film, I'd put Sally Field in the role of Cassie, and Dennis Quaid as Richard.

Strengths and weaknesses

Cassie is stronger than she gives herself credit for being. She is extremely opinionated, but must often face up to the fact that she deeply believes something that isn't accurate.

Richard is on the over-organized side of life. He likes things a certain way, everything in its place, and he becomes a little disoriented when life gets messy.

Quirk (if any)

"Quirky" is this book's middle name! From the wacky neighbors to Cassie's crazy dog, the whole town of Holiday is as unusual a place as you're going to find.

Your inspiration for the character

When the publisher asked me to write something set in Holiday, Florida, I was a little disappointed when I went there for some inspiration. It's small and somewhat rural, lots of small houses set around a web of canals that lead out to the Gulf of Mexico. But in one second, my inspiration found me as I turned the corner had to pump the brakes because two elderly women in neon spandex with fanny-packs were power-walking right down the middle of the street. While I waited, I turned and saw two hysterical plastic flamingo lawn ornaments in a nearby yard. That was what I needed! I knew I had to write Holiday on a slant; not your typical setting for a romance novel!

Background to the story

The thing I love about this story is that Cassie and Richard appear to be such completely different people on the surface but, as the reader gets to know them, their similarities begin to shine. The two of them grow together in such a unique way out of a place where both of them were sort of lost "fish out of water" in the beginning.

Thanks Sandra ~ this story sounds like a lot of fun!


Come back Thursday for a spotlight from Robert Liparulo's bad guy from the Dreamhouse Kings series, Taksidian in his own words!

Relz Reviewz Extras

Visit Sandra's website and blog

Buy Sandra's books at Amazon or Koorong

Coming in February/ March, 2010 from Abingdon Press

Abingdon Press has been cranking up its fiction arm and I am delighted at the variety of subject matter they are tackling with the novels they are releasing in 2010.

I've been waiting a long time to read a Ronie Kendig story and I love the sound of it and I think the protaganists in Debbie Viguie's novel sound fantastic.

How about you? Anything take your fancy?

Click on the title and author links (where available) for more and be sure to check back tomorrow for more great titles from Abigindon.


<sup>The Pastor's Wife by Jennifer AlLee

Maura Sullivan never intended to set foot in Granger, Ohio, again. But when circumstances force her to return, she must face all the disappointments she tried so hard to leave behind: a husband who ignored her, a congregation she couldn’t please, and a God who took away everything she ever loved.

Nick Shepherd thought he had put the past behind him, until the day his estranged wife walked back into town. Intending only to help Maura through her crisis of faith, Nick finds his feelings for her never died. Now, he must admit the mistakes he made, how he hurt his wife, and find a way to give and receive forgiveness.

As God works in both of their lives, Nick and Maura start to believe they can repair their broken relationship and reunite as man and wife. But Maura has one more secret to tell Nick before they can move forward. It’s what ultimately drove her to leave him three years earlier, and the one thing that can destroy the fragile trust they’ve built.

Releasing February, 2010


Walking on Broken Glass by Christa Allan

Already sloshed from one-too-many drinks at a faculty party, Leah Thornton cruises the supermarket aisles in search of something tasty to enhance her Starbucks—Kahlua, for example. Two confrontations later—one at the grocery store and the other with her friend Molly—Leah is sitting in the office of the local rehab center facing an admissions counselor who fails to understand the most basic things, like the fact that apple juice is not a suitable cocktail mixer. Rehab is no picnic, and being forced to experience and deal with the reality of her life isn’t Leah’s idea of fun. But through the battle she finds a reservoir of courage she never knew she had, and the loving arms of a God she never quite believed existed.

Releasing February, 2010




The Big 5-0h! by Sandra D Bricker

Olivia Wallace has a birthday curse . . . or so she thinks. It was a broken heart on her 16th, a car accident on her 21st, pneumonia on her 30th, and a fall down a flight of stairs on her 35th. There were Ohio blizzards on her 38th, 39th, and 40th; and six days before her 45th, she lost the love of her life to a heart attack. Numbing grief stole that birthday and a couple more to follow and, on the morning of her 48th birthday, she received the call she’d dreaded ever since losing her mom so many years ago…she was diagnosed with stage-3 ovarian cancer. The doctors didn’t hold out a lot of hope, but Liv survived and maintained her faith. Months of surgeries and chemotherapy and radiation treatments followed.

But now, as her 50th birthday creeps up the icy Ohio path toward her, her hair has grown back, her energy level is up, and she is officially cancer free. It makes her nervous. After everything she’s gone through, Liv hates the idea of driving on icy roads and returning to work as an O.R. nurse in a local Cincinnati hospital.

Her best friend Hallie knows just the thing to break Liv out of the winter doldrums, while providing a safe haven of warmth, sunshine, and a time to regroup: a holiday in the Florida sunshine!

Releasing February, 2010

Dead Reckoning by Ronie Kendig

Underwater archeologist Shiloh Blake is consumed with passion for the water and inflamed at the injustices of life, blaming her secret agent father for her mother's death. When her first large-scale dig traps her in the middle of an international nuclear arms clash, she flees for her life and is followed by an unknown man. Who is he? How is he always one step ahead? Reece Jaxon is a former Navy SEAL, who now serves his country as a spy. His mission is threatened by the beguiling Shiloh Blake as he hunts down the sources to a nuclear dead drop in the Arabian Sea. The only way to end this nightmare and prevent a nuclear meltdown is for Shiloh to join forces with Reece. Will Shiloh violate her vow to never become a spy like her father? Will she reconcile with her father? Will her trust issues destroy her chance for love? And will she allow God to help her through this ordeal?

Releasing March, 2010



The Lord is My Shepherd by Debbie Viguie

Cindy’s church is getting ready to celebrate Easter, and Jeremiah’s Temple is preparing for Passover when Cindy literally stumbles over the body of an unknown man lying dead in the sanctuary. The church was locked, and a bloody cross necklace on the floor seems to be the only clue. The killer is likely a member of the congregation, but there are hints that similar deaths have happened in the past. Are Cindy and Jeremiah dealing with a serial killer? They have to unravel the clues before Easter Sunday arrives and more people die.

Cindy and Jeremiah come from two different worlds, even though they work right next door to each other. Cindy is a strong Christian who lives a normal but somewhat dull life, working as a church secretary. Jeremiah is a Reformed rabbi with a mysterious past full of danger and excitement. But one eventful Easter/Passover week, the two find themselves working together to solve a murder and stop a serial killer from striking again. Solving the mystery should put an end to their alliance, but the church secretary and the rabbi quickly find themselves enmeshed in another mystery. Soon the two form a friendly alliance and friendship, exploring personal history and faith and growing closer with each passing adventure. Despite their differences Cindy and Jeremiah find a lot of common ground.
Releasing March, 2010</sup>