検索キーワード： 現代文学

Carolina Brown couldn’t be more different than her mama if she tried. Growing up, she worked hard to set herself apart, eager to leave town and accomplish big things in the wide world. But when her mother suffers a near-fatal accident, God calls Carolina back to Charleston to help her adapt to life in a wheelchair and to help make ends meet by temporarily filling in at the local diner. It’s there she meets the whimsical pastor Adam and his team of tiny therapy dogs.

Harmony King disappeared from Charleston as soon as she aged out of the foster system. Ten years later, she returns with just as many secrets as she had back then. As her past threatens to overwhelm her, she seeks mercy at the local church. There, the pastor finds her praying like her life depends on it and decides to entrust one of his tiny therapy dogs to her care. Will this special Chihuahua’s love be enough to help Harmony discover her own worth, and can it protect her when the dark past she tried so desperately to leave behind finally catches up to her?

What is a gift worth? Does it depend on the gift itself or on what the gift means to the person receiving it? An uplifting short story about an unwanted gifts' impact in the lives of the ones that encounter the gift. These lives experienced life-altering circumstances that thrust them into the depths of despair, where they remained. The gift reveals a new hope and so, the choice is theirs; to stay where they are, or to receive the gifts' inspiration to finally live.

Once one of Chicago’s significant financial advisors, Jade lost her credibility when her fiancé (and coworker) stole millions of dollars from their clients in a Ponzi scheme. Now she’s agreed to help one of them—an aging 1960s Hollywood starlet named Berenice “Benny” Alderidge—seek financial restoration. Jade sets off along Route 66 with Benny and her handsome adult foster son, Bridger, who is filming a documentary retracing the 1956 trip that started the love story between Benny and her recently deceased husband, Paul.

Rejection. Isolation. Polarization. Violence. Following the death of church founder and community leader Jeremiah Silas, New Living Church faces a reckoning as skeletons begin to fall out of their closet. At the heart of the issue are four individuals whose lives unexpectedly collide at the scene of a crime tied to the church. A liberals arts professor, a single black woman, a gay young man, and a conservative church deacon must learn to offer each other grace or face devastating results with violent consequences for the whole town.

Lucas Clyborne has had his eye on Sweet Water's librarian, Ryland Solomon, for almost a year. He's even started going to the library and checking out books. Who knew Extreme Ironing was a thing? So, maybe he had a little trouble concentrating on looking for suitable books since his attention seemed to get fixed on the cute librarian who didn't seem to know he was alive. Ryland didn't know why Lucas all the sudden had a fascination with obscure books like The Iliad and Favorite Ties of Latin American Presidents, but she is sure he's up to no good.

Wisconsin, present day. Audra March’s adult life is haunted by a teenage misstep. Taking an assumed name and enjoying simple things, the thirty-something comes upon a vintage recipe box while thrift shopping and hunts down the owner’s daughter. So when a longtime adversary threatens her with blackmail, she jumps at the invitation to escape to the dead lady’s estate and avoid an old enemy.

Artist Britt Branch has a successful online channel where she teaches a variety of art lessons. Obsessed with the 1970s, she has a style all her own. But she also has a huge problem--severe social anxiety. She lives with her mom, and while she pays her own bills, she wonders if she'll ever have the courage to move out and move on. When her best friend announces she's getting married, Britt decides it's time to make a change.

Juniper's been through a messing breakup, and she's drowning her sorrows in clay, glaze, and crafting. She and her best friend, Penni, have hit the streets of Wimber for a craft fair. But the crazy Texas weather might have other plans for their time, along with a handsome artist just a few tents down the lane.

The Bug Man is getting married on Saturday. . . if his fiancée can find him. Forensic entomologist Nick Polchak lives in a world of maggots and blow flies and decomposing bodies. No wonder he's still single. But Nick has finally found a woman as strange as he is—dog trainer Alena Savard, a woman who is odd, reclusive, and can seemingly talk to animals. It was a match made in heaven. Nick and Alena are scheduled to be married on Saturday—but there's one small problem. Nick has disappeared.

Matthew Goodman is tired, and his one wish is for something he can't have. Instead he focuses on the demands of his work as pastor of Chicagoland's Calvary Community, including bringing a new administrative assistant onboard. New hire twenty-five-year-old Trish Card watches him with somber, lake-clear eyes. What he doesn't know about Trish and her real reason for appearing will dismantle his world.

Most of us find ourselves trapped in the belief that work solely exists to pay the bills, inadvertently forgetting the essential question: What about our happiness? Vicki Robin's words beautifully encapsulate this scenario—if the daily grind truly brought us joy and a sense of fulfillment, the trials and inconveniences would be a minor price to pay. But increasingly, it's evident that money doesn't guarantee the happiness we seek beyond a certain level of comfort.

What could be better than marrying your soulmate, with whom you can share the rest of your life? Sharing Jesus with that person.

Coming to a crossroad in her life faster than expected, Julie relies on her faith for the strength to make it through. Dealing with the passing of her husband, she finds her daily existence swallowed by grief, and doesn’t feel ready to embrace life again. However, God seems to have a different plan.

After her last encounter with a serial killer, Gabby St. Claire feels her life is smeared with the stain of tragedy. Between the exhaustion of trying to get her fiancé back on his feet, routine night terrors, and potential changes looming on the horizon, she needs a respite from the mire of life.

Gabby St. Claire is crying foul play, in every sense of the phrase. When crime scene cleaner Gabby St. Claire agrees to go undercover at a local community theater, she discovers more than backstage bickering, atrocious acting, and rotten writing.

When Stormy wakes up in the back of a moving vehicle, she escapes with her life, but not her memories. All she knows is that someone wants her dead. On the run with nothing but her wits and some cash, she fights to stay one step ahead of the people hunting her like prey.

Profiler Emilia Sanchez thought the nightmare ended when a serial killer died last Christmas—until a threatening message shatters her sense of safety. Texas Ranger Bennett Knox, her longtime friend and the man who rescued her, has avoided her since the case ended. But when danger resurfaces, Bennett steps in to protect her. As fresh evidence brings them closer together, so do their feelings. Can they uncover the truth before a killer makes this Christmas her last?

The third story in the Chosen to Serve series centers on a man who is accused by his daughter of horrific crimes against her and subsequently stands trial. Jimmy is sent by the Lord to minister to him and his wife as they go through difficult trials – physical and spiritual. Chris Peterson is arrested in the middle of the night and taken from his home. His wife, Tammy begins a battle she is destined to lose, as the couple’s business fails and the incredible expense and burden of an impending trial looms on the horizon.

On a family trip in China, a simple oversight leads to every parent’s nightmare when an American family’s youngest daughter is kidnapped from their hotel. She vanishes in mere moments, leaving her family to navigate language barriers and cultural differences in a desperate race against time.