A Very Special Christmas Eve Surprise

Less than an hour before our Christmas Eve celebration was slated to begin, I took a break from my busy preparations to check my email messages. An unfamiliar name and intriguing "Contest Entry" subject line caught my eye. One click later, it caught my breath.

My contemporary romance, Season of Surrender, made the final round of the Phoenix Rattler, Does Your Story Have Bite? contest! (See the www.edgyinspirationalauthor.blogspot.com/ for a list of finalists.) Wow! With Christmas decorating (40,000 thousand lights or thereabouts) and party hosting in full swing from the time I submitted my entry until the third week of December, I'd forgotten all about the contest.

My first reaction was to read the message again. Much slower this time. Then I wanted to holler the news to my daughters. But I decided to wait until the whole family was present.

A Stray Drop of Blood by Roseanna White ~ WOW!

If you’re looking for a novel that waters down the stark realities of sin and its wages, don’t read A Stray Drop of Blood by Roseanna White. Set in decadent first century Jerusalem and Rome, strong, multi-layered characters, rich spiritual insights, well-depicted historical events, and moving romance are powerfully combined in an edgy yet tastefully crafted and fast-paced classic.

Stunningly beautiful Abigail is an atypical Hebrew slave gently raised and educated as a daughter in the prosperous Visibullis household during the time of Jesus. But her

Green by Ted Dekker--A Most Provoking Novel

I’m normally not an allegory lover, so I struggled about a week to give an honest review of Green by Ted Dekker. This is one of the few books I’ve read that I’ve pondered about for many days after I read it.

The Circle is a meager nation of seventeen thousand people living two-thousand-plus-years in the future under the leadership of Thomas Hunter, a man catapulted into their world from our contemporary era. They have followed the tenets of Elyon, their Creator and Savior, but no one has seen Him in a decade, and doubts about Him have eroded their faith. Discouraged by their bare, nomadic existence with the need to constantly flee from the enemies they’re forbidden to fight, many in the Circle, including Thomas’s son, Samuel, turn away from their Creator to war against their foes and avenge their victims.

Amanda Cabot's Paper Roses, a Heart-warming Story of Giving and Forgiving

Sarah Dobbs, determined to bury her painful past in Philadelphia, travels to Ladreville, Texas, with her little sister, two-year-old Thea, to start life afresh as a mail-order bride. But she doesn’t know that her intended, rancher Austin Canfield, has been murdered by an unknown assailant. Austin’s brother, Clay, an emotionally wounded man who wants Sarah to return to her previous life, offers her no encouragement or support and tries to talk her into going back home. Since that is not an option, Sarah and Thea must live on the Canfield ranch temporarily, but Sarah refuses to be a burden. She soon puts her trilingual talents to use by accepting a job with the French owners of the only general store in Ladreville, where French and German factions eye each other with deep mistrust and suspicion.