Mindy Starns Clark and Maureen Lang--new titles!

Here are this week's picks:
Whispers of the Bayou by Mindy Starns Clark

What mysteries lie hidden beside the dark waters of the bayou?

Swept away from Louisiana bayou country as a child, Miranda Miller is a woman without a past. Now she has a husband and child of her own and a fulfilling job in a Manhattan museum. But she also has questions—about the tragedy that cut her off from family and caused her to be sent away, and about those first five years that were erased from her memory entirely. When she inherits her grandparents' antebellum estate, Miranda goes back to Louisiana for the first time as an adult. There, she soon finds herself plunged into a nightmare of unknown enemies, buried secrets, and priceless treasure.

RT Book Club Magazine says: "Top Pick! Intricately plotted and exquisitely detailed, Clark's latest novel is fantastic."

On Sparrow Hill
by Maureen Lang
Tyndale House Publishers

As the commercial manager for Quentin Hollinworth’s family estate, Rebecca Seabrooke is focused on just two things: making hers the most successful historic home in the country and forgetting the childhood crush she’s had on Quentin since her father worked as his family’s valet. After all, they don’t exactly run in the same social circles. But when she and Quentin uncover letters in the family vault written by Berrie Hamilton—one of Quentin’s ancestors—Rebecca discovers that Quentin isn’t the only one with a legacy to appreciate. Only Berrie’s words can prepare Rebecca for the dramatic turn her life is about to take.

To read an excerpt of these new titles go to Chapter-a-Week. To join our deeper discussion of each week’s titles go to Chapter-a-Week Chat at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CAWChat/ where authors and readers discuss new titles together.

If you enjoy Chapter-a-Week take the time to tell a friend how to sign up. It's easy and free and a great way to find books that fit each person’s particular taste.

Two new titles to take a gander at...

A Bride So Fair
Book Three in A Fair to Remember
by Carol Cox

A young woman searching for independence and adventure.

A handsome Columbian Guard striving to protect and defend.

A little boy caught in a web of intrigue and deceit.

Emily Ralston is delighted when she lands a job at the Children's Building at the Chicago World’s Fair. And the White City seems to be living up to its promise of excitement when she meets Stephen Bridger, a handsome Columbian guardsman. Surely Emily isn’t the only one to sense the spark of electricity between them?

When Stephen finds a lost boy, he delivers him to the Children's Building to be cared for until his mother is located. But when a dead body believed to be little Adam’s mother is found, a mystery begins to unfold. While unraveling the truth, Emily and Stephen are drawn deeper into danger and closer to each other.


“Carol Cox has skillfully woven a heart-tugging romance and page-turning intrigue around a fascinating historical setting, bringing all three to life.” --Linda Windsor, author of Wedding Bell Blues and For Pete’s Sake

“This talented author’s sweet and charming love story—set during the Chicago World’s Fair of 1893—is a delightful diversion.” --Romantic Times BOOKReviews


Death of a Six-Foot Teddy Bear
Book Two in the Bargain Hunters mysteries
By Sharon Dunn

“A quirky ‘who done it,’ Death of a Six-Foot Teddy Bear is the perfect mystery for women who love bargains and surprise endings.” --Melanie Dobson, author of Together for Good and Going for Broke

“If you enjoy whimsy, humor, and fun characters with your mystery, Death of a Six-Foot Teddy Bear is for you! But beware! Under the laughs are buried strong spiritual truths. A delightful, thoughtful read.” --Gayle Roper, award-winning author of Fatal Deduction

“The bargain hunter gals are at it again! Dunn’s riotous romp seamlessly tucks in truth and light and leaves us in stitches. A must-read for those who think living by faith is boring.” --Lois Richer, author of Healing Tides


Summary: Ginger and her bargain hunter friends head down the Wind-Up Hotel in Calamity, Nevada to outlet shop, attend the world’s largest garage sale and help Ginger’s husband Earl get his invention off the ground at the Inventor’s Expo. But their girlfriend time vacation doesn’t go quite how they had planned…

To read an excerpt of these new titles go to Chapter-a-Week and to join our deeper discussion go to our new site Chapter-a-Week Chat at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CAWChat/ where authors and readers discuss new titles together.

Chapter-a-Week

For those of you who don't already know, I run a little group called Chapter-a-Week. It's a Yahoo! group that sends out a free weekly chapter from two books so readers can find new great titles and authors they might not have otherwise discovered. Our membership has been growing like gangbusters, due in part to some new initiatives, like periodically sending out boxes of free books!

Chapter-a-Week has a new sister Yahoo! group called Chapter-a-Week Chat. If you'd like to talk to others about the great books featured on Chapter-a-Week or if you'd like the inside scoop on the book from the authors themselves this is an excellent place to start. Each week's featured authors will be on hand to answer questions and give readers an intimate look at the writing life that inspired their works and readers can discuss all the books. Check it out at Chapter-a-Week Chat .

Here are this week's featured books...

The Voice
By Bill Myers

"Bill Myers writes a crisp, express train read featuring 3D characters, cinematic settings and action, and, as usual, a premise I wish I'd thought of -- and succeeds splendidly! Two thumbs up!" -- Frank E. Peretti

Summary
Burned out Special Forces agent Charlie Madison has his reclusive life turned upside down when his thirteen-year-old niece barges into his empty world. Her parents have been kidnapped by religious radicals and he is the only one who can save them. While creating a computer program, they discovered and recorded the actual voice of God. But there is far more at stake than the parents' safety or even religion. If the voice of God created reality, it can destroy it. If it can be controlled, it will become a weapon of mass destruction making all others obsolete. IF it can be controlled.

When the Heart Cries
By Cindy Woodsmall

"Fans of Beverly Lewis and the Amish genre will be thrilled to discover this new author . . ." Tamera Alexander, author of the best-selling Rekindled and Revealed


When Hannah dares to love across the boundaries of tradition, will she lose everything?


Despite being raised in a traditional Old Order Amish family, seventeen-year-old Hannah Lapp desires to break with custom, forgo baptism into the faith, and marry outside the cloistered community. She's been in love with Mennonite Paul Waddell for three years, and before returning to college for his senior year, Paul asks Hannah to be his wife. On the evening of their engagement, tragedy strikes and in one unwelcome encounter, all that Hannah has known and believed is destroyed. As she finds herself entangled in questions that the Old Ways of her people cannot answer, Hannah faces the possibility of losing her place in her family, in her community–and in the heart of the man she loves.

To read an excerpt of these new titles go to Chapter-a-Week and to join our deeper discussion go to our new site Chapter-a-Week Chat at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CAWChat/ where authors and readers discuss new titles together.

Amber Morn by Brandilyn Collins and Awaken My Heart by DiAnn Mills

Amber Morn
By Brandilyn Collins
Just released--Amber Morn, the climactic conclusion to Brandilyn Collins’ bestselling “Kanner Lake” series.

As the nationally read “Scenes and Beans” bloggers gather at Java Joint coffee shop for a special celebration—chaos erupts. Three gunmen burst in and take them all hostage, shooting one person and dumping the body outside. Police Chief Vince Edwards must negotiate with the desperate trio. What they demand, he can’t possibly provide. But if he doesn’t, over a dozen beloved Kanner Lake citizens will die…

“Best Christian suspense of 2007.” –Library Journal for Crimson Eve, previous release in the series
Awaken My Heart
By DiAnn Mills

AWAKEN MY HEART by DiAnn Mills tells the unlikely love story between 18-year-old Marianne, a wealthy rancher’s daughter, and the infamous Mexican rebel leader warring against her father.

--What Reviewers are saying:

"AWAKEN MY HEART is a terrific early nineteenth century Texas Colonial romance starring two caring protagonists who in many ways seem like a North American Romeo and Juliet. The story line is fast-paced and loaded with action . . . DiAnn Mills provides a delightful historical that brings to vivid life a time and place that rarely if ever has served as the background." - Harriet Klausner
"AWAKEN MY HEART is a colorful inspirational tale of romance and adventure! - Diana Risso
Romance Reviews Today

To read an excerpt of these new titles go to Chapter-a-Week .

Kim Vogel Sawyer and Hannah Alexander

Here are this week's picks. Take a looksee!

MY HEART REMEMBERS
By Kim Vogel Sawyer
Published by Bethany House Publishers, March 2008
Orphaned in a tenement fire, three Irish-immigrant children are sent to Missouri to be adopted. Despite eight-year-old Maelle's desperate attempts to keep her siblings together, each child is taken by a different family. Yet Maelle vows that she will never stop searching for her brother and sister...and that they will be together one day in the future.
Seventeen years later, Maelle is still searching. But the years have washed away her hope... and her memories. What are Mattie and Molly doing now? Where has life taken them? Will she ever see her brother and sister again?
Hideaway Home
A Hideaway Novel by Hannah Alexander

Has their love survived the ravages of war?

Throughout World War II, Second Lieutenant Red Meyer anticipated the day he could return to Hideaway, Missouri, and to his sweetheart, Bertie Moennig. His dreams are shattered, however, when he is wounded in the last stages of the war in Europe. Bertie is beautiful inside and out—she deserves a whole man. Red is determined to keep his distance until a tragedy on the home front brings the couple face to face for the first time in a year. Now a dangerous mystery threatens Bertie’s life. As they fight for survival in their tiny Ozark town, Red has to summon the faith and courage to protect the woman he has never stopped loving.

To read an excerpt of these new titles go to Chapter-a-Week .

A couple new titles to watch

Some of you may know that I'm a co-moderator with Angela Hunt for the Yahoo! group Chapter-a-Week. I'm very excited about some new things going on over there--excerpts from two new books every week, seeing over 1000 members join our little party!

In honor of our1000th member (actually we're past 1030!) Chapter-a-Week is having a celebration. The 1000th person to sign on has been notified that she will recieve a box of Chapter-a-Week's favorite new releases, including books by Traci DePree, Angie Hunt, Robin Lee Hatcher, Kim Sawyer, DeAnna Dodson, MaryLu Tyndall, Tamera Alexander, Hannah Alexander, Louise M. Gouge, DiAnn Mills, Camy Tang, Tricia Goyer and Judith Miller! You just never know what surprises will come your way with Chapter-a-Week. So keep spreading the word so others can discover new, great reads at Chapter-a-Week.

Here's a little bit about this week's installments:

Leaving November
(Howard Books/Simon & Schuster March 2008)
by Deborah Raney

Daughter of the town drunk, Vienne Kenney has escaped Clayburn for law school in California. But after failing the bar exam—twice––she's back home with her tail between her legs, managing Latte-dah, the Clayburn café-turned-upscale-coffee-shop. Jackson Linder runs the art gallery across the street and Vienne has had her eye on him since she was a skinny seventh grader and he was the hunky high school lifeguard who didn't know she existed. Now it's his turn to fall for her and suddenly Clayburn seems like a pretty nice place to be...until Vienne discovers that Jack is fresh out of rehab and still struggling with the same addiction that ultimately killed her father.

Only Uni
By Camy Tang

Will Trish Sakai be able to follow her three simple rules and hold out against two gorgeous guys?

Trish Sakai is ready for a change from her wild, flirtatious behavior. And her three cousins are anxious for her to change, too. Trish is always knocking something over, knocking herself out, and taking hard knocks in her perpetual confusion about men.

When Trish's ex-boyfriend, Kazuo the artist, keeps popping up at all the wrong moments, Trish decides to be firm with herself. She creates three simple rules from First and Second Corinthians and plans to follow them to the letter. No more looking at men! No more dating non-Christians! She will persevere in hardship by relying on God.

Except now Kazuo is claiming Trish is his muse, and he can't complete his major work of art without her. And a gorgeous coworker is reassigned, bringing him in daily contact with Trish. But her cousins are determined to hold her accountable to her plan. She thought three rules would be a cinch, but suddenly Trish's simple rules don't seem so simple after all.

To read an excerpt of these new titles go to Chapter-a-Week .

It's my birthday

I am forty-four years old today. Does that sound old? The year gone by has been a hard one--with challenges I would rather have not faced. Yet I continue to see God working all things for good. How does he do that? Take our poor choices and turn them into blessings?

I have much to be grateful for--five healthy children who are growing in their faith, a husband I still adore after 22 and a half years of marriage, a career that I love even when I hate it, a home messy as it is.

I'm in the midst of rewriting my third book for Mystery and the Minister's Wife entitled Open Arms. This one has a focus on adoption that is so dear to my heart. While I write I'm trying to maintain a balance in my life--not disappearing for months at a time but being available for friends and family, getting the exercise I need (I love tennis!) trying to keep up with the demands of a household. I know that even if I miss giving a boost to one of those spinning plates life will go on and we'll be okay. And maybe I shouldn't have been trying to spin that plate in the first place.

Have a wonderful February,

Traci